It’s complicated, the whole issue of personal privacy in an era of social media transparency, and the fact that the first female astronaut, Sally Ride, who this week died at age 61 from pancreatic cancer, came out publically in her obituary, listing her partner of 27 years, Tam O'Shaughnessy first, as a survivor, is stirring the pot of comment and prejudice.

"Could she have helped the cause? Maybe," says Fred Sainz, VP of communications for the Human Rights Campaign. "For her not to have shared an incredibly important aspect of her life — being in a committed long-term relationship with a woman — meant many Americans did not get to see a dimension of her life that would have helped them understand us (gay people) and our contributions to society.

Ride was open in her personal life, "She just didn't want to go public with it during her lifetime. And that's a big difference," said Sainz. "There's no question that Sally Ride could have been fired if she'd come out while she worked for NASA.”Continue reading...

On Friday, July 8th, blog Jezebel wondered "Why Is TOMS Partnering With An Anti-Gay, Anti-Choice Group?"

In the piece, Jezebel takes Toms to task for its partnership with the far right social policy group Focus on the Family.

It was a harsh slap to progressive fans of TOMS, the digitally-savvy brand that "changed the game of social activism" with a "one for one" business model, donating a pair of shoes (and now, glasses) for every purchase.

Jezebel wrote, "TOMS is at major risk of alienating a constituency that has enthusiastically adopted their product, including yours truly."

A day later, July 9th, a TOMS spokesperson told Jezebel it regretted the move, pointing to an explanation posted on the brand's Facebook page and blog.

Except, nobody appears to have told Focus on the Family.Continue reading...

CBS may not like it much, but Focus on the Family has got to love how media and public attention is rising around its planned pro-life Super Bowl advertising spot starring Tim Tebow, one of the most magnetic college-football personalities in a long time.

Focus has been undergoing a major re-branding toward empathetic engagement and away from a more political orientation that marked it under soon-to-be-departing founder James Dobson. That’s part of how Focus managed to convince CBS brass to approve its 30-second ad during the game on February 7, which will feature the outspokenly pro-life Tebow and his mother, Pam Tebow, who was advised by her doctor to abort her son.

And yet, the rising storm around Focus’s ad certainly will benefit a pro-life movement that always welcomes attention to the issue of abortion and believes that it may be regaining the upper hand in the nation’s decades-long debate.Continue reading...

CBS certainly wouldn’t want to trade places with NBC these days, but the network is putting its brand at least slightly at risk with its just-announced decision to air a 30-second ad by Focus on the Family during Super Bowl XLIV on February 7.

The commercial, which will turn its lens on University of Florida star quarterback Tim Tebow and his mother, also marks some brand stretching both for the Super Bowl franchise itself and the Colorado Springs, Colo.-based Focus on the Family.

There has been speculation that Focus on the Family was seeking to buy Super Bowl ad space for a raw pro-life message that would reflect its decades-long political support of social-conservative causes.Continue reading...