Advocate for LGBT community seeks culture in which it can live

Keith M. Hill

June 24, 2015

Sara Kate Ellis, president and CEO of the nation's LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) media advocacy group, GLAAD, said the organization seeks to create a culture in which that community can live. She spoke at a Press Club Newsmaker event June 22.

Ellis discussed the pending U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges, a same-sex marriage case regarding state recognition of legal out-of-state marriages.

The high court could rule in one of three ways, Ellis said: It can legalize same-sex marriages in the entire country, it can require states that currently don’t recognize out-of-state same-sex marriages to do so or it can rule against the plaintiff, she said. She noted that the first two options are not the same because some people may not be able to go to another state to get married.

Ellis said she didn’t agree with having a nationwide vote to legalize same-sex marriages, as Ireland did.

GLAAD recently did a bus tour of several southern states to try to change attitudes toward the LGBT community, Ellis said, adding that some same-sex marriage opponents are exporting their brand of discrimination to other countries.

Ellis mentioned a Harris Poll survey done for GLAAD on Americans’ acceptance of LGBT people. About 80 percent of non-LGBT Americans agree that more work needs to be done to change the hearts and minds of Americans on LGBT issues despite gains on marriage in most states, the survey said.

Many people are still uncomfortable having LGBT individuals in their families or communities, with the discomfort level higher in the South than in other regions, according to the survey.

Ellis said GLAAD is working to improve transgender visibility because, according to the survey, acceptance of the transgender community faces more resistance than the rest of the community.

If the Supreme Court rules in favor of the plaintiff but Congress tries to pass a law to overturn the decision, we will “fight like hell” to make sure that doesn’t happen, Ellis said.