LGBTQ+ digital creators urge Democrats to authentically 'Say the things others are too scared to say'

"By the time the final applause faded inside the Grand Ballroom at the JW Marriott in Washington, D.C., on Saturday afternoon, one truth had settled over the room with unmistakable clarity: in the second Trump era, silence is no longer a political posture. It is a liability. The closing plenary of the LGBTQ+ Victory Institute's 2025 International LGBTQ+ Leaders Conference, "Going Viral for Change: Winning Hearts and Votes in the Digital Era,""

"unfolded less like a social media seminar than a moral reckoning for public leadership. Moderated by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and MS NOW The Weekend co-host Jonathan Capehart, the panel brought together transgender writer and communications strategist Charlotte Clymer, San Antonio, Texas City Councilmember Jalen McKee-Rodriguez, California Democratic Congressman Robert Garcia's communications director Sara Guerrero, and viral content creator and social media strategist RaeShanda Lias to interrogate what it now means to tell the truth in a political ecosystem engineered for distortion."

"She warned of what she described as an approaching political amnesia - a future in which lawmakers who remained silent during the mass removal of transgender service members from the military, amid rising violence against trans people, would later claim they did not understand the stakes. "They will claim ignorance," she said. "They will claim they didn't remember. We will remember.""

At the 2025 LGBTQ+ Victory Institute conference, a closing plenary reframed social media as moral leadership rather than mere tactics. Panelists Charlotte Clymer, Jalen McKee-Rodriguez, Sara Guerrero and RaeShanda Lias urged truthful, courageous messaging that builds lasting memory rather than chasing virality. They warned that silence during attacks on transgender people and the removal of trans service members invites later claims of ignorance. Speakers called for plain speaking, memorable narratives, and digital tactics to expose distortion and hold officials accountable. The emphasis centered on accountability, moral clarity, and memory over fleeting attention.

Read at Advocate.com