Chad Griffin and Kristina Schake were each named today to the Board of Directors of the American Foundation for Equal Rights, an Los Angeles-based nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting and advancing equal rights for every American.

Actor/director Rob Reiner, children’s advocate Michelle Singer Reiner, producer Bruce Cohen and writer and director Dustin Lance Black were also named to the Board. Griffin will serve as the organization’s first Board President.

The Foundation’s first project is a federal court challenge to California’s Proposition 8, which eliminated marriage rights for same sex couples. Led by attorneys Theodore B. Olson and David Boies, two of the nation’s most preeminent constitutional lawyers, the suit states that Proposition 8 creates a class of “second-class citizens” and thereby violates the U.S. Constitution.

>> Click here to read about the announcement in Variety or The Advocate.

Tags: American Foundation for Equal Rights, Bruce Cohen, Chad Griffin, David Boies, Dustin Lance Black, Kristina Schake, Michelle Singer Reiner, Proposition 8, Rob Reiner, Ted Olson, The Advocate, Variety

Chad Griffin is executive producing a documentary that will debut at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 24th and be distributed by Magnolia Pictures.

In the film, Oscar-nominated filmmaker Kirby Dick will cast “a spotlight on the massive hypocrisy that allows powerful people to work against the rights of a minority when they hide their personal lives while enjoying the spoils of power.”

The official movie poster was released this week with the tag line “Do Ask. Do Tell.”

>> Read the indieWIRE piece here.

>> Read Variety’s Wilshire & Washington blog here.

Tags: Chad Griffin, Kirby Dick, Magnolia Pictures, Outrage, Tribeca Film Festival, Variety

The National Academy of Sciences announced today the creation of “The Science and Entertainment Exchange,” an initiative designed to connect entertainment industry professionals with top scientists and engineers to help the creators of television shows, films, video games, and other productions incorporate science into their work.

Griffin|Schake clients Director Jerry Zucker and his wife, producer Janet Zucker, actively support the initiative.

“The Exchange will provide filmmakers with an invaluable connection to scientific truth, but more importantly, we will have the ability to invent and explore the unknown with the great visionaries of science,” said Jerry.

Janet Zucker added, “The Exchange will provide a place where scientific and artistic minds can come together to inspire each other, building a two-way street for both communities to learn and create.”

The Exchange was launched at a press conference produced by Griffin | Schake featuring NAS President Ralph Cicerone, Jerry & Janet Zucker, Seth MacFarlane, Lawrence Kasdan and other Hollywood notables, as reported by Variety.

Read the full Variety article here.

Tags: Griffin|Schake, Hollywood, Janet Zucker, Jerry Zucker, Media Event Production, Media Strategy & Relations, National Academy of Sciences, Science and Entertainment Exchange, Seth MacFarlane, Variety, Yusef Robb