GLAAD

Former President Donald Trump has chosen U.S. Senator J.D. Vance as his running mate. Read about Vance's anti-LGBTQ record: https://lnkd.in/ePru4H_B GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis said, “GLAAD urges all media covering Trump’s choice for vice president to include his history of anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and policy. LGBTQ Americans are taxpayers, family members, colleagues, classmates, neighbors and friends, and our concerns are the same as any Americans: our freedom to be ourselves to live in safety and dignity, the right to make private health care decisions, read books of our choosing, marry who we love, and not be discriminated against for who we are. Media must include LGBTQ people in all stories and conversations about policies affecting us and our families. Our concerns are not a ‘culture war’ sideshow—they are central to the core issues of this election, and the freedoms all Americans want to preserve and protect.”

Today is Nonbinary People’s Day, a day to celebrate and raise awareness of the issues facing nonbinary people. 💛🤍 💜🖤 Nonbinary People’s Day is observed every year on July 14 and was first celebrated in 2012.

More people are attending Prides, more companies are sponsoring Prides, more communities are organizing and hosting Prides because they are amazing ways to show solidarity and support for all in the community and especially to express a community’s values of welcome, safety, diversity and acceptance. Our data shows heightened harassment and physical violence against LGBTQ people, which is horrifying and related to the overall hostile climate fomented by a few fringe extremists. Attacks and threats on Pride symbols and events are meant to intimidate, harass, erase and silence LGBTQ people and our allies, but they are largely unsuccessful. https://lnkd.in/eGzjRA2T

Today is Vito Russo's Birthday! Vito Russo was a founder of GLAAD, a visionary activist, a film historian, and an author known for his book, “The Celluloid Closet." Vito pushed open the door for news and entertainment industries to include LGBTQ performers and stories. The Vito Russo Award: In his memory, GLAAD created the Vito Russo Award. The Vito Russo Award is presented to a LGBTQ media professional who has made a significant difference in accelerating LGBTQ acceptance. 2024's Vito Russo Award honoree was Orville Peck. The Vito Russo Test: Also in Vito's memory, GLAAD developed a set of criteria to analyze how LGBTQ characters are included within a film. These criteria can help filmmakers create more multidimensional characters while providing a barometer for LGBTQ film representation. For a film to pass the Vito Russo Test, the following must be true: 1: The film contains a character that is identifiably lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and/or queer. 2: That character must not be solely or predominantly defined by their sexual orientation or gender identity (i.e. they are comprised of the same sort of unique character traits commonly used to differentiate straight/cisgender characters from one another). 3: The LGBTQ character must be tied to the plot in such a way that the character’s removal would have a significant effect, meaning the character is not there to simply provide colorful commentary, paint urban authenticity, or set up a punchline. The character must matter. 4: The LGBTQ character’s story must not be outwardly offensive (avoids defaulting to well-known tropes or stereotypes with no further development). In films with multiple LGBTQ characters, at least one character must pass this point for the film to pass the test.

GLAAD, in collaboration with Athlete Ally and Pride House France, released the 2024 LGBTQ Paris Olympics and Paralympic Guide to ensure inclusive, fair and accurate coverage of LGBTQ athletes and topics during the 2024 Summer #Olympics (July 26-August 11) and #Paralympics (August 28-September 8) in Paris, France. It includes #LGBTQ language, terminology and use-cases relevant to reporting on LGBTQ #athletes at this year’s games in Paris as well as a comprehensive profile on more than a dozen out LGBTQ athletes to watch. It also provides guidelines and best practices for reporting on transgender and nonbinary athletes. It is critical that the media recognize and report that transgender people have always existed throughout history and across cultures. There is no evidence that transgender athletes have unfair advantages, or that they are dominating—or ever will dominate—sports. Check it out here ⤵ https://lnkd.in/eiSPhirU

Content moderation helps ensure “online spaces stay safe, inclusive, and respectful,” writes Alice Goguen Hunsberger, VP of Trust & Safety at PartnerHero, citing the recommendations of GLAAD’s Social Media Safety Index. Equally important are regular anti-bias trainings, so that content moderators can better recognize and mitigate hate speech and harassment that violate platform policies. Read more about the importance of anti-bias training and what it could include:  https://lnkd.in/eHg9VVzw #ContentModeration #SocialMedia

It’s Nonbinary Awareness Week. 💛🤍💜🖤   This week is a time to raise awareness and celebrate nonbinary identities. It is also a time for the nonbinary community to come together, share their experiences and stories, and create a space for education and advocacy. Nonbinary Awareness Week is held each year in July in the week leading up to Nonbinary People’s Day.

Our freedoms are all connected. Once we start to take away some freedom from one group of people, there will be another group and another group. Eventually they will come for your freedoms. Americans started hearing about trans folks in the past several years even though trans people have been around forever. Political extremists are using the trans community to politicize our community however we are resilient and we are fighters. And our allies are open to learning, growing and coming along with us. We’re going to be OK but it is going to be a fight. It’s not going to come easily and we have to keep our foot on the gas pedal. Check out this episode of the Queer Family podcast where we talk about the need to address the misinformation about the trans community and the need to fill the knowledge gap that’s being exploited by extremists: https://lnkd.in/eHAP9Z7W

Corporates are not going away from the LGBTQ community nor are they going to. In order to future proof their business, they have to include our community. When you look at Gen-Z reporting that 30% identify as LGBTQ, that’s the future consumer and the future employee. Thank you NPR for chatting with me about the backlash and fear-mongering towards the #LGBTQ community from a handful of bad actors due to our increased visibility, especially the last ten years. You can listen to the episode here ⤵ https://lnkd.in/eXMBmkqq

Our community has seen immense wins in the past 55 years since Stonewall. Increased acceptance — a 91% supermajority of non-LGBTQ Americans agree that LGBTQ people should have the freedom to live our lives and not be discriminated against. In many ways, many in our community are more free — to live, to love — and marry! — [and] to experience joy. But we have a long way to go, especially when it comes to intersectional issues like abortion, as well as the acceptance of transgender people, who are under unprecedented attacks today. Read more about what some LGBTQ leaders and I had to say about the past, present and future of the LGBTQ rights movement here: https://lnkd.in/eZ76hVat