NEW YORK – Days before the anniversary of President Trump’s Inauguration, GLAAD, the world’s largest LGBTQ media advocacy organization, today released a video featuring LGBTQ celebrities and allies speaking out against the Trump Administration’s reported censorship of the terms including “transgender,” diversity,” and “vulnerable” in 2018 budget documents of multiple Health and Human Service(HHS) agencies. The video was produced and published by HuffPost, GLAAD’s exclusive media partner for this project. GLAAD was also joined by global superstar Demi Lovato, who showed solidarity for the cause by posting a photo on Twitter and Facebook of the GLAAD and Omaze "Say the Seven" shirt (Available here: http://bit.ly/2z4V56j).
Watch the full video here: https://www.facebook.com/HuffPostQueerVoices/videos/588960831448068/.
“We are days out from the anniversary of the inauguration of President Trump and the rise of an administration that has done nothing but attack and attempt to erase LGBTQ Americans in their first year in office,” said Sarah Kate Ellis, President and CEO of GLAAD. “We cannot let this story, and the censorship and erasure fade from view – if we can’t say these seven words, then we will shout them.”
Celebrities participating in the GLAAD and HuffPost video include actress Trace Lysette of Transparent, content creator Gigi Gorgeous, Zeke Smith of Survivor, transgender athlete Chris Mosier, Karamo Brown of the Netflix’s upcoming Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, Nico Tortorella of Paramount Networks’ Younger, musician Wrabel, and actress Arielle Kebbel.
“The attacks on transgender people, all LGBTQ people, people of color, women, and many more by this administration are unprecedented and wide-ranging,” said Zeke Smith, the first transgender contestant on CBS’ Survivor.
“This represents a cruel, targeted, and relentless attack on our lives and our health, especially on those of us who are most vulnerable,” said Trace Lysette, a transgender actress who appeared on Amazon’s Transparent.
In December, the Trump Administration reportedly prohibited the nation’s top public health agency from using the words transgender, diversity, vulnerable, evidence-based, science-based, entitlement, and fetus. The Centers of Disease Control and Prevention issued a statement calling the report a “mischaracterization,” but didn’t provide additional details. A Washington Post source linked the censorship directive to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), which has still refused to comment. With multiple HHS agencies coming forward with similar lists of prohibited words, it is long past due for the OMB to speak out about the matter.
GLAAD launched the #SayThe7 campaign to continue to keep this story in the front and center front by pressuring the OMB to comment, releasing a video of trans and gender-non-conforming GLAAD Campus Ambassadors speaking on the ban by sending a message of resilience and support to trans youth, and launching a “Say the Seven” t-shirt campaign with Omaze.
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