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Association of LGBTI Journalists
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Association of LGBTI Journalists
The Association of LGBTI Journalists (or AJL) is an LGBTI group founded in France in 2013. This French nonprofit association works towards a better media coverage of LGBTI issues, of issues related to gender identity and sexual orientation. Its members are journalists from a wide range of newsrooms as well as freelance journalists. Since 2017, the AJL has been organizing an annual ceremony, the « Out d’or » (the Golden Outs or Outs of Gold), during which artists, journalists and diverse personalities are awarded for their work towards LGBTI visibility.
The Association of LGBTI Journalists (which became the LGBTI journalists’ association [citation needed]) was founded in May 2013 shortly after the Marriage Equality Bill (known as Mariage pour Tous) was passed in France. Its founding members were shocked by the careless manner in which the media platformed the homophobic arguments of the bill's opponents. These journalists regretted that « the space given to the opponents and their hate speech had been justified by the need to give a « balanced treatment » of this issue ».
Everything happened as if the homophobic nature of the comments were only a matter of opinion and not a punishable offence », the association explains in its introduction. The members of the AJL wish to challenge the media « each time content that is insulting and discriminatory against gay, lesbians, bi, transgender and intersex persons is published ».
The creation of the AJL was marked by the publication of a collective article for an LGBT journalists’ association published in the daily newspaper Libération on 16 May 2013. « Through its scrutiny of the « Fourth Estate », the association probably hopes to contribute to the change in mentalities », later wrote the news weekly L'Express. The AJL got its inspiration from the American National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association, founded in 1990 by Leroy F. Aarons.
On its website, the association details its different activities: the publication of studies, of a best-practice tool kit, acting as media watchdog, teaching and awareness-raising journalism schools, participating in conferences... The AJL engages and challenges the media when it feels that the LGBT people are misrepresented. In 2014, it questioned TV5 Monde about the terms it chose to present a debate on its Facebook.
On October 13, 2016, the association wrote a piece to expose the transphobic remarks that occurred on the set of the opening show of the Grand journal (Canal +) new season, during the first appearance of Brigitte Boréale, a transgender woman, as a columnist. The AJL announced it would petition the Conseil supérieur de l'audiovisuel (CSA, Superior Council of the Audiovisual.) In 2016, the AJL published another article in the daily newspaper Libération about the media coverage of the 12 June 2016 Orlando shooting. "When the details American shooting became known, very few French news outlet underlined the homophobic nature of the attack", wrote the AJL. The AJL also takes a stance about journalists’ working-conditions. For instance, in February 2019, after the cyber-bullying of women journalists by male journalists belonging to the « Ligue du LOL », the AJL and the feminist association Prenons la Une co-signed an article titled "The League of the LOL is by no means an exception" in Le Monde. In this article, the AJL urged "the editorial managers to take stock of the extent of the cyber-bullying targeting female journalists, in particular if they belong to an ethnic minority, are differently-abled, fat, or if they belong to the LGBTQ+ community". The AJL recommends "hiring, in mass, women, people from diverse ethnic backgrounds, LGBTQ+ people to fill in the key jobs in the newsrooms » so as to do way with « the reality of a male domination based on the cooptation and the club mentality of white, straight men".
The AJL takes an interest in the way LGBT characters are portrayed on TV fiction, as was the case about the show Louis(e), which was the first French TV series broadcast by TFI with a transgender heroin. The AJL regularly takes part in conferences, for instance the Festival international du Journalisme de Pérouse, in 2015 and the 10th Assises du journalisme in 2016. The AJL raises awareness about prejudice and delivers courses about the fair journalistic treatment of LGBTI issues in journalism schools like the ESJ-Lille or the IPJ.
Since heterosexuality is a public matter (and on constant public display), the AJL wishes that homosexuality was not systematically limited to the private sphere. In 2014, the outing of Florian Philippot, the Rassemblement national's vice-president, by the magazine Closer had shocked many political actors and many people in the media. According to the AJL, such an outrage was deeply problematic: its spokesperson explained that "there is something very French in the belief that revealing somebody's homosexuality is a monstrous invasion of his or her privacy". Alice Coffin is the co-president of the association in 2017.
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Association of LGBTI Journalists
The Association of LGBTI Journalists (or AJL) is an LGBTI group founded in France in 2013. This French nonprofit association works towards a better media coverage of LGBTI issues, of issues related to gender identity and sexual orientation. Its members are journalists from a wide range of newsrooms as well as freelance journalists. Since 2017, the AJL has been organizing an annual ceremony, the « Out d’or » (the Golden Outs or Outs of Gold), during which artists, journalists and diverse personalities are awarded for their work towards LGBTI visibility.
The Association of LGBTI Journalists (which became the LGBTI journalists’ association [citation needed]) was founded in May 2013 shortly after the Marriage Equality Bill (known as Mariage pour Tous) was passed in France. Its founding members were shocked by the careless manner in which the media platformed the homophobic arguments of the bill's opponents. These journalists regretted that « the space given to the opponents and their hate speech had been justified by the need to give a « balanced treatment » of this issue ».
Everything happened as if the homophobic nature of the comments were only a matter of opinion and not a punishable offence », the association explains in its introduction. The members of the AJL wish to challenge the media « each time content that is insulting and discriminatory against gay, lesbians, bi, transgender and intersex persons is published ».
The creation of the AJL was marked by the publication of a collective article for an LGBT journalists’ association published in the daily newspaper Libération on 16 May 2013. « Through its scrutiny of the « Fourth Estate », the association probably hopes to contribute to the change in mentalities », later wrote the news weekly L'Express. The AJL got its inspiration from the American National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association, founded in 1990 by Leroy F. Aarons.
On its website, the association details its different activities: the publication of studies, of a best-practice tool kit, acting as media watchdog, teaching and awareness-raising journalism schools, participating in conferences... The AJL engages and challenges the media when it feels that the LGBT people are misrepresented. In 2014, it questioned TV5 Monde about the terms it chose to present a debate on its Facebook.
On October 13, 2016, the association wrote a piece to expose the transphobic remarks that occurred on the set of the opening show of the Grand journal (Canal +) new season, during the first appearance of Brigitte Boréale, a transgender woman, as a columnist. The AJL announced it would petition the Conseil supérieur de l'audiovisuel (CSA, Superior Council of the Audiovisual.) In 2016, the AJL published another article in the daily newspaper Libération about the media coverage of the 12 June 2016 Orlando shooting. "When the details American shooting became known, very few French news outlet underlined the homophobic nature of the attack", wrote the AJL. The AJL also takes a stance about journalists’ working-conditions. For instance, in February 2019, after the cyber-bullying of women journalists by male journalists belonging to the « Ligue du LOL », the AJL and the feminist association Prenons la Une co-signed an article titled "The League of the LOL is by no means an exception" in Le Monde. In this article, the AJL urged "the editorial managers to take stock of the extent of the cyber-bullying targeting female journalists, in particular if they belong to an ethnic minority, are differently-abled, fat, or if they belong to the LGBTQ+ community". The AJL recommends "hiring, in mass, women, people from diverse ethnic backgrounds, LGBTQ+ people to fill in the key jobs in the newsrooms » so as to do way with « the reality of a male domination based on the cooptation and the club mentality of white, straight men".
The AJL takes an interest in the way LGBT characters are portrayed on TV fiction, as was the case about the show Louis(e), which was the first French TV series broadcast by TFI with a transgender heroin. The AJL regularly takes part in conferences, for instance the Festival international du Journalisme de Pérouse, in 2015 and the 10th Assises du journalisme in 2016. The AJL raises awareness about prejudice and delivers courses about the fair journalistic treatment of LGBTI issues in journalism schools like the ESJ-Lille or the IPJ.
Since heterosexuality is a public matter (and on constant public display), the AJL wishes that homosexuality was not systematically limited to the private sphere. In 2014, the outing of Florian Philippot, the Rassemblement national's vice-president, by the magazine Closer had shocked many political actors and many people in the media. According to the AJL, such an outrage was deeply problematic: its spokesperson explained that "there is something very French in the belief that revealing somebody's homosexuality is a monstrous invasion of his or her privacy". Alice Coffin is the co-president of the association in 2017.