Gay Education Program for Reporters

SAN ANTONIO -- The National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association today launched the Leroy F. Aarons Journalism Education Program. The multi-faceted initiative will continue and expand the education work started by NLGJA founder Leroy F. Aarons.

NLGJA made the announcement at the annual convention of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) in San Antonio.

“Roy Aarons always believed that NLGJA’s goal of fair and accurate coverage would be realized by training young journalists and students,” said Pamela Strother, NLGJA’s executive director. “The Aarons Program builds on his vision and will help prepare tomorrow’s journalist to cover complex issues of sexual orientation.”

The Aarons Program brings together all of NLGJA’s education efforts, including two new features: The Educators’ Toolbox, an online resource for educators who want to include sexual orientation issues in their curriculum; and the Leroy F. Aarons Scholarship Program – NLGJA’s first scholarship.

Today’s rollout at the AEJMC Convention was highlighted by the official launch of the Aarons Program’s website portal at www.nlgja.com/education. The website includes the Educators’ Toolbox, designed under the direction of Dr. Dane Claussen, Point Park University (Pittsburgh), and Barbara Raab of NBC News. NLGJA plans to announce details of the $5,000 Leroy F. Aarons Scholarship at its 15th Anniversary Celebration & Convention, Sept. 22-25, in Chicago.

Other initiatives in the Aarons Program include the NLGJA National Convention Student Project and the NLGJA Excellence in Student Journalism Award. All the resources are designed to provide tools to educators and students and help them understand and cover the complex and rapidly changing issues around sexual orientation, media and society.

The Aarons Program is NLGJA’s tribute to Roy Aarons, its founder and a pioneering journalist, who died Nov. 28, 2004. The program was conceived by former NLGJA presidents Steven Petrow and Robert Dodge along with Strother and NLGJA President Eric Hegedus in San Francisco shortly after Aarons’ death. The meeting was organized by Petrow, who drew the group together to design an effort that would advance Aarons’ important work in journalism education.

Petrow, senior vice president/editorial director of Waterfront Media in Brooklyn, N.Y., and Dodge, a national correspondent in the Washington Bureau of The Dallas Morning News, are serving as the founding co-chairs of the Aarons Program.

“For the 15 years that I knew Roy, he continually emphasized the importance of training the next generation of journalists, LGBT and otherwise, about sexual orientation issues,” Petrow said. “In the few short months since his passing, we’ve gathered a first rate advisory board for the program, which is such a testament to Roy and his vision.”

Dodge said the Aarons Program would help journalism students prepare for their careers. “Journalism students start their careers in a complex world and will quickly find out that diversity issues are at the heart of social, political and economic developments,” Dodge said. “It is important that young journalists are armed with the best knowledge and skills – and the Aarons Program will be an important ingredient in their education.”

Aarons, a member of the faculty at the University of Southern California Annenberg School for Communication, was passionate about training the next generation of journalists and communications professionals. His contributions at USC included a breakthrough program called Sexual Orientation Issues in the News. Aarons’ commitment to bringing awareness of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues to schools of journalism and communications has dramatically influenced coverage of those issues.

The Aarons Program is consistent with and designed, in part, to help educators meet standards adopted by the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications (ACEMJC) that require colleges of journalism and mass communications to include sexual orientation in their curricula. Many of the resources have been developed with the help of faculty and scholars who are members of the AEJMC.

Aarons, a former executive editor of The Oakland Tribune, founded NLGJA in 1990 during a meeting with fellow journalists in his living room. It has grown into an organization of 1,300 members with 24 chapters nationwide. NLGJA plays a significant role in improving the fairness and accuracy of coverage of the LGBT community and in creating an equitable workplace for its members.