Take Action

Love Votes: Week of Action

Our first Love Votes Week of Action is happening NEXT WEEK. With only 45 days left until Election Day, it is important that we all pitch in to get out the vote. Here's how to take action each day:

Monday, September 23rd: Check your voter registration! And look for a new video from a very special PFLAG supporter on social media.

Tuesday, September 24th: Join us for the first of two volunteer sessions utilizing an exciting peer-to-peer organizing tool that makes it easy to check in with your network and ensure they are registered to vote, and ask them to pledge to be a PFLAG Voter! Register today!

Wednesday, September 25th: Create and share videos encouraging your social media followers to make their own Love Votes videos. Use our Love Votes social toolkit for best practices and messaging, and be sure to share that toolkit when you post asking others to do the same! 

Thursday, September 26th: Join us for our September edition of PFLAG Academy Online, PFLAG Votes 2024: Know Your Rights as a PFLAG Voter, where we’ll delve into voting rights and host a Q&A session with a representative from the League of Women Voters. 

Friday, September 27th: Say it loud and proud on social media: Your love votes! Check out our social toolkit for ideas for your posts! 

Saturday, September 28th: Can't volunteer with us on Tuesday? No worries! Join us for the second opportunity of the week to get out the vote using our peer-to-peer organizing tool. Register for the volunteer session now!

Kentuckians

Thank Governor Beshear for banning conversion therapy! The governor has taken an important step in protecting LGBTQ+ youth in Kentucky by signing an executive order banning conversion therapy. This harmful and discredited practice has no place in the Bluegrass State - or anywhere else. Thank the governor for protecting LGBTQ+ youth!

State Matters

Here is a sample of what’s going on around the country. Please be kind to yourself and use your discretion while reading this section. You can share news from your state with advocacy@pflag.org for possible inclusion in a future newsletter. 

Connecticut - North Haven residents call for school board for support for LGBTQ+ students, staff. North Haven community members told the Board of Education that LGBTQ+ students and staff need support after a gender-nonconforming teacher was targeted with hateful and transphobic comments online.

Idaho - Boise Pride Festival includes first ever Trans Joy March. The march was held on September 13th and featured music performances and other celebrations of trans joy. 

Kentucky - Governor Beshear signs executive order banning “conversion therapy.” The executive order makes it illegal to use state or federal funds to provide conversion therapy to minors and authorizes licensing boards to discipline professionals found to have practiced conversion therapy on minors. Thank Governor Beshear for protecting LGBTQ+ youth!

Court Matters

Federal judge denies motion to dismiss gay student’s complaint against Virginia school district. A former student at Ronald Reagan Middle School in Prince William County, Virginia, filed a Title IX complaint against the school district, alleging the school failed to protect the student from “regular and relentless anti-LGBTQ+ bullying.” U.S. District Court Judge Rossie D. Alston, Jr., denied motions to dismiss the complaint.

Federal Matters

House votes down Speaker Johnson’s short-term funding bill to avoid a shutdown. The House voted 220-202 to reject a short-term six-month spending bill. The government will shut down on October 1st if no funding bill passes. 

State Department announces Americans can renew their passports online.  American passport holders can now complete all the passport renewal requirements online, including uploading a passport photo and paying fees.

Global Matters

Georgia - Parliament approves anti-LGBTQ+ bill. The bill outlaws the public display of Pride flags as well as banning Pride celebrations. The new law censors LGBTQ+ content in film and books, and restates existing bans on same-sex marriage and gender-confirmation surgery. 

United Kingdom - LGBTQ+ veterans refuse to wear special badge honoring their service until they are compensated for mistreatment.  LGBTQ+ people who served in the UK’s armed forces attended a ceremony at Westminster Abbey where they were presented with Etherton Ribbons to acknowledge the mistreatment they faced under a ban - which was repealed in 2000 - on openly serving in the armed forces. The LGBT Veterans Independent Review, which recommended creating the ribbons, also recommended “appropriate financial award” should be made to veterans affected by the ban. Many veterans refuse to wear the ribbons until that compensation is paid.

Media Matters

President Biden sits for historic interview with the Washington Blade. The Blade, Washington, DC’s LGBTQ+ newspaper, interviewed the President on September 12th in the Oval Office. This marked the first time in which an LGBTQ+ newspaper has conducted an exclusive interview with a sitting U.S. president.

Read a blog post by our Advocacy VP, Katie Blair about Banned Books Week! Efforts to ban or outright remove LGBTQ+ inclusive books and curricula from schools continue to escalate this year. This Banned Books Week (Sept. 22-28), make a commitment to defending freedom to read. Check your voter registration, make a plan, and make sure your love votes.

Emmy Awards feature many LGBTQ+ winners. The 76th annual Primetime Emmy Awards including a win for openly lesbian actress Jodie Foster for her role in “True Detective: Night Country,” several wins for the miniseries “Baby Reindeer,” and a win for openly gay songwriter Benj Pasek, who is the 20th person to achieve an EGOT. 

Art installation in Trafalgar Square features faces of trans people. For 18 months, London’s Trafalgar Square will host Mexican artist Teresa Margolles’ “Mil Veces un Instante (A Thousand Times in an Instant).” The piece is a 3.6 ton cube covered in face masks of 726 trans, nonbinary and gender nonconforming people. 

Billie Jean King to receive Congressional Gold Medal. She will be the first individual female athlete to receive this honor.

PFLAG National
(202) 467-8180 | love@pflag.org

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