The Delegate Count for DNC

This is a powerful DNC because of the diversity in the room.

So far, there are 4,766 delegates.

• 2,887 of them are women
• 1,182 delegates are Black
• 292 are Asian American
• 747 are Latinos
• 633 are Queer.

Interesting Quote: George Clooney

If you think back 10 years ago, the Academy was doing a better job. Think about how many more African Americans were nominated. I would also make the argument, I don’t think it’s a problem of who you’re picking as much as it is: How many options are available to minorities in film, particularly in quality films?

I think we have a lot of points we need to come to terms with. I find it amazing that we’re an industry that in the 1930s, most of our leads were women. And now a woman over 40 has a very difficult time being a lead in a movie. We’re seeing some movement. Jennifer Lawrence and Patricia Arquette have made the loud pronouncement about wage disparity, have put a stamp on the idea that we got to pay attention. But we should have been paying attention long before this. I think that African Americans have a real fair point that the industry isn’t representing them well enough. I think that’s absolutely true.

Let’s look back at some of the nominees. I think around 2004, certainly there were black nominees — like Don Cheadle, Morgan Freeman. And all of a sudden, you feel like we’re moving in the wrong direction. There were nominations left off the table. There were four films this year: “Creed” could have gotten nominations; “Concussion” could have gotten Will Smith a nomination; Idris Elba could have been nominated for “Beasts of No Nation;” and “Straight Outta Compton” could have been nominated. And certainly last year, with “Selma” director Ava DuVernay — I think that it’s just ridiculous not to nominate her.

But honestly, there should be more opportunity than that. There should be 20 or 30 or 40 films of the quality that people would consider for the Oscars. By the way, we’re talking about African Americans. For Hispanics, it’s even worse. We need to get better at this. We used to be better at it.

source

#OscarsSoWhite forces Changes in the Academy

Due to the backlash of the Oscar nominees being so white, the academy has got together and reset the rules.

The new rules will increase the number of women and minorities in the academy by 2020 and limiting lifetime voting rights. Personally, I wish they can fast forward this for next year, but hey, you can't fight city hall.

LA Times have the scoop:

The new academy rules are designed to speed up the process of change, as the board passed a series of measures that would remove from its voting rolls members who have not been active in the film industry for many years and establish a precedent requiring active engagement in the industry for new members. The new rules stipulate that:

• Each new member's voting status will last 10 years and will be renewed if that member has been active in motion pictures during that decade.

• Members will receive lifetime voting rights after three 10-year terms or if they have won or been nominated for an Academy Award.

• Those who do not qualify for active status will be moved to emeritus status, which means they enjoy the privileges of membership, such as access to screenings and events, but cannot vote on the Oscars.

It's a great first step, however, it's a bigger problem within the studios. The changes have to start with the writers, creators and director. The next step is to get these studios together.

LGBT Organization Leadership Lack Diversity

Washington Blade did an interesting post of the LGBT leadership. You can check it out here, but what I see is a lack of leaders of color, as well as, orgs. of color.

I need to write about this sometime, because when we don't have diversity in leadership, how do we truly address our community moving forward?

More to come

The Oscar nominations are Out... And the lack of Diversity is showing

The Oscars noms are out and it's not cute. Here are some of the categories:

Best Picture
“American Sniper”
“Birdman”
“Boyhood”
“The Grand Budapest Hotel”
“The Imitation Game”
“Selma”
“The Theory of Everything”
“Whiplash”

Actor in a Leading Role
Steve Carell, “Foxcatcher”
Bradley Cooper, “American Sniper”
Benedict Cumberbatch, “The Imitation Game”
Michael Keaton, “Birdman”
Eddie Redmayne, “The Theory of Everything”


Actress in a Leading Role
Marion Cotillard, “Two Days One Night”
Felicity Jones, “The Theory of Everything”
Julianne Moore, “Still Alice”
Rosamund Pike, “Gone Girl”
Reese Witherspoon, “Wild”

Actor in a Supporting Role
Robert Duvall, “The Judge”
Ethan Hawke, “Boyhood”
Edward Norton, “Birdman”
Mark Ruffalo, “Foxcatcher”
J.K. Simmons, “Whiplash”

Actress in a Supporting Role
Patricia Arquette, “Boyhood”
Laura Dern, “Wild”
Emma Stone, “Birdman”
Keira Knightley, “The Imitation Game”
Meryl Streep, “Into the Woods”

Directing
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, “Birdman”
Richard Linklater, “Boyhood”
Bennett Miller, “Foxcatcher”
Wes Anderson, “The Grand Budapest Hotel”
Morten Tyldum, “The Imitation Game”

It seems to be a White male love fest for Directors and Best Actor nominations. I woke up to angry Twitter posts about how "fratty" the Oscars look this year and here's why.

No women were in the Best Director category this year, despite of the two most talked about films, “Selma” and "Unbroken" (both directed by women). Ava DuVernay would have been the first Black woman ever nominated in the Director category.

Also for Best Actor, there are no men of color nominated at all. That's not a huge surprise, but David Oyelowo's was super strong. I can't believe he was snubbed!

It's all very interesting, considering how Hollywood has been criticized for the lack of diversity lately. Oh well... you can see the rest of the nominations here.

A Sad look at the Lack of Diversity at the Emmy Awards and TV - INFOGRAPHIC

Melissa Harris-Perry discusses the GOP's Diversity Problem

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Who are the Oscar Voters? You Might be Surprised

A study of Academy Awards voters has revealed some not-so-cute info about the Oscars. According to their research, most of the voters are white males.

The Los Angeles Times found that 94 percent of the 5,765 voting members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences are white and 77 percent are men. Blacks and Hispanics account for only 2 percent each of academy members.

The newspaper's findings were reported Sunday, a week before the Oscars. The Times reported that through interviews with members and their representatives, it confirmed the identities of about 5,100 voters — 89 percent of academy membership.

This is not cute at all. To see this info, explains a lot about why certain roles and movies are chosen. But the academy's president assures they are trying to diversify its membership. 

Well Mr. President, try harder.

source

Interesting Quote: Axel Alonso

"If you check our record, Elflore, I think you'll see our commitment to diversity is apparent across the line, and has been for some time. Black Panther has anchored a monthly title on and off for the past 8 years, and is certain to be back in the mix in 2012, Luke Cage has been a central character in [Brian] Bendis' Avengers, and Shang Chi's role in "Spider-Island" is a taste of things to come -- and those are just three characters off the top of my head.


It's not like we've stopped trying, either. Besides Miles Morales in the Ultimate Universe, we've introduced a wide variety of multicultural characters in the Marvel Universe: the super-powered bounty hunter team, the Zapata Brothers, from "Moon Knight" and "Deadpool Team-Up"; Reptil from "Avengers Academy"; Coldmoon and Dragonfire from "Point One"; Raizo Todo from "Fear Itself: Hulk"; and "Battle Scar's" Sergeant Marcus Johnson, who is a character you'll definitely want to keep your eye on -- I mean, eyes. Also, Striker just came out of the closet in "Avengers Academy," and Wiccan and Hulkling continue to play a huge role in "Young Avengers/Avengers: Children's Crusade." I feel like I'm just getting started." 

Axel speaks on the diversity within the 616 Marvel universe

UNITY: Journalists of Color & National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association (NLGJA) enters Partnership

UNITY: Journalists of Color and National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association (NLGJA) has joined together promote each other's efforts. Here's more:

NLGJA's mission to advance the interests of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender journalists is consistent with UNITY's mission of ensuring that American newsrooms, and consequently news coverage, reflects the diversity of our communities. 

"We are delighted that NLGJA's board has voted to accept our invitation to join the UNITY alliance," UNITY President Joanna Hernandez said. "Our alliance will be stronger with NLGJA on board. It expands our mission to embrace diversity broadly, which is a logical progression for UNITY."

The agreement will allow NLGJA to participate in the UNITY 2012 Convention to be held in Las Vegas next August. 

"NLGJA is very excited to join UNITY and is committed to supporting its goal of improving the industry's coverage of diverse communities," said NLGJA President David Steinberg. "Joining UNITY will help NLGJA further its goal of fostering fair and accurate coverage of LGBT issues in the news media and encouraging newsroom diversity." 

This is good news and encouraging. Hopefully this will help bring more diversity in the media.

source

The Teen Titans get a Gay Team Member

The New 52 continues changing the DC comic universe by adding interesting characters. And for the first time ever, the Teen Titans gets a gay team member. His name is Bunker.

Here's the Twitter exchange between comic goddess, Gail Simone and TT artist, Brett Booth (Demonpuppy)

According to Bleeding Cool, his real name is Miguel Jose Barragan and he's from a small village in Mexico called El Chiar.

DC Comics brings us our First African Batman in Batwing #1

DC Comics announces a new character to the DC universe. Meet David Zavimb, the Batman of Africa.

"Batwing #1 is a series that spins right out of Grant Morrison's Batman Incorporated storyline. This is the first time that we have an in-continuity black character wearing the Batman costume," said Batman group editor Mike Marts. "Grant has provided us with so many new characters and concepts. He's really just been a fountain of ideas and energy for the Batman group of titles. We have so many different cool things to choose from what Grant creates, and we go with what we think is going to provide readers with the most story and the most excitement. And with this, Batwing won out."

source

My Top 5 Picks for Ethnically Diverse Cartoons

When I was a kid, I was easily brainwashed in believing people of color couldn't be leaders, heroes and change agents. What really pushed it were cartoons. Usually the heroes were White and enemies or villains were other colors (green, orange, etc).

However, there were a few animated shows that stuck out and challenged the norm.

Blackstar - He was believed to be Native American


Rubik the Amazing Cube


Fat Albert


Jem


Bravestarr

There Ain't no Color in this Rainbow: GLAAD shows the lack of Racial Diversity in LGBT TV

This is not cute. GLAAD has an interesting breakdown of racial diversity in LGBT characters for this year.

Here's the breakdown

LGBT Characters on Broadcast Television

LEAD CHARCTERS
Show	Network	Character	Actor	Orientation/Ethnicity
Brothers & Sisters	ABC	Kevin Walker	Matthew Rhys	gay/white
Grey's Anatomy	ABC	Callie Torres	Sara Ramirez	bisexual/Latina
Happy Endings	ABC	Max	Adam Pally	gay/white
Modern Family	ABC	Mitchell	Jesse Tyler Ferguson	gay/white
Modern Family	ABC	Cameron	Eric Stonestreet	gay/white
				Subtotal: 5
SUPPORTING CHARACTERS
Show	Network	Character	Actor	Orientation/Ethnicity
90210	The CW	Teddy Montgomery	Trevor Donovan	gay/white
90210	The CW	Adrianna Tate-Duncan	Jessica Lowndes	bisexual/white
American Dad!	FOX	Roger the Alien	Seth MacFarlane	gay/non-human
Bones	FOX	Angela Montenegro	Michaela Conlin	bisexual/API
Brothers & Sisters	ABC	Scotty Wandell	Luke Macfarlane	gay/white
Brothers & Sisters	ABC	Saul Holden	Ron Rifkin	gay/white
Desperate Housewives	ABC	Lee	Kevin Rahm	gay/white
Desperate Housewives	ABC	Bob	Tuc Watkins	gay/white
Glee	FOX	Kurt Hummel	Chris Colfer	gay/white
The Good Wife	CBS	Kalinda Sharma	Archie Panjabi	bisexual/API
Grey's Anatomy	ABC	Arizona Robbins	Jessica Capshaw	lesbian/white
Hellcats	The CW	Patty Wedgerman	Elena Esovolova	lesbian/white
House	FOX	Thirteen	Olivia Wilde	bisexual/white
Law & Order: SVU	NBC	Dr. George Huang	B.D. Wong	gay/API
The Office	NBC	Oscar Martinez	Oscar Ninez	gay/Latino
Outlaw	NBC	Lucinda Pearl	Carly Pope	bisexual/white
Running Wilde	FOX	Mr. Lunt	Robert Michael Morris	gay/white
The Whole Truth	ABC	Alejo Salazar	Anthony Ruivivar	gay/white
				Subtotal: 18
RECURRING CHARACTERS
Show	Network	Character	Actor	Orientation/Ethnicity
90210	The CW	Ian	Kyle Riabko	gay/white
$#*! My Dad Says	CBS	Tim	Tim Bagley	gay/white
American Dad!	FOX	Greg Corbin	Seth MacFarlane	gay/white
American Dad!	FOX	Terry Bates	Mike Barker	gay/white
Desperate Housewives	ABC	Andrew Van de Kamp	Shawn Pyfrom	gay/white
GLEE	FOX	Blaine	Darren Criss	gay/white
The Good Wife	CBS	Lana Delaney	Jill Flint	gay/white
The Good Wife	CBS	Alicia's gay brother	Dallas Roberts	gay/white
Gossip Girl	The CW	Eric Van der Woodsen	Conor Paolo	gay/white
The Office	NBC	Matt	Sam Daly	gay/white
Rules of Engagment	CBS	Lesbian Surrogate	TBD	lesbian/unknown
The Simpsons	FOX	Patty Bouvier	Julie Kavner	lesbian/white
The Simpsons	FOX	Waylon Smithers	Harry Shearer	gay/white
Undercovers	NBC	Lance	Jay Scully	gay/unknown
				Subtotal: 14

LGBT Characters on Cable Television

LEAD CHARCTERS
Show	Network	Character	Actor	Orientation/Ethnicity
Degrassi: The Boiling Point	TeenNick	Riley Stavros	Argiris Karras	gay/white
GREEK	ABC Family	Calvin Owens	Paul James	gay/black
In Treatment	HBO	Jesse	Dane DeHaan	gay/white
Nurse Jackie	Showtime	Dr. Eleanor O'Hara	Eve Best	bisexual/white
Pretty Little Liars	ABC Family	Emily Fields	Shay Mitchell	bisexual/other
Rubicon	AMC	Kale Ingram	Arliss Howard	gay/white
Skins	BBC America	Emily	Kathryn Prescott	lesbian/white
Skins	BBC America	Naomi	Lily Loveless	lesbian/white
Skins	MTV	Tea	Sofia Black D'Ella	lesbian/Latina
Torchwood	Starz	Jack Harkness	John Barrowman	bisexual/white
True Blood	HBO	Lafayette Reynolds	Nelsan Ellis	gay/black
United States of Tara	Showtime	Marshall Gregson	Keir Gilchrist	gay/white
				Subtotal: 12
SUPPORTING CHARACTERS
Show	Network	Character	Actor	Orientation/Ethnicity
Archer	FX	Pam	Amber Nash	lesbian/white
Big Love	HBO	Alby Grant	Matt Ross	gay/white
Caprica	Syfy	Sam Adama	Sasha Roiz	gay/white
Death Comes to Town	IFC	Dusty	Scott Thompson	gay/white
Degrassi: The Boiling Point	TeenNick	Adam	Jordan Todosey	transgender(FTM)/white
Degrassi: The Boiling Point	TeenNick	Zane Park	Shannon Kook-Chun	gay/API
GREEK	ABC Family	Grant	Gregory Michael	gay/white
GREEK	ABC Family	Heath	Zach Lively	gay/white
HawthoRNe	TNT	Kelly	Vanessa Lengies	gay/Latina
Huge	ABC Family	Alistair	Harvey Guillen	gay/white
Hung	HBO	Damon Drecker	Charlie Saxon	bisexual/ white
Nurse Jackie	Showtime	Thor	Stephen Wallem	gay/white
Pretty Little Liars	ABC Family	Maya St. Germain	Bianca Lawson	lesbian/Black
Shameless	Sundance	Ian Gallagher	Gerard Kearns	gay/white
Shameless	Sundance	Micky Maguire	Ciaran Griffiths	gay/white
Southland	TNT	Officer John Cooper	Michael Cudlitz	gay/white
Spartacus: Gods of the Arena	Starz	Auctus	Josef Brown	gay/white
Spartacus: Gods of the Arena	Starz	Barca	Antonio Te Maioha	gay/white
Stargate Universe	Syfy	Camile Wray	Ming-Na	lesbian/API
The Secret Life of the American Teenager	ABC Family	Griffin	Brando Eaton	gay/white
True Blood	HBO	Pam	Kristin Bauer	lesbian/white
True Blood	HBO	Russell Edgington	Denis O'Hare	gay/white
White Collar	USA	Diana Barrigan	Marsha Thomason	lesbian/Black
				Subtotal: 23
RECURRING CHARACTERS
Show	Network	Character	Actor	Orientation/Ethnicity
Archer	FX	Ray Gillette	Adam Reed	gay/white
Caprica	Syfy	Larry	Julius Chapple	gay/ white
Entourage	HBO	Lloyd Lee	Rex Lee	gay/API
Facing Kate	USA	Spencer Reed	Ethan Embry	gay/white
Rubicon	AMC	Donald Bloom	Michael Gaston	gay/white
Sons of Anarchy	FX	TBA lesbian character	TBA	lesbian/TBA
South Park	Comedy Central	Mr. Garrison	Trey Parker	gay/white
Stargate Universe	Syfy	Sharon	Reiko Aylesworth	lesbian/API
The Closer	TNT	Dr. Morales	Jonathan Del Arco	gay/Latino
The Secret Life of the American Teenager	ABC Family	Leon	Larry Sullivan	gay/white
The Secret Life of the American Teenager	ABC Family	Donovan	Alex Boling	gay/white
True Blood	HBO	Hadley Hale	Lindsey Haun	bisexual/white
True Blood	HBO	Jesus Velasquez	Kevin Alejandro	gay/Latino
True Blood	HBO	Sophie Anne Lecleq	Evan Rachel Wood	lesbian/white
United States of Tara	Showtime	Lionel Trane	Michael J. Willett	gay/white
United States of Tara	Showtime	Ted Mayo	Michael Hitchcock	gay/white
Weeds	Showtime	Fiona	Sugar Lyn Beard	lesbian/ white
Weeds	Showtime	Linda	Linda Hamilton	lesbian/ white
				Subtotal: 18

Sad, really sad.

source

New Network: GLO TV America's First LGBT Urban Network

This sounds exciting and long over due. GLO TV is a new LGBT Urban Network and it promises to bring diverse stories and characters to our world.
Check out the promo


Here's more info:

About GLO TV
The GLO TV is first Urban LGBT TV network and we represent the future of television: innovative, bold, diverse and delivered across multiple platforms. We proudly feature a full slate of quality programming for the urban LGBT audience, our friends, family and allies. GLO is about showing all of whom we are with programs that are entertaining, informative, affirming and sometimes provocative. GLO understands that within the Urban LGBT community are unique stories waiting to be told, and our programs will always be presented with creativity, quality and integrity. The future of TV has arrived. It's about you, It's about us, It's about time.

GLO President, Maurice Jamal
Just named by BET as among the Who’s Who In Black LGBT America,
GLO TV President and Chief Creative Officer is Maurice Jamal, a celebrated independent filmmaker who achieved mainstream success and has been profiled in Black Enterprise Magazine, Essence, JET, Variety, OUT Magazine and The Advocate. Mr. Jamal created the landmark films “Ski Trip,” “Friends & Lovers” and “Dirty Laundry” and was listed by OUT Magazine as One of The 100 Most Important Gays in America and by AOL Black Voices as One of the Top 25 Most Influential Black Filmmakers.

What is an URBAN LGBT Network?
The Urban LGBT community, our family, friends and allies reach beyond sexuality, race, gender, body type, education, style, region or creed. GLO TV wants to show the world who we truly are. GLO TV is about showing us in all our vibrant colors. The urban community has always been on the cutting edge of culture in America, and with the gay community, even more so. The same way that hip-hop, house and R&B changed music across the globe, GLO is aiming to change TV. The time has come for us to stand up and be counted. The time has come for our stories to be told. The time has come for us to show just how amazing we can be. The time has come for GLO.

What types of shows will there be?
We’re so excited, because GLO will have it all! From outrageous comedies to powerful dramas, sexy soap operas, reality shows, talk shows, feature films, cutting edge news programs, documentaries and music that breaks boundaries. We'll present artists you can't see anywhere else to your favorite celebrities. Most of our programming is original and we’ll also have some favorites you've grown to love.

Get Excited. I wish them the best in all their endeavors.

Check out the website, here

Aussie Football Players come out to support the Gays

This is nice to see.

AFL football players have launched a campaign to promote support for the gay community.

The ''inclusion and diversity'' campaign boasts some of the biggest names in football, including Neil Balme, Joel Selwood and Brownlow medallists Jimmy Bartel and Adam Goodes.

Almost 30 players and coaches have signed up to the Players' Association project, to be launched officially next month.

The sportsmen and coaches have been photographed holding handwritten signs calling for acceptance and understanding of homosexuals.

Now if we can get our football players here in the U.S.A. to do the same, we would be really making changes.

source

Hey Vanity Fair, Diversity is Key!

Why does Vanity Fair continues to ignore the diversity in Hollywood? I don't know why they think this cute, but it's not acceptable.
Here are some girls that could've been featured.

I mean there's Freida Pinto from "Slumdog Millionaire", Gabourey Sidibe in "Precious", Zoe Saldana from "Star Trek" and "Avatar", finally Paula Patton, also from "Precious".

There are others, but these girls could have been mentioned. They are very talented and making huge waves in the biz.

source

Question of the Day: Reality Show Edition

Will we ever have an Asian, Black, Latino or Gay bachelor on The Bachelor?

It's quite interesting that after 8 years, we haven't really seen diversity in this REALITY show.

Where were all the Black folks in Krypton?

Newsarama.com has uncovered an interesting place in Superman's world, Vathlo Island. I never heard of the place and neither have most people. The reason may be because that's where are all the Black People lived.

Many years ago, there was a map of Krypton. If you look here you will see what I'm talking about.
Vathlo Island, Home of a Highly Advanced Black Race. Isn't that something? For a long time Kryptonians were all white. In wasn't until the mid-70s diversity hit the dead planet.

“A lack of ethnicity was an error of omission, and I'm not sure given the time that it's fair to call that ‘racist,'" said Mark Waid, Boom! Studios Editor-in-Chief, occasional DC Comics writer. “Siegel and all those who followed in crafting the Superman legend were, indeed, simply following the traditions of the Golden Age of Science Fiction, when one world always equaled one culture, maybe two if they were at war because the plot demanded it. Remember, as absurd as this sounds in an America finally enlightened enough to elect a black man as President, the Civil Rights Act wasn't passed until 1964. The gradual recognition of all races and ethnicities across all of pop culture, comics included, really didn't start to blossom until the late 1960s. Yes, Superman was weirdly late to that party - the first African-American even in a Superman story, and it's from the summer of 1970, believe it or not! - but again, and not to make excuses, that delay was just creative inertia in action.”

Fascinating. I have to get this comic. I understand the sign of the times back then. When Black Power got big in the 70s of course it was time for a change. Look at Wonder Woman, around that time, it was revealed she had a Black sister, named Nubia. Then Storm, Luke Cage, and others came on the scene.

Makes you wonder what other diversity secrets are luring around the comic book world.

CW is getting their Asses Beat by a Network made up of Reruns

This is irony, payback, revenge, and karma. Y'all know I despise CW for their programming foolishness: getting rid of most of their minority shows and replacing them with rich, white teen shows that only promotes self-important zombies. A bit much I know.

But the news is MyNetwork TV, a channel consisted of canceled shows, movies of the week, and English-language telenovelas has beaten CW in ratings for the past 3 weeks. MyNetwork TV used to average about 700, 000 viewers last season, now they average around 1.76 million viewers.

But how is this network cobbering CW? Easily, they don't gear their programming to one type of viewer. Remember, CW wanted to focus on women, as if there are no We, Oh, or Lifetime channels floating around. MyNetwork TV hits mostly families which means something for everyone.

And speaking for everyone, MyNetwork TV is very racially diverse in its programming. They hit hard with Latino and Black shows (I'll let that horrible Flava Flav slide). Also, they avoid the reality competition and dating crap. Then they stick with the classics like COPS, Jail, and those Funny moments caught on Tape shows...I guess they still work.

So CW, look at this very closely at this. I've said it before, your stragety works, but doesn't make any waves. This is proof that you need to shake it up and get back to basics. Remember Veronica Mars, Dawson, Buffy, Girlfriends, Angel, and One on One. They were quality shows, you get back to that and maybe your viewers will return.