GLAAD and the Ariadne Getty Foundation are in Davos, Switzerland during the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting to amplify LGBTQ equality on the world stage.

The Annual Meeting welcomes the foremost political, business and other leaders of society to shape global, regional and industry agendas. The mission of the World Economic Forum is simple: “improve the state of the world.”

Earlier today, GLAAD and AGF hosted a panel discussion and fireside chat about LGBTQ acceptance, the historic ruling to decriminalize being LGBTQ in India last year, and the urgent violence facing LGBTQ people in Chechnya, Tanzania, Brazil, the United States, and other places around the world.

During the event, Dr. Cori Lathan introduced GLAAD’s President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis. Dr. Lathan, whose daughter is transgender, spoke about the power of the World Economic Forum and gave a special shout-out to her daughter’s favorite icon, Gigi Gorgeous, who was in attendance.

Sarah Kate Ellis spoke about the current state of LGBTQ acceptance, calling the room to speak out against violence facing LGBTQ people in Chechnya, Brazil, and Tanzania. She also called out this week’s Supreme Court’s decision against transgender service members.

She had one message to send to corporate leaders in the room, noting: “Companies and corporate cultures cannot alone transform societies in which they operate. But they can lead the way for others.  It is vital for the corporate community to take positive, affirmative steps to respect and promote human rights through both words and deeds.”

The panel – ‘Making Equality Equal: The Next Move Forward for LGBTI Rights’ – discussion followed moderated by CNN International’s Richard Quest, a LGBTQ champion and leader in business journalism.

The panel featured:
Jim Fitterling, CEO, Dow;
Vas Narasimhan, CEO, Novartis;
Shamina Singh, President, Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth
Krishna Omkar, Senior Associate, King & Spalding.

During the panel, the CEOs of Dow and Novartis spoke about why LGBTQ inclusion was important to their companies and other global businesses.

Vas Narasimhan of Novartis spoke someone very close who transitioned, noting: “When you get to true acceptance and you love unconditionally, it opens your eyes.” Later, he spoke about the importance of LGBTQ inclusion in business: “You are more innovative and more effective when you have diverse teams that accept each other.”

Jim Fitterling, the CEO of Dow, said: “When I started it was all about business. Today the demands on a CEO are totally different. You have to compete for talent. When we go out to hire, LGBTQ people and their allies say how you treat people in the workplace is a priority.” Later, Fitterling continued: “It’s an inclusion agenda, and I just happen to be LGBTQ. It isn’t about me – it’s about how we treat each other.”

Omkar shared insights into his work alongside fellow advocates which resulted in the historic 2018 ruling to decriminalize being LGBTI in India and Singh shared details about the ‘Partnership for Global LGBTQI Equality.’ The partnership launched earlier this week by the World Economic Forum and seven strategic partner companies” Accenture, Deutsche Bank, EY, Mastercard, Microsoft, Omnicom Group and Salesforce. The partnership focuses on leveraging their individual and collective advocacy to accelerate global LGBTI equality and inclusion and drive positive change.

The panel continued with a Q&A moderated by God-is Rivera, the Global Head of Culture & Community at Twitter and featuring GLAAD’s Sarah Kate Ellis and Ariadne Getty, the President and Executive Director of the Ariadne Getty Foundation.

Ariadne’s daughter Nats and her fiancée Gigi Gorgeous introduced the Q&A.

Ariadne Getty spoke about her commitment to LGBTQ organizations including GLAAD and the LA LGBTQ Center. She also updated the audience on the $15 million pledge that AGF made to launch the GLAAD Media Institute, a training program for LGBTI advocates and allies. The pledge, the largest in GLAAD’s history, was announced in Davos last year.

Rivera asked Getty about her two LGBTQ children and what she would tell parents who might not accept their own LGBTQ children:

“Realize you have one chance, one go, one opportunity. You’ve been gifted a life and should embrace it.”

She continued: “If parents stop for a second and think – this child is a gift, why would I ever make this child feel less than or change who they are? Embrace the courage that it took for them to reveal their authentic selves. Use some of that courage yourself.”

When asked about their goal for their LGBTQ advocacy work, both agreed: “Let’s build a world with 100% LGBTQ acceptance.”

Most are familiar with the cases of the bakers and florists and photographers who have gone to court with claims that their choice to turn away paying LGBTQ customers is somehow a right to which they are entitled. Many are also familiar with Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), the hate group designated by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), and the messaging they’ve used in their cases. Ever since marriage equality won at the U.S. Supreme Court, these cases have been at the forefront of the far right’s onslaught against LGBTQ rights.

What has linked all of these cases up to this point are the complaints from the customers that were turned away. In all prior cases, it was the LGBTQ person or couple at the center filing some sort of complaint that sparked legal action. It wasn’t something esoteric or theoretical, but rather a tangible case wherein a customer sought a service, and a business owner denied the same.

But since the ADF’s partial/narrow/procedural “win” in the Masterpiece Cakes case in 2018, the anti-LGBTQ legal shop is getting cocky. In fact, they aren’t even waiting for a complaint before filing their latest suits. In a new case out of the ADF’s home state of Arizona, they are representing plaintiffs who are proactively filing suit against local nondiscrimination ordinances in hopes of having these LGBTQ protections overturned before they even having any application to their clients’ lives. 

The case involves two young artists, Joanna Duka and Breanna Koski, who run a custom printing business called Brush & Nib Studio. Since this business operates in the Phoenix area, and the Phoenix area has an ordinance [Phoenix City Code Section 18.4 (B)] containing sexual orientation and gender identity protections, Ms. Duka and Ms. Koski are living in fear that some day a happy same-sex couple will come in and request wedding invitations. Or perhaps a trans woman will seek a flyer for a celebration. Or maybe an LGBTQ ally will ask for a poster honoring her gay child. Whatever the situation, Duka and Koski want the ability to turn away the request on the sole basis of the sexual orientation or gender identity of the party requesting or being honored by the work. They want this this discriminatory super power so badly, in fact, that they went in front of the Arizona Supreme Court making this very argument.

And let me repeat: No one has even asked Ms. Duka or Ms. Koski to create such an invite. They aren’t even claiming anyone has! They’re just taking time out of their lives to strip away protections that are already in place. 

It is also further confirmation of the ADF’s all-out assault against LGBTQ rights. They’re not playing defense against the supposed “religious exemption” assaults that pesky LGBTQ human beings are posing against them by mere virtue of being living members of a fair and free society. The ADF has given up that game. They’re now going on the offensive against fair and free society in order to set a stark precedent that would lead to more and greater repercussions for LGBTQ consumers. They aren’t even acknowledging that the ordinance they’re challenging contains these so-called “religious exemptions” for religious organizations! Instead, they’re sticking their necks in and demanding a discriminatory “solution” when there hasn’t even been a problem. 

Which is to say, they are acting like the ADF of old. While this organization has been wearing a “nice” mask for the past few years, likely inspired by the backlash they received after making the SPLC’s hate group list. But let’s not forget: ADF is the same organization whose founder wrote a book that compares LGBTQ activists to Nazis and aggressively promotes “conversion therapy” practices (full text of the book here). This is the same organization that for many years ran an event called the Day of Truth, which involved promoting so-called “ex-gay” propaganda in the nation’s schools. This is the same organization that has fought against LGBTQ rights in every major court case.

And now their mask is off. We now know that nothing changed except their PR campaigns. This is the same ADF, and their agenda is still to ban, block, and “convert” LGBTQ Americans. This latest attempt to go on the offensive against LGBTQ acceptance isn’t really anything new, but rather a return to form for a group that has always been, well—offensive.