EDGE New England

Lesbians are heading nonprofits, winning high public office and getting national media. Here are some outstanding examples of those who have succeeded in a (straight) man’s world.

In the face of withering criticism, a reporter for a Fox affiliate TV station in Cincinnati finally apologized after first first defending her Facebook statement that called Rachel Maddow an "angry young man."

Fox News’ Shep Smith criticized Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day on his show by slyly calling the event ’National Discrimination Day" -- for which the Far Right pilloried him.

GLAAD recently launched the Commentator Accountability Project -- an online tool that will help counter anti-gay rhetoric on news programs by calling out anti-gay so-called ’experts.’

Fox News has plenty to say about anti-gay bullying--as long as it’s an argument against extending legal protections to GLBT youth. But when it comes to queer teens committing suicide, the infotainment giant is almost completely silent.

GLBT equality groups have called for Orbitz, an online company that cultivates gay travelers as customers, to pull its advertising from Fox, saying that prominent Fox commentators are anti-gay.

A group that supports the notion that gays can choose to become straight says that books about so-called "ex-gays" are being systematically denied space on the shelves of school libraries.

President Barack Obama’s communications director says it was Fox News Channel, not the White House, that picked a fight. Yet it was Anita Dunn’s words during a CNN interview last week, saying Fox is like "a wing of the Republican Party," that ignited one of the most unusual verbal volleys between a presidential administration and journalists since Vice President Spiro Agnew complained during the Nixon years about the "nattering nabobs of negativism." Dunn’s stance cheered many of the president’s supporters who seethe over anti-Obama stories on Fox opinion shows, but has caused a backlash among some who say it exposed the administration as thin-skinned. White House unhappiness had been building. The president himself said there is "one television station that is entirely devoted to attacking my administration." Fox’s coverage of health care demonstrations over the summer, former administration official Van Jones and the community activists ACORN clearly knocked the administration off stride. The White House blog attacked Fox commentator Glenn Beck for "lies." "The administration was being attacked, members of this administration were being attacked, policies of this administration were being misrepresented - and that’s a generous interpretation of how they were being described," Dunn said. "The reality is that at some point, the administration has to defend itself." Fox has fought back hard. Network executive Michael Clemente said it was "astounding" that administration critics couldn’t distinguish between news and opinion programming. "It seems self-serving on their part," he said. Fox said network executives have been told that no one from the administration would appear on a Fox show as a guest through the end of the year. Dunn denied there was a White House ban on Fox appearances. "We haven’t said that to them," she said. Last week on his show, Beck placed a red phone on his desk, saying it was a hot line available to Dunn anytime she thought something untrue about Obama was being said on his show. "I don’t think the White House actually wants a dialogue," Beck said. "They want to smear, isolate and destroy." Dunn on Beck: "He’s always good for a laugh." She also criticized Fox’s Chris Wallace for referring to the administration as filled with "crybabies." ("We kept ourselves from ... responding, ’I am rubber, you are glue,’" Dunn said). But there was a specific provocation: The president appeared on five Sunday morning public affairs shows on Sept. 20, every one except Wallace’s. "I would think that what this reflects is a pent-up frustration or rage at the coverage they get, not only from Fox but elsewhere," said David Gergen, a CNN commentator and former White House aide. Gergen said he understands the temptation to go on the attack - he’s done it himself - but it frequently turns out to be a mistake. "My experience has been when the White House engages in personal or organizational attacks, it elevates the other side to virtually the same level of the White House, which is not their intent," he said. "It’s going to spike Fox’s ratings," which are already high this year. If the White House wants to fight back, it’s better to let surrogates do the work, he said. Several critics have questioned the wisdom of Obama’s approach. "Whether or not you like Fox News, all of us in the press need to be concerned about the administration of President Barack Obama trying to ’punish’ the cable news channel for its point of view," wrote television critic David Zurawik in the Baltimore Sun. Among grass-roots Democrats, many think it was important for the president to put his foot down, said Karen Finney, a Democratic strategist. Many strongly believe that the president and his staff should have nothing to do with Fox, she said. But research has shown that Fox, easily the top-rated cable news network, has independents and moderates in its audience that the president shouldn’t ignore, she said. "There is room for a more nuanced strategy," she said: Stay away from Beck or the morning "Fox & Friends," she suggested, but an interview with Wallace could be beneficial. Dunn said the administration still deals with Fox reporters such as Major Garrett in the White House. Obama "has appeared on Fox shows in the past (and) he certainly will appear on them in the future," she said. There have been no backstage "peace talks" in the past week; Obama adviser David Axelrod met with Fox chief Roger Ailes about a month ago. A Fox spokeswoman, Irena Briganti, did not return e-mail and phone messages seeking comment. "Given the challenges facing the country, you would think there were a lot better things to talk about, for a news network," Dunn said. "Maybe they would want to cover some of these issues - if they were a news network." Gergen suggested it’s time for a cooling-off period for an administration that finds itself in the usually no-win position of fighting a 24-hour news organization. "The notion ought to be to restore professional relations to the extent possible and not make this a long-term war," he said.

From Big Bird to Mapplethorpe, federal funding for arts and culture has long been a soft target for right-wing pols and pundits looking to score easy points.