Since Sarah Kate Ellis became president and CEO of GLAAD in 2014, the LGBTQ advocacy organization has become a trusted collaborator in the creation of LGBTQ-centered stories. Founded as a media watchdog responding to homophobic coverage, GLAAD now consults on casting, script development, hiring and recruitment of LGBTQ employees.
“We have many more companies coming to us because they want to do the right thing,” Ellis said. “We are embedded with a dozen productions on any given day.”
The GLAAD Media Institute, launched in 2018, provides training and resources to help producers, journalists and advocates around the world tell their stories and bring attention to issues facing the LGBTQ community.
Also: Charting the Course of TV Representation
Ellis’s first achievement was shifting GLAAD’s focus to address new media forms. GLAAD has addressed social-media safety and online harassment, for example, and worked with video-game makers on inclusive content and hiring.
An Advocate with Influence
The influence of GLAAD’s advocacy is reflected in the GLAAD Media Awards, which honor fair, accurate and inclusive representation of LGBTQ people. For many years, the program “didn’t even have enough nominees to fill out some of our categories,” Ellis said. It has recently added categories for video games, graphic novels, comics and children’s and family programs.
Among this year’s nominees, people of color outnumber white performers, and 18 of the nominated TV shows feature characters who are transgender and/or nonbinary. That diversity “is something we’ve been advocating for a long time,” Ellis said.
Streaming services have led in nonbinary representation, but Ellis added, “We still have zero trans representation on the big screen,” meaning major studio movies.
Women want more stories about women, and told through the female lens.”
— Sarah Kate Ellis
Driving all of Ellis’s work is her conviction that media is a powerful force for cultural change. “Media shapes the decisions that are made in courtrooms, playgrounds, offices, living rooms,” she said. “You can’t legislate acceptance. Unless you create education and take away the fear, you aren’t building a safe society.”
Before GLAAD, Ellis had worked at Condé Nast, where she helped relaunch House & Garden. At Time Inc., she oversaw several lifestyle titles. She helped launch the Real Simple brand, including its magazine, website, international editions and its partnership with retailer Bed Bath & Beyond. “Some people like running things,” she said. “I like building things.”
Entertainment lawyer Stephen Warren, the co-creator and executive producer of the HBO show We’re Here, was co-chair of GLAAD’s board when Ellis was hired. “She has brought a level of professionalism and functionality to an organization that has had its ups and downs,” he said. “She’s fearless. She’ll ask anyone for anything, which is a huge asset in a nonprofit.”
Ellis has increased GLAAD’s corporate sponsorships and fundraising, and used research to measure performance and guide strategy. In her first year, she launched the annual Accelerating Acceptance survey.
“I wanted to look at where acceptance of the LGBTQ community was in America and measure it on an annual basis to understand if we’re moving the needle forward,” Ellis explained. Four years ago, a survey GLAAD undertook with Procter & Gamble found that non-LGBTQ Americans respond favorably to ads featuring LGBTQ people. “They think the brand treats its employees better, and they’re more likely to buy from the brand,” Ellis said. The research persuaded several marketers to pledge to increase their LGBTQ representation. “If I can’t convince you it’s the right thing to do, I can convince you it’s the right thing to do for your business,” she said.
Empowering Leader
Warren praised Ellis for empowering leaders within GLAAD. In 2021, Ellis took a three-month sabbatical, turning off email and letting go of day-to-day operations. “Letting the right people do their jobs freed me up to think about the bigger things we have on the horizon — as an organization and as a movement,” she said. She noted that 40% of Generation Z identify as LGBTQ, including a high percentage who identify as trans, gender nonconforming or gender nonbinary. “We need to be paving the way for them, because otherwise the world isn’t safe for them,” Ellis said.
Her advice for producers and media executives who want to be a part of the change: “Pick up the phone and call me.
“We want to help you tell our stories in fair and accurate ways,” she said. “Any way that we can do that, we’re available.” ■
