Accentuate the positive.

This 12-step plan for the games industry emphasizes parenting and information. Like most such issues, the people don't know the truth, they just know what they're told by the uninformed media and politicians. Example:

Demonstrate our most creative games. Games aren't just Grand Theft Auto and Halo, but that's what they are to the non-gaming public who no longer chance across games in arcades. It's not all guns-and-boobs anymore. Publicize the creative hits like Katamari Damacy, Guitar Hero and so on.

When we ran a gaming club in St. Louis, I wanted to run a D&D game in the middle of a shopping mall to show parents what it looked like. A friend of mine used to watch the 700 Club (because there was nothing else on late at night) and she said they criticized D&D a lot. I asked her if they ever showed anyone playing the game, and she said no.

(I found this link as #54 of the 95 Theses of Geek Activism, another good read.)