Hilary duff gay psa

Think homophobia’s cool?

“Say that something’s gay when you mean it’s bad. Because of that, the ad can act as a success story for advancing social issues through media messaging. Over time, the campaign was credited with helping to reduce homophobic language in schools and raise awareness of the subtle forms of bias that often go unchecked.

Looking back today, the campaign feels both ahead of its time and a snapshot of a very particular cultural moment.

“Do you like this top?” Hoying lip-synced, to which Manio thoughtlessly replied, “So gay.” Overhearing the pair, Duff interrupted to kindly end homophobia in its tracks. It’s etched so clearly into their minds, and with an ever-growing slate of references across media, it’s earned a long-term spot in the cultural zeitgeist.

Of the more than 400 ads on national linear TV from the 10 largest agencies, GLAAD found LGBTQ people were featured in only 3% and accounted for less than 2% of screen time.

For youth LGBTQ advocates, they’re concerned about a resurgence of bullying and the ability of trained support providers to combat it. By targeting the language, the campaign tackled the very soil in which bullying takes root.

What made the campaign especially effective was its tone.

This type of legislation, he said, contradicts the campaign’s original goal of raising awareness and encouraging inclusivity among youth.

“What we learned through this campaign and through the Obama years was that if we put the time and resources into it, we can make a difference,” Jennings said. GLSEN laid off 60% of staff earlier this year, with Willingham-Jaggers citing funding pressures after corporations cut donations for LGBTQ-related groups amid right-wing pressure.

Jennings, who worked on anti-bullying initiatives in the Obama administration and now runs LGBTQ rights group Lambda Legal, highlighted the “Don’t Say Gay” bills passing state legislatures as evidence of progress receding.

That’s so yesterday. At a fraught moment, nearly two decades later, supporters of the youth LGBTQ community wonder what can be done to reaffirm the campaign’s original message.

For LGBTQ viewers in particular, the 17-year-old segment holds a special meaning for its success in combating hate and its unique representation on screen.

However, Schwartz said subgroups like transgender people haven’t seen the same gains that the broader community has.

The LGBTQ community is also mostly unrepresented in advertising, according to GLAAD data from 2023, which is the most recent information made publicly available. GLSEN’s 2021 school climate survey found 68% of survey takers heard “that’s so gay” either frequently or often, down from more than 90% two decades earlier.

The campaign also led to a slide in bullying rates and an uptick in Gay-Straight Alliance participation, according to Melanie Willingham-Jaggers, the current executive director of GLSEN.

Additionally, there’s anecdotal signs of success.

“You shouldn’t say that,” she told them. Back in 2008, a then-21-year-old Hilary Duff walked into a boutique and interrupted a casual but cutting conversation between two teenage girls. The campaign zeroed in on this linguistic laziness and its ripple effect: when something as mundane as a bad outfit or annoying teacher gets labeled as “gay,” it quietly reinforces the idea that being gay is synonymous with being wrong or ridiculous.

The campaign marked the council’s first-ever ads focused on social issues related to the LGBTQ community.

“If we pull this off, we can make history,” Jennings recalled thinking. “It was a lot more impactful than I thought it was going to be.”

'Burned into your mind'

In the nearly two decades since it first aired, Duff’s ad has raked up several nods in media and culture.

Sabrina Carpenter, a singer and fellow Disney Channel alum, jokingly quoted Duff during her Netflix Christmas special that aired late last year.