GLAAD, the world’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) media advocacy organization, and One Colorado, the state’s leading advocacy organization for LGBTQ Coloradans and their families, is today calling on the Herschel Walker U.S. Senate campaign in Georgia to remove its lastest ad from the airwaves and cease its anti-transgender rhetoric on the campaign trail.
The ad, launched just 24 hours after the deadly mass shooting at Club Q in Colorado Springs that killed at least five people and injured 25 more, attacks transgender Georgians with false and defamatory information and comes just hours after Walker himself delivered an anti-transgender tirade from the campaign stump.
“Shame on Herschel Walker — and shame on every politician using LGBTQ lives as political props. There’s an undeniable nexus between this kind of baseless and hateful rhetoric and the violence leveled against our community this weekend in Colorado Springs and the violence being perpetrated against marginalized communities all across this country,” said Nadine Bridges, Executive Director of One Colorado.
“Airing this kind of rubbish under the guise of a political campaign was already deplorable enough—but in the wake of Saturday night’s massacre at Club Q, it’s simply unconscionable. These ads should be pulled immediately from Georgia’s airwaves before more lives are put in danger,” said GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis.
GLAAD has tracked Walker’s previous anti-LGBTQ statements which can be found here.
GLAAD and One Colorado are on the ground in Colorado Springs now supporting local organizations and families as they cope with the aftermath of Saturday’s tragedy. The shooting happened on the eve of Transgender Day of Remembrance, a day to honor the transgender people killed by violence over the last year.
GLAAD has recommendations for media covering transgender people, transgender people targeted by violence—including avoiding “deadnaming” or using a trans person’s discarded birthname without permission—and about Trans Day of Remembrance here and in the GLAAD Media Reference Guide. GLAAD’s annual Virtual Vigil for Transgender Day of Remembrance is posted on Twitter and includes names and details about the trans lives taken so far in 2022, at least 32 that we know of.
GLAAD urges media to familiarize themselves with reporting on LGBTQ people, LGBTQ people who are victims of crime, and other issues important to the LGBTQ community via the GLAAD Media Reference Guide, a comprehensive resource created by GLAAD and 23 coalition and corporate partners for the most accurate and inclusive news storytelling.
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About One Colorado: One Colorado is the state’s leading advocacy organization dedicated to advancing equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) Coloradans and their families. We effectively advocate for LGBTQ Coloradans and their families by lobbying the General Assembly, the executive branch, and local governments on issues like safe schools, transgender equality, relationship recognition, and LGBTQ health and human services.
