Queer Visibility Is Still Our Greatest Asset for Change

On the day after the election, with no president appointed yet, I am reminded of the importance of visibility and representation when it comes to minority cultures. National Coming Out Day was earlier in October, reminding LGBTQ+ people of the impact that living openly has on those around us. Someone who knows an LGBTQ+ person is more likely to support our equality. And this visibility is still so important… as made clear days after NCD when Amy Coney Barrett, a judge with a noted anti-LGBTQ+ record, was sworn in as the newest justice of The Supreme Court. Will she align with other conservative justices to stop our progress, or worse, roll back equality inroads we’ve made?

We can’t afford to go backwards. It’s still far from safe for everyone to come out. The FBI reports that 1 in 5 hate crimes are motivated by LGBTQ+ bias, and fatal violence against transgender and gender non-conforming people is a full-blown crisis. The Human Rights Campaign reports more than 30 transgender people have been killed so far in 2020, the highest rate since they began counting. 

By depicting our humanity in media and advertising, our industry has been crucial to making coming out safer. Today in TV, film, and advertising, there are more LGBTQ+ characters and out actors than ever, but still, there’s much farther to go, especially on the advertising side. LGBTQ+ people are 4.5% of the U.S. population (and growing as more come out), but we’re not 4.5% of marketing budgets, not 4.5% of ad spending, and certainly not 4.5% of families depicted in advertising.

Our industry’s power to shape society means we can and must do better. We hold enormous responsibility to further inclusion and representation so coming out gets easier and safer.

Let’s look at the facts on how younger generations identify, reflect on how LGBTQ+ people have been included in our content, and consider what comes next.   

We’re here but still challenged

Gallup finds younger adults, 18-36, more likely identify as LGBTQ+ (7.3%) as compared to only 3.2% of those ages 37-51, 2.4% of those 52-70, and 1.4% of those 71 and older. Also, YouGov recently asked Americans to rank themselves on Kinsey’s sexual orientation scale (0 = completely hetero; six = completely homo). Overall, two-thirds said they were completely hetero and only 6% said they were completely homo. However, fewer than half (48%) of Gen Zs and Millennials said they were completely hetero as compared to 65% of Gen Xs and 78% of Baby Boomers.

Still, a 2018 HRC study found 46% of LGBTQ+ workers remain closeted at work. The figure was 50% when they first asked in 2008, so only a 4-point change over a decade. Fifty-three percent of LGBTQ+ workers also said they’d heard LGBTQ+ jokes at work at least once in a while, and 31% said they felt unhappy or depressed at work.

The workplace challenges are real, even in Adland. Early on, I didn’t have any queer mentors and safety wasn’t extended to me. So, I masked with extreme femininity and avoided personal conversations. It was difficult and draining. Eventually, I recognized it was mitigating my creativity and thus my career -- and that a successful advertising career would be meaningless without personal authenticity. This gave me confidence in my right to be a voice in the room.

I built up the courage and moved to California to have a fresh start. In workplace conversations, I started with “my girlfriend, this” and “my girlfriend, that” – which was promptly greeted with acknowledgment that I had friends. My feminine presentation was proving to be a barrier to my queer identity. But eventually, I broke through. It was a relief, but other challenges were ahead. More than once, I was told by bosses to hide parts of myself because a conservative client might not like it. So still… I had to extend energy to masking and code switching, something hetero colleagues never have to think about.

Now a leader and agency owner, I make a point to extend the hand that wasn’t given to me, especially for gender non-conforming team members who have some of the biggest challenges.

It gets better: a brief recent history of LGBTQ+ in media

In the mid-90s, voyeurism of LGBTQ+ took off in fits and starts. When Ellen’s eponymous sitcom aired her coming out episode (1997), religious groups protested and advertisers like Chrysler, JC Penney and Wendy’s pulled out. ABC muted promotion, aired a disclaimer concerning appropriateness for children, and cancelled the show the following year. However, by 1998, NBC debuted Will & Grace to great success and without much controversy, and by 2009, ABC was back with Modern Family. Still, when MTV launched Logo (first LGBTQ+ network) in 2005, initially only three advertisers committed: Subaru, Orbitz and Paramount.

Fast-forward to Stonewall’s 50th anniversary last year, and the brands flying our rainbow flag were too numerous to count. Our stories in media had also diversified beyond white gay men.

For example, Lena Waithe’s semi-autobiographical Twenties on BET is a landmark moment for putting a queer, gender non-conforming, black woman in the lead role; and Transparent, Orange is the New Black, Euphoria, Pose and more have prominently featured transgender stories. Next, we’re looking forward to the gay romance at the center of Marvel’s The Eternals (2021) which promises to be as epic to us as Black Panther was to black audiences. We can be heroes too!

Get it right by including us in decision-making

There are still missteps.

New movies with Mark Walberg and Viggo Mortensen recently premiered amid controversy at film festivals. Walberg’s film is the story of a father whose 15-year-old son committed suicide after horrific bullying, and Mortensen’s tells the story of a married gay man who takes in his estranged, aging, homophobic and dementia-addled father. Both films are criticized for mining LGBTQ+ pain for hetero redemption narratives, a familiar trope. In Walberg’s case, it doesn’t help that he allegedly turned down a lead role in Brokeback Mountain because of his discomfort with the intimate scenes.

We also know that many brands “coming out” at Pride aren’t great allies. “Rainbow washing” is real. True allyship goes beyond showing up once a year and we’re asking for more. Are our diverse LGBTQ+ people safe in your workplaces? What accommodations have been made for gender non-conforming team members? Where do we sit in leadership? And, what political candidates/issues are you supporting?

The HRC’s Corporate Equality Index is helpful tool ranking companies on the inclusiveness of their policies, practices and benefits, and many of us look to it as a guide on where to work and which brands to buy. But even companies with perfect scores have been found supporting anti-gay politicians, explicitly advocating policies that would limit or turn back our equality. Rainbow washing can simply be tokenistic LGBTQ+ support, targeted marketing and representation in June, but it can also be corporate compartmentalization of support for anti-gay forces as a function of doing business in our politics-driven society.  

For brands, evolving to a fuller, year-round brief is critical (think of those demographic changes). Ensuring our full, safe inclusion, representing us in your content, and thinking about us – always -- as you operate in different business spheres is what’s best for your business. After all, creativity and innovation thrive on diversity. To make the change, think about doing a deep dive on your brand’s values with your key decision-makers and include outside, objective facilitation. Chances are… your top people don’t adequately reflect your consumers or communities. To succeed you’ll need to be challenged, to embrace brutal honesty and embrace alternate perspectives.  

For now, National Coming Out Day, along with this election season, remains a crucial reminder of the power of our truth.

As for me, I now come out many days each year. I always introduce myself with a bit about my life, and anyone meeting me finds out immediately how much I love my wife and dogs. Sometimes, my colleagues make fun of me for it, but it’s part of my power and I’ll keep using it.