2021 has become the deadliest year for Trans people on record. The Trans community is being increasingly targeted with transphobia and hate from the media as well as from right-wing groups, both on and offline. Recently, the LGB Alliance have called for the T to be removed from LGBTQ+. 

In response to this, GAY TIMES and Grey London have launched a new Amplifund campaign named ‘Incomplete Without the T’. Launched at GAY TIMES Honours during Trans Awareness Week the powerful new campaign stands in solidarity and aims to help raise visibility and awareness around Trans issues.

The creative by Grey London aims to visualise the idea that removing the ‘T’ makes everything incomplete. In a short video removing the letter ‘T’ from a range of different texts and communications, the campaign shows that when you erase a letter from any word, in any language, you remove both comprehension and unity. This notion is extended to the LGBTQ+ movement, proving that the same is true when you remove the T from LGBTQ+.

‘We just couldn’t understand why anyone would want to remove the T from an acronym that stands for unity and equality, especially when Transgender people have played such an important role in LGBTQ+ history and such an important part of the queer community.” explained the creatives, Chaz Mather and Lucy Jones, “We created this campaign to remind people of that fact. It’s something we both feel really passionate about.’

Laura Jordan Bambach, President and CCO UK at Grey, said “Trans people have led the way in LGBTQ+ rights from the Stonewall riots to our own rallies and direct actions here in the UK. To be Trans today is to be faced with even more discrimination, hate and the potential for violence than many other areas of our community. So, it’s fundamentally important that we are never LGB without the T and we stand together to protect the hard-earned rights and acceptance we have, and those still to fight for.”

The campaign was launched initially to a live audience during Trans Awareness Week at GAY TIMES Honours, via a powerful speech where an incoherent voice-over omitting the ‘T’s was heard in front of an audience of over one thousand LGBTQ+ community members and allies including the likes of Ellie Goulding, Jade Thirlwall, Will Young and Rina Sawayama. 

“We created Amplifund in partnership with the award-winning LGBTQ+ human rights charity GiveOut to amplify queer voices to global audiences and support LGBTQ+ activists around the world in their campaigning and media work.” said Tag Warner, CEO GAY TIMES, “This new campaign with Grey London highlights the importance of ‘the T’ in LGBTQ+. With 2021 being the deadliest year on record for Trans people, it is more important than ever for us as a business, and as a community, to stand with our Trans brothers and sisters and reinforce the message - we are incomplete without the T.”

Discrimination and attacks on Trans rights are happening all year round, and so to emphasize the fact that these issues go beyond a designated week or day, a multi-platform campaign has been launched, including OOH advertising and social posts across GAY TIMES channels. The GAY TIMES has also saught upon queer influencers and allies to get involved and show their support online. For more information or to get involved please click here.