Gaywheels

The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation may not have any awards in its gift bag for automakers this year, but the Point Foundation certainly does — at least for one forward-thinking German brand. The nation’s largest scholarship-granting organization for LGBT students of merit will honor Audi with its Point Inspiration Award at a gala event later this month. According to the Foundation’s press release: The Point Inspiration Award recognizes a corporation that champions respect and inclusion of the LGBT community, and operates with the vision that the success achieved by talented young people is limited only by the resources and opportunities they are given to help them fulfill their potential. [...]

Last week, the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation published its list of nominees for the organization’s second annual Media Awards in Advertising. According to the official press release, the awards are meant to “elevate and promote individuals and projects in the advertising and marketing industries for their fair, accurate and inclusive representations of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community and the issues that affect their lives.” Which is quite a mouthful, but at heart, it means that GLAAD wants to recognize those companies that give visibility to our community. [...]

When we think “Ricky Martin”, we think many things: music, dancing, gay dad, bedroom eyes. Now we can add “NASCAR sponsor” to that list, because Martin — or rather, the Ricky Martin Foundation — recently brought his message of child welfare to auto racing fans via a partnership with fellow Puerto Rican native Victor Gonzales Jr. According to reports, Martin was directly involved in getting Gonzales onboard with the foundation: [...]

Sometimes, a news item doesn’t require much explaining. This is one of those items. Behold a recent Australian commercial for the Honda Jazz, which is known in the U.S. as the Honda Fit. And in this case, our name is far more appropriate than the one from Down Under. Let the jokes about massive packing and stuffing commence! [...]

California might not be full-on pink like some other places on the big map of StatesThatAllowGayMarriage.com, but it’s definitely rosier than it was yesterday. Of course, as a community, we’ve still got a very long row to hoe before we reach anything approximating “equality”, but U.S. District Chief Judge Vaughn R. Walker’s ruling yesterday came as very welcome news. Given the massive uncertainty surrounding the much-needed repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” — not to mention the passage of ENDA — Walker’s lengthy and thoroughly decisive opinion has given us a welcome boost. It’s also dabbed a bit of salve on the heartbreak that millions experienced in November 2008, when, at the exact moment many Americans felt their country moving forward, the passage of Proposition 8 provided a bitter reminder that progress is never a straight line. (Double-entendre intended.) [...]