Gigi Sohn is gay. She’s also a highly qualified nominee for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) with decades of experience as a public interest advocate working on issues of affordable broadband access, net neutrality, and closing the digital divide. More than 375 organizations, companies, elected officials, and local governments have voiced their support for Gigi Sohn’s confirmation as an FCC Commissioner.
Gigi’s sexuality is no secret. She’s been out and proud for decades and entered a civil union with her wife in 2007. When she was nominated, organizations like GLAAD and the Congressional Equality Caucus celebrated the historic nature of the pick: Gigi is the first openly LGBTQ person to be nominated to sit on the FCC.
But while deeply controversial nominees with massive conflicts of interest like Ajit Pai and Nathan Simington sailed through Senate approval, Sohn’s nomination has languished for more than two years. She’s been the target of a coordinated, dark money smear campaign. Republican-aligned think tanks have labeled her as a “leftist” and a “radical” despite her years of nonpartisan public service. Telecom funded astroturf groups have flooded the airwaves with misleading ads about her.
But now right-wing news outlets, emboldened by the Internet Service Provider-funded smears, have crossed the line: They’ve launched a new round of blatantly homophobic attacks on Gigi that recycle QAnon and extreme right tropes conflating LGBTQ identity with deviance and predation.
Fox News, The Daily Mail, Breitbart, and other outlets have run nearly identical stories claiming that Gigi has “opposed” efforts to combat sex trafficking. Even these news outlets, who play fast and loose with the truth, have a hard time backing up that headline. Their argument is that Gigi sits on the board of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), a highly respected digital rights organization known for fighting to defend free speech and privacy online, and EFF opposes SESTA/FOSTA, legislation passed in 2018 that claimed to address sex trafficking. The rest of the articles go to melt down over the fact that EFF once gave an award to a consensual adult dominatrix for her advocacy work around issues of online free speech and human rights, as if that somehow implicates Gigi in some sort of scandal.
Here’s the thing: EFF isn’t the only group that opposes SESTA/FOSTA. The legislation has been condemned by almost every major human rights organization in the world including the ACLU, Human Rights Campaign, and the Wikimedia Foundation, because it has actually made it harder for the government to curtail online sex trafficking, while having devastating effects on online free speech and marginalized communities. A report issued by the U.S. Government itself indicated that the law has not been useful in aiding prosecutions, and has almost never been used. Insinuating that opposition to SESTA/FOSTA somehow means support for sex trafficking is absurd on its face. Many anti-trafficking organizations also oppose the law, saying it hurts more than it helps. Even the Trump administration’s Department of Justice agreed that the law was undermining their efforts to combat trafficking.
But none of that matters, because the FCC has absolutely no jurisdiction in this area whatsoever. Gigi has never taken a position on SESTA/FOSTA or any similar legislation, and EFF opposed SESTA/FOSTA long before Gigi became a board member. None of this is remotely relevant to Gigi’s candidacy for a position at the FCC, the agency that oversees phone and cable companies.
But Fox News doesn’t care about that, because these attacks are not about substance or political positions. They are weaponized homophobia, pure and simple. The false and offensive portrayal of gay people as deviant sexual predators is a longstanding trope employed by bigots and opportunists. And it’s a false narrative that has been used to justify horrific violence, discrimination, and torture that LGBTQ people have faced in this country.
These attacks also have a direct impact on progress toward digital equity. For two years, as Gigi has awaited appointment, the FCC has had limited capacity to update broadband maps for equitable distribution of funds, strengthen programs for low-income households like the Affordable Connectivity Program and broadband “nutrition labels,” and act to stop digital discrimination. We need Gigi appointed, and fast. And that means that the Biden administration and Senate Democrats need to call out these attacks for what they are: homophobic nonsense.
We don’t expect any better of Fox News pundits who want to block Gigi’s appointment. But we are appalled by the complicit silence of the White House and Senate Democrats. Senator Cantwell, the chair of the Commerce Committee that should have confirmed Gigi months ago, has said nothing about the homophobic attacks. Likewise, it’s been crickets from the White House. Only Senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts issued a statement condemning these dangerous and bigoted attacks.
The far right are telling us exactly who they are. If this homophobic smear campaign succeeds, it will become the go-to strategy for sinking the confirmation of any future LGBTQ nominee.
If they don’t speak out immediately and make it clear that they will stand strong against these attacks and confirm Gigi Sohn as quickly as possible, Democratic leaders are telling us who they are, too. If they remain silent, they are actively aiding and abetting weaponized homophobia, while helping the greedy internet service provider monopolies, like Comcast and AT&T, avoid oversight. Our community won’t forget that when Democrats tell us they will protect our rights. Or when they ask for our votes in the future.
Evan Greer is a transgender activist, writer, and musician based in Boston. She’s the director of digital rights group Fight for the Future, known for organizing large online protests in support of net neutrality, human rights, and online privacy.
Yvette Scorse is a queer advocate for digital equity. She serves as communications director for the National Digital Inclusion Alliance (NDIA), representing and supporting over 1,000 organizations advancing digital equity nationwide.
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