The Department of Home Affairs uses Qantas, Australia’s largest airline, to transport asylum seekers between detention centres and for involuntary deportations, often to countries where it is dangerous to be LGBT+.
A new campaign is condemning top technology companies, airlines and other major firms for donating to lawmakers with a poor record of supporting LGBT equality.
Sen. Ted Cruz, who has pushed legislation to protect businesses that refuse service to same-sex couples, is one of the top targets, along with other Texans in Congress.
The Zero for Zeros campaign launched ads Tuesday on social media aimed at pressuring Fort Worth-based American Airlines, Google and other companies whose PACs have donated to lawmakers the group deems “anti-gay.”
“These companies are some of the most well-known companies throughout the world and they support LGBT equality in many ways,” Lane Hudson, Zero for Zeros campaign manager, said in a statement. “Their political contributions to the most anti-gay members of Congress do not reflect the values they have expressed to their employees and the public.”
Cruz has received $18,500 from Google, $16,000 from American Airlines, $15,000 from Microsoft and $2,000 from Amazon since 2012, according to Federal Election Commission records. Corporations are allowed to make donations indirectly to federal candidates, through PACs.
All five of the companies received a score of 100 on the 2019 Human Rights Campaign Foundation Corporate Equality Index, which rates workplaces on LGBT equality. The Zero for Zeros campaign argues that given their high scores and apparent sensitivity to such issues, they should stop donating to lawmakers who don’t strongly support LGBT rights.
“American Airlines participates in the political and public policy process in a number of ways, including by making contributions from our political action committee. With respect to the contributions that we make, we don’t agree on every issue with the lawmakers to whom we make contributions, but we fundamentally believe that everyone deserves to be treated with dignity and respect — and equally under the law,” American Airlines spokeswoman Shannon Gilson said in a statement.
The U.S. Supreme Court struck down state-level bans on same-sex marriage in June 2015. During his 2016 presidential run, Cruz argued that states should regulate marriage, and he criticized the court’s majority for sweeping aside the bans.
He also showcased bakers and other business owners who faced legal trouble for trying to deny service to gay couples, arguing that their religious freedom had been violated. Following a Supreme Court ruling in favor of one such baker in June 2018, Cruz tweeted, “Today’s Supreme Court decision upholding a Colorado baker’s constitutional right to live according to his faith is a major victory for religious liberty.”ADVERTISING
Gay rights activists blasted Cruz and Sen. John Cornyn for recommending a lifetime federal judgeship for Matthew Kacsmaryk, who defended a bakery that turned away a same-sex couple and voiced opposition to Obergefell vs. Hodges, the landmark 2015 case that legalized same-sex marriage. The Senate confirmed him last month.
Despite his record on such controversies, Cruz also has used his platform to challenge foreign regimes that mistreat gays and lesbians. He has condemned a law in Brunei that punishes gay sex with death by stoning. “This is wrong. It is barbaric. America should condemn this immoral and inhumane law, and everyone should be united against it,” he tweeted in March.
Cruz’s office did not respond to request for comment about the Zero for Zeros campaign.
Other Texans the group is targeting include GOP Reps. Bill Flores, Pete Olson, Randy Weber, Brian Babin and Louie Gohmert. All have received donations from PACs for American, AT&T, Microsoft, Amazon or other major employers.
“It is indeed unfortunate that so many who say they are against hate have become so hateful and intolerant toward Christian beliefs. As a Christian, I believe the definition of marriage given by Moses and again verbatim by Jesus, while I also care about the individuals who believe otherwise,” Gohmert said in a statement.
Gohmert has received $10,500 from American Airlines, $32,000 from AT&T, $7,000 from Microsoft and $4,000 from UPS since 2005.
Microsoft last week became the first of 49 LGBT supportive corporations identified by a new LGBT group as collectively contributing millions of dollars through their Political Action Committees to members of Congress with the “worst of the worst” anti-LGBT records, to consider halting those contributions.
The new group, Zero for Zeros, identifies itself as a campaign aimed at persuading the nation’s most prominent and well-known pro-LGBT corporations to stop a seemingly contradictory practice of giving PAC money to the re-election campaigns of members of Congress who oppose and undermine the LGBT supportive policies that corporations like Microsoft say they support.
Microsoft’s action was first disclosed in a July 23 internal memo leaked to outside advocacy groups. The memo was written by Fred Humphries Jr., Microsoft’s Corporate Vice President for U.S. Government Affairs.
It announces that the tech giant has temporarily suspended contributions to politicians from its employee Political Action Committee called MSPAC while it conducts a “realigning” of the PACs “giving criteria and how decisions are made in terms of the candidates we support.”
The memo surfaced less than two weeks after Zero for Zeros announced a first-of-its-kind campaign to persuade pro-LGBT U.S. corporations to stop giving money to 19 U.S. senators and 10 U.S. House members who have received a zero rating on LGBT related issues in the Human Rights Campaign’s Congressional Scorecard for the past two sessions of Congress.
In an announcement launching its campaign, Zero for Zeros said it would be targeting 49 corporations, including Microsoft, that have received a perfect 100 percent rating in HRC’s annual Corporate Equality Index, which assesses corporations’ internal personnel policies for protecting the rights of LGBT employees and other LGBT-related corporate actions.
“These companies have contributed a total of $5,837,331 from their corporate PACs to the worst of the worst members of Congress,” the campaign said in a recent statement. “Zero for Zeros is asking that these companies’ corporate PACs cease giving to these members of Congress,” the statement says.
Similar to most corporate PACs, the Microsoft PAC is funded mostly by Microsoft employees through a voluntary, opt-in fund contribution from an employee’s salary. Up until now, however, the employees had no control over who the PAC money is given to other than knowing the recipient supported legislation that helped advance the company’s business interests.
Corporations rely on employee contributions for their PACs because federal campaign finance laws prohibit corporations themselves from contributing more than $5,000 to a PAC in an election cycle.
In his internal memo, Humphries didn’t specifically mention the Microsoft PAC’s contributions to anti-LGBT lawmakers. But he said the company was creating new internal advisory councils based on Employee Resource Groups “to increase dialogue and transparency.”
LGBT activist Lane Hudson, who serves as the Zero for Zeros campaign manager, hailed Microsoft’s action as “a vital first step” in reconciling its LGBT supportive corporate policies with the lawmakers to which it gives PAC money.
“Microsoft was the first company that engaged with Zero for Zeros in good faith,” Hudson said in a statement. “We discussed their concerns, they heard ours and their employees weighed in,” he said. “We are thrilled that they have responded to our campaign.”
Hudson added, “Their plan looks strong and may ultimately be a model for how other companies can ensure that politicians that undermine the values of a company and its employees do not receive the support of their corporate PACs.”
In addition to Microsoft, among the other pro-LGBT corporations Zero for Zeros has identified as giving PAC money to anti-LGBT members of Congress are Facebook, AT&T, Amazon, American Airlines, Google, and Intel.
Among the 29 lawmakers Zero for Zero identifies as the “worst of the worst” on LGBT issues and who have received a zero rating from the HRC Congressional Scorecard are Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Ted Cruz (R-Tex.), James Inhofe (R-Okla.), Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), and U.S. Reps. Louie Gohmert (R-Tex.), Andy Harris (R-Md.), and Steve King (R-Iowa).
A full list of the 49 pro-LGBT corporations and the 19 anti-LGBT members of Congress can be found at zeroforzeros.org.
A LinkedIn survey released this month has revealed that LGBTI people are paid 16% less than their cis-gendered, heterosexual peers.
This is almost double the UK pay gap between men and women (9.6%).
These results are hard to swallow, but more devastating after Pride month and the Pride corporate promotion.
It’s great to see so much support from businesses and corporations but we are past the days where changing an app icon to the rainbow design or launching a new collection of Pride accessories is enough to show your solidarity to the LGBTI community.
Internal conversations and policy are more much more important than running external marketing campaigns. And diversity and inclusion must always be at the forefront when strategizing your business.
These 10 actions, which can be implemented in all internal communications for both small and large scale businesses, can help businesses support their LGBTI employees:
1. Take LGBTI employees into consideration
Ensure all communications and policies are inclusive of LGBTI employees, and take into consideration all of your LGBTI employees needs.
For example trans men may still get periods, or may need to have different health insurance.
2. One size does not fit all
Gay men, lesbians, bisexuals, trans, and intersex all have different needs, face different struggles and require different support.
Work with your employees and wider team to help understand this, and identify what your employees need.
This will ensure a healthier, more productive workplace and make employees feel more visible.
3. Use D&I technology to understand how diverse your company is
How exactly does your company respond to minority groups?
For example, use blind recruitment. Focusing only on hiring people based on their skills and experience rather than personal information to remove bias from the recruitment process.
4. Offer an open door policy
In the workplace, an open door policy means that a manager leaves their office door ‘open’ to encourage transparency and openness within the company. Staff can come see their supervisor anytime if they have any issues.
Facing discrimination, not being out at work, or not feeling included can lead to severe mental health issues.
It is company responsibility to manage this.
Having an open door policy, and creating a safe environment for employees to share their concerns, questions or ideas will make them feel secure, understood and protected.
5. Businesses need to consider transition periods and younger employees.
Businesses need to work with education establishments, and recruitment companies to help ease the transition between education, or unemployment into work.
Making this transition easier will help new employees feel welcome and supported, and help them to settle quicker.
6. Bring in your wider team, and non-LGBTI employees
Having line managers and senior team members on side for LGBTI employees can be incredibly beneficial and can make a huge difference to their work lives. Bringing in allies can further the support of LGBTI in the workplace.
7. Networks and alliances in the workplace are major resources in encouraging diversity and inclusion
Pairing non-LGBTI and LGBTI employees in mentorships can produce and offer wider education opportunities.
Or implement a LGBTI taskforce, designed to help your business to understand what is working, what extra support is needed and how to achieve it.
8. Run marketing campaigns led by LGBTI employees
Not only that, but include them in your marketing material.
This will help you promote externally your LGBTI D&I policies, and also make your employees feel visible and represented.
Doing this will also help your business connect both internally and externally.
9. Consider language and pronouns in your communications
She/Her and He/His is traditional, but no longer relevant to everyone.
10. Don’t do it half-heartedly, and it’s ok to start small
Diversity and inclusion isn’t about ticking a box. It should be weaved into a company ethos.
Policies such as this tend to scare business owners, as they think it will be expensive or require new hires.
This isn’t the case. Changing internal communications to make them LGBTI friendly, or having an open door policy can be a great start. But whatever your business does, make sure it’s ongoing and effective.
Meena Chander is the Owner of Events Together, and is an event consultant and manager.
Before AIDS, Airbnb and Grindr changed the face of gay life forever, there were limited ways of finding your people, especially if you were a lone, gay man venturing into the unfamiliar territory of the West Coast.- Advertisement –
In the 1960s, a gay man named Bob Damron starting seeing America through a different lens. Where were the places that were gay-friendly in Butte, Montana? What about in Austin, Texas? Where were the bathhouses, the sex clubs, the diners and dive bars that would welcome queer folks with open arms?
Damron was a bartender who’d explored the world of San Francisco in the 1960s before settling in L.A.
He’d paved the way for gay enclaves like Castro Street and Christopher Street. He helped young men and women find their people and avoid getting into dangerous situations in rough, small towns and conservative cities.
Today, his legacy lives on. In an article by journalist Kate Sosin for L.A. Magazine, Publisher Gina Gatta recalls the founder of Damron Company, a business she now owns.
“Like a Bible salesman, Bob would get on the road,” Gatta tells Sosin. “He would travel around, and he would find the gays, and he would find the bars and bathhouses.”
Competitor guide books developed along side of Damron’s book, but none of them survived the tumultuous period of the late ‘60s and ‘70s, when everything in American culture, from sex to movies to politics, was becoming redefined for a new audience. By the time the Internet came along, LGBTQ+ folks had their own printed travel guides and websites like Planet Out to help them find new destinations and stay safe on the road.
But Gatta has been upholding Damron’s legacy since buying the company in 1989. Damron himself died of HIV in the early nineties.
Gatta has been single-handedly keeping the book going year after year. But the problem of keeping the book in print is a problem all publishers face: how do you sell people on something they can get for free online?
Today, teens can learn about their sexuality online, by asking friends or joining forums, or even reading Wikipedia.
If they want to find the nearest gay bar, it’s not hard to do. Still, there’s something romantic about holding a physical guidebook in your hand.
For a generation that decided long ago it would have nothing more to do with the physical elements of travel, including maps and guidebooks, there’s something touching about the idea of a book that was built over the course of years.
That someone was brave enough to find every bar, every hookup spot, and every dive bar where everybody could, feasibly, someday, know your name.
On Wednesday (10 July), a group of 30 LGBTI advocates sent a letter to dozens of tech companies, urging them to stop donating to anti-LGBTI politicians.
These companies include Google, Microsoft, AT&T, Dell, T-Mobile, and Amazon.
Tell me more
According to Buzzfeed News, the group Zeros for Zeros analyzed the contribution data between 2010 and 2019 of the top-scoring companies on the Human Rights Campaign’s (HRC) Corporate Equality Index.
It found that 49 corporate PACs gave a combined $5,837,331 [€5,171,495.84] to members of Congress who received a rating of zero on the HRC’s legislative scorecard. This includes Texas Rep. Ted Cruz. Last year, Cruz introduced legislation that would make it legal for businesses and nonprofits to discriminate against same-sex couples.
‘These corporations create welcoming and safe environments for their LGBTQ employees and market to LGBTQ customers,’ Lane Hudson, campaign manager for Zero for Zeros, told Buzzfeed. ‘But they’re still giving to members of Congress who will make an America that is unsafe for all of us. And we want them to reconcile their values with their corporate giving.’
Companies like Google gave a combined $178,500 [€158,139.40] through their corporate PAC to anti-LGBTI politicians as well. Google has faced scrutiny for refusing to crack down on hate speech, and donated $10,000 [€8,859.35] to Utah Republican Sen. Mike Lee. In 2014, Lee made statements in defense of religious liberty at the expense of LGBTI rights.
Brian Babin
PACs associated with Amazon, AT&T, Microsoft, and Dell gave about $15,000 [€13,289.02] total to Texas Rep. Brian Babin. Republican Babin previously called Obama’s policy on gender-neutral bathrooms ‘wrong’ and ‘misguided.’
‘The federal government should not be in the business of throwing common sense and decency out the window and forcing local schools to permit a teenage boy who “identifies” as a girl to use changing rooms, locker rooms, and bathrooms with five year-old girls,’ Babin said in a statement.
‘For over four decades we’ve been committed to the LGBTQ+ community and have led the way in adopting workplace policies that prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity,’ an AT&T representative told Buzzfeed. ‘We support candidates on both sides of the aisle who are addressing the issues that impact our business, our employees, and our customers. That doesn’t mean we support their views on every issue.’
Steve King
Microsoft, Google, AT&T, and T-Mobile are among the companies that, via their PACs, have donated thousands to Iowa Republican Rep. Steve King. King ran a successful campaign to oust three of the state’s Supreme Court judges after they ruled that the state’s ban on same-sex marriage violated the Constitution.
Amazon, Dell, Google, Microsoft, and T-Mobile did not reply to Buzzfeed’s request for comment.
‘We’re not asking for the moon,’ Hudson said. ‘We’re just asking them to not give money to the most anti-gay members of Congress. These companies are giving money to politicians who would undo all the progress they supported. It doesn’t make sense.’
Anything else?
This revelation comes after many responded skeptically to corporations participating in this year’s Pride. This phenomenon is known as Rainbow Capitalism. This is where, for the month of June, companies will pay lip service to the LGBTI community (for example, changing their logos to include the Pride flag) in a way to pander to LGBTI consumers.
A total of 206 companies have signed onto a legal brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to find Title VII of the Civil Rights Act bars discrimination against LGBT people in the workforce.
The friend-of-the-court brief — organized by the Human Rights Campaign, Lambda Legal, Out & Equal, Out Leadership and Freedom for All Americans — is signed by the nation’s top businesses and argues anti-LGBT discrimination is a form of sex discrimination, thus illegal under the Title VII.
Among the signers are food companies like Domino’s Pizza and Coca-Cola Company, tech companies like Facebook and Mozilla Corp., and defense contractors like Northrup Grumman Corp.
“Even where companies voluntarily implement policies to prohibit sexual orientation or gender identity discrimination, such policies are not a substitute for the force of law,” the brief says. “Nor is the patchwork of incomplete state or local laws sufficient protection —for example, they cannot account for the cross-state mobility requirements of the modern workforce. Only a uniform federal rule can enable businesses to recruit and retain, and employees to perform, at their highest levels.”
According to the Human Rights Campaign, the brief has more corporate signers than any previous business brief in an LGBT non-discrimination case.
The brief was written by Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP, a Los Angeles-based law firm that also represents the signers in the case along with Robinson Curley P.C. and Taylor & Cohen LLP.
Erin Uritus, CEO of Out & Equal Workplace Advocates, said in a statement the brief “exposes the lie that affirming Civil Rights protections for LGBTQ Americans is somehow anti-business.”
“The opposite is true,” Uritus said. “Equality is good for businesses and employees. And consumers — who are increasingly savvy and intentional about their spending power — are demanding equality. I’m inspired by all of the leaders who have joined with us today in submitting this brief. The Civil Rights Act needs to be affirmed in a way that serves and protects all Americans.”
Established in Istanbul in 1890, Bomonti is Turkey’s oldest modern brewery and produces one of the country’s most popular lagers. The rainbow-coloured bottle was unveiled in an Instagram post by the head of Bomonti’s branding agency, alongside the caption: “We did it!”
It’s a bold move in a country which has been named the second-most restrictive on gay rights in Europe. Amnesty International previously told PinkNews in 2018 that Turkish LGBT+ people are “living in more fear than ever.”
Although courts ruled in April that the two-year ban on Pride parades could technically be lifted, Amnesty reported in May that “appalling” violence had been used against students holding a Pride march in the capital city of Ankara. Authorities also stripped the scholarships of students detained in the march.
And on Sunday (June 30) another Pride rally in Istanbul ended with tear gas and rubber bullets.
This current political climate makes Bomonti’s decision to embrace LGBT+ rights particularly significant — and while the commercialisation of Pride may be common in other countries, the Turkish LGBT+ community couldn’t be happier to see the beer brand following suit.
@zekibaskaya said, “I’m shocked! but really excellent idea,” @logolepsi said, “You’ve made us even more happy with rainbow marketing,” and @benimadimsencer said: “We’re so happy, so excited. For the first time in Turkey, a brand is investing in Pride and standing behind us like a door.”
Amazon has removed books by a ‘gay cure’ conversion therapy author.
Joseph Nicolosi penned a book that spread the dangerous and harmful practice of attempting to ‘cure’ a person’s sexual or gender identity.
He was the co-founder of the National Association of Research & Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH) and a prominent leader in the ex-gay movement.
His book, A Parent’s Guide To Preventing Homosexuality, is one of the most well known ‘conversion therapy’ books.
But now, it has been removed from the UK and US versions of Amazon.
Rojo Alan, from Peterborough, wrote to Amazon several times to get the book removed from listings.
He previously went through conversion therapy himself as a young child.
Failing to get the right response, he engaged with others to leave negative reviews on the website. Quickly, the rating fell from four stars to two stars.
‘I looked into the “rules of publishing” on Amazon, to see what sort of things they allow and don’t allow,’ he said.
‘Once I wrapped my head around that I started to look into the laws of conversion therapy. The legal side of things.
‘Once I gathered everything I went back to Amazon and I threw all the information I had at them in several conversations. Yet I was given the same “we will refer this to the relevant team”. Again it felt hopeless and I wasn’t too sure what else I could do.’
But, sure enough, Amazon removed all of the English language books by Nicolosi. It took Alan three months from the first email to removing the books.
‘Huge step’
‘These books were “how to” books,’ Alan told Gay Star News, also describing it as a ‘huge step in the right direction’.
‘These were books that were lying to parents on how they could cure their children from being gay or trans. It’s lying because it’s actually just a form of abuse.
‘The books went into ways in which you can mentally and physically abuse your child.
‘If this helps anyone from being harmed, that would be a good reason to do it.’
He was previously quoted in a documentary: ‘Everyone is heterosexual.’
‘The idea that some people are naturally homosexual, or naturally gay, is just a social construct.’
He also said: ‘So when you have individuals with same-sex attraction, we it as something went wrong developmentally and we try to resolve the issue and put them back on the path toward their natural heterosexuality.’
The World Psychiatric Association has condemned so-called ‘gay cure’ conversion therapy.
The group said they consider sexual orientation to be ‘innate’. They also said it is determined by ‘biological, psychological, developmental and social factors’.
‘WPA believes strongly in evidence-based treatment,’ they also said.
‘There is no sound scientific evidence that innate sexual orientation can be changed.
‘Furthermore, so-called treatments of homosexuality can create a setting in which prejudice and discrimination flourish, and they can be potentially harmful … The provision of any intervention purporting to “treat” something that is not a disorder is wholly unethical.’
As the U.S. — and many other parts of the world — celebrates the 50th anniversary of the 1969 Stonewall uprising, rainbow flags and LGBTQ-inclusive ad campaigns appear to be omnipresent, especially in big cities. The ubiquity of these Pride campaigns make it easy to forget that this was not always the case. While many point to corporate America’s embrace of LGBTQ inclusivity as a major sign of progress, others believe corporations are coopting the movement.
Advertisements geared toward gay and lesbian consumers began to appear in earnest in the 1970s, inspired in part by the energy of the Stonewall uprising, which is widely considered the spark that fueled the modern LGBTQ movement.
So-called “sin” products, like alcohol and tobacco, were the first marketed to gays. These companies had little or nothing to lose from a potential boycott by the religious right, according to Katherine Sender, a communications professor at Cornell University and author of “Business, Not Politics: The Making of the Gay Market.”
“Now, getting a gay boycott is a much worse thing than getting a boycott from the religious right.”
PROFESSOR KATHERINE SENDER
Absolut vodka was the first brand to build itself with an eye toward the gay market, featuring full-page ads in gay outlets, such as The Advocate. Other alcohol brands like Boodles Gin ran ads in gay publications, but most ad revenue came from local gay bars and businesses.
However, with the exception of Absolut, much of the advertising aimed explicitly at gays came to a halt in the 1980s because of the HIV/AIDS crisis and the stigma surrounding the disease.
Things changed in the 1990s. Marketing surveys, namely the 1988 Simmons Market and the 1990 Overlooked Opinions survey, presented an image of gays and lesbians as an affluent, untapped market. Marketers estimated the total annual income of the gay community at over $500 billion. The surveys, however, were not representative and helped to start what researchers have since described as the “myth of gay affluence.”
In 1994, Ikea launched the first television ad to feature a gay couple. In the commercial, the two men tease each other about their taste in furniture.
“I remember it extremely well, because it was radical,” said Bob Witeck, president of Witeck Communications, a firm specializing in LGBTQ marketing. The couple “behaved in every sense like a married couple, and it was radical because it was normal and natural,” he said.
Not everyone loved the ad. In fact, the backlash was swift and strong. The American Family Association staged a boycott, and an Ikea store in New York received a bomb threat.
That same year, AT&T launched a direct-marketing mail campaign, making them the first US phone company to openly target lesbian and gay customers (MCI ran an earlier campaign, but used suggestive statements and imagery rather than a direct appeal).
“They got a big pushback from the religious right,” Sender said.
Companies remained more focused on gay men, though a notable exception was Subaru. In the late ‘90s, Subaru undertook a very successful lesbian-focused marketing campaign after research revealed its sturdy, practical cars appealed to this demographic. “It’s not a choice, it’s the way we’re built,” a 2000 print ad boasted.
This new interest in the “pink dollar” coincided with a massive increase in gay and lesbian visibility in the media. Ellen came out on TV in 1997, which Sender called “a massive deal.” Shows like “The L Word,” “Queer as Folk” and “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy” ushered images and information about gays and lesbians into homes across the country.
Despite the increased visibility and a number of successful ad campaigns, even into the early 2000s mainstream companies still risked a backlash for gay and lesbian inclusivity, according to Sender. Many companies were still afraid to be labeled as selling a “gay product.” Representation of transgender people was almost always negative, relying on transphobic tropes of deceit or mistaken identity, according to Sender’s research.
FROM THE GAY MARKET TO THE LGBTQ MARKET
Rich Ferraro, chief communications officer at GLAAD, a national LGBTQ media advocacy organization, has been consulting on LGBTQ images in advertising since 2008. He sees a very different media landscape today.
“The backlash that once occurred if a brand had LGBTQ marketing campaigns is no longer,” Ferraro wrote in an email. “For instance, fringe organizations like Family Research Council, National Organization for Marriage and One Million Moms would start petitions (which never really reached large numbers), but now they do not.”
Sender agreed, saying, “Now, getting a gay boycott is a much worse thing than getting a boycott from the religious right.”
More and more companies are engaging in LGBTQ-inclusive advertising, Ferraro said. “Categories have exploded — spirits and travel were typically leaders in LGBTQ-inclusive campaigns, but now it’s retail, cars, banking and financial services, food and beverages, youth-oriented brands,” he explained.
Witeck said “there is probably no more efficient way to say we are a contemporary brand” than to make your ad campaigns LGBTQ-inclusive.
For legacy brands, like Coca Cola, they must always be refreshed and made relevant, Witeck added. “LGBTQ marketing is an effective way to say, ‘We get it. We look and talk and act like we are in the 21st century.’”
However, Sender said that LGBTQ consumers are not only looking for inclusion in campaigns, but are holding companies accountable in their employment and production practices.
“Now, people are asking more questions, particularly around transgender polices and health care,” she said.
“What constitutes the responsibility of the advertising companies is expanding in ways that are really quite powerful,” Sender added, noting that consumers are asking questions like, “Are they buying products or services or in countries that have extremely bad policies and legal enforcement around LGBTQ people?”
Because of their resources, companies are also in a position to exert powerful political influence if they want to. Witeck mentioned the corporate boycotts of North Carolina after the passage of HB2 (the so-called “bathroom bill) that helped to precipitate its repeal and major companies’ outspoken support for transgender equality.
While historically there has been much less representation of transgender and gender-nonconforming individuals, this year examples of such campaigns abound: Raquel Willis for Express on a Times Square billboard, Gillette’s commercial featuring a young trans man and his dad, and Uber running a campaign featuring trans, genderqueer and bisexual pride flags.
“Traditionally, one or two campaigns are inclusive of transgender people, now it is a norm,” Ferraro said.
GAY INC.
Kristin Comeforo, associate professor of communications at Hartford College, worries that advertisers often take a “check-the-box approach” to the inclusion of gender and racial diversity, rather than a genuine engagement with intersectional experiences.
She also worries that corporate sponsorship can silence the voices of LGBTQ people who face intersectional marginalization.
Sender agreed, noting that “the 50th anniversary of Stonewall is such a big deal everyone wants a piece of that.” As a result, she added, Pride marches have become “a party for everybody.”
“What gets left behind are the very real struggles of LGBTQ people in this country — trans people in particular and people of color facing multiple layers of discrimination,” she added. “This ‘party’ suggests that being gay is just an excuse to have a lovely time, but there is still a long way to go.”