GLAAD, Today Sitting Down to Discuss Wedding Contest Kerfuffle

The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation’s feud with the Today show over a wedding contest that excludes same-sex couples may be on the mend as Today’s executive producer Jim Bell will sit down today with GLAAD to hash out concerns overs the contest, according to a GLAAD blog post and confirmed by NBC, via Twitter.

GLAAD said over 3,000 people have signed a petition asking for a more inclusive “Modern Love” contest and Today has taken notice.  On Tuesday, the show tweeted “@GLAAD We are listening. A complicated issue.” and linked to the Mediaite story, which the show said “offers some perspective.”

The dispute arose after the blog Good as You looked at the contest and realized there was no way for same-sex couples to participate. GLAAD latched onto the story and soon put pressure on NBC, which responded it couldn’t allow same-sex couples because same-sex marriage is not legal in New York, where the Rockefeller Center wedding will take place.

The contest, which is scheduled to end Friday, has raised concerns from many LGBT activists and even calls for gay icon Lady GaGa–who is slated to headline a Today show concert on Friday–to make some sort of public statement about the exclusion.

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.

New: The Mediaite One-Sheet "Newsletter of Newsletters"
Your daily summary and analysis of what the many, many media newsletters are saying and reporting. Subscribe now!