June 2011 - Pride Month officially begins and IN THE LIFE , the only
independent voice for the gay community on mainstream television, sends out a message of hope by featuring a gospel choir raising spirits
and awareness about HIV/AIDS. Messengers of Hope is an Oakland based gospel choir that uses gospel music as a means
to go into the church and the community to engage people in conversations about HIV/AIDS. African Americans have been
disproportionately affected by HIV/AIDS since the epidemic's beginnings.
"When I tell people in the services that I am HIV positive, I see a bunch of different reactions. Sometimes I see shock on people's
face. I can't tell whether it's shock because they found out that I'm positive or they're shocked that I said I was positive," Ernest
Larkins, Director of Messengers of Hope and Minister of the Allen Temple Baptist Church.
Maintaining the theme of celebrating one's authentic self, IN THE LIFE also features Andre Cooley, a Mississippi Corrections Officer who
was fired when his employer discovered he was gay and Bill Hendrix, Bio Team Leader of Dow AgroSciences in Indiana who has civil
protections from 8am-5pm that disappear after leaving the gates of his company. Their personal stories provide a look at
employment discrimination and how some corporations provide protections to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender
employees in the absence of a federally accepted Employment Non-Discrimination Act.
"There are still a majority of states in the United States where it is legal to fire someone because of sexual orientation or gender
identity. Even in those states that do have laws, the coverage of these states varies from state to state and in some cases don't
provide adequate protection. For example, most laws do not include protections for transgender people," Chai Feldblum,
Commissioner of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)
To watch the complete episode click here:
http://www.itlmedia.org/
In The Life Media will also be featuring, exclusively on the Web, profiles of corporate executives who discuss the unique challenges
of being openly LGBT in high-level corporate positions. The profiles include employees from Texas Instruments, Dell Inc., State Farm,
Mass Mutual Financial and Out & Equal.
To watch the exclusive Web content click here:
http://www.itlmedia.org/html/other/LGBT%20Executives%20Speak%20Out.html
A Message of Hope is now airing on public television stations across the country and available for free video streaming and downloadable
podcasts from the In The Life Media website. To find out when it will air in your local area, to stream or download it, go to www.ITLMedia.org .
Produced by In The Life Media, IN THE LIFE is the longest running television show documenting the gay experience. IN THE LIFE is
a three-time Emmy Award nominee, a Lambda Legal Liberty Award honoree, and the recipient of the Courage Award from the New York
City Gay and Lesbian Anti-Violence Project, the Seigenthaler Award from the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association
for excellence in network television and a GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding TV Journalism-Newsmagazine.
In The Life Media produces change through innovative media that exposes social injustice by chronicling lesbian, gay, bisexual,
and transgender life. Produced by In The Life Media, IN THE LIFE is the longest running television show documenting the gay
experience. IN THE LIFE is a two-time Emmy Award nominee, a Lambda Legal Liberty Award honoree, a Seigenthaler Award
recipient from the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association for excellence in network television and a
GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding TV Journalism-Newsmagazine.
ABOUT AMERICAN PUBLIC TELEVISION:
IN THE LIFE is distributed by American Public Television. APT has been a leading distributor of high-quality, top-rated
programming to America's public television stations since 1961. In 2009, APT distributed 56 of the top 100 highest-rated
public television titles. Among its 300 new program titles per year are prominent documentaries, news and current affairs
programs, dramatic series, how-to programs, children's series and classic movies. APT also licenses programs internationally
through its APT Worldwide service. In 2006, APT launched Create® - the TV channel featuring the best of public television's
lifestyle programming. APT is also a partner in the WORLDT channel expansion project including its web presence at
WORLDcompass.org . For more information about APT's programs and services,
visit APTonline.org . For more information on Create, visit CreateTV.com .
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Contact:
ELEANOR MOONIER COMMUNICATIONS COORDINATOR
184 FIFTH AVENUE, 4TH FLOOR | NEW YORK, NY 10010
T: 212.255.6012 EXT 321 | F: 212.255.6097
EMOONIER@ITLMEDIA.ORG | WWW.ITLMEDIA.ORG
"Reproduced with permission - IN THE LIFE "
IN THE LIFE
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