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00:00Over 500 pieces of anti-LGBTQ legislation proposed already this year, many passed.
00:06First of all, is this the worst year since you became CEO in 2014 of seeing these kind
00:13of attacks and targeted legislation against LGBTQ people?
00:21Absolutely.
00:22Yeah, no doubt.
00:23I think it is on record the worst legislative session against LGBTQ folks, even when we
00:31were in the fight for marriage equality.
00:34I think when I started nine years ago, we were on the precipice of advancing marriage equality.
00:44So there was a great hope and a new world and a brighter world and a brighter future.
00:50And it's pretty dark right now.
00:52It is very dark.
00:55What do you attribute?
00:57It just seems like this is a very coordinated attack and it's been coordinated particularly
01:03against transgender kids and health care for them and then drag queens.
01:11Why do you think, why is there almost identical legislation going through all of these Republican
01:18led states?
01:20Oh, it is.
01:21It's not even almost.
01:22It is identical.
01:23It is.
01:24It's a form, actually.
01:26And they fill in the state and the legislators.
01:29I think here's what I think is that two things are at play.
01:34One is six years ago, most Americans didn't know about transgender folks.
01:41Right.
01:41There has been an increase in visibility, which is something that we do here at GLAAD, right?
01:48It's about storytelling.
01:49It's about telling trans and gender nonconforming stories through Hollywood, in the news and
01:54media journalism.
01:56Right.
01:56So I think there's a heightened awareness than ever before, and there's growing acceptance.
02:03So I think it was right before Caitlyn Jenner came out, we asked Americans if they knew anyone
02:11who was transgender.
02:12Six percent of Americans said they knew someone who was transgender.
02:16Here we are now, 2023.
02:19Thirty percent of Americans say they know someone who's transgender.
02:23Still very small, but much larger.
02:26I mean, I'm not a math person, but if you did the math on that, I'd say, you know, you
02:31NX that or something.
02:35That being said, 70 percent of Americans don't know transgender people.
02:41And where they're getting their information from right now is through these political folks
02:48who are using our community to create fear, to raise money, to bolster their careers at
02:59the expense of the trans and gender nonconforming community.
03:03And they are filling it.
03:05And what journalists are doing, and not on purpose, I really don't believe so, is that
03:10they're regurgitating what a Ron DeSantis says or Greg Abbott is saying.
03:15And so that's becoming reality or that's becoming the perception of all of these people who don't
03:21know transgender people.
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