GLAAD STATEMENT ON THE 2024 ELECTION

Statement from GLAAD President and CEO, Sarah Kate Ellis (she/her):

“The LGBTQ community has been here before, as have all other marginalized communities, and the pain is real today. But as we saw from the Lavender Scare to the Stonewall Uprising, from the HIV epidemic to the defeat and victory for marriage, every breakdown can lead to a breakthrough. We must see this moment of crisis as another catalyst for change.

Our community knows how to take care of each other, and how to push our country and world forward. The mission remains: Hold leaders accountable to We, the People. Empower each person to use their voice for progress with kindness. Correct the record. Shape culture. Change hearts and minds. Rise up for intersectional issues including racial justice, abortion and immigration. GLAAD was founded nearly forty years ago with the knowledge that LGBTQ people and our stories would create a better world. Our work has renewed importance and urgency. LGBTQ people belong and are essential to the promise of America as a beacon of equality and acceptance.”

Research and background:

Donald Trump’s LGBTQ history is documented on GLAAD’s Trump Accountability Tracker, detailing more than 225 attacks in policy and rhetoric against LGBTQ Americans through his one-term, twice impeached presidency and campaign for president.

Trump’s choice for Vice President, Ohio Senator JD Vance, has prioritized attacking LGBTQ people in his less than 18 months in the Senate and 90 days on the campaign trail. Vance’s LGBTQ record is tracked on the GLAAD Accountability Project, here.

Trump and Vance’s connections to Project 2025, a roadmap for authoritarian takeover of the federal government, criminalization and elimination of abortion and birth control, and elimination of LGBTQ protections and recognitions, are documented here.

Pro-equality Wins in the 2024 Election:

Voters in the 2024 election also chose to make history for transgender representation in American politics, electing Sarah McBride, a Democrat from Delaware as the first out transgender person elected to the U.S. Congress. GLAAD statement here.

Voters in Wisconsin re-elected Sen. Tammy Baldwin, rejecting anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and campaign ads from her opponent. Baldwin made history as the first out person elected to the U.S. Senate and as her state’s first female senator.

In Montana, state Representative Zooey Zephyr, the first out transgender lawmaker in the state, won her bid for reelection. Voters in Cook County, Illinois, chose Precious Brady-Davis in a special general election as Water Reclamation District Commissioner. Brady-Davis is the first out Black trans woman elected in Cook County.

Voters in California and Colorado approved ballot measures to secure marriage equality into their states’ constitutions. Voters in New York ignored anti-trans campaigns to pass a sweeping equal rights amendment to the state constitution, securing protections for pregnant people and reproductive health care that also includes anti-discrimination protections on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, ethnicity, national origin, age, disability, and sex.

Voters in seven states chose to expand access to abortion and other reproductive health care freedoms: Arizona, Colorado, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, and New York.

Additional research:

• More than 1 in 5 Gen Z Americans (ages 18-26) are out as LGBTQ, the most out generation in history. Nearly 30% of Gen Z women are LGBTQ.
• GLAAD’s Accelerating Acceptance Study shows supermajority support for LGBTQ people, though support has dipped in the last year and Gen Z is increasingly a target for harassment and discrimination:
  • 80% of non-LGBTQ Americans support LGBTQ equal rights, down from a record high of 84% one year ago
  • 95% of non-LGBTQ Americans believe schools should be safe and accepting for all youth
  • 93% say children should be taught to appreciate and accept people as they are
  • 70% of Gen Z LGBTQ adults report discrimination based on their sexual orientation

GLAAD documented the records of Kamala Harris and Donald Trump on the top issues for LGBTQ voters: the economy (Harris, Trump), abortion (Harris, Trump), climate change (Harris, Trump), public safety (Harris, Trump), and education (Harris, Trump). Trump’s record on  transgender people is available here.