Institute for Public Relations
IPR is featuring some of the many LGBTQ+ pioneers and modern-day heroes to celebrate Pride month.

Harvey Milk was a visionary civil and human rights leader. Milk became one of the first openly gay elected officials in the United States when he won a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1977.

In 1972, Milk moved to San Francisco and opened a camera store in the heart of the city’s growing gay community. A little more than a year after his arrival in the city, he declared his candidacy for the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. He lost that race but emerged from the campaign as a force to be reckoned with in local politics.

In 1975, his close friend and ally Mayor George Moscone, appointed him to the city’s Board of Permit Appeals, making Milk the first openly gay city commissioner in the United States. In 1977, he easily won his third bid and was inaugurated as a San Francisco City-County Supervisor in 1978. In addition to advocating for safer neighborhoods, he spoke out on issues for minority groups on state and national levels. 

On November 27, 1978, a disgruntled former city Supervisor assassinated Milk and Mayor George Moscone. Milk was aware of the likelihood that he may be assassinated and once said “If a bullet should enter my brain, let that bullet destroy every closet door.”
Tina McCorkindale, Ph.D., APR, President and CEO, Institute for Public Relations
Research Readout is a monthly series by the Institute for Public Relations and Ragan’s PR Daily spotlighting new and important research that every PR professional should know.
 
Five state Republican-led legislatures recently passed bans on teaching critical race theory (CRT) or related topics in classrooms. Coinciding with these bans and with more likely to come, Nneka Logan, Ph.D., associate professor at Virginia Tech University, recently published a foundational article for our field in the “Journal of Public Relations Research,” outlining a new theoretical foundation influenced by CRT—the “Corporate Responsibility to Race Theory” or CRR.

Logan’s CRR theory aims the spotlight on how the corporation has historically “perpetuated and profited from racial oppression.” She contends that race is connected to power and ideology, and it should not be treated as an object to be managed.

New theories are always exciting for our field; they are not founded on speculation, but rather built from a solid foundation of research, often influenced by other disciplines. Logan’s theory is based on the intersection and roles of the corporation, race, and corporate social responsibility, each of which she reviews in her article.
Joseph Czabovsky, Ph.D., IPR Measurement Commission, UNC Chapel Hill
In partnership with PRNEWS, “Lessons Earned” is a series featuring IPR Trustees and affiliates discussing a hard-fought lesson or triumph that helped to mold or change their career. 

It was one of the most challenging days of my life. I was attending a funeral for my mother-in-law, who passed far too young, in her 50s. I was distraught for my partner, the most wonderful man I know. He’d lost perhaps the most loving person in his life.

For years, I was welcomed into his family. National discourse might say this was surprising. We’re a gay couple and much of his family comes from Southern Baptist churches in some of the reddest counties in North Carolina. I can’t remember saying out loud, ‘We’re a gay couple!’ It was always one of those knowns/un-saids. I respected his family’s views, and they did the same with mine.

I didn’t realize the power of a valued relationship until that funeral. While always kind to me, one of the patriarchs of the family, my partner’s grandfather, pulled me aside outside the church. He was highly involved in the church, a man with a very different background from mine.

While I never knew how he felt about a gay couple in the family, he looked me in the eye and referenced my partner: “We trust that you’ll take care of him.”
Edelman examined consumers' expectations of brands.

A survey of 14,000 people in 14 countries was conducted from May 12 - June 2, 2021.

Key findings include:
  • 86% of respondents expect brands to take one or more actions beyond their product and business (i.e., give money to a good cause or address political issues).
  • 63% of consumers believe they "can get a brand to change almost anything about itself."
  • 78% of consumers believe they have the power to force a company to change its societal impact.
  • The top two issues that business sectors must speak out on or risk losing trust from consumers were workers’ rights and paying a living wage.  

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