Roland Martin, currently suspended by CNN after his Super Bowl Sunday comments on Twitter and Facebook drew the ire of LGBT activists and many equality supporters, along with GLAAD, has since apologized, and is now looking forward to meeting with GLAAD, presumably to discuss his recent comments, and, hopefully, his history of support for homophobia.
Martin via Twitter yesterday wrote, “Fam, late last night I received word of GLAAD’s invitation to meet with me, and as I have informed CNN…,” and then, “I look forward to meeting with GLAAD in the near future and having a productive dialogue.”
In response, GLAAD tweeted, “Â We look forward to a productive dialogue and to working together as well.”
Then this morning, GLAAD posted this:
The timing and participants are to be determined. We’ll keep you updated here. Our goal is to ensure better coverage that works toward ending anti-LGBT violence.
Yesterday, CNN spoke out against anti-LGBT violence. GLAAD and  Martin also reported on Brandon White, a 20 year-old victim of an anti-gay attack in Atlanta. Read more about GLAAD’s work with the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Projects around this brutal crime. This comes at a time when the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs found that violence against LGBT people was up 23% and that 70% were people of color.
Some have insulted Martin’s personal character and race when discussing this issue. GLAAD strongly condemns these attacks. There is no excuse for race based attacks or hate speech.
As for that last paragraph, let’s be very clear here: race has nothing to do with this issue, nor should it. It’s insulting to all to judge Roland Martin — or, frankly, anyone else — for anything other than his comments and his history.
I’m glad Roland Martin and the folks at GLAAD will be sitting down talking. So much good can come from that discussion. The LGBT community and the African-American community have so many shared issues. It’s time to build coalitions, not walls.
Thanks to GLAAD for the image!