LGBTQ Media Event 'GLAAD Down South' Returns for 2025, Set to Honor Journalists & HIV Storytelling
- Gaye Magazine Staff
- 13 minutes ago
- 2 min read
News & Opinion
The 2nd annual LGBTQ media event 'GLAAD Down South' is returning to Atlanta to celebrate southern LGBTQ+ journalists, storytellers, and people living with HIV.
The event which takes place Friday, May 16 at 8:00 p.m. at MODEx Studio in Atlanta will see the return of Dewayne Queen, President of EQUAL at DELTA Air Lines, as host. This year Gaye Magazine will serve as one of the official media partners to assist in amplifying the event's mission and purpose.
In addition to being hosted by Queen, the event is set to feature three mini-panel discussions: Centering Black Trans Voices, moderated by Toni-Michelle Williams (Executive Director, SNAPCo), Queering a Radically Inclusive Faith, moderated by Rashad Walker (Producer, CNN International), and Increasing Visibility: Black Queer Women in Media, moderated by LaPorsche Thomas (Independent Journalist).
This year's event sees the introduction for the GLAAD Down South Special Recognition Award, which honors two Southern LGBTQ or ally journalists who have committed to amplifying LGBTQ+ and HIV stories in their work.
Recipients for the inaugural 2025 GLAAD Down South award include DeAsia Paige, The Atlanta-Journal Constitution's culture reporter and veteran journalist and author Charles Blow, an MSNBC analyst and former New York Times columnist.
In a statement Darian Aaron, Director of Local News: U.S. South at GLAAD called the event a visible manifestation of their investment in amplifying LGBTQ and HIV narratives across the South.
He continued saying, “In a region that is home to the highest LGBTQ population in the country, it is imperative that the challenges and triumphs of LGBTQ people of color and people living with HIV is not categorized as niche coverage, but is viewed as another complex and dynamic aspect of the Black Southern experience deserving to be told."
Aaron is set to join author and Senior Director of Global HIV Medical Affairs at GILEAD, Dr. David Malebranche in conversation.
In the weeks to follow, GLAAD Down South programming will expand to include HBCU campuses and will help brief journalists attending the National Association of Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association (NLGJA) annual conference, about ways to improve LGBTQ coverage across the U.S. South.
RSVP for GLAAD Down South here. For more information, visit www.glaad.org or connect @GLAAD on social media platforms.
