GLAAD To Grade Film Studios On Political Donations In Response To Florida Anti-LGBTQ Legislation

deadline.com:

GLAAD, the nation’s leading LGBTQ advocacy organization, announced today a plan to grade film studios on political donations, public advocacy and global LGBTQ Content, a response to what the group calls the corporate inaction around anti-LGBTQ legislation in Florida and other states.“No company that chooses silence over allyship should receive high scores from LGBTQ organizations while nearly 200 anti-LGBTQ bills advance in states around the country, often targeting transgender youth,” said GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis in a statement. “Corporations need to be held accountable for funding politicians that harm LGBTQ people, including their own employees, and for inaction on legislation that they can help defeat.”Ellis specifically called out Disney, which has come under harsh criticism from many of its own employees for failing to take action to prevent the so-called Don’t Say Gay bill in Florida. “LGBTQ inclusion is not just what happens on screen,” GLAAD’s president said. “The Walt Disney Company and other media companies need to take immediate action in Florida and other states.

Entertainment and media companies cannot profit from our stories and stay silent on laws that discriminate against us.”The new grading categories will incorporated into GLAAD’s annual Studio Responsibility Index, a study that analyzes LGBTQ representation in releases by eight major film studio distributors (Lionsgate, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures, STX Films, United Artists Releasing, Universal Pictures, The Walt Disney Studios, and Warner Bros).The annual report, set for release this summer, assigns grades to each studio based on quantity, quality, and diversity of LGBTQ representation from its film releases the previous