ABSTRACT
Mainstream media sources including newspapers, radio, television, and advertising have long since expanded to include numerous alternative communications including a wide range of LGBT media venues. The Internet and the Web have given birth to new media formats and equipped their users to create, or even become, media themselves. In all its forms, the media is a powerful mechanism for advancing public health in LGBT communities. The mass media can also be a source of misleading messages about health, sexuality, and risky behavior; a conduit for marketing of harmful products for corporate profit; and even a tool for an ideological agenda that is harmful to LGBT communities. This chapter will focus on several dimensions of media and their intersections with LGBT health, including influencing mainstream media, addressing health in LGBT media, challenging target marketing, and navigating through the evolving world of LGBT Internet resources.
