The pope using his platform to welcome LGBTQ people is a step toward a safer world for our community. (2/2)

We need more than awareness. We need protections, affirmations and brighter futures for trans people. Take action and speak out this week and beyond.

Trans Awareness Week kicked off today and runs through November 19 to help increase understanding about transgender people and the issues trans people face.

We have power in community.

We have all played a role in this culture change and we must continue to push back against the lies and the misinformation spread against our community. We must continue to speak truth to power. We must come together to create change and accelerate acceptance for LGBTQ people.

That’s the GLAAD story— one that every board or staff member, each person or organization that has donated to our mission, each person that helped form a connection for GLAAD, each creative that has written a story about LGBTQ people that helped change hearts and minds has helped write.

As our founder, Vito Russo, wrote: “We will not be equal until society overcomes its fear of difference—and begins to see that we’re all in this together.”

With so many diverse, entertaining, and impactful series being canceled at an alarming rate, it is imperative that networks and streamers do not back down.

You can view the full Where We Are On TV report here: glaad.org/whereweareon...

Today, we are at a critical juncture, with hateful rhetoric running unchecked from politicians and newsmedia and given a falsely amplified platform, even as the majority of this country overwhelmingly supports the LGBTQ community.

For the past two decades, our Where We Are on TV study has shown progress on screen, which has helped usher in change and advancements for the LGBTQ community. Nearly a third of non-LGBTQ Americans say that LGBTQ-inclusive media has changed their perception of our community.