Boycott Pepsi for sponsoring the Texas GOP convention!
LGBTQ
Despite publicly supporting the LGBTQ+ community (like most companies, conveniently during Pride month), the company’s name appeared on a physical copy of sponsors at the 2022 Texas Republican Convention. Without the logo and only in red text, Pepsi was one of the biggest names on the board propped up in the convention center.
PepsiCo is denying the sponsorship, and even alleging that the massive, multi-dimensional display constructed was doctored — but there is no proof supporting their claim. Why anyone would put the corporate giant’s name falsely on a sponsorship list is yet to be determined, but until it is, PepsiCo must be boycotted immediately for their funding of a convention that produced a 40-page document denouncing the existence of the LGBTQ+ community.
The document blatantly stood against gay marriage and the existence of transgender people, contradicting the very “life” and “liberty” the GOP claims to stand for (but we already knew that was moral posturing.) Despite their story, Pepsi already had a record of donating to the Texas Republican party — something’s just not adding up.
Add your name to call for a Pepsi boycott in response to their sponsorship or the 2022 Texas Republican Convention!
Demand social media CEOs take action NOW to stop the spread of anti-LGBTQ+ bigotry!
LGBTQ
Target: Social Media CEOs
A wave of virulent anti-LGBTQ+ fervor is building across America at a ferocious and terrifying pace — and it is going to get people killed.
Just a few months after the right-wing smear campaign against LGBTQ+ people began in earnest, we already have right-wing politicians calling for the execution of the parents of LGBTQ+ kids and white supremacist gangs planning terrorizing attacks against Pride month events.
Tell Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok to ban the promoters of anti-LGBTQ+ hatred!
All of this hatred is being fueled by social media companies who turn a blind eye to the horrendous bigotry being promoted on their platforms. Influencers like Ben Shapiro are out there claiming that the very existence of LGBTQ+ people is a threat to children, while the notorious “Libs of Tiktok” account is providing target selection for right-wing terrorism by promoting the locations of LGBTQ+ events, like the Drag Queen Story Hour recently accosted by Proud Boy thugs in California.
All the rainbow emojis and empty posts about the value of diversity from social media companies mean absolutely nothing unless they will take action to stop the spread of anti-LGBTQ hatred on their platforms.
Demand social media CEOs take action to stop the spread of anti-LGBTQ+ bigotry!
Demand the Ohio Senate reject anti-trans genital inspections of children in schools!
LGBTQ
Target: Ohio Senate
House Republicans in Ohio have taken their bigotry to another extreme, quietly passing a bill in the middle of the night that could subject transgender girls and women to a genital inspection if they are “accused.” It’s completely dystopian and pushed into an unrelated bill that would make changes to the Ohio’s Teacher Residency Program.
According to the Equality Ohio and the Ohio High School Athletic Association (OSHAA), there is only one transgender girl in Ohio involved in high school athletics. This bill is clearly not rooted in any sort of fact, simply in holier-than-thou posturing. Not to mention, OSHAA already has a long list of standards required before transgender athletes can play, including at least a year of hormone therapy. The GOP is continuing to virtue signal and wage their war on marginalized children, it’s unacceptable.
Add your name to demand a stop to the anti-trans amendment in Ohio!
The legislative policy director at Equality Ohio said that “having this third bill now slipped into an unrelated bill at the last moment is just such an additional slap in the face to our entire community, I know that there are a lot of folks in the LGBTQ community who are sitting there asking themselves, ‘What did I do to them? because they keep coming after me’ and I can’t blame them for having that perspective.” That question is a harrowing reality for kids across the nation.
Trans kids are more susceptible to suicide and being murdered – all this legislative rhetoric does is make it harder for them to stay alive. There will be blood on Ohio’s hands should this pass.
Sign your name to tell the Ohio Senate to refuse to pass the bill with anti-trans amendments!
Tell the Senate to pass the Equality Act for Pride Month!
LGBTQ
Target: United States Senate
June is Pride Month, the time we pay tribute to those involved in the Stonewall riots of 1969, celebrate our LGBTQ+ communities, and spotlight the ongoing fight for true equality — which is still far from a reality. A year after it’s introduction, the Equality Act is still in limbo in a stagnant Senate while LGBTQ+ people across the country continue to face discrimination.
The rainbow marketing strategies and empty statements of allyship mean nothing if there are no federal protections for LGBTQ+ people. Our Members of Congress have a duty to protect one of our most marginalized communities from bigotry like the 238 bills that have made the rounds in state legislatures this year alone.
Add your name to demand the Senate finally pass the Equality Act!
Idaho lawmakers who threatened to jail librarians who “let” minors check out “harmful” materials (the only content mentioned was LGBTQ+, of course.) A legislative package that the Human Rights Campaign called “the most anti-transgender legislative package ever passed” made it all the way to the signature of Alabama Governor Kay Ivey this year. Transgender kids being forced out of their bathrooms and sports teams, actively put in danger. The infamous “Don’t Say Gay” bill out of Florida. These are just a few of the horrific displays of hatred exhibited by elected officials this year.
President Biden released a proclamation renewing his call for the passage of the Equality Act — it’s about time our senators get the job done.
Sign your name to call for the immediate passage of the Equality Act this Pride Month!
Tell Corporations to STOP Sponsoring the Homophobic Middle School!
LGBTQ
Target: CAL's 2022 Sponsors, including L&N Federal Credit Union, Norton Healthcare, Old National bank, Baird, Armstrong Relocation, Associates in Pediatric Therapy, Kort, Summer Classics Home, Simply Thai
In a truly hateful assignment leaked from a middle school class at Christian Academy of Louisville (CAL) in Kentucky, students were instructed to write a letter to a gay friend where they “lovingly and compassionately speak truth to the person” in ways that “[don’t] approve of any sin.”
While everyone is entitled to their religious beliefs, that freedom does not give them license to persecute. Even as we debate classroom lessons, we should all be able to agree that no curriculum should include teaching middle schoolers how to more effectively discriminate against their peers.
That’s why we demand businesses stop bankrolling Christian Academy of Louisville!
Alumni of the school say this is nothing new — Jen Tullock said her decade at CAL taught her that her “very worth as a human being, was conditional.” She continued to assert that “this cruel lie, and the lie that any child can or should reverse their very nature, has and will continue to harm the children to whom it’s taught.”
There is nothing loving about teaching children that their very existence is sinful. Another CAL alum, Kylee Marcy, said her gay classmates “certainly felt ostracized by the school and the curriculum.” The school is standing behind the assignment, citing the school’s exclusionary “Statement of Faith and Theological Documents.” The school would rather defend their abuse of power and continue discriminating against LGBTQ+ youth, and openly encouraging their peers to do the same for a grade, than create a supportive learning environment for all.
LGBTQ+ kids are already over 5x more likely to attempt suicide. Isolation, judgment, and the explicit condemnation of their identity only promises to increase that statistic. Any company funding this institution and cosigning such hatred will almost certainly have blood on their hands.
Sign your name to call for businesses to stop funding CAL immediately!
Demand New Hampshire’s governor veto a harmful anti-LGBTQ bill attacking kids!
LGBTQ
Target: New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu
New Hampshire has become the latest state whose GOP-controlled state legislature has passed discriminatory bills aimed and LGBTQ+ children under the hood of “parental concern.”
House Bill 1431, the so-called “parental bill of rights,” obligates public school staff to inform parents of sensitive information their children might divulge to them — including “gender expression or identity.”
This, of course, would lead to schools outing children to their own parents, some of whom might not approve and take action against them. It forces children back into the closet, preventing them from expressing themselves safely and exploring their identities at their own pace.
The bill’s demands are a direct attack on the bond of privacy between a counselor and a student, putting the counselor in ethical dilemmas and cutting off an important safe space for children.
Kids deserve to make decisions and explore their identities in a safe and comfortable environment — and our teachers deserve better than to be forced to betray the trust of the kids they care so deeply for.
Demand New Hampshire’s governor veto a harmful anti-LGBTQ bill attacking kids!
Tell the DOJ to fight Oklahoma’s discriminatory anti-trans children bill!
LGBTQ
Target: United States Department of Justice
Legislators in Oklahoma are quietly working overtime to permanently institutionalize anti-LGBTQ bigotry and are deliberately targeting those in the most need of protection and care — trans children.
In a vicious display of cruelty, Republicans in Oklahoma have passed a bill banning trans girls from participating in any team sports, ostracizing and stigmatizing them for who they are while actively discriminating against children who want to play athletic games with their peers.
Call on the Biden administration to protect trans kids and overturn Oklahoma’s bigoted bill!
Make no mistake; this bill is going to heap psychological trauma and hardship upon trans kids Surveys show that 14% of trans youths have tried to commit suicide, including over half of all transgender male youths. Young people shouldn’t have to feel like they’re being oppressed, harassed, and rejected by their own state government.
This bill is nothing but a deeply cynical and morally reprehensible attempt to rile up the GOP’s voting base and fuel the ferocious culture-war hysteria that the GOP is hoping to ride to victory in the 2022 midterm elections — and they’re bullying children to do it.
We need the federal government to step in and help protect our children from these heartless bigots!
Tell the DOJ to fight Oklahoma’s discriminatory anti-trans children bill!
LGBTQ+ founders deserve the same opportunities as other entrepreneurs!
LGBTQ
America was ostensibly founded on the promise of equal opportunity. A quick glance at America’s entrepreneurial community more than 200 years after its founding reveals that we still have a very long way to go.
The queer community is diverse by its very nature, but all too often, political opportunism, antiquated cultural mores, and — quite frankly — institutionalized ignorance put LGBTQ+ entrepreneurs at a significant disadvantage, leading to drastic underrepresentation in the business world.
Diversity, equity, and inclusion must be interwoven into our entrepreneurial ecosystem, and that means ensuring the LGBTQ+ community has a big, bright seat at the proverbial table.
Sign your name to support equity for LGBTQ-run businesses!
Right-wing public smear campaigns attacking the LGBTQ+ community cause lasting, dehumanizing damage. In some parts of the country, investors opt not to support LGBTQ+ businesses for fear of community backlash. Such hurdles make it even harder for aspiring LGBTQ+ businesspeople to get off the ground, in some cases forcing them to hide their true selves for fear of blowback, reprisal, or financial ruin.
A 2016 study reported that almost 40% of LGBTQ+ entrepreneurs chose to not self-identify as part of the queer community, a number that will certainly rise if we continue to deny them the support they rightfully deserve.
StartOut was founded in 2009 with a singular mission — to support LGBTQ+ entrepreneurs and build a more equitable future for all. Diversity, equity, and inclusion are not just qualities to consider when assessing the track records of well-established businesses. Rather, we must work together to foster an economic ecosystem built upon these values so that all entrepreneurs have the same access to opportunity and chance of success, regardless of who they are or how they identify.
Join the fight with StartOut and pledge your support for LGBTQ-run businesses today!
Demand Florida’s cruel “Don’t Say Gay or Trans” law be overturned!
LGBTQ
On March 28th, Governor Ron DeSantis signed the infamous and deeply evil “Don’t Say Gay or Trans” bill into law, banning the discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity in schools until deemed “developmentally appropriate,” along with a slew of similarly vague restrictions that exist solely to cast a shadow of repression on LGBTQ children and the adults who care for them.
The deliberate vagueness of the restrictions are explicitly designed to terrify LGBTQ kids, or make students asharmed of their LGBTQ parents and familiy members. This law is blatantly unconstitutional — which gives us an opportunity to overturn it for good.
Will you add your name to support LGBTQ Floridians and end DeSantis’ “Don’t Say Gay or Trans” law once and for all?
The National Center for Lesbian Rights and the lawyers from Kaplan Hecker & Fink have filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Northern Florida on behalf of Equality Florida, along with several students, parents, and teachers, under attack by this disgraceful show of opportunistic bigotry.
We cannot allow this hateful law to stand, lest an entire generation of kids grow up not knowing the amazing conributions of LGBTQ people, and that all people deserve dignity and respect. Countless LGBTQ kids and parents will live in fear of nosy vigilantes, unable to celebrate their identities and relationships. It is a slap in the face to equality.
Sign your name in support of overturning Florida’s cruel “Don’t Say Gay or Trans” law!
Tell the Justice Department to stop Alabama's law that criminalizes gender-affirming medical care!
LGBTQ
Target: United States Department of Justice
Alabama Governor Kay Ivey signed into law SB 189, a bill that threatens those who provide life-saving medical care to minors with 10 years in prison and a felony. Critical gender-affirming care such as hormone treatment, puberty blockers, and gender reassignment surgery will be denied to already marginalized children until they are well past puberty – psychological warfare on at-risk LGBTQ+ youth by the hands of the GOP.
Cathryn Oakley, state legislative director and senior counsel for the Human Rights campaign, called the recently passed legislation in Alabama “the single most anti-transgender legislative package in history.”
Add your name to tell the Justice Department to put a stop to the latest anti-trans bills in Alabama!
An estimated 1.8 million LGBTQ+ young people consider suicide each year, according to the Trevor Project, and over two-thirds of of LGBTQ+ youth said their mental health has been negatively impacted by recent debates over transgender rights.
The Justice Department already sent a letter to every state attorneys general last month warning them that blocking gender-affirming care for LGBTQ+ youth could be unconstitutional. The DOJ has already threatened litigation in response to hateful bills like these, the Alabama GOP knew that they could be infringing on the constitutional rights of nonbinary and transgender minors. They just didn’t care.
Sign your name to call on the DOJ to stop Alabama’s attacks on transgender youth!