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Sarah McBride Announces Run For US House Seat, Would Become First Trans Member Of Congress 

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Delaware State Senator Sarah McBride announced her candidacy on Monday to become Delaware’s next sole congresswoman. Senator McBride is currently the nation’s highest-ranking transgender elected official, and if she’s elected for Congress, would make history becoming the first trans person elected into federal office. 

McBride would also make history as the youngest elected official Delaware has sent to Washington since US President Joe Biden’t US Senate win in 1972. 

“It’s clear that diversity in government is necessary for us to not just ensure we have a healthy democracy but also to truly deliver for people,” she said in an interview with Delaware Online.

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“I am certainly cognizant of the uniqueness of my candidacy, of the uniqueness that my voice would bring to the halls of Congress. But ultimately, I’m not running to be a trans member of Congress,” she stated. 

“I’m running to be Delaware’s member of Congress who’s focused on making progress on all of the issues that matter to Delawareans of every background.”

McBride’s candidacy announcement comes at a time in America where transgender rights are being threatened by a multitude of state legislation, including bans on gender-affirming care. In her state of Delaware, a Republican senator reintroduced a bill recently that would require students to only pay on sports teams that correspond with the sex they were given at birth. 

In the political sphere, McBride has been viewed as the frontrunner to replace US Representative Lisa Blunt Rochester. McBride is also expected to be competing for the position with Eugene Young, the current director of the Delaware State Housing Authority. 

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McBride has received a lot of support with her announcement, including support of labor organizers and national organizations, as well as dozens of Delaware politicians, including Attorney General Kathy Jennings. 

Before her time in the state senate, McBride worked as the national press secretary for the Human Rights Campaign; the nation’s largest LGBTQ+ civil rights advocacy group. 

One of her biggest achievements as state senator was aiding the passage of statewide family and medical leave. 

McBride describes her ideology as “a progressive who likes to get things done,” adding that her “role in paid family leave is a clear demonstration of the kind of leader” she will be in Congress. 

“I will be someone who recognizes that you can be both bold and build bridges at the same time. Indeed, that’s the only way you’re able to achieve lasting permanent change,” she stated. 

McBride has also spoken up about her desire to combat disinformation, expand reproductive rights, and implement green technologies.

Disney Refusing To Cut LGBTQ Scene In Doctor Strange 2 For Saudi Arabia

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An official from Saudi Arabia has said that while the nation is not planning on banning Doctor Strange 2 for its inclusion of a 12-second scene referring to a lesbian character, they’re still trying to get Marvel to cut the scene.

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Hallmark Store

Hallmark Channel Reinstates Ads Featuring Same-Sex Couples

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The Hallmark Channel says they made the “wrong decision” when it came to pulling several ads featuring a same-sex couple. The commercials were for the wedding planning site, Zola, and featured two brides kissing at the altar. They originally pulled the commercials after a measly complaint from a conservative group online, which caused an even bigger backlash to occur. The original decision to pull the ads were made by Hallmark Channel’s parent company Crown Media. 

When this occurred individuals took to social media to spread the word about the unnecessary erasure of a whole community from a channel that already featured predominantly heterosexual content. Celebrities such as Ellen DeGeneres and William Shatner started the hashtag “#BoycottHallmarkChannel” which ended up trending. Especially for this time of year, when cheesy Hallmark Christmas movies bring major traffic to the network, the last thing Crown Media needed was a major loss in viewership. 

“The Crown Media team has been agonizing over this decision as we’ve seen the hurt it has unintentionally caused. Said simply, they believe this was the wrong decision. We are truly sorry for the hurt and disappointment this has caused,” said Hallmark Cards CEO Mike Perry in a statement. 

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Zola originally had six ads submitted to the channel; four contained same-sex couples, and two contained heterosexual couples. Once Crown Media pulled the four advertisements featuring gay relationships, Zola took it upon themselves to remove the other two as well. The group “One Million Moms” posted the original complaint against the ads to the Hallmark Channel on their official website, and Crown Media quickly replied stating that the ads were submitted and aired by mistake, which is false. 

The network also announced that they will be working with LGBT+ advocacy group GLAAD on how to implement further inclusion within the Hallmark Channel. GLAAD created a petition when the advertisements were originally pulled as a means to show the channel all the public support that was for LGBT+ representation compared to one post made by a Christian conservative group of concerned mothers. Now, GLAAD has not only worked with the Hallmark Channel on the importance of inclusion of all kinds of relationships, but they worked with the media to “expose” One Million Moms and their “continued agenda” which works to dehumanize and discriminate against LGBT+ individuals/families. 

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“The Hallmark Channel’s decision to correct its mistake sends an important message to LGBTQ people and represents a major loss for fringe organizations, like One Million Moms, whose sole purpose is to hurt families like mine. LGBTQ people are, and will continue to be, a part of advertisements and family programming and that will never change. GLAAD exists to hold brands like The Hallmark Channel accountable when they make discriminatory decisions and to proactively ensure families of all kinds are represented in a fair and accurate way,” GLAAD President and CEO, Sarah Kate Ellis, said in a statement.

This is not the first time GLAAD has worked with major corporations as a means of establishing representation. Just recently the organization worked on a partnership with Pantene. The collaboration called upon the Trans Chorus of Los Angeles to come and be in a new holiday video series for the company titled “Going Home for the Holidays.” The video series brought light to a lot of the difficulties that many LGBT+ individuals face during the holiday season. It also worked to show that not all families look the same, and often members of the LGBT+ community have to find their “chosen family” that loves and accepts them, as they have gone through the same struggles. 

GLAAD’s work continues to implement further representation on all media networks. This year the organization said that, thanks to the collaborative work from their team and the many mainstream networks/streaming services out there today, LGBT+ representation has never been higher in the entertainment world. Thanks to them the Hallmark Channel will continue to grow and show that this year for Christmas, all kinds of families are beautiful and valid in their own unique way.