Entertainment
FCC Push for LGBTQ+ Labels Is a Bad Deal for Hollywood
From 1934 to 1968, the Motion Picture Production Code, better known as the Hays Code, ruled Hollywood with an iron fist. Films complied with the Code or they didn’t get made at all. The Hays Code explicitly prohibited showing interracial relationships, the “ridicule” of religious figures, and stated that “the sanctity of the institution of marriage and the home shall be upheld.”
One of its primary restrictions was a ban on “sex perversion” onscreen. Since LGBTQ+ characters and stories were considered “perverse” at the time, we were either invisible, heavily coded or included only if we suffered and were punished for being queer. GLAAD co-founder Vito Russo documented this disturbing history in “The Celluloid Closet” 45 years ago.
History has a dark habit of repeating itself.
On April 22, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced a new inquiry seeking public comment by May 22 and reply comments by June 22 about whether television ratings should be modified to specifically warn parents about the presence of LGBTQ+ stories. The Public Notice frames this issue as “empowering parents to protect their children,” yet those who study media history know it is not about protecting children, rather a revival of the same tactics used to purge LGBTQ+ characters from the screen for decades.
This FCC inquiry is a brazen attempt to remove LGBTQ+ people from television, rooted in the false assertion that being LGBTQ+ needs a warning label — stigmatizing our stories and decreasing the chances they will be made at all. It is the same playbook behind legislation like Florida’s 2022 “Don’t Say Gay” bill and the attempt to ban books with LGBTQ+ content. By suggesting that content featuring transgender and nonbinary characters needs a specific warning label, the FCC brands our lives as inherently unsafe and inappropriate to be seen; the moral equivalent of coarse and crude language, sexual situations and violence.
The FCC Public Notice specifically names “transgender and gender non-binary programming,” but anyone who thinks a TV show with two moms or two dads would not be a target for a warning label is kidding themselves. This administration has made it abundantly clear that their attacks on transgender people are only the start of their attacks on the LGBTQ+ community, not the end.
And under this administration, what’s stopping the FCC from also demanding a warning label for shows that feature immigrant families or low income families or families of color?
The FCC and chairman Brendan Carr, an architect of Project 2025, is not speaking for the average American viewer or the modern media consumer. A small but loud group of anti-LGBTQ+ activists, who view the diversity of the American public as a threat, might welcome the return of the Hays Code, but the highly competitive television market will not.
Gallup reports that 23% of adults under the age of 30 say that they are LGBTQ+. According to the Williams Institute, 5 million American children are currently being raised by LGBTQ+ parents. GLAAD and MRI-Simmons’ 2025 data shows over half of LGBTQ+ Americans, and 3 in 10 non-LGBTQ+ people, (84 million Americans combined) are more likely to watch a TV show with at least one LGBTQ+ character. Plus, a supermajority of Americans (79%) agree that everyone deserves to be represented.
Media companies should not remain silent in the face of this latest attack on the freedom to create content their own audiences demand. If television is to maintain its dominance in the current attention economy, it must prioritize producing rich and interesting content to remain relevant. If audiences don’t find it on television, they will look for it elsewhere — especially on social media, in podcasts, in video games and anywhere else that has not caved to government pressure and overreach.
The FCC does not directly set TV ratings, but under this administration it has repeatedly used its political leverage to pressure stations, networks and broadcasters into self-censorship and anticipatory obedience. The United Church of Christ’s Media Justice Ministry compiled evidence of a pattern where the Trump-era FCC pressured broadcasters into “voluntary” actions, in many cases successfully: In September 2025, Nexstar and Sinclair blocked “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” from appearing on owned and partner local TV stations after statements from the FCC; in July 2025, the FCC pressured merging companies like Verizon and T-Mobile to “voluntarily” remove DEI programs; CBS installed a “bias monitor” and cancelled Stephen Colbert’s ‘The Late Show’; in April 2025, it subjected ’60 Minutes’ news reporting to investigation and comment; in February 2025, it informed Comcast and NBCUniversal it was being investigated for its DEI policies and investigated a radio station for ICE coverage; on Jan. 30, 2025, just 10 days after Inauguration Day, the FCC launched a wide-ranging inquiry targeting NPR and PBS; and just last week, the FCC issued an order directing Disney to file their broadcast license renewals ahead of schedule, tied to the government’s yearlong investigation of the company’s DEI practices.
This is about more than fighting for LGBTQ+ stories onscreen, this is about fighting people who are trying to destroy core principles of a successful democracy: freedom of speech and a dynamic, multicultural society. This is an existential fight – and we all need to be in it or risk losing democratic freedoms that have been hard-won over the past 250 years.
GLAAD’s resource for those interested in filing a comment with the FCC in response to its Public Notice is available at GLAAD.org/FCC.
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Try telling Londoners that cinema is dead and they will direct you to the BFI Imax cinema on the Southbank, where Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey is still playing to sold-out houses nearly three months after its release. But if you’ve been there, done that, 2026 still has some surprises left up its sleeve, and plenty of other titles will be jockeying for your consideration once the Oscar landscape starts to take shape.
For the moment, that race is still wide open; luckily, Deadline’s Contenders Film: London event taking place Saturday at the Ham Yard Hotel is here to help you make sense of an already overcrowded calendar. Our event is a one-stop shop for movie fans, packed with preview clips, star-studded panels and insider insights from behind-the-scenes players.
A good place to start would be two animation world premieres coming to the capital in October. We open the day with Pixar’s neo-noir science fiction mystery Ray Gunn, welcoming writer-director-producer Brad Bird and composer Michael Giacchino to the stage. Later in the day, we’ll have director-producer Travis Knight, cinematographer Caleb Deschanel, composer Dario Marianelli and costume designer Deb Cook on hand to present Laika’s magical stop-motion fantasy Wildwood.
Back in the real world, director Danny Boyle will accompany writer James Graham and actor Jack O’Connell for a discussion of their new collaboration Ink, which tells the story of Australian media mogul Rupert Murdoch’s takeover of British tabloid newspaper The Sun in 1969. From the documentary world, directors Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin, with elite ski mountaineer Jim Morrison, will share stories about the making of Everest: The Other Side.
Legendary British director Mike Leigh returns to Contenders with his latest and possibly last film, Tender Loving Care. Starring Widow’s Bay Emmy winner Kate O’Flynn, who will be joining him for the event, it tells the story of a professional carer trying to get her life back on track after a breakup. Similarly, writer-director Guy Nattiv will be joined by Carrie Coon to take questions about The Liberation, their ’80s-set tale of a woman who leaves her family to join an all-female cult.
Being Heumann is the latest from Siân Heder, who last came to Contenders with her 2021 Oscar winner CODA. Joining will be the film’s star Ruth Madeley, who plays real-life American disability rights activist Judith Heumann, and casting directors Bernard Telsey and Adam Caldwell. Afterwards, Austrian writer-director Marie Kreutzer will take the stage for her drama Gentle Monster, joined by actress Léa Seydoux.
Fresh from their success at the Toronto Film Festival, “Los Javos” — the Spanish writer-director-producer team of Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi — will present their literary, multi-stranded period drama La Bola Negra with actors Miguel Bernardeau, Guitarricadelafuente, Carlos González and Penélope Cruz.
We end with two extremes; first Cruz sticks around to join Florian Zeller with their film Bunker, in which a married couple (real-life partners Cruz and Javier Bardem) hit a rock in their relationship over the husband’s commitment to building a billionaire’s safe room. Then we’re off to outer space to meet the creative team behind sci-fi spectacular Project Hail Mary: cinematographer Greig Fraser and production designer Charles Wood.
In addition, surprise guests — look out for a festival favorite that won a significant award at Cannes — are likely to be in the mix.
It’s going to be quite a day, so follow along with our panel coverage on Deadline.com and on social via #DeadlineContenders. And check back Monday when we launch the event’s streaming hub with all the panel videos.
Below is Saturday’s schedule, with order subject to change.
Contenders London 2026 Lineup
NETFLIX
Ray Gunn
Brad Bird (Writer/Director/Producer)
Michael Giacchino (Composer)
Ink
James Graham (Writer)
Danny Boyle (Director)
Jack O’Connell (Actor)
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC DOCUMENTARY FILMS
Everest: The Other Side
Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi (Director/Producer)
Jimmy Chin (Director/Producer/Director of Photography)
Jim Morrison (Elite Ski Mountaineer and Film Subject)
BLEECKER STREET / STUDIOCANAL
Tender Loving Care
Mike Leigh (Writer/Director)
Kate O’Flynn (Actor)
Marion Bailey (Actor)
The Liberation
Guy Nattiv (Writer/Director)
Carrie Coon (Actor)
LAIKA
Wildwood
Travis Knight (Director/Producer)
Caleb Deschanel (Cinematographer)
Dario Marianelli (Composer)
Deb Cook (Costume Designer)
APPLE ORIGINAL FILMS
Being Heumann
Siân Heder (Writer/Director/Producer)
Kevin Walsh (Producer)
Ruth Madeley (Actor)
Bernard Telsey (Casting Director)
Adam Caldwell (Casting Director)
NETFLIX
Gentle Monster
Marie Kreutzer (Writer/Director)
Léa Seydoux (Actor)
La Bola Negra
Javier Calvo (Writer/Director/Producer)
Javier Ambrossi (Writer/Director/Producer)
Miguel Bernardeau (Actor)
Guitarraicadelafuente (Actor)
Carlos González (Actor)
Penélope Cruz (Actor)
SONY PICTURES CLASSICS
Bunker
Florian Zeller (Writer/Director)
Penélope Cruz (Actor)
AMAZON MGM STUDIOS
Project Hail Mary
Greig Fraser (Cinematographer)
Charles Wood (Production Designer)
ALEXANDER
Ben’Imana
Marie-Clémentine Dusabejambo (Writer/Director)
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