GLAAD is Coming Out to The Bat With "The Conversation” Targeting the Republicans

         

GLAAD, the national LGBTQ advocacy organization, is taking its fight for equality directly to Republicans on their favorite television channel. 

Starting today, GLAAD says it has purchased air-time for a TV commercial titled “The Conversation,” which will be seen by viewers of the popular Fox News Channel morning show, “Fox & Friends” in New York City and Washington, D.C. every morning this week, timed to coincide with the Republican National Convention. 

The 30-second ad “depicts a gay man speaking with his mother, a Trump supporter, about how the Administration’s firm rebuke of the Equality Act has harmed LGBTQ Americans,” according to GLAAD’s press release. GLAAD said the ad will also be seen via digital media in several swing states, and beyond this week’s political convention. 

“Ma, do you know that I could be evicted for being gay? Or turned away at the ER?” says the actor in the ad. “Donald Trump opposes the bill that would change that.” At the end of the commercial, viewers are directed to a GLAAD website and asked to support the Equality Act, which if enacted would extend comprehensive protections against LGBTQ discrimination including in housing, education and public accommodations.

As Eric Bachman wrote in Forbes.com last year, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 5, or the “Equality Act” in May 2019. The bill amends Title VII, among other laws, to explicitly add discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity as outlawed forms of discrimination. But it never saw the light of day in the Republican-controlled Senate.  

“At a time when Americans are entrenched in their own media bubbles, this ad shows why the Equality Act is critical to LGBTQ people and those who love them, and how the Trump Administration and Republicans in Congress are blocking its passage,” said GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis in a statement provided by GLAAD. “Because of media outlets like Fox News, many LGBTQ people and allies are not aware that anti-discrimination protections are still unavailable to LGBTQ people and that the Trump Administration is actively fighting against the Equality Act. Given Fox News' track record on spreading misinformation or keeping LGBTQ issues invisible, it’s critical that we reach those viewers with what they need to know about what’s at stake for LGBTQ people at this pivotal moment in our history.”

GLAAD said it timed this ad to the RNC because organizers decided to hold its convention without a traditional policy platform, and vowed that any move to amend its 2016 platform would be ruled out of order. The Washington Blade reported that the 2016 platform called for ending marriage for LGBTQ couples, supported conversion therapy and objected to laws that ensure transgender Americans can use public accommodations consistent with their gender identity.