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00:00 Over 500 pieces of anti-LGBTQ legislation
00:03 proposed already this year, many passed.
00:07 First of all, is this the worst year
00:08 since you became CEO in 2014
00:11 of seeing these kinds of attacks
00:14 and targeted legislation against LGBTQ people?
00:19 - Absolutely, yeah, no doubt.
00:23 I think it is on record the worst legislative session
00:27 against LGBTQ folks,
00:30 even when we were in the fight for marriage equality.
00:33 I think when I started nine years ago,
00:39 we were on the precipice of advancing marriage equality.
00:43 So there was a great hope and a new world
00:48 and a brighter world and a brighter future,
00:50 and it's pretty dark right now.
00:52 - It is very dark.
00:54 What do you attribute?
00:57 It just seems like this is a very coordinated attack
01:01 and it's been coordinated particularly
01:04 against transgender kids and healthcare for them
01:09 and then drag queens.
01:11 Why do you, like, why is there
01:14 almost identical legislation going through
01:17 all of these Republican-led states?
01:20 - Oh, it's not even almost, it is identical.
01:24 It's a form, actually, and they fill in the state
01:27 and the legislators.
01:30 I think, here's what I think,
01:32 is that two things are at play.
01:34 One is six years ago,
01:37 most Americans didn't know about transgender folks, right?
01:41 There has been an increase in visibility,
01:44 which is something that we do here at GLAAD, right?
01:47 It's about storytelling.
01:49 It's about telling trans and gender nonconforming stories
01:52 through Hollywood, in the news and media journalism, right?
01:56 So I think there's a heightened awareness than ever before,
02:01 and there's growing acceptance.
02:03 So I think it was right before Caitlyn Jenner came out,
02:08 we asked Americans if they knew anyone who was transgender.
02:12 6% of Americans said they knew someone who was transgender.
02:16 Here we are now, 2023,
02:19 30% of Americans say they know someone who's transgender.
02:23 Still very small, but much larger.
02:26 I mean, I'm not a math person,
02:28 but if you did the math on that,
02:29 I'd say, you know, you'd NX that or something.
02:33 That being said, 70% of Americans
02:39 don't know transgender people,
02:41 and where they're getting their information from right now
02:45 is through these political folks
02:48 who are using our community to create fear,
02:53 to raise money, to bolster their careers
02:58 at the expense of the trans
03:01 and gender nonconforming community.
03:03 And they are filling it, and what journalists are doing,
03:07 and not on purpose, I really don't believe so,
03:10 is that they're regurgitating what a Ron DeSantis says
03:13 or Greg Abbott is saying.
03:15 And so that's becoming reality,
03:17 or that's becoming the perception of all of these people
03:21 who don't know transgender people.