Renna Communications
News
This page includes ongoing updates about Renna Communications and our activities. You’ll find editorials and other examples of our personal work.
Looking After Gay Teens
Advocate.com | August 29, 2010
A new documentary looks at one family’s efforts to embrace their gay son and ensure he wouldn’t fall prey to depression or suicide.
Read more...posted: 30 August 10
What Dr. Laura Taught Me
Cathy Renna| Advocate.com | August 19, 2010
This week, the notorious “Dr.” Laura said she is leaving her radio show after once again shooting her mouth off. But this time it was by using the “n” word and prompting a coalition of groups including Unity: Journalists of Color, the Women’s Media Center, and the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation to get her to apologize and retire from radio. For me, it was déjà vu all over again.
Read more...posted: 19 August 10
#SSS: Rep. Jim McDermott, David Fleischer's Prop 8 Study, Prop 8 Ruling
Joe Mirabella | Same-Sex Sunday | August 8, 2010
This podcast features an interview with David Fleischer of the LGBT Mentoring Project, and also features Cathy Renna, managing partner of Renna Communications, as a panelist.
On this week’s Same Sex Sunday, I start off the episode with an interview of Congressmen Jim McDermott). We discuss the holdup of the Employment Non Discrimination Act (ENDA) in the House, Citizens United, how to end the war in Afghanistan and much more.
posted: 8 August 10
New Report Shows Courts Aren't the Only Way To Marriage Equality
Nathan Tabak | Change.org Gay Rights | August 5, 2010
It’s been a huge week for supporters of marriage equality, in the wake of Judge Vaughn Walker’s ruling in Perry v. Schwarzenegger that California’s Proposition 8 is unconstitutional. But there are multiple roads to marriage equality in California and around the nation, and they don’t all involve courts. A new report, published this week, illuminates the path to winning marriage equality at the ballot box.
posted: 6 August 10
Modern Families: Love Makes a Family
Parenthood didn’t seem possible. Then Cathy and Leah got married.
When did you know you wanted to have children?
Cathy: I have always loved kids, but becoming a parent myself didn’t seem possible until I married Leah. When we told my mom that Leah was pregnant, my mother’s response was, “I always knew you wanted children, but I thought it would never happen.” She was so excited. She turned to Leah and said, “You know twins run in our family!”
Leah: I can’t remember a time when I didn’t want to have children. I’ve always felt the desire most strongly when I’m in love. When Cathy and I first fell in love 20 years ago, I remember waking up in bed with her, watching her sleep and thinking how beautiful our children would be. And then crying because I wouldn’t be able to have her biological child. It used to be that coming out meant, for many of us, a simultaneous mourning of our resulting infertility. That’s not the case anymore — a reality for which I am deeply grateful.
posted: 21 July 10
Inside E Street 1019: Gay and Gray
Inside E Street | AARP.org | July 2, 2010
Same-sex marriage: love is not the only benefit
In recent years, the debate over same-sex marriage has grown into a nationwide controversy, reverberating in state houses, the halls of Congress, at the White House, and recently in the federal courts. Advocates say gay marriage will help older gay couples age with greater financial security. But for others, the question of gay marriage is not about money.
posted: 6 July 10
Promises Unfulfilled: Obama and the LGBT Community
GritTV with Laura Flanders | June 30, 2010
“This month, as we recognize the immeasurable contributions of LGBT Americans, we renew our commitment to the struggle for equal rights for LGBT Americans and to ending prejudice and injustice wherever it exists.”
That’s from the President’s declaration on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride month this June. But other than pretty proclamations, what has this administration actually done to deliver on its promises of the campaign trail?
Miriam Perez of Feministing.com and Cathy Renna, longtime activist and head of Renna Communications, join Laura in studio to talk about the state of things in the LGBT community: Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, marriage equality, and much more.
posted: 1 July 10
Gary and Tony have a baby, Bil Browning has a cow and I have some things to say
Cathy Renna | The Bilerico Project | June 24, 2010
A lot is being written about the CNN documentary airing tonight, kicking off their “Gay in America” series, called Gary and Tony Have a Baby. It premieres on CNN tonight, June 24 at 8pm ET & PT and on CNN International on Saturday, June 26 at 8am ET. As they say, check your local listings.
First of all, some disclosure on my part. I know Gary and Tony. I also know and work with many of the people involved in the production, some of whom are friends as well as producers I work with professionally. This makes for challenges when pitching – and reacting – to stories, but is a by-product of the kind of work I do. And it never stops me from being honest and forthright about all sides of this kind of coverage.
posted: 24 June 10
Testoster-Ruin
The Colbert Report | June 15, 2010
| The Colbert Report | Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| Testoster-Ruin – Hanna Rosin | ||||
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posted: 23 June 10
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Report: LGBT Youth and Smoking
Julie Bolcer | Advocate.com | August 25, 2010
Everyone knows that insecurities and peer pressure make teenagers susceptible to tobacco use, but in the case of LGBT youths, it has long been suspected that the unique challenges associated with having a minority sexual orientation and/or gender identity heighten their smoking risk. For the first time, a new survey explores the links between the stress of antigay discrimination and teenage tobacco use and suggests improved prevention strategies.
New study examines young LGBT smokers
Hannah Clay Wareham | Bay Windows | August 24, 2010
A new report from the National LGBTQ Young Adult Tobacco Project, entitled “Coming Out About Smoking: Tobacco Use in the LGBTQ Young Adult Community” and released Aug. 24, revealed that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender young adults have higher rates of smoking than their heterosexual peers. Results indicated that the disparity could be due to the added pressure and stress gay teens experience as a result of anti-LGBT discrimination at school and at home.
Marine Corps Commandant Signals Last Days of Gay Ban
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: L. Indra Lusero, Assistant Director, Palm Center, 303-902-9402, info@palmcenter.ucsb.edu
Cathy Renna, cathy@rennacommunications.com, 917-757-6123
Marine Corps Commandant Signals Last Days of Gay Ban
Marine Corps Would Not Obstruct New, Inclusive Policy
SANTA BARBARA, CA — August 25, 2010 — Remarks made yesterday at a Pentagon briefing by Marine Corps Commandant General James Conway signal the removal of one of the final hurdles to the implementation of openly gay service and the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell.” Commandant Conway stated that “if the law changes, we pride our Corps in leading the services in many, many things, and we’re going to have to lead in this too.”
Palm Center Director Aaron Belkin stated, “Commandant Conway’s words are powerful. He has not been supportive of this change but he has now made clear that once the law is changed, the Marine Corps will set the pace for implementation of open service without delay.”
Moving the middle on marriage
Lanae Erickson and Jon Cowan |“Politico::http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0810/41214.html | August 19, 2010
This month, a federal district court judge in California struck down Proposition 8 — the state ballot measure that banned gay and lesbian couples from marrying — as unconstitutional, and the case is most likely to be settled by the Supreme Court. Although the decision has been stayed, many understandably saw it as a victory and perhaps an indication that legal arguments — not public persuasion — are going to be the fastest way to bring about equality.
But lawsuits are not a substitute for public support, and legal arguments do not operate in a vacuum. This decision makes it all the more crucial to build a solid majority of Americans who strongly support the full range of legal relationship recognition, including allowing gay couples to marry.
In our view, there are three essential steps to moving the persuadable middle.
Active Duty Gay Troops Helping Pentagon Prepare For Life After ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’
Pentagon Leaders Advised to Expect “Business as Usual” After Repeal
OutServe | July 26, 2010
SANTA BARBARA, CA – July 26, 2010 — Gay and lesbian service members are organizing themselves in order to help the Pentagon prepare for life after “don’t ask, don’t tell.” This week, they are publicly launching OutServe (formerly known as Citizens for Repeal), the first-ever organization of actively serving gay troops and they have started speaking openly with Pentagon officials as well as public audiences. For information about the group go to www.outserve.org
