Raleigh, N.C. (AP) — LGBT advocacy groups unveiled a national television ad on July 11 that will run during the Republican National Convention to educate viewers about discrimination against transgender people.
The coalition of groups called Fairness USA will air the 60-second ad on Fox News Channel on July 21, the final night of the convention.
Ineke Mushovic, executive director of the Movement Advancement Project, said the ad buy cost around $270,000 and includes a subsequent airing on Fox Business. They also plan an airing on MSNBC during the Democratic National Convention.
The ad depicts a transgender woman being denied access to a bathroom by a restaurant worker. Mushovic said the ad is a dramatized version of what many transgender people experience and features a transgender woman from North Carolina in the primary role.
Calling the ad the first of its kind, Mushovic said that some transgender advocacy spots have aired in North Carolina, but she’s not aware of any such national ads.
“Very few people know someone who’s transgender,” she said. “So what we’ve found is people have these misconceptions about who transgender people are. And there are these policies being developed and debated without knowledge of the community it’s affecting.”
The ad comes amid legal fights over transgender rights that were stoked by a North Carolina law limiting protections for LGBT people. The law requires transgender people to use restrooms consistent with the gender on their birth certificates in schools and many other public buildings.
Elsewhere, other states have gone to federal court to fight Obama administration directives on transgender bathroom access in public schools.
