Most Americans say companies should voice public support for LGBTQ community: survey

An overwhelming majority of Americans who do not identify as LGBTQ believe companies should publicly support the community, according to a survey from the LGBTQ media watchdog GLAAD.

In a report released Thursday, the official start of LGBTQ Pride Month, roughly 70 percent of more than 2,500 adult respondents who are not lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer said companies should support LGBTQ people through advertising, sponsorships and hiring practices that prioritize equity and inclusion.

“When people are exposed to LGBTQ people and experiences in media, it changes hearts and minds and shifts culture and sentiment,” according to a GLAAD news release Thursday.

“Measuring comfortability in media is a pathway to 100% acceptance for LGBTQ people,” GLAAD wrote.

Roughly 75 percent of non-LGBTQ adults surveyed by GLAAD said they feel comfortable seeing LGBTQ people in advertisements, and a similarly large percentage of non-LGBTQ adults — 73 percent — said they feel comfortable seeing LGBTQ characters included in TV shows or movies.

Close to 70 percent of non-LGBTQ adults said they feel comfortable seeing an LGBTQ family with children included in advertisements, according to Thursday’s report, and another 60 percent said they agree that seeing LGBTQ people in advertisements make them “more comfortable with people who are different than themselves.”

Non-LGBTQ adults who are exposed to the LGBTQ community in media are 30 percent more likely to feel famliar with LGBTQ people overall, compared to people who haven’t been exposed to LGBTQ people in content or media, according to GLAAD.

“Support for LGBTQ equality has reached an all-time high, but allyship must turn into action,” GLAAD CEO Sarah Kate Ellis said Thursday in a statement.

“Media, content creators, and corporate leaders need to lead and respond to hate with undeterred support for the LGBTQ community, including LGBTQ employees, shareholders and consumers,” Ellis said.

The GLAAD report’s findings come as retail giants including Target and Kohl’s have come under fire for their annual Pride-themed merchandise and ad campaigns.

Target announced last month it would remove certain items from its annual Pride collection in response to a number of threats made against its employees at locations across the country.

The move was decried by LGBTQ advocacy organizations, including GLAAD.

“Businesses must continue to lead and respond with unwavering support for LGBTQ+ employees, shareholders, customers, allies – and the broader community,” more than 100 LGBTQ rights groups wrote last month in a joint statement.

“When values of diversity, equity and inclusion are tested, businesses must defend them unequivocally. Doubling down on your values is not only the right thing to do, it’s good for business,” the groups wrote.

The groups in the statement also referenced Bud Light maker Anheuser-Busch’s response to months of right-wing pushback over the company’s partnership with transgender social media influencer Dylan Mulvaney in February.

Responding to the criticism, which has often taken the form of violent videos posted online, Anheuser-Busch CEO Brendan Whitworth in April said the company “never intended to be part of a discussion that divides people.”

A letter sent to company leadership by the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest LGBTQ rights group, called Whitworth’s statement insufficient, accusing it of lending “credence to hate-filled rhetoric.”

Despite recent calls for boycotts against large companies that have supported or sponsored members of the LGBTQ community, a December report from GLAAD and the Edelman Trust Institute found that Americans are twice as likely to buy from a company that demonstrates a commitment to protecting LGBTQ rights.

“Allyship is not easy, but when values of diversity, equity and inclusion are tested, we must defend them unequivocally,” Ellis said Thursday.