Pride is one of the tentpole moments in Facebook’s LGBTQ+ Community Program. It has historically united the community in celebration and served to highlight and advocate for critical issues. For this campaign however, we went beyond celebrating by inspiring people in the community (and allies) to become advocates and take action around the most critical issues.
Launched in June 2022, ‘Acts of Pride’ is informed by the insight that LGBTQ+ YAs (18-29) want to recenter Pride as a moment of activism and advocacy rather than just a moment of celebration in response to years of rainbow washing and rainbow capitalism.
Trans people of color have had such a key role in LGBTQ+ liberation, and their actions across generations have shaped what the movement looks like today. Yet they still remain a URC (underrepresented community) within a URC (within the greater LGBTQ+ community). In Act of Pride #1, we introduced Ceyenne Doroshow, a long-time advocate and activist in the Black trans community, and the founder of G.L.I.T.S., respectively. Ceyenne speaks to her activism, but more so to the unifying principle that all humans in this world need love and understanding from their communities.
For Act of Pride #2, we featured organizers Lais M. and Tabitha H. as they shared how they build community through jam sessions and their community garden. Black Trans Leadership Austin identifies systemic and economic issues affecting QTBIPOC communities across Texas and works to give care, reparations, and support to our community through direct aid and community connection.
After extensive research with our internal team and third-party insights partners, we developed a marketing brief for Facebook’s 2022 Pride campaign that was guided by the conventional public perception that Pride is a party, but at its core, Pride is an action. The true origins of the LGBTQ+ rights movement are rooted in organization and protest, advocacy for marginalized groups, intergenerational connection, and the large and small actions that ensure queer people can live safe, protected, beautiful lives. We presented the brief to our agency partner, Game Seven, who developed a round of creative ideas, against the backdrop of a rise in anti-LGBTQ+ legislation and hate crimes, that highlighted various Facebook Groups, organizations, public figures, and creators who are advocating on behalf of the community across the nation. Following careful deliberation, we identified “Acts of Pride” as a concept that highlights how LGBTQ+ creators, Groups, and organizations connect, educate, and inspire their communities through Facebook and beyond. For the first two acts, we wanted to elevate stories that embodied our campaign ethos and focused on action - both taken by the featured talent, but action that our audience could take in their everyday life to support the LGBTQ+ community. Amidst change happening within the company, we were able to develop, execute and ship, under a truncated timeline, a campaign that was impactful, authentic and showcased diverse voices within the LGBTQ+ community – particularly spotlighting historically underrepresented members of the community (trans people of color, minority LGBTQ+, neurodiverse, and intersex people).
For Acts of Pride, we outlined two key objectives that (1) our Pride content go beyond celebrating a common LGBTQ+ identity to inspire people in the community (and allies) to become advocates and take action around the most critical issues and (2) demonstrate that Facebook enables people in the community to come together to drive important, meaningful change. As such, we sourced a variety of LGBTQ+ creators, organizations and community leaders to share their story directly to ensure authentic and diverse representation. Steering clear of common tropes and overgeneralizations within the community, we lead with stories focused on how these individuals took action and leveraged Facebook as a tool to create meaningful change within their community. Collectively, Acts of Pride #1 & #2 reached over 20 million users across the United States, garnered thoughtful discourse around the topic of Pride and underrepresented voices within the community and generated a majority-positive sentiment.
