LEARN THE ISSUES AND TAKE ACTION
GLAAD is a proud partner in the MTV Elect This campaign. To register to vote, get involved in the 2016 elections, and make a difference, click here.
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LGBT & allied voters are crucial to accelerating acceptance in the United States. Whether we are building towards electing the nation's next president, voting on local or national representatives, or deciding on ballot initiatives, every vote counts in the movement for full equality.
Though marriage equality became the law of the land in the summer of 2015, the LGBT movement has never been about one single issue. Indeed, advocates are working continuously to make full legal protections a reality for all, including the right to work without being fired for who you are, adopting and having children without discriminatory legal obstacles, access to fair voting and affordable healthcare, safety from targeted acts of violence or bullying, dismantling racism that undermines the well-being of LGBT people of color, and more.
As we move to create not just a system of legal equality but also a culture of full acceptance, GLAAD offers a series of resources about LGBT-related policy and legal issues for both voters and the media professionals who inform them. This page and its sections, as well as Voting While Trans and Faith & the Midterm Elections, will empower voters to cast informed ballots about LGBT-related matters, as well as the media to report fairly and accurately about oft-misunderstood matters that impact the daily lives of LGBT Americans.
Here is background on a number of topics likely to come up as voters go to the polls in 2016:
Focusing on Faith in Reporting
In 2014, GLAAD and the Human Rights Campaign Foundation released "In Focus: Faith, LGBT People, & the Midterm Elections,” a groundbreaking resource guide that empowers journalists to challenge anti-LGBT talking heads who mask bias as a ‘tenet of faith.’ The guide is designed to help the media provide accurate information about LGBT people and faith in the lead up to the 2014 midterm elections. Mainstream media outlets use far fewer religious sources from Mainline Protestant, Jewish, or other denominations whose messages were predominantly positive and accepting of LGBT people. Far too often, outlets frame stories as "God vs. Gay," inaccurately representing the current climate of acceptance across faith communities today. The guide seeks to correct these disparities in reporting.
