Warning Labels Are for Dangerous Things
And the FCC just decided queer people are dangerous.
I don’t know if you know this about me but I used to smoke. For years, actually. It’s honestly one of my biggest regrets in life. And every time I walked into a gas station to buy another pack, there it was: that warning label.
Smoking causes lung cancer.
Smoking kills.
The whole point of that label was to tell me I was holding something dangerous, something that could hurt me and the people around me.
That’s what popped into my head the other day when I read what the FCC is doing right now. If you haven’t heard they’re trying to put that same kind of label on the stories of queer people. Think about what that truly means because I don’t think most people realize what’s happening here.
On April 22, 2026, the FCC put out a Public Notice asking Americans to weigh in on whether the TV Oversight Management Board should create brand new TV ratings specifically to flag “transgender and gender non-binary programming” and content that discusses or promotes “gender identity themes.” In other words they want warning labels on shows that include trans and nonbinary characters and stories. The same kind of system we use to warn people about graphic violence, sexual content, and drug use.
Think about what that comparison is saying. It’s saying that just seeing a transgender person on your TV screen is in the same category as watching someone get their head blown off, or seeing someone using illicit drugs. It’s saying that queer lives just existing or just being depicted are something viewers need to be protected from.
And I know for a fact that some people will dismiss this. I know some people will say it’s just a rating system so what’s the big deal? But history is very loud on this particular subject. When governments start labeling groups of people as something the public needs warning about, it never stops at a little TV content label.
Nazi Germany didn’t start with concentration camps. It started with propaganda. It started with a government-sponsored message, delivered over and over, that certain people were a threat to society, that their very existence required a public warning. You mark a group as dangerous first. Then the danger you claimed was always there becomes the justification for everything that follows. Every single time in history this has played out, it has ended badly. Not just for the people being labeled. For everyone.
That is not hyperbole. That is historical fact.
The FCC technically can’t set TV ratings directly. But this administration has made it very clear it’s willing to use the pressure of federal power to push broadcasters toward compliance with its political agenda. And if they get away with warning labels on trans and nonbinary stories today, what stops them from labeling gay and lesbian content next? What stops them from coming for interracial families, or religious minorities, or any other group that the politics of the moment decide make people “uncomfortable”? The answer, if nobody pushes back right now, is nothing.
This isn’t only about queer people. This is about whether the government gets to decide what stories are safe for you to watch. It’s about whether or not you believe in a free press, a free market of ideas, or just a government that stays out of your living room. This really should make you uncomfortable.
I don’t believe that to a “progressive” idea. That’s just a free country.
And if your internal response right now is “they would never come for me”… I really need you to sit with that feeling for a hot minute. That is almost certainly what every single group thought right before they became the target. The people who got labeled, marginalized, and/or worse throughout history were not uniquely naive. They just didn’t see it coming because it had never happened to them before. That’s exactly how it works. You are not the exception. None of us are.
Here’s the good news: you can actually do something about it right now, and it doesn’t take long.
The FCC is accepting public comments until midnight EST on May 22, 2026. You can file yours directly here: https://glaad.org/fcc/
When you do it, don’t copy and paste a template, the FCC genuinely gives more weight to original comments. You don’t have to write an essay. One solid, honest paragraph is enough. Tell them what this means to you. Maybe you grew up seeing yourself on TV for the first time and it changed something in you. Maybe you have a trans kid, or a trans coworker, or a trans neighbor, and you know firsthand that their stories aren’t a warning… they’re just life. Maybe you work in media and you believe storytellers should be free to tell the stories their audiences want to see. Whatever your angle is, say it in your own words.
You can also share GLAAD.org/FCC with your own followers and ask them to file a comment too. The more voices in that public record, the better.
The deadline is May 22nd. That’s really soon. Don’t sit on this one.
Warning labels belong on cigarettes. Not on people.