For Further Event Information:
215-732-FEST or
www.pridefestamerica.com

For Further Press Information:
Deborah Fleischman
215-735-7356

MTV: MUSIC TELEVISION WILL RECEIVE NATIONAL ROLE MODEL AWARD AT PRIDEFEST AMERICA 2002

PrideFest America 2002 presents its most prestigious honor, Tom Stoddard National Role Model Award to MTV on Friday, May 3 at the Kimmel Center with a stellar tribute. This is the first time that this Award, normally given to an individual, is presented to an organization. The Award recognizes MTV's distinguished contribution to social change for the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) community. Joining Brian Graden, MTV's President of Entertainment and Stephen Friedman, MTV's Vice President for Strategic Partnerships in accepting this award will be John Murray, Executive Producer of Real World, with MTV News Correspondent John Norris and Real World Chicago castmates Chris and Philadelphia native Aneesa, as well as GLSEN Executive Director Kevin Jennings with performing arts tributes by Anna Crusis Women's Choir, South African Allen Bell's Dream Theatre and special surprise guests. The event will be overseen by New York director Robert Jay Cronin.

Admission to the Tom Stoddard National Role Model Award at $15 or $50 is available through the website at www.pridefestamerica.com. The pass provides admission to over fifty (50) programs throughout the week. Admission to the party at Shampoo afterward with national DJ Susan Morabito is $15.

"There have been profound changes in the perception of gays and lesbians in this country, especially among younger Americans. This dramatic change results from exposure and understanding. There has been no greater influence than the impact of MTV and its programming of inclusion," said Malcolm Lazin, PrideFest America's Executive Director.

"MTV has always been about our audience, about what they believe in and care about. So it's important to us that we reflect the incredibly diverse lives of our viewers in everything we do -by exploring gay marriage on one of our MTV News specials or by poignantly sharing the life and personal story of Pedro Zamora as he courageously battled AIDS in Real World San Fransico," said Brian Graden, who will be accepting PrideFest America's Award. "We're honored that PrideFest America has chosen to recognize MTV with this inspiring Award."

From the channel's ongoing Safe Sex campaign in partnership with the Kaiser Family Foundation, to its Fight for Your Rights: Take A Stand Against Violence campaign in '99, to the Choose or Lose 2000 campaign, every one of MTV's pro-social initiatives have included and addressed gay and lesbian issues. The mission of the networks current pro-social initiative, MTV's Fight For Your Rights: Take A Stand Against Discrimination is to provide MTV's audience with the tools to fight discrimination in their communities and in themselves, and to profile artists and young adults who are leading the charge against intolerance. The network has been recognized by a number of prestigious organizations for its work on the Fight For Your Rights campaign.

This year, Fight for your Rights: Take a Stand Against Discrimination ratcheted it up to a new level when, in partnership with GLSEN, it aired a television movie exploring the vicious murder of college student Matthew Shepard. Shortly thereafter, the channel listed a scroll for seventeen hours where celebrities described hundreds of hate crime incidents from across the country. Within days, MTV received tens of thousands of emails from young people ready to take action.

As a major part of this on- and off- air campaign, MTV has partnered with prominent civil rights groups, including GLSEN, HRC, GLAAD, AVP and others to produce numerous programs and public service announcements that address homophobia and give the audience numerous ways to take a stand against it. Shows like Criminal: Hate in the Hallways explore the harassment, bullying, and violence experienced by many GLBT youth and the pain, fear, and lasting depression that is often caused by this mistreatment. Others like Flipped: Tolerance asks a homophobic teen to be a reporter and cover the gay community so he learns just how harmful using words such as "That's so gay" and "Faggot" can actually be.

Brian Graden's position as President of Entertainment for MTV, MTV2, and MTV.com reflects MTV's continued commitment to providing creative, interactive programming for all platforms as part of the network's 360 Initiative. Critically acclaimed innovative programming created under Graden's direction include: Cribs, Making the Video, Diary, Jackass, Total Request Live, and Flipped. Graden also inaugurated MTV's Original Movies for Television division which has produced a number of successful movies including: Anatomy of a Hate Crime and MTV's Hip Hopera: Carmen. He was recently named one of the top 10 Gay Men in America by Genre Magazine and named in the top 100 Gay Men by both The Advocate and Out Magazine.

John Murray is a partner of Bunim/Murray Productions which as emerged as an industry leader that uses time-honored skills in dramatic story structure to turn the tales of ordinary real people into extraordinary television. Through around-the-clock cameras documenting the lives and loves of the MTV generation and by writing scripted dramas that are grounded in life experiences, he has created a body of work that includes Real World and Road Rules for MTV, Making the Band for ABC/MTV, and Love Cruise: The Maiden Voyage for FOX. Real World has won many awards and honors including a TV Guide Award, a New York Festival medal, recent nominations for an Emmy and multiple Peoples' Choice Awards. Inspired by Real World, his company has produced A Tribute to Pedro Zamora, a cast member of Real World-San Francisco who died of AIDS in 1994 at the age of 22.

Stephen Friedman, MTV's Vice President of Strategic Partnerships and Public Affairs, developed and coordinated the Emmy-award winning Fight For Your Rights Campaign and works closely with Brian Graden on all of MTV's on-air and off-air pro-social campaigns. Friedman recently co-executive produced MTV's Be Heard: A Global Discussion with Colin Powell.

Since its founding in 1993, PrideFest America has become the nation's largest annual gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) symposium and festival. It has expanded from a three-day conference of regional organizations to a full week of events featuring international, national and regional leaders on a broad range of compelling issues. With more than 60 programs and social events presented by 80 regional, national and international organizations, PrideFest America 2002 is the nation's most in-depth program of the emergence of a vibrant GLBT community and its civil rights aspirations.

Some of the highlights of PrideFest America's tenth anniversary of over 60 programs, parties and special events include Tseng Kwong Chi: A Retrospective, an exhibition of approximately 85 works is the first-ever retrospective of this important postmodern photographer; Living in a Rainbow Nation: Gay & Lesbian Dynamics in South Africa with an all-South African panel focusing on contemporary issues for gay black and white South Africans such as apartheid, constitutional protection, and AIDS in South Africa; a National Healthcare Panel with AIDS Czar Scott Evertz, and a National Religious Colloquy moderated by Dr. Arun Gandhi, grandson to Mahatma Gandhi and founder of the Mahatma Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence, among other national, international and regional programming.

For further information, visit the website at www.pridefestamerica. com, or call 215-732-FEST.

########