What Is the Media's Role in Pushing for LGBT Rights in Russia?

Just a few weeks before the world converges in Sochi, Russia for the winter Olympics, the It Gets Better Project brought together several groups to talk about LGBT issues in terms of sports, transgender people, and LGBT youth. One panel, focused on the media and the portrayal of LGBT people in film and television, included GLAAD spokesman Wilson Cruz, Andrew Rannells of Girls and The Book of Mormon, Jennifer Beals and Janina Gavankar of The L Word, Huffington PostGay Voices' editor Noah Michelson, and Advocate managing editor Michelle Garcia.

The Google Hangout, moderated by Eric Sasson of The Wall Street Journal, tackled transgender representation in film, the slowly evolving acceptance of LGBT people in some areas, and the role of the media to continue the conversation of LGBT rights in Russia. For other hangouts, check out UprisingOfLove.org.

Watch the hangout below: