Dear Friend,

I am thrilled to share some exciting news with you.

As you know, GLAAD’s mission is to amplify the stories of LGBTQ people and stand against attacks on our community until there is 100% acceptance. Over time, how we fulfill this mission has evolved along with a changing world. Our work, which started as opposition to sensational and inaccurate coverage of the AIDS crisis in the 1980s, has evolved into the GLAAD Media Institute. The Institute’s work includes the annual Studio Responsibility Index, holding film studios accountable for their LGBT representation, the Where We Are on TV report evaluating LGBTQ representation on television, and now The Social Media Safety Index, being released this Spring.

Social media is a lifeline for LGBTQ people, but too often we face real harm that goes unchecked by the platforms. LGBTQ policies and product updates have long been low on priority lists, even as the tech industry is finally waking up to the issues that marginalized communities face on their platforms. Drawing on GLAAD’s proven track record of leveraging similar reports and programs to advance LGBTQ inclusion in Hollywood, our Social Media Safety Index will hold social media platforms accountable and provide a roadmap for creating safer and more inclusive online spaces.

The GLAAD Social Media Safety Index will shine a spotlight on the issue of online safety for LGBTQ people and serve as a valuable catalyst for accountability and change — analyzing current content and advertising policies as well as documenting misinformation, hate speech, privacy, and other issues that LGBTQ people uniquely face.

This initiative is partially funded by Craig Newmark Philanthropies and the Gill Foundation, and the tech leaders serving on the advisory committee include:

• Kara Swisher, contributing writer and host of the ‘Sway’ podcast at The New York Times; co-host of Pivot podcast at New York Media

• Maria Ressa, Journalist & CEO, Rappler

• Brandi Collins-Dexter, Visiting Research Fellow, Shorenstein Center and Senior Fellow, Color of Change

• Dr. Sarah T. Roberts, Co-Director, UCLA Center for Critical Internet Inquiry

• Marlena Wisniak, Senior Advisor on AI & Human Rights, The European Center for Not-for-Profit Law

• Lucy Bernholz, Director, Digital Civil Society Lab at Stanford University

• Liz Fong-Jones, Principal Developer Advocate for SRE & Observability, Honeycomb

• Leigh Honeywell, CEO and Co-Founder, Tall Poppy

• Jenni Olson, co-founder PlanetOut.com & Senior Project Consultant

• Rich Ferraro, GLAAD Chief Communications Officer

Friend, please celebrate this exciting step by supporting our work today. Together, we can change the digital landscape, and the world. 

With Gratitude,

Sarah Kate Ellis
President & CEO