Tag Archives: Jarret Barrios

UPDATE: Jarret Barrios Resigns – GLAAD Executive Committee Votes For Jarret Barrios To Resignation

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Update 7:11 pm via The Gist:

Jarrett Barrios, the president of GLAAD, has just sent the board of GLAAD his resignation letter. A statement will be going out from GLAAD tonight, but GLAAD confirmed in it an email Barrios did resign…..Now, all the hard-working activists at GLAAD,many of whom are friends and colleagues of mine, can get back to working for LGBT rights without this distraction. The GLAAD board now must remove Troup Coronado from the board. And it has much more to do in looking at the future of the organization

Original Posting:

Jarret Barrios the president of the organization Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) has come under fire as of late because of GLAAD who received money from AT&T  issued public statements supporting AT&T’s merger with T-Mobile and to the FCC opposing possible net neutrality rules.

 The executive committee has now voted in favor of removing Barrios, who has refused to resign. Barrios may now take the issue to the full board of directors which also just happens to have an employee of AT&T who sits on it.  (But there’s no news of HIM resigning)

Barrios’ ousting would be a great thing for the put upon organization which has lost almost all credibility and respect of the LGBT Community because of its glitzy facade and lack of work on real media issues.

Barrios who was hired by the Board of Directors in June 2009 was at one time a Massachusetts state legislator but had absolutely no experience or background in communications and/or media and was hired at a salary of 350 thousand dollars a year.

Former GLAAD Co-Chair On Michelangelo Signorile: The AT&T-T Mobile Merger Support Was All About The Money

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Laurie Perpar, former Board Co-Chair of GLAAD appeared on Michelangelo Signorile’s  on SIRUS radio today and  re enforced everything that has been said on this blog and others blogs that indeed GLAAD’s support of the AT&T merger had nothing to do with “Gay social justice” and had everything to do with money. Perpar also told of the massive ineptitude and mishandling of the organization by it’s current President Jarrett Barrios (who makes over 300K a year of your donation $$$’s btw) and just how far GLAAD has fallen and that it is now so far beyond repair that it should simply “disappear”

According to Laurie over 14 Board members have recently resigned over Jarrett Barrios’s misdirection and ineptitude and donations have fallen sharply, the THREE.Media Awards Events lose money, and donors are simply dropping like flies..

On the AT&T/T-Mobile Merger Pepper re-enforces the idea that GLAAD did indeed back the merger because of AT&T’s funding and donations for GLAAD and also as a favor to “former” AT&T employee who sits on the Board.

So there you have it kids. It really doesn’t get more damning than this.

GLAAD is OFFICIALLY worthless. 

It drains gay dollars, its credibility is shot, and the organization is beyond repair  GLAAD is who we should be closing the gAyTM to.

You can listen to the entire interview online by CLICKING HERE

GLAAD Chooses Money Over Integrity – Supports AT&T/T-Mobile Merger After TN Anti-Gay Involvement

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One of the biggest problems that the LGBT community has as a community is the lack of integrity with our major “advocate” organizations. HRC, The Task Force and GLAAD all worship the almighty dollar over the whats right and whats wrong when it comes to advancement that they not only tarnish themselves, but also tarnish us because there are those of us out there who give them a free pass just because they “gay”.

No further proof is needed than today’s news that  GLAAD (The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation ) has used it and the LGBT communities name in a strongly worded letter to the FCC in support of the AT&T-T-Mobile merger trying to justify it somehow with an off the wall “social justice” argument coming just ONE WEEK AFTER the State of Tennessee put into law a harmful piece of anti-LGBT legislation  that not only repeals what little LGBT protections that are on the books in Tennessee towns and cities, but also STOPS any city to put any anti-LGBT discrimination laws on the book.  And who exactly helped get this law through legislature?  A representative of AT&T.

But here one week later we have GLAAD not only supporting AT&T but stepping way beyond it’s bounds in doing so.   And the reason…..

MONEY and CRONYISM

AT&T is not only a MAJOR Donor to GLAAD, but one of’ AT&T’s past Vice President, External Affairs Los Angeles also sits on the GLAAD Board of Directors.

AT&T in the past has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to GLAAD in money over the years, so GLAAD honors AT&T with the “Corporate Leader Award” at one of its many wasteful GLAAD Media Awards (Which AT&T underwrites btw) , turns a blind eye to the damage that it caused many LGBT brothers and sisters in Tennessee, and then then continues to pander to AT&T so they keep giving GLAAD the money to pay Jarrett Barrio’s ridiculous $350,000.00 a year salary , and only exceeds in throwing parties and damaging the integrity of our community as a whole.

Enough is enough.

I don’t want myself, my rights, or my equality represented by any organization that cares more about money than it does the members of its own community.

I call for not only Jarret Barrios to resign, but for the entire Board of Directors to resign and the organization to either cease to exist or be overhauled to such an extent that we can once again put our faith into them.

GLAAD and Gay Inc. you are hearby put on notice.

Susan Sarandon Slams GLAAD Over GLEE "Tranny" Usage War: "You’re way out of control."

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Susan Sarandon who starred in a movie whose lead character and star was a Transvestite, the 1975’s original The Rocky Horror Picture Show before Jarret Barrios of GLAAD was even old enough to have his first wet dream has come out swinging at GLAAD’s hys-trans-teria over the fact that GLEE in its “Rocky Horror Picture Show” homage  pulled the word “transvestite” from the script but had no problem using the word “tranny” (and equally bizarrely stripped the show of its cross-dressing dressiness.

Sarandon’s reaction to GLAAD’s outrage over the word “tranny”?

“Nonsense,  What should they have said?” she asked, adding that she knew plenty of people who proudly called themselves “trannies.”  “GLAAD is “getting like PETA — way out of control.”

Responds GLAAD’s  Richard Ferraro: “The word ‘tra—y’ has become an easy punch line in popular culture and many still don’t realize that using the term is hurtful, dehumanizing and associated with violence.”

I don’t want to insult the trans community. Now not being a transvestite I am not really sure if they themselves found GLEE’s (Which happens to to gay friendly show on the air) offensive in the context it was used.  Which btw was not used for cheap laughs as GLAAD states. 

One thing I do know is that perhaps GLAAD should show the same veracity to the REAL BIGOTS who verbally assault us everyday.  Like I don’t know.  Republicans, hate groups, and those types. And start picking their battles better. 

As for Susan Sarandon…..Dammit Janet.  I love you.

Is The Dax Shepard "Fag Fighting" Gay Slur In His New Movie "Brother’s Justice" Movie Trailer Getting A Pass? – Watch The Trailer

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Dax Shepard has made a celebrity cameo-filled movie about wanting to become a martial arts action star in “Brother’s Justice”, a mockumentary about Sheperd attempting to shop the movie around Hollywood to find backing.

The question is why is no one saying anything about a line in the trailer where Sheperd refers to Brazilian JuJitsu as “fag fighting?” especially after Vince Vaughn , Ron Howard and Universal Pictures’ was just held over the fire for saying that “electric cars are gay” in The Dilemma trailer?

“What’re you gonna do? Make out with me until I tag out?” asks Shepard of his Jiu-Jitsu challenger after his “fag fighting” remark.

So goes the test: Replace “fag” with another slur aimed at a certain culture and see where it gets you. If Shepard referred to Taekwondo as “gook kicking,” would  it be given a pass? How about mixed martial arts as “nigger wrestling”? Or boxing as “Mick bashing?”

Uncomfortable yet?

Does Dax get a pass because he  is thin and cute, and Vaugh not get one because he is fat and ugly?

This stuff doesn’t happen in a vacuum. If homophobia is normalised on TV and in movies, it seeps into wider society.  And especially into the demographic that Sheperd taps into.  That whole Punk’d/Jackass audience.

So where the hell are you Jarret Barrios and GLAAD?  I know that Vince Vaugh, Ron Howard and Universal are more Press worthy.  But you can’t give one a pass and not the other. 

The Washington Post Gives GLAAD’s President Jarett Barrios Equal Space To Respond To Recent Gay Hater’s Tony Perkins Anti-Gay Hate Article

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Earlier this week The Washington Post allowed an editorial from anti-gay bigot Tony Perkins of  The Family Research Council to broadcast his unfounded  anti-gay rhetoric and  hate in spite of the fact of the recent epidemic of LGBT suicide which is lined to such hate speech in Jon Meacham and Sally Quinn’s  “On Faith” column and after much criticism the Post horrendously tried  justify it by saying that Perkins column was supposed to offset and be a “balance” to a Live Blog chat that WaPo hosted with Dan Savage over LGBT Teen Suicide and the “It’ Gets Better” Project.

Today, Jon Meacham and Sally Quinn’s “On Faith” column gave equal space to Jarrett Barrios, The President of GLAAD to respond.  Barrios does make a good case against Perkin’s and the Post for publishing it.but never touches the fact that many national organizations have long proved Perkin’s and his ilks claims and scientific data to be junk science at best and pure lies at worst.  THAT is a message that we need to broadcast over and over to discredit Perkins, and all other anti-gay organizations. 

You can read Jarret Barrio’s full  ON FAITH Op-Ed Reply to The Post and Perkins after the jump.below.  Just CLICK “Read more…”  (I refuse to link to that rag any longer.)

There are not “both sides” to teen suicide issue
By Jarrett Barrios

By giving noted anti-gay activist Tony Perkins a platform from which he could explicitly blame the victims of bullying for their own depression, the Washington Post became part of the problem.

Perkins took to the Post’s ‘On Faith’ section this week with two goals in mind. First, he wanted to extricate himself and other anti-gay activists from any blame for the tragic suicides of the past several weeks. Second, he wanted to tell the hundreds of thousands of children who are gay, or are perceived to be gay, that they themselves are to blame if they feel hopeless or helpless – not the bullies.

We called the Post out for their decision to let Perkins do this. The Post told us, via Twitter: “we’re working to cover both sides. Earlier, we hosted Dan Savage of It Gets Better in a live chat.”

Yes, you read that right. “Both sides.”

The Washington Post – one of the most respected news sources in our country’s history – is telling a nation full of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender children, that their lives are up for debate.

I was a nine-year-old in Florida in 1977 during Anita Bryant’s infamous ‘Save Our Children’ campaign, when the airwaves and newspapers were flooded with hysteria. Bryant had set out to overturn a Dade County ordinance which protected people from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation – and to support a proposed ban on adoption by gay and lesbian couples. She launched an all-out media blitz, Bible-in-hand, pressuring lawmakers and voters into supporting her anti-gay efforts. And it worked.

But the effects of that campaign didn’t stop when all the votes were counted. By giving voice to Bryant and her followers, the media had instilled in my nine-year-old heart the belief that being gay was bad. Several years later, when I realized that I was gay, all the messages that the media had given my younger self came rushing back. I felt like I was wrong for being who I was. I felt like the world would be a terrible place for me. I felt hopeless. Helpless. Like I would never be worthy of anyone’s love.

I was wrong to believe those things. But the media was wrong to sell those lies to me, under the guise of a “debate.”

By letting Tony Perkins stand on its soapbox, the Washington Post is telling today’s kids, their parents, and the educators whose job it is to prepare them for life, that it’s perfectly reasonable to claim (as Perkins does) that those dark thoughts are caused by simply being gay – and not by the fact that people like Perkins have made it their lives’ work to deny gay people the opportunity to live freely and peacefully.

In his piece this week (mere paragraphs after he claimed that he believes no person should be subjected to verbal harassment) Perkins called gay children “abnormal” and “self-destructive.” According to the Post, there’s nothing wrong with that sort of name-calling. It’s just one side of the debate. And technically the Post is correct when it says it is covering “both sides” of the scourge of anti-gay bullying.

But one of those sides belongs to the bully himself.

When have we ever seen Tony Perkins in the media, discussing an issue that did not involve the lives of gay people? How often is he on CNN to discuss poverty? When was the last time he showed up in the op-ed pages to talk about hunger or homelessness? Perkins only shows his face in the media when there’s a chance for him to argue that the lives of gay people are unworthy.

If Perkins truly believes that all people – even gay people – should be able to live their lives free from bullying, then he needs to stop bullying them himself.

Until Perkins ends his campaign to keep basic freedoms away from gay people, the Washington Post and other media outlets need to stop treating him like a reasonable contributor to our national dialogue. And if they keep giving him a soapbox, they’re telling the nation that his anti-gay screeds are just as reasonable as the opinions of those who want the bullying to stop.

GLAAD Is In The Midst of Major Board and Financial Problems, Lack of Transparency Issues And Now The Possibility Of Grant Misappropriations. We Need To Ask More Questions and We Need To Get Some Answers

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There have been many problems exposed with The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation Organization over the past two weeks thanks to the diligent research and effort by Michael Petrelis of the The Pertrelis Files.   Since New president Jared Barrios has taken over internal strife within the organization has GLAAD Board Members are leaving in the droves and with their departure fundraising is dropping seriously and now there are questions about a 2009 Foundation Grant given by the Arcus Foundation to GLAAD to “help LGBT Bloggers” might be being misused.  But as usual getting any straight, answers or information from GLAAD is like banging your head against a brick wall.

Here is hat we know thus far.

Last year Jarret Barrios who is former member of both the Massachusetts House of Representatives , the Massachusetts Senate and  the former President of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation became President of GLAAD and since that time according to former GLAAD co-chair Laurie Perper GLAAD’s inner workings have been spiraling out of control. 

According to Pepar  9 board members have left since the arrival of Jarrett Barrios, 5 senior team leaders out of 8 have left and the reserve fund is down by 2/3rds. Many other board members have agreed to stay thru Oct. for appearances.  There are serious behind the scenes problems at GLAAD that many say lead back to Barrios. 

In full disclosure I know Jarrett Barrios from back when I lived in Boston, MA.  Here’s an antidote that sums up Jarret nicely.  Back in 2005-2006 when same sex marriage was still a hot button issue and anti-gay marriage foes were attempting to push legislature through to overturn it and there were mass debates, fights and actions at the State House, Barrios instead of focusing 100 percent on lobbying against the legislation found it more important to take time to work on and introduce legislature banning the FLUFFERNUTTER SANDWICH because he was pissy that his son was served one at school as lunch.  Barrios later dropped his legislative crusade against the Fluffernutter when he learned after the fact that Jelly, jam, and honey had more sugar and calories.  What does this have to do with GLAAD you might say?  Maybe nothing.  But It does give insight into the man that seems to be tearing the organization apart.

Now another recent GLAAD problem Mike Petrelis had found had to do with a 2009 Foundation Grant to GLAAD from the Arcus Foundation to help LGBT Bloggers. 

Screenshot from the Arcus Page:

Petrelis reached out to popular LGBT Bloggers across the web including myself, Pam’s House Blend, Joe. My. God, Towleroad, The Billerico Project, Good As You, AmericaBlog Gay and Queerty asking if we have ever heard of this or if GLAAD had ever been in contact.  To which the unanimous answer was no.  In the past two weeks Mike Petrelis has written to both GLAAD and The Arcus Foundation asking about this and his emails have not been returned.
I took it upon myself to follow-up on what happened to the LGBT Blogger Foundation Grant.  I emailed Jarret Barrios who forwarded my email to Richard Ferraro who answered my questions about the Grant in one sentence missives.  “The grant was not intended or given for this reason. It was given to build GLAAD’s internal capacity to better work with bloggers and in the digital space”  
Now that really does not sound like what is written on the Arcus Grant page so I pressed Ferraro further and this was his second and last response on the matter. “GLAAD’s digital team is still developing web advocacy tools and the formal program – and we will be enlisting the help of many in the blogosphere on its development.”
So let me get this straight.  The $80,000.00, Grant that was made is supposed to help almost 2 years ago to GLAAD to work with LGBT bloggers to “strengthen their message and get them to the mainstream media and make our sites more financially responsible”  what The  Arcus Foundation granted the money for will be used so GLAAD can better work with Bloggers in their “internal space” and they want us to help them build a program that they got $80,0000.00 to build.  A  grant and program that none of us would have heard of if Mike Petrelis didn’t stumble upon it on the Arcus Grants page.  There is something definitely wrong there.
(And here’s a personal note to Richard Ferraro and Jarret Barrios.  If you want to better work with LGBT Bloggers. perhaps you should try to actually answer some of their e-mails, and the ones that you do answer perhaps something more than a one sentence condescending missive might actually get your message out better.  And build some bridges.  That might help GLAAD and it costs nothing.)
So here it is in a nutshell.  GLAAD is falling apart, Board members who worked hard and gave the organization their all  for so  many years are jumping ship left and right, there is absolutely no transparency In the organization,  Barrios seems to feel that he is above\answering to anyone, fundraising is down, and now there is a possibility that GLAAD is misusing Grant monies.  And yet only one blogger, Mike Petrelis has picked up on the story and has the guts to run with it
GLAAD is in serious trouble and that trouble is being caused internally and there are many serious questions that need to be answered,   Both Barrios and Ferraro seem to think that  they and GLAAD  are above answering them  to “lowly bloggers”.  (Even thought hey received 80k to do just that)
I do know that other LGBT Blogs and a few Mainstream news sites do actually read my posts from time to time so I am asking you to look into and report on this story and to push GLAAD for some answers.  They are not above being questioned about their internal working and any possible misappropriations, and they are not above having to give answers for them. 

Homo Sat What? – Jarret Barrios President of GLAAD: "How Judge Walker rules (On Prop 8) doesn’t matter nearly as much as the process did."

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What an ignorant flaming asshole……..

The trial mattered a lot, but how Judge Walker rules doesn’t matter nearly as much as the process did. Of enormous — but underappreciated — significance was the role the trial played as a forum for gay and lesbian couples to tell their stories. As fair-minded Americans have gotten to know these couples and their inspiring commitment to one another, public opinion has moved toward strong support for equality. – Jarret Barrios President of GLAAD

For barrios to actually believe this makes him beyond dellusional.  Not all that many people followed the trial, particularly since the Supreme Court quashed televising it, and most people, particularly among straights, don’t even know what Perry vs. Schwarzenegger is. 

To actually think that Barrios is a Leader in the LGBT Community is mind boggling . 

To think that any of them Kors, Forman, Carey, Solmonese are still our “leaders” is mind boggling .

Who still, after everything that has happened and been exposed about this worthless lot keeps giving money to these assholes and their organizations to pay thier bloated salaries?

THEY NEED TO GO!

Obama To Hold White House Gay Pride Reception On June 22. Where Is MY Invitation?

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President Obama will hold a White House Gay Pride Reception on June 22. Invitations for the event were mailed last week, they say: “The President requests the pleasure of your company at a reception in celebration of LGBT Pride Month to be held at The White House.”

Well there must be some oversight because iafter a week I still haven’t recieved mine!  I wonder if it’s lost in the mail?

I am sure that Joe Solomese, President of the Human Rights Campaign is picking out a $700 Dolce Gabina suit as we speak and Rea Carey Executive Director of The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and her girlfriend are out shopping for matching Birkenstocks and laughing at the memories of the movie night they shared together at The White House with Barack and Michelle two days after we lost gay marriage in Maine.  And  Jarret Barrios of GLAAD has already gotten his invitation and is sitting down with his son Javier and a copy of Emily Post teaching the proper protocal for kissing ass.  But where is MY invitation and others like me, bloggers, activist, and the “non-elite” LGBT’s who are in the trenches day in and day out fighting for our rights without making 6 figure salaries and kissing ass?

So President Obama how about an invite.  Hell, I don;t even care if you invite me.  How about inviting bloggers Pam Spaulding, Louise Maine, Mike Petrelis, Joe Jervis, or Andy Towle?  Or activist Andy Thayer from the Gay Liberation Network or Robin McGehee from Get Equal?  They are  REAL LGBT Americans who care about our rights and our future and who aren’t afraid to stand up, fight, and report the truth.  The REAL fierce advocates of the LGBT Community

So, Mr. President we are all waiting for our invitations.  Are you willing to “man-up” and send them and convince us that you have the LGBT communities best interest at heart or will this once again just be a photo-op coctail party for the gay elite who make nice salaries and benefit from our inequality?  The same “gay elite” that we as a community don’t even want to represent us anymore but like herpes can’t seem to get rid of.

I’ll wait for the mailman everyday for my invitation. 

But alas, I am sure that like having equal rights I will be waiting forever.

Ramin Setoodeh Newsweek Article: GLAAD Wants An Apology, Glee Creator Ryan Murphy Wants A Newsweek Boycott, And I Want To Kick Ramin Setoodeh’s Ass For Making Me Stand Up For Sean Hayes (Ewwww)

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Ramin and his friendly dildo!
One week late GLAAD President Jarrett Barrios released a statement today regarding the Newsweek article by Ramin Setoodeh suggesting that gay actors can’t play straight roles. (C’mon Kristen Chenowerth beat GLAAD to the punch on this, maybe she should be in charge of the organization) 

Said Barrios:

“Whether he intended it to or not, Ramin Setoodeh’s article in Newsweek sends a false and damaging message about gay actors by endorsing the idea that there are limits to the roles they are able to play.

If Setoodeh wanted to start a discussion about the work of gay performers, he undermined his own premise by affirming stereotype after stereotype, such as gay actors being ‘insincere’ or unbelievable when playing romantic leads, and dismissing or disregarding the work of actors like Neil Patrick Harris, Cheyenne Jackson, Cherry Jones, Wanda Sykes, Jonathan Groff and Alan Cumming, among others.

Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender actors can play a wide variety of diverse roles and Setoodeh’s perspective on this issue reflects his own discomfort that he attempts to project onto the audience by indicting Sean Hayes instead of examining his own inability to embrace gay actors in straight roles.

Since the article’s publication, Setoodeh has attempted to reframe his opinion piece as an analysis of the lack of gay men in leading roles, however, he continues to posit that gay male actors are not believable. In his May 11th interview with Joy Behar, Setoodeh claims about Neil Patrick Harris’ television role: ‘He’s not really a romantic lead where women are actually supposed to believe him as a heterosexual character.’

Whatever Setoodeh’s intentions or beliefs, Newsweek is ultimately responsible for having published this deeply problematic essay and consciously or not, promoting and encouraging Setoodeh’s discomfort.

GLAAD has been in dialogue with Newsweek to provide space for views on the subject that expand their readers’ understanding of this issue past the harmful attitudes of writers like Setoodeh, whose perspective is used to pressure gay actors to stay closeted.