A federal judge temporarily blocked portions of a new Florida law that bans transgender minors from receiving puberty blockers, ruling Tuesday that the state has no rational basis for denying patients treatment.
“The elephant in the room should be noted at the outset. Gender identity is real. The record makes this clear,” Hinkle said, adding that even a witness for the state agreed.
Transgender medical treatment for minors is increasingly under attack in many states and has been subject to restrictions or outright bans. But it has been available in the United States for more than a decade and is endorsed by major medical associations.
Hinkle’s ruling was narrowly focused on the three children whose parents brought the suit.
Hinkle said people who mistakenly believe gender identity is a choice also “tend to disapprove all things transgender and so oppose medical care that supports a person’s transgender existence.”
Research suggests that transgender youth and adults are prone to stress, depression and suicidal thoughts, and the evidence is mixed on whether treatment with hormones or surgery resolves those issues.
Even ahead of contemplating medical treatment, experts agree, allowing children to express their gender in a way that matches their identity is beneficial, such as letting children assigned male at birth wear clothing or hairstyles usually associated with girls, if that is their wish.
“There are risks attendant to not using these treatments, including the risk — in some instances, the near certainty — of anxiety and depression and even suicidal ideation. The challenged statute ignores the benefits that many patients realize from these treatments and the substantial risk posed by foregoing the treatments,” Hinkle said.
He also noted that hormone treatments and puberty blockers are often used to treat non-transgender children for other conditions, so the law makes their use legal for some, but not for others.
The three children in the lawsuit will “suffer irreparable harm” if they cannot begin puberty blockers, Hinkle said.
“The treatment will affect the patients themselves, nobody else, and will cause the defendants no harm,” Hinkle said.
The governor’s office didn’t immediately reply to an email seeking comment.
Seminole County Public Schools is offering to reprint this year’s Lyman High School yearbook and remove two pages for parents upset about LGBTQ+ content, prompting criticism that the district isn’t standing up to bigotry. The pages highlight the school’s LGBTQ+ community and provide definitions of terms such as genderfluid and pansexual. A few parents and students found those pages “inappropriate,” and now the district is offering refunds or reprinted yearbooks with the pages in question removed.
Jessica Tillmann, chapter chair of the Seminole County Moms for Liberty, said she is concerned about the definitions in the yearbook because she thinks they are teaching children about sex outside the state-approved standards that parents can choose to opt their children out of. “They shouldn’t have any sexual definitions in a yearbook,” she said. “This is a yearbook that goes to every student as young as 14.”
Sharmon Craft [screenshot above] was among the parents who believe the page is inappropriate. “This gender ideology crap has parents in an uproar because it’s disgusting and wrong for an adult to sexualize a minor,” Craft said on Facebook.
“The district superintendent is ordering the school to give full refunds or have the books reprinted without the glossary of perverse sexual attractions and pronouns.” District officials said they have received four complaints from parents so far.
Danielle Pomeranz, the high school’s former yearbook advisor, argued against the decision. “We think that it’s important that our book remains inclusive and represents all of the students at Lyman High School,” Pomeranz said.
A library in Montana has canceled a transgender Cheyenne woman guest speaker, saying that her appearance at the library could violate the state’s new drag ban.
Adria Jawort – who made headlines last year when she won a lawsuit against a conservative, straight, white male pastor who called her mentally ill – was set to speak at the Butte Public Library last Friday as part of the library’s Pride Month programming. She was going to speak about “Montana History of Two-Spirit and LGBTQ+ Peoples.”
But the library canceled her appearance on Thursday afternoon. A librarian emailed her and said that the county “decided that it is too much of a legal risk to have a transgendered person in the library. I really regret this.”
Butte-Silver Bow city-county Chief Executive J.P. Gallagher cited the state’s new law, H.B. 359, which is intended to ban drag story hours. The law bans both drag queens and kings from reading in front of children. It also defines both as “a male or female performer who adopts a flamboyant or parodic” male or feminine persona “with glamorous or exaggerated costumes and makeup.”
Gallagher still proclaimed June Pride Month at the Butte-Silver Bow Courthouse that same day.
Gallagher said that he would have let the performance happen if not for the state law. “But we would be in violation of state law if we allowed this person to give her presentation,” he said. According to Jawort’s Substack, Gallagher was reportedly getting legal advice from County Attorney Eileen Joyce.
Jawort said that she testified in the state legislature against the drag ban.
“I did so by explicitly doing a little dance (it was the beginning of the dance by that robot girl in the M3GAN) and saying that this bill’s broad definition targets trans people, what I had just done would be illegal under it,” she wrote. “Then I explained First Amendment Law to them – which seemed to be beyond their comprehension.”
Jawort said that there was already going to be a police presence at her lecture on Friday because the library “had been receiving harassing calls” about it.
“Now, what we have here is like a version of 21st Century ‘masquerade laws’ used to target trans people with back in the 1950s and 60s with [SIC] to arrest them for wearing articles of clothing of the opposite ‘biological’ gender,” she wrote.
In 2021, pastor J.D. Hall, a former darling of the far-right wing in Montana, called Jawort a “Gothic Transvestite,” called her “mannish,” and said she was mentally ill because she is trans. He also said that she threatened state officials.
She sued him for libel and they reached a settlement involving Hall paying Jawort $250,000, retracting the libelous article from his website, and publicly apologizing to Jawort.
“I apologize to Adrian Jawort,” Hall’s public apology in 2022 said. “The information I published about Adrian was false. Adrian did not threaten or harass Senator Butch Gillespie. I regret the error and sincerely apologize to Adrian for publishing it.”
Day after day we see Republicans trying to outdo each other in how vile and frightening they can be. From the fight over the debt ceiling, to their presidential primary, they continue to try to take the nation backwards.
In the debt ceiling fight, they clearly say, “We will protect the wealthy in our country at all costs, and instead will cut, or eliminate, programs to help the poor.” The far-right wing crazies like Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), Chip Roy (R-Texas), and Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), are threatening their own speaker, Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), with the loss of his job if he doesn’t go along with what they want. Now that a deal has been cut, we will see how they, and left-leaning Democrats who have been putting pressure on President Biden to reject all Republican demands, will vote. These are facts of life in our nation today. Any person with a shred of decency should be embarrassed. I don’t envy President Biden for what he has to do to keep the nation from defaulting on its debts. The political reality is that he had to give in on some issues. Democrats should not fault him, but rather blame Republicans.
It is scary when you see what Republicans are doing around the nation with regard to abortion rights, civil rights, and LGBTQ rights. One recent example being Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis proudly signing the bill making abortion only legal until six weeks. There are women who don’t even know by then they are pregnant. Also, it’s time men start understanding how this impacts them. Women need to remind the fathers what their responsibility will be if they both aren’t ready for a child but are forced to have one.
One ignorant parent in Florida complained, and according to politico was able to have “A Miami-Dade elementary school limit some access to Amanda Gorman’s presidential inauguration poem, ‘The Hill We Climb,’ complaining that it contained indirect “hate messages.” This is insanity and the clear result of Trump’s impact on the culture of the nation. He made it OK to once again have hatred spewed from the public square, frightening decent people.
Like the threats against Target. CNN reported the company was “removing some products that celebrate Pride month after the company and its employees became the focus of a “volatile” anti-LGBTQ campaign. The company told the Wall Street Journal that people have confronted workers in stores, knocked down Pride merchandise displays and put threatening posts on social media with video from inside stores. Some people have thrown Pride items on the floor, Target spokesperson Kayla Castaneda told Reuters. CNN went on to report “Prominent right-wing activists, Republican political leaders, and conservative media outlets, have focused their attention on a women’s swimsuit that was described as “tuck friendly” for its ability to conceal male genitalia. Misinformation spread on social media that it was marketed to children, which it was not.” Again, insanity, promoted by the right wing. The people doing this should be arrested and prosecuted.
It only gets worse as Republican candidates running for president try to outdo each other with anti-LGBTQ rhetoric, trying to improve their poll numbers. DeSantis can tout his “don’t say gay legislation.” Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), a Black man, who says the country is not racist, touts his opposition to marriage equality. Then there is Mike Pence who will quote the Bible to you, claiming it tells us how terrible it is to be gay.
The Daily News recently reported “Following last year’s more than 220 anti-LGBTQ bills introduced across the country, a poll by The Trevor Project found 71% of LGBTQ youth — and 86% trans and nonbinary youth — said they were negatively impacted by the flurry of proposals to restrict their rights.” They went on to report, “As of May 23, more than 520 anti-LGBTQ bills have been introduced in statehouses across the country, according to the Human Rights Campaign. More than 220 of those specifically restrict the rights of transgender and nonbinary people. These are all Republican bills.
This will continue unabated if we don’t defeat Republicans everywhere. In sharp contrast, Democrats in the Maryland legislature, led by Delegates David Moon (D-Montgomery County) and Luke Clippinger (D-Baltimore County) and State Senator Howard Lam (D-Baltimore and Howard Counties), managed to repeal the states sodomy law and pass gun-control measures.
Republicans will continue to carry out their agenda of hate across the nation unless we say with our votes, “We won’t take this anymore.” The United States is better than this and we will show the world we will not tolerate hate; we will fight it.
Peter Rosenstein is a longtime LGBTQ rights and Democratic Party activist. He writes regularly for the Blade.
The Human Rights Campaign declared a state of emergency for LGBTQ people in the U.S. on Tuesday and a released “a guidebook for action” summarizing what it calls discriminatory laws in each state, along with “know your rights” information and health and safety resources.
Sounding the alarm about the current political environment, the nation’s largest organization devoted to the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer Americans said advisories warning against travel to dangerous places aren’t enough to help people already living in so-called hostile states.
The campaign said it’s taking action in response to an unprecedented and dangerous spike in discriminatory legislation sweeping state houses this year, with more than 525 anti-LGBTQ bills introduced and more than 70 signed into law so far in 2023 — more than double last year’s number. In a report released Tuesday called “LGBTQ+ Americans Under Attack,” it says the new laws are a result of coordinated Republican efforts, supported by “well-funded extremist groups.”
The “LGBTQ+ Americans Fight Back” guidebook, meanwhile, also provides information about filing complaints for violations of civil rights and points to resources for financing moves and finding employment in what it calls “safer” states.
In a section called Know the Enemy/Opposition, the guidebook offers tips on how to engage in local advocacy opposing anti-LGBTQ efforts and how to navigate tough conversations about hate with friends and family.
The guidebook aims to help millions of vulnerable people, “whether they’re planning summer travel through regions that are becoming increasingly hostile to LGBTQ+ people, or whether they already live in a state where legislative assaults and political extremism are continuing to put a target on our backs,” Kelley Robinson, president of the Human Rights Campaign, said in a statement.
The emergency declaration is the first in the 40-year history of the HRC, and comes as Republican-dominated legislatures around the country have passed bills targeting people based on their identities, including laws restricting various aspects of transgender existence, from pronoun usage and bathroom access to medical care and more.
With Pride Month officially underway, businesses will be finalising their plans to celebrate and support their LGBTQ+ employees and colleagues. We share some suggestions on how to truly champion LGBTQ+ employees beyond the standard gestures of solidarity.
The month of June serves as a time when the entire LGBTQ+ community can unite and remember the progress made, all while addressing the ongoing issues that are impacting the community. As this year has already been plagued with hundreds of anti-LGBTQ+ laws and homophobic rhetoric in the news, Pride should also serve as a time to stand up and against the bigotry that has reared its ugly head.
For employers, Pride Month is low-hanging fruit when it comes to supporting LGBTQ+ employees, and the recent hasty retreats of brands like Target and Bud Light after their LGBTQ+ inclusive marketing efforts attracted bigoted hate are examples to brands and businesses of how not to handle Pride Month.
Offering honest support and a commitment to LGBTQ+ people at work goes beyond hanging some rainbow flags and putting on a Pride-themed event. While these are admirable gestures, LGBTQ+ employees value more than these surface-level actions.
To make an authentic difference and celebrate LGBTQ+ employees during Pride Month (and beyond), here is a list of meaningful ways employers can support their LGBTQ+ employees.
Update what is currently being done
Simple steps like encouraging the sharing of pronouns in emails and on name badges and offering gender-neutral bathrooms is a great starting points, but companies now need to refine and assess how inclusive those things are.
Do the company’s internal systems offer pronouns outside of the binary? If a colleague uses they/them pronouns then they should exist identically in HR documents. How accessible are those gender-neutral bathrooms? If a key is needed, then it may not be that accessible.
This approach also applies to the imagery that is on display throughout the workplace and in communications: If the company flying the Pride flag, consider updating it to the Progress Pride flag, which more explicitly represents queer people of colour, the trans community and intersex people.
Offer diversity training
Providing diversity training that specifically addresses LGBTQ+ issues can help educate employees and create a more inclusive workplace. Training like this increases awareness of unconscious biases, promotes respect and provides practical tools for fostering an inclusive environment.
When employers invest in ongoing diversity training, they are demonstrating their commitment to creating a broader atmosphere of understanding and acceptance throughout the year.
Re-examine benefits and how they are written
Nothing says “lack of inclusion” like employer benefits and policies that don’t reach everyone within the business. Benefits like family leave should reflect all the different ways families are created, such as through adoption or surrogacy. Employers should also double-check and make sure that all family leave is equitable rather than focused on the binary of maternal and paternal.
Regarding more complex experiences like gender-affirming care and transitioning, employers should be ready to support and advocate for their trans and non-binary employees where they can. Being this advocate could change internal policy and also influence medical providers to cover things like surgeries and hormone treatments.
Know the history of Pride
Given the political vitriol hurled at the LGBTQ+ community, now is a perfect time for businesses to be reminded why Pride is celebrated in June. Understanding the origins and significance of Pride is crucial for creating an inclusive environment. Employers can educate themselves and their employees about the Stonewall riots in 1969 and the struggles faced by the LGBTQ+ community throughout history.
By acknowledging and respecting this history, employers can foster empathy, awareness, and appreciation for the progress that has been made. It’s also key that employers are vocal themselves, and not put the onus to spread awareness on the shoulders of their LGBTQ+ employees.
Donate to charities that align with company goals
There’s no better way to show allyship than with a sizeable donation. With the help of employee resource groups (ERGs), companies can find charitable organisations that align with the company’s values and missions. If there is an employee-led fundraising campaign underway, companies can easily match employee donations.
Charitable donations are a win-win for the business. They are tax deductible and it’s another sign to LGBTQ+ employees that the company they work for is committed to LGBTQ+ inclusion outside of the workplace.
Let ERGs and employees lead the discussions
There is no gatekeeping in allyship, so business leaders should give the space to let LGBTQ+ ERGs and individuals drive the conversation around Pride. Employee-led groups can share their own experiences and what inclusion looks like to them. Companies with progressive benefits often utilise these volunteer-led networks to help shape and form those policies.
It’s important to note the difference between LGBTQ+ employees leading discussions and putting the responsibility for starting those discussions on them. Queer employees want the space, but shouldn’t have to create the space themselves. ERGs are more impactful when there is an executive sponsor that advocates for them.
Make resources readily available
Employers can go the extra mile by providing additional resources specifically aimed at supporting LGBTQ+ employees. This could involve creating an LGBTQ+ library or resource centre that offers books, articles, and educational materials.
Additionally, implementing mentorship programs or pairing LGBTQ+ employees with allies can provide invaluable support and guidance. These resources contribute to a sense of belonging, personal growth, and professional development among LGBTQ+ employees.
Stand up for what is right
Already this season, brands and businesses have succumbed to the backlash from the “anti-woke mob.”
From issuing public ‘apologies’ to taking down Pride retail displays, when businesses backtrack like this it severely impacts the LGBTQ+ community. It makes many in the community feel further isolated and it also encourages more hateful speech and discrimination towards LGBTQ+ people.
Nearly 1 in 10 adults across 30 countries identify as LGBTQ, according to a new global survey, but that number tells only part of the story. Age and geographic location played a central role in the findings, with younger respondents and those in more progressive countries significantly more likely to be included in that top-line number. Demographics, including gender, also figured noticeably in respondents’ views on issues like transgender discrimination and same-sex marriage.
Ipsos, a market-research company, surveyed 22,514 participants in 30 countries in the Americas, Europe and Asia in February and March, and found that 3% identified as lesbian or gay, 4% as bisexual, 0.9% as pansexual or omnisexual, and 0.9% as asexual.
Survey respondents in Generation Z (born after 1997) were two times as likely as millennials (born in 1981 to 1996) to identify as bisexual, pansexual, omnisexual or asexual, and four times as likely as those in Generation X (1965 to 1980) or baby boomers (1948 to 1964).
When survey results were broken down by geography, respondents in Spain were the most likely (6%) to identify as gay or lesbian, while those in Brazil and the Netherlands were the most likely to identify as bisexual (both 7%). By contrast, respondents in Japan were the least likely to identify as gay or lesbian (less than 1%) or as bisexual (1%).
In terms of gender identity, 0.8% of respondents identified as transgender; 1.3% percent as nonbinary, gender nonconforming or gender fluid; and 0.7% did not identify with any of these categories but also did not identify as male or female.
Like sexual identity, there are large — and growing — generation gaps. While 6% of Generation Z respondents identified as something other than exclusively male or only female, 3% of millennials reported the same, while only 1% of Generation X and boomers did.
“We are seeing generational shifts. Globally, only 4% of boomers identify as LGBT+ versus 18% of Gen Z,” Nicolas Boyon, a senior vice president at Ipsos, told NBC News. “Older generations are seeing this and are probably a little bit puzzled.”
LGBTQ visibility
Globally, LGBTQ visibility has increased since 2021, when Ipsos last conducted its global survey. Nearly half (47%) of adults say they have a relative, friend or colleague who is lesbian or gay, up from 42% in 2021, and more than a quarter (26%) say they know someone who is bisexual, an increase of 2 percentage points from 2021. When it comes to gender identity, 13% know someone who is trans, an increase of 3 percentage points since 2021.
The number of people who say they know someone who is LGBTQ varies widely by country. The highest visibility for gays, lesbians and bisexuals was in Brazil, Spain, Chile and New Zealand, while visibility was the lowest in Japan, South Korea, Romania and Turkey.
Gender diversity was most visible in Thailand, New Zealand, the U.S. and Australia, and least visible in Romania, South Korea, Japan and Hungary.
Younger people and women were more likely than men and older respondents to know someone who is LGBTQ, and younger people in particular were much more likely to know someone who is transgender, the report found.
Transgender discrimination
Globally, 67% of respondents said transgender people confront a fair or great deal of discrimination, while 19% said they face little to no discrimination. And more than three quarters (76%) of those surveyed — representing a majority in each of the 30 countries surveyed — said transgender people should be protected from discrimination in employment, housing and businesses such as restaurants and stores.
A majority of respondents also said they support trans-inclusive policies that have become political flashpoints in several countries: 60% said trans teens should be able to access gender-affirming care with parental consent; 55% said trans people should be allowed to access single-sex facilities that match their gender identity; and 53 percent said government-issued IDs should include options other than male or female.
Thailand and Chile were among the countries most in favor of pro-transgender measures, while the U.S. and the United Kingdom — where trans issues have “polarizing political issues,” according to the report — were among the least.
Same-sex marriage
More than half of all respondents (56%) said gay marriage should be legal, and an additional 16% said same-sex couples should be able to receive some form of legal recognition. By contrast, 14% opposed any form of legal recognition, and an additional 14% were unsure.
In the 20 countries surveyed where same-sex marriage is already legal, support for it ranged from 49% to 80%, with only Colombia coming in below the halfway mark. In the other 10, a majority support some form of recognition, with the exception of Turkey.
Support for same-sex marriage, however, has “softened in several Western countries since 2021,” the report found.
Of the 23 countries surveyed both this year and in 2021, the report found that nine showed a decline of 4 percentage points or more in the support of same-sex marriage, including the U.S., Canada and the U.K. Only two countries surveyed both years showed an increase of 4 percentage points or more: France and Peru.
“We see that there tends to be a lot of opposition where trans rights are a very political issue,” Boyon said. “I wonder if, to some extent, the political polarization has not spilled over to views about same-sex marriage and adoption.”
Similar patterns were also found regarding adoption by same-sex couples. Globally, 64% of respondents said same-sex couples should have the same adoption rights as opposite-sex couples, though the report found that support for same-sex adoption has “declined significantly” in the U.S., Canada, the Netherlands, Sweden and Turkey.
Women and younger respondents were more likely to support same-sex marriage and adoption than men and older respondents.
“Most LGBT+ related trends cross borders,” Boyon said.
Members of a culture-warring Florida school district spent a contentious eight-and-a-half hours at a school board meeting expressing their exasperation with the divisiveness plaguing the schools.
According to the Tampa Bay Times,topics at the meeting included book bans, LGBTQ+ rights, and the “overall direction of the … district and its closely divided board.”
Many speakers (there were over 100) denounced the right-wing propaganda claiming teachers are indoctrinating children to be LGBTQ+.
“No one is teaching your kids to be gay!” said former math teacher Alyssa Marano, who recently resigned from the Hernando school district. “Sometimes, they just are gay. I have math to teach. I literally don’t have time to teach your kids to be gay.”
The district gained notoriety in May when the Florida Department of Education began investigating a Hernando fifth-grade teacher, Jenna Barbee, for showing her class the Disney movie Strange World, which contains a scene where one of the male characters says he has a crush on a boy. Barbee has since resigned.
But Barbee is just the beginning. About 50 teachers are reportedly planning to resign due to the school’s hostile environment.
At the board meeting, teacher Daniel Scott decried the “draconian working conditions that are causing many such as myself to abandon this honored career.”
“I don’t feel that I can adequately provide a safe environment for my students anymore,” Scott said.
Students and parents also spoke, with one saying the school’s “war on woke” is actually a war on the students’ futures.
Amelie Howell, a sophomore in high school, held a sign that said “Education is not indoctrination” and told the board, “It feels like a lot of people are speaking for us. Nobody is asking what we want.”
According to the Times, meeting attendees also included Proud Boys and members of the anti-LGBTQ+ organization Moms for Liberty.
As part of his own war on so-called “woke” culture, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) has been helping Moms for Liberty members get elected to local Florida school boards.
Shannon Rodriguez, a Hernando board member who was endorsed by Moms for Liberty, is the one who reported Barbee for showing the Disney film.
Both Rodriguez and fellow Board member Mark Johnson – whose campaign was focused on opposing critical race theory – have caused controversy in the district after campaigning to remove Superintendent John Stratton, whom they have accused of supporting “indoctrination.”
Stratton survived the vote of no confidence, with one board member, Susan Duval, saying you “could never find a better superintendent.”
Meetings like this are the product of a Florida culture war continually stoked by DeSantis, who recently announced his campaign for President.
Beginning with the 2022 passage of the Don’t Say Gay law – which prohibits class instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through third grade – DeSantis and the Republican-controlled legislature have devoted their tenure to demonizing LGBTQ+ people and making schools less safe for LGBTQ+ students.
DeSantis and the Florida GOP have been so hostile to the LGBTQ+ community that the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) – the nation’s largest LGBTQ+ rights organization – joined Equality Florida to issue a travel advisory for the state.
On May 17, DeSantis signed a slate of laws targeting LGBTQ+ people, including a ban on gender-affirming care for minors, restrictions on such care for adults, a ban on all-ages drag shows, and an anti-trans bathroom bill.
DeSantis has gone to war with Disney over its opposition to the Don’t Say Gay law, has launched numerous blindsides attacking “woke indoctrination” in schools, and has taken control of the state’s education system with handpicked administrators and the power of the bully pulpit. His staff has regularly smeared LGBTQ+ people and allies on social media with vile slurs and insinuations of sexual abuse.
The Don’t Say Gay law – which has been expanded to all grades – has led to the banning of LGBTQ+ books in schools and the forced outing of students to their parents by school administrators.
In 2021, DeSantis signed a bill banning trans students from participating in school sports.
DeSantis has ranted against “woke gender ideology” and once claimed, “In the state of Florida, we are not going to allow them to inject transgenderism into kindergarten.”
LGBTQ+ students in Florida are so scared of repercussions that many have refused to speak with LGBTQ Nation about their experiences. A non-LGBTQ+ student told us that terrified queer students are learning to “shut up and keep their head low.”
A clear majority of Americans who don’t identify as LGBTQ believe companies should publicly support the community, according to a new survey from gay rights organization GLAAD.
About 70% of more than 2,500 adults who don’t identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or an otherwise member of the community said support from companies should come through hiring practices, advertising and sponsorships, according to online responses to GLAAD’s annual “Accelerating Acceptance” study, conducted in February.
“When people are exposed to LGBTQ people and experiences in media it changes hearts and minds and shifts culture and sentiment,” GLAAD said in its release. “Measuring comfortability in media is a pathway to 100% acceptance for LGBTQ people.”
Three out of 4 survey respondents said they feel comfortable seeing LGBTQ people in advertisements, and nearly 70% reported feeling comfortable seeing an LGBTQ family with children included in ads.
The study comes as retailers like Target, Kohl’s and PetSmart have come under attack for their annual LGBTQ Pride merchandise displays and ad campaigns.
Mega retailer Target went as far as to pull some of its merchandise from the retail floor last week. A spokesperson for the company said threats to employees were “impacting our team members’ sense of safety and wellbeing while at work.”
Critics continue to incite anti-LGBTQ attacks in stores and on social media, with some calling for boycotts.
In April, Bud Light came under fire after partnering with transgender social media influencer Dylan Mulvaney. The campaign prompted violent videos of customers shooting cans of Bud Light and a right-wing boycott. In response, the marketing executive who oversaw the partnership at Bud Light parent company Anheuser-Busch Inbev took a leave of absence.
Sales of Bud Light since then continue to suffer, according to data by Evercore ISI. In the week ended May 20, Bud Light sales volume — the number of units of beer sold — declined 29.5% compared with the same period last year.
The company has also faced criticism from LGBTQ leaders who have dinged the company for not defending its ties with Mulvaney and the community more strongly.
In a statement responding to the backlash, Anheuser-Busch said it “works with hundreds of influencers across our brands as one of many ways to authentically connect with audiences across various demographics.”
GLAAD and more than 100 leading LGBTQ advocacy organizations wrote a letter on Wednesday calling on Target to “reject and speak out against anti-LGBTQ+ extremism going into Pride Month,” which is celebrated in June.
“Doubling down on your values is not only the right thing to do,” the group wrote in a statement. “It’s good for business.”
A separate survey conducted by GLAAD and the Edelman Trust Institute in December found that if a brand publicly supports and demonstrates a commitment to expanding and protecting LGBTQ+ rights, Americans are twice as likely to buy or use the brand.
GLAAD CEO Sarah Kate Ellis emphasized in her personal call to action on Twitter last week that companies need to stand behind their products and ad campaigns instead of backing down.
“Anti-LGBTQ violence and hate should not be winning in America,” said Ellis. “But it will continue to until corporate leaders step up as heroes for their LGBTQ employees and consumers and do not cave to fringe activists calling for censorship.”
The frontrunner to be Thailand’s next prime minister joined a Pride parade in Bangkok on Sunday, promising to pass a law that would allow same-sex marriage and gender identity rights if he becomes premier. Thousands of LGBTQ+ people, their allies and political leaders marched through central Bangkok, marking Pride month and promoting gender equality in the second official Pride parade to be held in the country.
Pita Limjaroenrat, leader of the progressive Move Forward party, is pushing to lead a coalition after winning the most seats in a May 14 general election. The coalition has made a joint pledge to pass laws, including the Marriage Equality Act, to ensure equal rights for all couples regardless of gender, after the passage of the draft law and related legislations were stalled in parliament under the previous government.
