When the Democratic National Committee launched an ad Monday featuring LGBT Americans speaking about the importance of filling the open Supreme Court seat, the organization unwittingly shed light on what's been missing from the national conversation about equality: A proactive strategy to frame LGBT issues.
The ad is simple. It features about a half dozen people—including people of color and gender nonconforming folks—talking point-blank to the camera about what's at stake for LGBTQ Americans in terms of filling the vacancy left by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia. But it also lays out some of the overarching reasons for extending federal nondiscrimination protections to LGBTQ Americans nationwide.
Here's a few excerpts of what the ad's spokespeople relayed:
"It's still legal for private employers to fire someone for being gay in 28 states and for being trans in 30 states."
"Just recently, a federal judge ruled that a transgender student was not protected against discrimination at his school under Title IX of the Civil Rights Act."
"Another judge ruled that sexual orientation was not protected by current employment discrimination law under Title VII."
This all may seem pretty basic, but LGBT advocacy organizations are famous for producing ads that don't actually feature LGBT people because apparently we're not sympathetic enough or we're too icky or something.
The move is also pretty novel for the DNC. When was the last time the the organization produced an ad featuring LGBT Americans talking about infringements on their rights?
When I posed that question to the DNC representative on a reporter call, he said he would check and follow up, which isn't meant to be a criticism. Just an observation about the rarity of the event. (UPDATE: The DNC rep sent this “It Gets Better” video, circa 2010.)
In any case, watch the ad. It's a great message and the DNC will be pushing out similar spots featuring different constituencies every day this week. Although the campaign is primarily a response to Mitch McConnell's promise to obstruct an Obama nominee, it's also a lesson in pro-actively framing the issues that are at stake for LGBTQ Americans.