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Southern Stories
Building on-the-ground capacity and amplifying the stories of LGBTQ people and their allies in the U.S. South.
Recent news from Southern Stories
Mother’s Day dinner this year was extra special for one North Texas family, the Briggles, when they hosted Texas gubernatorial candidate Beto O’Rourke.
On Late Night with Seth Meyers, the Texas gubernatorial candidate talked about cooking the meal (a home recipe for burgers, broccoli, and potatoes), playing some music, and hanging out with the family who’ve become emblematic of the state-sponsored attacks on some Texas families.
Amber Briggle wants to introduce you to a family with a transgender kid—her family. The Texas mom speaks about her family, including her transgender teenaged son, Max, in GLAAD's new PSA videos, which got a sneak preview showing at the 33rd Annual GLAAD Media Awards in Los Angeles Saturday.
Govenors in three states are considering whether to sign discriminatory legislation that bans transgender youth from school sports: Arizona, Kentucky, and Oklahoma. Lawmakers in Indiana will meet to vote on overriding their governor’s veto. A bill to restrict access to gender-affirming care passed Arizona’s legislature and goes to Gov. Doug Ducey. Every major medical association supports such care as safe and lifesaving, and transgender youth access to school sports in their authentic gender.
GLAAD along with Equality Virginia Advocates, the leading LGBTQ advocacy organization in Virginia, today announce urgent new efforts to get LGBTQ voters to the polls in the final days before Election Day, as Virginia chooses its next governor.
On Sunday, after months of debating and public testimony across four arduous legislative sessions, Texas lawmakers passed a law that shuts transgender youth out of school sports. HB 25, which now goes to Governor Greg Abbott’s desk for his signature, limits schoolchildren from kindergarten through 12th Grade to participating in sports according to the sex on their birth certificates, effectively banning trans youth from athletics.
Under Tatiana Williams’ leadership, the Transinclusive Group was awarded for exceptional service and earned a coveted grant from Gilead Sciences’ COMPASS Initiative, a program focused on ending the HIV epidemic in the U.S. South.
El tiroteo masivo ocurrido en la discoteca Pulse el 12 de junio de 2016, en Orlando, Florida, le arrebató la vida a 49 personas y dejó 53 heridos. No sólo fue unos de los ataques con mayor número de muertos en la historia de los Estados Unidos, sino también es el incidente más violento y fatal en contra de la comunidad LGBTQ en la nación.
The year 2020, with its challenges, has demonstrated that the LGBTQ community is vibrant, diverse and engaged. And we vote. The LGBTQ community tipped the 2020 election, and the LGBTQ community of Georgia has the power to do it again in 2021.
We recently asked members of our amazing Latinx LGBTQ community to share who would be in their hearts and on their minds as they voted. This is what they told us. A big gracias & thank you to everyone who participated!
"Closing the gap to full acceptance of LGBTQ people will not come from legislation or judicial decisions alone, but from a deeper understanding and empathy from Americans themselves. Accelerating acceptance will require the help of not just LGBTQ people, but also their allies -- everyday Americans who feels strongly and take an active role to make sure that their LGBTQ friends and family are fully accepted members of society."
- Sarah Kate Ellis, GLAAD President & CEO
Why the South? Why now?
In late 2014, GLAAD commissioned Harris Poll to measure attitudes towards LGBTQ Americans. What we found is that even though 2015 has been (and is poised to continue to be) an historic year for the rights of LGBTQ Americans, beneath legal and policy progress lies a layer of uneasiness and discomfort. While the public is increasingly embracing LGBTQ civil rights and equal protection under the law, many are still uncomfortable with having LGBTQ people in their families and the communities where they live. Within these numbers we find that Southerners feel significantly more discomfort about their LGBTQ family, friends, and neighbors than is found in other regions of the country.
Americans' attitudes and behavior on LGBTQ equality are not just influenced by what they see and hear, but who they know. GLAAD's Southern Stories initiative tells the stories of LGBTQ people and their allies in the South to create a cultural shift towards LGBTQ acceptance and understanding in the region.