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Recent news from Southern Stories

#GLAADinstitute alum does what the New York Times cannot: Provide fact-based information about trans healthcare | May 22, 2023

On Sunday, May 21, GLAAD Media Institute alum Lucas Hall hosted a virtual expert panel, which he also moderated, titled “Understanding Transgender Healthcare & Wellness.” Hall is a trans advocate and consultant working to correct misinformation often produced by media outlets about trans lives.

#GLAADinstitute alum brings trans healthcare into spotlight and addresses false narratives in upcoming virtual event | May 18, 2023

GLAAD Media Institute alum Lucas Hall is organizing a virtual panel, which he will also moderate, titled “Expert Panel: Understanding Transgender Healthcare & Wellness.” Hall is a trans advocate and consultant working to correct misinformation often produced by media outlets about trans lives.

Florida’s Historically Discriminatory Legislative Session Ends with a Wave of Anti-LGBTQ Bills and Protests | May 9, 2023

Florida legislative session’s final days have been sullied by an unprecedented barrage of anti-LGBTQ legislation.

Tennessee’s Tipping Point Legislative Session | April 25, 2023

Tennessee’s legislative session mercifully ended early after an historic slate of anti-LGBTQ bills, anti-democracy hypocrisy, and historic action from LGBTQ people and allies that shined a bright light on Tennessee and other states proposing baseless legislation. The extremism on full display in Tennessee is a tipping point raising national consciousness to connections that anti-LGBTQ lawmakers have to other fights against human rights and equality—abortion, gun safety, voting rights, and free speech.

#GLAADinstitute goes to Tulsa, Oklahoma to meet with LGBTQ advocates fighting anti-equality legislation | March 28, 2023

On Saturday, March 25 GLAAD, the world's largest LGBTQ media advocacy organization, visited Oklahomans for Equality’s (OkEq) Dennis R. Neill Equality Center to speak and train dozens of activists on how to speak to the media while fighting extreme anti-LGBTQ bills. Through the training titled: “Engagement 101: Telling Your Story: Messaging & Media Tools for Today’s Activist” activists learned how to share their stories to audiences who want to learn the facts about LGBTQ people to accelerate acceptance and strengthen equality throughout Tulsa and the state of Oklahoma.

UPDATED: Universities' Media On Getting Trans Coverage Right, and How the NY Times Is Doing it Wrong | February 23, 2023

Multiple University student newspapers are responding to the pair of open letters written to The New York Times concerning its damaging and biased coverage of transgender people. The Pitt News at the University of Pittsburgh was first out of the gate with a piece on February 16, titled, “The New York Times<

Change the Pattern Brings the AIDS Memorial Quilt to Louisiana in February 2023 | December 13, 2022

 

The National AIDS Memorial (NAM), steward of the AIDS Memorial Quilt, has partnered with the Southern AIDS Coalition to launch a major initiative bringing sections of the Quilt to communities in the southern United States as a teaching tool in the fight against HIV/AIDS. The next stop is Louisiana in February 2023.

Election 2022: Georgia U.S. Senate Runoff Candidates on the Record | November 30, 2022

The runoff election for the U.S. Senate is now underway in Georgia. Early in-person voting is happening now, and Election Day is December 6, 2022. 

LGBTQ voters in Georgia provided the winning margin for pro-equality candidates in the 2020 election. The runoff election comes as the LGBTQ community is reeling from the deadly mass shooting at an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado Springs. GLAAD is releasing both the LGBTQ record and gun safety records for candidates incumbent Sen. Raphael Warnock (above, left) and challenger Herschel Walker (above, right). 

Election 2022: Georgia's Candidates on the Record on LGBTQ Issues | October 10, 2022

The deadline to register to vote in Georgia is October 11, and early voting begins October 17. The candidates for U.S. Senate will appear at their first and only debate on Friday, October 14, in Savannah. 

GLAAD and Georgia Equality, the state’s largest LGBTQ advocacy organization, are releasing the LGBTQ and equality records of candidates in key races at the federal and state level.

Vote with pride in FLORIDA: The issues, the candidates, and the deadlines for early voting and mail-in voting | October 10, 2022

GLAAD is working to ensure all LGBTQ voters and their allies are informed about upcoming midterm elections and encouraged to go vote. To do that, we'll highlight races in some key states. The second state to be featured in this election series is Florida. Florida’s voter registration deadline is tomorrow, October 11th! Even if you aren't from Florida, you should double check your voter registration status and make a plan to vote! Tell friends and family to do the same. Visit www.glaad.org/vote to check your status.

Help Accelerate Acceptance

Take the #GotYourBack pledge at glaad.org/gotyourback and share a #GotYourBack photo to show the world you support the LGBT community.

 

Spread the Word

Share your own #SouthernStories by tagging @GLAAD on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Tweet about #SouthernStories to show your support: Share your #SouthernStories with @glaad. Visit www.glaad.org/southernstories to learn more.

 

Check out more Southern Stories

 

Ryan Peterson talks homelessness, recovery, and living with HIV

 

Georgia residents talk state's first Latino LGBT group

Meet Britney: A South Carolinian accelerating LGBT acceptance in healthcare and beyond

YouTuber Raymond Braun shares reflection on #SouthernStories Summer Tour

Raymond Braun's inspiring video about LGBT youth homelessness in the South

 

Day 1 of GLAAD's Southern Stories Summer Tour - Tennessee.

Day 2 of GLAAD's Southern Stories Summer Tour - Alabama and Mississippi.

Day 3 of GLAAD's Southern Stories Summer Tour - Mississippi and Florida.

Day 4 of GLAAD's Southern Stories Summer Tour - South Carolina.

Day 5 of GLAAD's Southern Stories Summer Tour - South Carolina.

Day 6, 7, and 8 of GLAAD's Southern Stories Summer Tour - Georgia

 

At St. Alexis Episcopal Church in Jackson, Mississippi, GLAAD's Ross Murray preaches the Sunday morning sermon.

Ty Herndon, groundbreaking gay country music artist, discusses the importance of the Concert for Love and Acceptance in Nashville.

Latta, SC, Police Chief Crystal Moore and MSNBC journalist Craig Melvin accept the GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding TV Journalism Segment.

Survivor of anti-LGBT attack Kristene Chapa speaks about the support she received after her attack in Texas. 

Debi Jackson, a southern conservative mother of transgender daughter talks acceptance.

Rick Westbrook, co-founder and executive director of Lost-n-Found Youth in Atlanta, GA, talks about taking in homeless LGBT youth for a living.

Eris Lovell, the first transgender teenager elected to homecoming court in Georgia, talks to GLAAD about getting elected, and what impact this has had on the family.