PFLAG earns three Shorty Award nominations for helping communities fight anti-LGBTQ+ attacks

PFLAG National, an LGBTQ+ advocacy organization with local chapters across the United States, has been nominated for three Shorty Awards, which celebrate innovation in social media and digital content.

The organization is nominated in the Civic Engagement, LGBTQ+ and Youth & Family categories for its advocacy campaign “Fighting For Our Pride,” first announced in late 2025.

“‘Fighting For Our Pride’ is how PFLAG shows up for our LGBTQ+ community,” said Katie Blair, vice president of advocacy, in an email statement to The Advocate.

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The campaign supported nationwide advocacy efforts by local community members, offering insight into how to leverage personal stories in meetings with elected officials and how to participate effectively in town halls, school board meetings, and other local government proceedings. The organization also offered sample scripts for emails and calls to lawmakers, according to the campaign’s Shorty Awards webpage.

“To bring Fighting For Our Pride into the cultural sphere, PFLAG National enacted a multi-pronged marketing and communications strategy to introduce our rally cry to a broad range of audiences,” the webpage reads.

As part of the campaign, PFLAG hosted a panel discussion about LGBTQ+ reading access at this year’s SXSW EDU Festival, an annual conference focused on educational innovation. The panel was moderated by Nikole Hannah-Jones, and featured author Casey McQuiston, PFLAG National CEO Brian K. Bond, and American Library Association President Sam Helmick.

Statehouses across the country are considering at least 531 anti-LGBTQ+ bills currently, according to figures from the American Civil Liberties Union. The campaign focused on combating book bans in schools, supporting gender-affirming care, and “protecting full recognition and dignity in public life for LGBTQ+ people,” according to the webpage.

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The campaign’s online outreach efforts reached 74,000 users, with a 35.4 percent open rate and a 2.4 percent click-through rate, according to the webpage. The campaign’s social media posts brought in more than 8,500 engagements.

PFLAG has more than 360 local chapters across the country

Voting is open until October 13, and members of the public can cast a ballot online on the Shorty Awards website.

“Folks can show up for PFLAG by helping us win a Shorty Award. Voting for LGBTQ+ causes and issues is a great way to put your voting skills into practice, too,” Blair said. “Consider it a little warm-up for the real election.”