After cleaning up the kitchen from dinner this evening, I sat down to read while my spouse watched the end of the Philadelphia/Buffalo football game. My oldest son and his wife were at the game; my son is a Philly fan while his wife is a Buffalo fan, so both of them were excited to be at the game - especially in light of the fact that it was the last regular season game at the Buffalo stadium as they move into their new stadium before the start of the next season. Buffalo is a five hour drive from our home, so they are spending the night and coming home tomorrow.
Anyway, I wasn’t really paying attention to the game, but I did watch the very ending. More importantly, I saw the commercial which came on after the end of the game. It was for the Blue Square Alliance Against Hate, which was formerly known as The Foundation to Combat Antisemitism. A perfectly good cause, and their point that one in three Jewish Americans has experienced some form of antisemitic hate in 2025 is well taken. Also not surprising in the current political climate that promotes hate and prejudice.
But what the commercial made me think about was if we are seeing commercials about antisemitism, and one in three Jews being subjected to hate, when will we see the same thing about anti-transgender hate?
Statistics show there are about 5.7 million Jews in the USA. This is roughly three times as many as the estimated 1.6 million transgender people in the USA; a number which most researchers believe is well below the true number. And I would suspect that it is probably three in three transgender people who have been subjected to some form of hate in the USA. I know I have had to put up with staring, pointing, laughing, nasty comments, misgendering, and discrimination since I transitioned - and I live in an area that is pretty accepting; an area where I have legal protections and a good support network. Many in our community have it much worse than me. Many suffer physical abuse and violence as is recognized every year during TDOR.
But I don’t see any commercials run by the networks supporting us - especially not during the Sunday NFL broadcasts!
Comments
I Had The Same Feeling
As you probably know we had a massacre of Jewish people here in Australia just a couple of weeks ago and the government has promised to tighten the laws against hate speech/actions against Jews.
That made me wonder why those laws are not being applied to hate against LGBTQI individuals as well. We don't have the dire situation that you have in the USA but anti-discrimination laws should apply to protect all minorities.
Ads paid for by organization
Those ads you are seeing are paid for by that organization, particularly by one of it's main backers Robert Craft, who owns the New England Patriots.
It would be possible for a Trans advocacy group to do the same thing, but someone would need to fund it. Most of that kind of outreach I see is for things like the Trevor Project or other organizations that are under the LGBTQ+ umbrella. Mostly I see that on social media.
That is very true……..
But the point you are missing was very well made in the comment by JoanneBarbarella - an appeal against hate and prejudice should be against all hate and prejudice, and not just made in support of one minority group. For aren’t we all supposed to be equal under the law? Didn’t Jesus, or God if you will, preach that all people should be treated equally? That we should love our neighbors - and not just the ones that look like we do? Not just the ones that think like we do? Not just the ones that practice the same religion as we do? Not just the ones that speak the same language or with the same accent as we do?
Yes, the commercials are paid for by a specific organization, but shouldn’t a religious organization that has faced persecution for literally thousands of years be preaching against all types of hate and prejudice?
That was my point. Not who paid the bill.
D. Eden
“Hier stehe ich; ich kann nicht anders. Gott helfe mir.”
Dum Vivimus, Vivamus
I get your point
I get your point, but I'm not sure every action needs to be everything. There are serious issues right now for Trans people - when discussing them do we need to discuss anti-semitism, Islamaphobia, challenges for little people, people on the spectrum, etc.? Somebody saw a need to address something happening to a specific group (one which they are part of) where hate acts have been rising astronomically and they've decided to do something about it. I'm not sure that should be criticized as being uninclusive.
I am not criticizing their actions……
But rather I am pointing out a self-serving character flaw demonstrated by most minority groups. The whole point behind grouping together the whole spectrum of LGBT communities was that there is more strength in greater numbers. Unfortunately, many of the other groups tend to either forget about or resent the T in the equation. I have had gay men and lesbians say nasty things to me before - and I am sure that I am not alone.
My point here is that if all minorities stood together, then the bigots couldn’t win. But unfortunately divide and conquer is still a winning strategy for the hate groups. And by using individual prejudices, people like the MAGA world can keep us from supporting each other.
We need to stop feeding into their game plan.
D. Eden
“Hier stehe ich; ich kann nicht anders. Gott helfe mir.”
Dum Vivimus, Vivamus