At the annual New Digital Age (NDA) Media Pride event, industry leaders gathered to address the evolving landscape of LGBTQ+ representation, advertising spend, and the real challenges media organisations face in uncertain political times.
Hosted by Justin Pearse, Editor-in-Chief at New Digital Age, the panel featured Marty Davies, Founder and CEO, Smarty Pants Consultancy and Founder of Trans+ History Week; Yasmin Benoit, model, asexual activist, and researcher at KCL Policy Institute; and Claire McAlpine, Co-Director of Intelligence, Outvertising.
Despite sobering statistics from the most-recent All In Census findings showing that 25% of LGBTQ+ industry professionals experience stress at work and 42% of trans and non-binary individuals consider leaving the sector, the panellists agreed that meaningful progress is still within reach.
Finding hope in data and community
Opening the discussion on where optimism lies, Claire McAlpine pointed directly to the collective power within the room:
“The hope is in this room, because I am guessing you wouldn’t be here if you didn’t have some hope. These are the people who are going to make the change”.
She highlighted the necessity of pragmatic action, adding,”We need to know what the challenges are, then we work out how to fix those challenges, and we do it with some hope that all of us together have engender change”.
Marty Davies found encouragement in the growing body of industry research now available:
“The hope is that we are having the conversation and we have the data. Having the data makes me hopeful,” she said. Davies pointed out that recent inclusion efforts, such as adding specific workplace transition policy questions to industry scorecards, are beginning to drive accountability across agencies.
Yasmin Benoit emphasised that cultural shifts often follow difficult periods before improving:
“Things always tend to get worse before they get better, but they do get better”. She said that she’d seen a noticeable shift in perspective, saying: “The British public isn’t actually super homophobic and transphobic and racist in reality. I feel like the climate is almost mismatching the progressive nature of people’s actual views, and I feel like that will be recognised again”.
The shift from performative action to real impact
Addressing concerns around brand support and the fear of backlash, the panel discussed how commercial involvement has changed over recent years.
Davies said that while superficial backing has ebbed, substantial commitments remain crucial:
“What we have started to see with those types of campaigns disappearing is that it has really illuminated brands that are showing up in a really meaningful way,” she said. Illustrating the power of quiet, sustained investment, Davies highlighted ongoing corporate support for grassroots initiatives:
“With their support, we have been able to invest in trans creatives in our industry and give them meaningful paid work, developing their writing skills and audio production skills”.
McAlpine stressed the need for adaptable strategies in response to broader geopolitical changes: “When the landscape changes, our strategy has to change. It doesn’t mean we are backing off, it doesn’t mean we are going underground, it means our tactics and our strategy have to change”.
She advocated for an approach focused on social impact rather than empty gestures: “This is less about performative action, I think it is probably more about participation and social impact, and working with brands to ask how you can participate in queer culture”.
Benoit offered a pragmatic view on the commercial ecosystem that sustains community groups and charities.
“Honestly, even if it is superficial, I don’t care, as long as the money is going into the community. I don’t care how ugly their little rainbow t-shirts are, it doesn’t matter”.
Pointing out the consequences of brands pulling back entirely, Benoit added: “I would rather someone did something performative than didn’t do anything, because there is an ecosystem that needs supporting and the money has to come from somewhere”.
Industry Responsibility and Regulation
The conversation turned to advertising’s role in funding media environments and how media spend impacts public discourse.
Davies said that tackling toxic online narratives and ad-funded misinformation requires collective industry action and structural oversight:
“The problems become so pervasive that it needs a communal effort, it needs an industry-wide effort to reckon with it. That probably will only come from self-regulation that we build together, or it will come sooner rather than later from government”.
McAlpine concluded by challenging brands to view authentic representation as a commercial opportunity rather than a risk: “Queer representation is about cultural relevance. To be quite frank, if no one is representing queer people, that is your opportunity for a brand to differentiate”.
She emphasised that the primary goal remains clear: “Yes, it is quite nice to see our community on screen, but the bigger picture is surely to make it a safer place for our community”
