The GLAAD I Found You campaign was not only an opportunity to amplify the love and commitment of LGBTQ couples nationwide, but it served as living examples and opposition to anti-LGBTQ forces currently working to dismantle the hard-fought constitutional right to marriage equality for LGBTQ people. The storytelling at the core of GLAAD I Found You serves to unify LGBTQ people and allies as politicians continue to introduce countless anti-LGBTQ bills at the state level, but also on the federal level as conservative Supreme Court Justices are signaling the desire to overturn marriage equality.
Launched on January 15, 2026, GLAAD I Found You is an ongoing campaign that has amassed nearly 100,000 page views on GLAAD’s website, over 425.5K impressions across GLAAD’s social platforms, and additional earned media through several local and national LGBTQ newsrooms. With nearly a dozen everyday and celebrity queer and trans couples profiled during the first quarter of 2026, the impetus of the campaign has far exceeded what began as a small idea.
In journalism, it’s not always about what you know, but who you know, and whether sources trust you to publish work that is fair, responsible, and above all else, accurate, all of which allowed GLAAD to tap into our network of sources to bring this campaign to life, while also issuing a call to action to our community of social media followers. In addition to the standard feature stories, LGBTQ people in our community were allowed to submit their love story along with photos, which were featured on GLAAD’s Instagram page, providing visibility of their commitment for GLAAD’s nearly 500,000 followers.
But for LGBTQ folks online, visibility often brings a level of scrutiny, which GLAAD works to insulate members of our community from. However, homophobic and mean-spirited comments, which are now unregulated by most major social media platforms, can easily rear their ugly head. Each of the couples who participated in the GLAAD I Found You Campaign understood the importance of visibility, especially in the current political climate, especially Houston-based Black lesbian couple Marilyn Scales and Wilma Jordan. After 40 years together and ten years of marriage, they told GLAAD: “We decided that we were going to be as out and open as possible, and we were going to live as out loud as we could because we had been silent and suffocating for so many years.”
While metrics can be an indicator of success, in this case, it was the feedback from members of the LGBTQ community, some of whom opened themselves up to the possibility of finding love, allowing others to love them, while giving themselves permission to love boldly and unapologetically when the love they sought arrived.
GLAAD also measured success in the number of couples, known and unknown, who were eager to share their stories–from a North Carolina gay couple who lost everything in Hurricane Helene, to a queer couple that met 33 years ago in a Wendy’s drive-thru, to a lesbian couple and stars of the Bravo reality show The Valley—the diversity of stories ran the gamut, which was intentional.
Like love, there is no expiration date on these stories. GLAAD I Found You strikes at the core of the human experience: all people, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity, have a desire to love and experience love in return.