The CotoBuzz Journal, Community Journalism

The CotoBuzz Journal

Community Journalism, Newsletters and Blogs Covering South Orange County, CA

The CotoBuzz Journal is a member of Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE) and NAHJ

August 2007 Issue

We do not make jokes, we simply watch the LA Times, the Orange County Register and the Coto de Caza Board of directors and report the facts!

The National Association of Hispanic Journalists (NAHJ)- a Platform to Promote Alternative Lifestyles?

"Law and freedom can never mean robbing another person of his rights. And this means that a basic element of truth, namely ethical truth, is indispensable to democracy. We prefer today to speak of values rather than truth, in order to avoid coming into conflict with the idea of tolerance with democratic relativism. But such a terminological transposition will not allow us to evade the questions" -Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, Values in a time of Upheaval

August 6, 2007

As we prepare to publish a series of articles on various NAHJ initiatives, we noticed that the (Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual/Transgender) caucus got prominent billing during the recent NAHJ 2007 Conference held in San Jose, California - so we are planning on interviewing as many NAHJ members and leaders, to see how receptive they may be to advocay of Judeo-Christian values within the NAHJ community. The letter below was recently sent to the NAHJ board of directors - any conclusions reached should be available shortly:

As you may know, the Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual/Transgender (GLBT) caucus was allowed to use the NAHJ as a platform to promote the caucus’ activities leading up to the NAHJ '07 conference, and afterwards.

Recently, student Aisha Al-Muslim used the same platform to solicit votes, running on a GLBT platform, and according to Al-Muslim, endorsed by NAHJ president Rafeal Olmeda: “Many in the NAHJ Board of Directors are know me and support my candidacy. This includes NAHJ president Rafael Olmeda, Region 2 Director Joanna Hernandez, and Parity Project Director Kevin Olivas. Executive Director Ivan Roman and Veronica Villafañe also know me personally over these past three years that I have been involved with NAHJ”, Al-Mulsim writes in her email, followed in part by the note “Do you support or are you part of NAHJ's Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual/Transgender (GLBT) caucus? I am not part of NAHJ's GLBT caucus, but I do support its purpose. I had not heard of the GLBT caucus until I got to the NAHJ San Jose Convention before that it was foreign to me. I am glad that NAHJ has taken initiative to incorporate a caucus like this one. However, it is obvious that NAHJ needs to do more to promote and inform people about such a Caucus”

I have had a substantive email exchange with NAHJ president Rafael Olmeda, who has confirmed his endorsement of the GLBT caucus. I asked him if he would be opposed to the formation of a Christian values caucus to present a balanced view. Olmeda indicated in part: “We believe that Latino journalists are diverse in many ways: religiously, ideologically, racially. Some of our members are gay and lesbian. We deplore any effort to discriminate against them on the basis of religion, creed, political affiliation or on the basis of whether or not they're straight”

In preparation for an upcoming article tentatively titled, The National Association of Hispanic Journalists – a Platform to promote the Gay/Lesbian Lifestyles, we are asking NAHJ leaders and members at large their views on using their position in the media to promote the Gay/Lesbian Lifestyle

Please let me know if you would like to opine, on or off the record.

For reference, I have contacted over 50 NAHJ members/leaders. Only A. Alvarez has responded. Ada describes herself as “a daughter of a lesbian, not any lesbian but, the first lesbian couple to marry in Massachusetts”. Apparently Ada has addressed the Senate about the new civil code proposed to include domestic partnership for gays. When asked if she would support a Christian Values caucus under the NAHJ umbrella, Ms. Alvarez responded “I don’t think, a religious caucus should be done because they are so many religions but... unless ur reporting u ask both!”