Washington, D.C., July 21, 2016 — A national TV ad featuring a transgender woman will air on FOX News tonight during the network’s coverage of Donald Trump officially accepting the GOP nomination at the Republican National Convention. This is the first time a television ad featuring a transgender person will air to audiences across the entire nation. The ad, which comes from the Fairness USA coalition, has already received more than five million views online since launching early last week.
The 60-second ad will air primetime on FOX News this evening after 8:00 pm EST.
Since launching online on July 11, 2016, the ad has gone viral, garnering millions of views. More than 5 million of the video’s views have been on Facebook via Slate: https://www.facebook.com/Slate/videos/10154163768001438/
The ad comes at a watershed moment, both for the national conversation about transgender Americans and the Republican Party itself. In just the last few months, more than 200 bills targeting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people were filed across 34 states. Many of these bills singled out transgender Americans for discrimination. Just this week, RNC delegates approved a platform that encourages discrimination against transgender people and stakes out similarly discriminatory positions against legally married same-sex couples and their families.
The Fairness USA ad seeks to cut through much of the inflammatory and misleading rhetoric and introduce Americans to transgender people and the very real challenges they face in daily life. The ad features a transgender woman from North Carolina, where HB 2 passed earlier this year. HB 2 makes it illegal for transgender people to use restrooms in public buildings that match the gender they live every day, making them susceptible to even higher levels of harassment and violence.
For more information on the ad, including additional resources and more stories from transgender Americans, please visit www.FairnessUSA.org.
The ad will also run on MSNBC next week during the Democratic National Convention as well. It was created by the Movement Advancement Project and funded by Fairness USA, a partnership led by Freedom for All Americans Education Fund, the Movement Advancement Project, the National Center for Transgender Equality, and the Equality Ohio Education Fund, with support from the Equality Federation Institute, the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, and the National Center for Lesbian Rights.
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