{"id":935837,"date":"2025-04-25T14:11:01","date_gmt":"2025-04-25T18:11:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/glaad.org\/?p=935837"},"modified":"2025-04-29T15:47:54","modified_gmt":"2025-04-29T19:47:54","slug":"npr-presented-with-glaad-media-award-for-outstanding-online-multimedia-journalism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glaad.org\/npr-rainbow-girls-glaad-media-award\/","title":{"rendered":"NPR Presented with 36th GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Online Multimedia Journalism"},"content":{"rendered":"

For the the 36th GLAAD Media Awards<\/a>, GLAAD honored journalists who cover LGBTQ issues and people accurately and inclusively. These stories feature LGBTQ people in all walks of life and around the world, from the streets of Dallas, Texas, to the townships of South Africa.<\/p>\n

NPR\u2019s The Picture Show<\/i><\/b> won the GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Online Journalism \u2013 Video or Multimedia for \u201cRainbow Girls: 10 Years of Protection and Prejudice.\u201d<\/a> This heartfelt documentary follows the lives of a group of lesbian women from in and around Cape Town, South Africa.<\/p>\n

\"NPR\u2019s<\/p>\n

Julia Gunther started by photographing the \u201cMiss Lesbian\u201d<\/i> beauty pageant in Khayelitsha township in the fall of 2012. “The Miss Lesbian<\/i> beauty pageant is our way of having fun, being happy and expressing ourselves,” pageant volunteer Siya Mcuta explained to Gunther. “We are doing this for the younger generations to see.” The resulting portraits would soon be dubbed \u201cRainbow Girls\u201d<\/i> in reference to Archbishop Desmond Tutu\u2019s term for a multicultural and unified post-apartheid South Africa \u2013 Rainbow Nation.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n

Photo credits: ‘Rainbow Girls’ is a photographic documentary series about lesbian women in South African townships, beginning with the 2012 Miss Lesbian beauty competition in Khayelitsha Township, at the IAM Women\u2019s Shelter, and in private homes in Gugulethu Township. In 2022, photographer Julia Gunther reunited with many of the women from her original portraits to reflect on what has \u2014 and hasn\u2019t \u2014 changed over the past decade. See Julia’s photos here.<\/em><\/p>\n

10 years later, Gunther and writer Nick Sch\u00f6nfeld returned to Cape Town to see how the contestants\u2019 lives have changed in the decade after the pageant. They worked with one of the Rainbow Girls, Velisa \u201cVee\u201d Jara, to record the women in their own words. The documentary explores the tension felt by the LGBTQ South African community \u2014 living in a country which outlaws<\/a> hate crimes and discrimination based on sexual orientation, but which remains deeply unsafe for LGBTQ people.<\/p>\n

“Vee [Velisa Jara] would tell me about the challenges the former pageant contestants faced living in Khayelitsha as black lesbian women,” Gunther explained. “Constantly navigating threats and dealing with family members who refused to accept them was incredibly difficult. It puts enormous pressure on their mental health.”<\/p>\n

\"From
From left to right: NPR Photo Editor Catie Dull, NPR Director of Visuals Nicole Werbeck<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

And yet, these courageous women continue to fight for love and acceptance, living openly and discussing their lives and loves. \u201cSomething that helped me is to help other people,\u201d Mcuta told Vee, as she looked at the portrait of her younger self. \u201cThat child who is crying in me, she was crying for safety. I changed to be that person I wanted in my life. I became that thing I wanted in my life. I was that shoulder I wanted in my life. I became something that I wanted from other people.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis film would not exist without the courage and generosity of the women who chose to speak out,\u201d Gunther posted<\/a> following the GLAAD Media Awards. \u201cThey trusted us with their experiences, and we are deeply grateful. This award is for them.\u201d<\/p>\n

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A post shared by Julia Gunther (@juliagunther_photography)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n