GLAAD’s Emmy win, ‘Jeopardy!’ and LGBTQ+ History

This week, GLAAD — an LGBTQ+ media monitoring organization which advises TV and movie studios on LGBTQ+ issues — was recognized with the Governors Award at the 75th Primetime Emmy Awards. While GLAAD’s award is well deserved, there’s another category I’d add to the list of awards.  

And now for the winner of the “TV Show That Does the Most to Celebrate LGBTQ+ History.” The nominations are…well there’s only one to nominate, so the winner is…

“Jeopardy!”

There is no other show on network TV that celebrates the history of the LGBTQ+ community.  And it pops up at various times throughout the year.  

I’ve always been a big fan of the show and it amazed me the first time I saw an LGBTQ+ history prompt. The prompt was, and I paraphrase, “The event that happened at a place called the Stonewall Inn in June 1969.”

Then LGBTQ+ history began to pop up on “Jeopardy!” regularly, making the show a pioneer in bringing LGBTQ+ history to the American public, something no other daily TV show has ever done with its platform. It’s revolutionary. It took me time to realize this until I saw season 2, episode 5 of “Celebrity Jeopardy!” which had not only questions about LGBTQ+ history, but an entire category. It was surprisingly titled “PRIDE & POTUS,” and contestants had to name the president associated with an event in LGBTQ+ history. 

Of course, there were prompts you’d expect, such as one where host Ken Jennings displayed a photo of the White House lit up in rainbow colors while reading, “Looking good, White House. The prideful display seen here was this POTUS’ way of honoring 2015’s Obergefell V. Hodges ruling,” also known as the marriage equality ruling. The answer to that, of course, is “Who is President Barack Obama?” However, there were also some prompts that most people would not know, such as “This POTUS joined the Republican Unity Coalition, a gay rights organization, roughly 25 years after leaving the White House,” the answer to which is “Who is Gerald Ford?” How many of you know the answer to this?: “The historic year gay activists picketed outside LBJ’s White House; MLK’s March on Washington was two years earlier.”

The whole concept amazed me. After all, getting visibility on TV was something that was part of my history dating back to 1973. And in a strange way, it was personal since I had some connection to most of the questions. One question even centered on a friend and an LGBTQ+ hero, Frank Kameny.  

It reassured me of my age, and how pride has helped us achieve major wins since Stonewall. And yes, this success can be directly tied to Stonewall.  

If I can offer a suggestion to GLAAD, maybe you can find a way to recognize the work of “Jeopardy!” and its producers. It fits in with your mission and the battle that is now taking shape to have LGBTQ+ history recognized as similar to other struggles for civil rights. As President Obama stated during his 2013 inaugural address, “We, the people, declare today that the most evident of truths — that all of us are created equal — is the star that guides us still; just as it guided our forebears through Seneca Falls, and Selma, and Stonewall.” All civil rights movements need to be treated equally and “Jeopardy!” ensures the LGBTQ+ movement is on equal footing.

Congratulations GLAAD on your Emmy, and congratulations and a deep-hearted thank you to “Jeopardy!”