FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 31, 2024
Contact:
Sue Yacka-Bible, Communications Director, Transgender Law Center, [email protected]
Cathy Renna, Communications Director, National LGBTQ Task Force, 917-757-6123, [email protected]
To see the ad go here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crabN3v4U6Y
NEW YORK, NY – In partnership, the Transgender Law Center, the National LGBTQ Task Force, and Way to Rise have purchased space in North Carolina and Georgia for a 30-second ad titled “Defiance,” in response to anti-trans ads running prior to election day 2024. The ads will run on Meta, CTV (Connected TV, which delivers ads through internet connected television sets, streaming content on apps via devices like Roku, Apple TV or gaming consoles), YouTube, and Snapchat with a budget of $160,000 beginning on October 31, 2024.
“We are proud to stand alongside our LGBTQ+ allies in promoting an ad that beautifully elevates our freedoms, families, and futures as the through-line in the vibrant tapestry that is America. Division and the deliberate othering of certain groups of individuals is the enemy of freedom for everyone. Silence is not an option—it only feeds more division and invites a more pervasive assault on the freedoms we all hold dear as Americans,” said Emily Timm, Deputy Executive Director of Way to Rise.
“This ad sends a strong message of inclusion, acceptance, and joy in direct response to ads that seek to distract us, divide us and ‘other’ many vulnerable and marginalized people, including our transgender siblings,” said Kris Hayashi, Director of Advocacy and Action, National LGBTQ Task Force. “As our communities continue to learn about the lives of transgender and non-binary people, we must confront the lies and misinformation being spread about us,” continued Hayashi. “We will never be silent in the face of hate, and we encourage LGBTQ+ people and our allies to make their voices heard at the ballot box on November 5th,” concluded Hayashi.
The ad employs the Race Class Gender Narrative, a framework developed by ASO Communications, Transgender Law Center, and Lake Research Partners in 2021, which expands on the proven Race Class Narrative. The Race Class Gender Narrative builds solidarity across races and genders while confronting the increased use of racist dog whistles and transphobic siren songs as a strategy to divide us.
“Black, brown, or white, Native or newcomer, transgender or not, our authentic selves need to be reflected and respected – no exceptions,” said Shelby Chestnut, Executive Director of Transgender Law Center. “This ad exposes the motivation behind anti-trans attacks: to divide us in order to control us and limit access to healthcare and a robust public education in which all young people, including trans youth, are free to thrive. We fight for these freedoms year-round and are proud to lead with values and vision in the face of disinformation and division.”
The National LGBTQ Task Force launched their yearlong “Queer the Vote” campaign at the annual Creating Change conference in New Orleans and has been focused on phone banking efforts in Pennsylvania and North Carolina and texting over a million Florida voters to get out the vote.
The National LGBTQ Task Force advances full freedom, justice, and equality for LGBTQ people. We are building a future where everyone can be free to be their entire selves in every aspect of their lives. Today, despite all the progress we have made to end discrimination, millions of LGBTQ people face barriers in every aspect of their lives: in housing, employment, healthcare, retirement, and basic human rights. Those barriers must go.
The Transgender Law Center is the largest national trans-led organization advocating self-determination for all people. Since 2002 we’ve been organizing, assisting, informing and empowering thousands of individual community members towards a long-term, national, trans-led movement for liberation.
Way to Rise is a nonpartisan 501(c)(3) philanthropic strategy center and fund working toward multiracial democracy, especially where it is most undermined—in the South and Southwest.
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