The Power of Storytelling in Advancing LGBTQ+ Equality and Justice In Conjunction with the American Dreams Tour, HRC Launches 'One Million Voices for Equality' Campaign and 'Our American Dreams' YouTube Series

However, it was not easy changing those hearts and minds on the issue. We leaned on storytelling and humanizing the topic to make real change. At the peak of the marriage equality fight, only 3 out of 10 Americans knew a person in the LGBTQ+ community — today, around 9 in 10 do. That’s because our stories are being told, our perspectives are included in the media, and our visibility has never been more prevalent. 

HRC continues our commitment to empowering people to tell their stories, ensuring safe spaces to do so and providing tools to get better at it.

One key to that success is our YouTube page. The platform has always been a space where authentic voices have bravely expressed their truths. Recently, USA Today ran an article for National Coming Out Day called “Queer YouTubers came out online and the world watched. It made a difference,” which explained that YouTube gave access to LGBTQ+ lives in a way not found in the 2010s in mainstream media. It created a safe space for a generation to explore their identities and find role models who have made it through so many difficult experiences to come out the other side thriving. 

The Human Rights Campaign's YouTube channel is absolutely critical in today’s attention economy, with video content projected to represent approximately 82% of all internet traffic by 2026.

When we launched the Human Rights Campaign American Dreams Tour, we made a commitment to spotlight the joy, struggles and resilience of LGBTQ+ individuals, families and communities across our nation. HRC showed up and forged deep connections with communities in these primarily “red” and “purple” states, shining a light on the incredible people who are leading the fight for justice and equality at the local level. And as we head into the critically important 2026 midterms, it allowed us to highlight what further needs to be done to ensure equality for all Americans.

Yet as a national organization, we had to do more than just visit and listen. As HRC works to create lasting policy change, we have to begin with changing narratives and changing hearts and minds. We need to share tools and techniques that empower these local voices to advocate for the LGBTQ+ community, locally and nationally. That’s why we focused on storytelling. 

Many of our most vivid early memories are about a really good story; maybe something a parent read to you, maybe you heard it from a friend, or you saw it on TV. That’s because stories stick with us in a way data points and white papers cannot. Stories have always been an integral part of how we connect in society and with each other. Stories show us a shared humanity through our similarities, but also make experiences that we might have never lived understandable. A good story sticks with people in ways that facts and figures alone simply cannot do on their own. 

So when we centered storytelling in our “Voices for Equality” training, as well as in our social media content, we found we can also better understand our members' and allies' priorities and concerns. At the same time, we provided a megaphone to amplify individual voices that might not always be part of the national conversation. 

That is why in conjunction with the tour, HRC launched our One Million Voices for Equality campaign, which encourages LGBTQ+ community members' and allies to share their unique stories and use their voices and actions to inspire change around them.

It's also why we relaunched our YouTube page with the series Our American Dreams, which captured stories from the tour and around the country rooted in LGBTQ+ joy and resilience from people from all walks of life. We want to continue and add to that tradition of being not just the community’s strongest advocacy force, but also the community’s microphone and spotlight. HRC has always brought together LGBTQ+ individuals, families and allies o celebrate the joy of being part of this community. 

HRC will continue to utilize YouTube, along with many other new forms of media, to highlight more stories we gather as part of our One Million Voices for Equality campaign. We encourage you and everyone you know to join us by submitting your story.  As you remember from your childhood: One story can stick with you forever.  Your story might just be the one that changes everything for all of us.