A transgender-led national nonprofit, The Gender Research Advisory Council & Education (GRACE), has launched its first commercial seeking to change the minds of politically right-of-center Americans to support transgender rights.The sixty-second ad, “Dads,” features an interview with Eric Childs, an Operation Iraqi Freedom combat veteran from rural South Carolina, who is the father of four children — including a transgender teenager.
In the ad, Childs expresses how much he loves and supports his 15-year-old son –- whose name is not being published to avoid harassment and threats. “I live in a small town in South Carolina.
I absolutely believe in protecting my rights. And I absolutely love my trans child,” he says as footage of him and his son together at a firing range flashes on screen.Founded in 2023, GRACE asserts that transgender issues are human issues and should be supported by people of all political ideologies.
The ad marks the first of GRACE’s “Just Like You” campaign, which hopes to win over the hearts and minds of Americans in favor of transgender rights, much in the same way the “Love is Love” campaign played a role in winning over public support for marriage equality.GRACE plans to release a second ad in the coming months.“My child is just like every other child in this country,” Childs told Metro Weekly. “Every single one of them.