mun2 television’s ‘CHAT’ Honored With Shine Award.

mun2 television’s program “Chat,” the first live interactive talk show to provide a forum for young U.S. Latinos, was honored this past Saturday with a SHINE (Sexual Health In Entertainment) Award for its episode titled “Coming Out Of The Closet.” The award is given by The Media Project to television programs that have contributed in the portrayal of important sexual health information.

“Chat” was acknowledged for “Best Talk-Show in Spanish,” a new category created by the organization to recognize the importance of Spanish language programs. The winning episode, which dealt with homosexuality, a very controversial issue within the Latino community, was created by executive producer Ricardo Frias and produced by Richie Marchosky, who’s also one of the hosts of “Chat.”

During the show, Marchosky announced that he was gay, and asked his co-hosts and viewers to give their own opinion as to whether it was a good or bad idea for homosexuals to come out of the closet. The discussion turned to the issue of homophobia and Eva Leivas, Hispanic Coordinator of Proyecto Yes, was invited to speak about her own experiences as a mother of a gay son. “I realized how ignorant I was regarding what my son was going through, and the many children and young people that are gay in our community,” Leivas said. This led to her involvement with Proyecto Yes, an organization that provides psychological help for homosexuals and their families, and participates in schools and churches to educate the public and help end the verbal and physical abuse gay people are exposed to every day.

Yolanda Foster, Vice-president of Programming for mun2 television said “We are very proud to receive this award, and thank the Media Project for their ongoing efforts.” “It has been our commitment since the launch of ‘chat’ to provide young people with a forum where they could discuss controversial topics openly, without fear of persecution or censorship,” she added.

“Chat” was revamped late September to address its increase of young bilingual viewers and to allow more freedom to discuss these topics with its audience. The program now features a new bilingual set of hosts and airs Monday to Friday at its later time slot of 10pm et/pt.