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This study explores activists as producers of strategic communication for social change, suggesting communication for development and social change (CDSC), activism, and public relations are not antagonistic but rather occupy a fluid space informed by cultural-economic forces. This article presents a model of cultural intermediation for social change, arguing that activism is a form of strategic communication embedded in micro, meso, and macro levels. Through a case study of transnational LGBT activism, this research demonstrates how activists function as cultural intermediaries, playing a mediating role that is often concerned with (re)producing and challenging cultural meaning.communication. This research takes a transnational 1 approach to strategic communication for social change, requiring attention to the flows of people, goods, and knowledge and how this flow produces relationships and linkages between and among disparate people and places (Valentine, Vanderbeck, Sadgrove, & Andersson, 2013). Rather than emphasizing outcomes or effects, the focus of this study is an examination of how activists come to describe, explain, and account for the world in which they live and the processes through which activists bring about and contribute to shared understandings. This study explores how lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT 2 ) activists engage in public relations, operating as cultural intermediaries (Bourdieu, 1984) to make, remake, subvert, communicate, and circulate cultural identities, representations, and imaginations by way of strategic communication for social change. Through a consideration of transnational activism, this research works to show that public relations research can productively inform existing interdisciplinary research on communication for social change.

PurposeThe purpose of this work is to identify the components of authentic communication with LGBTQ publics and to examine if there is a difference in what constitutes authentic communication for LGBTQ publics compared to other publics.Design/methodology/approachWe conducted in-depth interviews with professionals who both identify as LGBTQ and are instrumental in developing content targeted to this public.FindingsAuthenticity is synonymous regardless of the target public; however, differences emerge in the manifestation of authenticity with historically marginalized groups, like LGBTQ publics.Practical implicationsPractitioners working with historically marginalized communities need to make sure they are walking the walk, not just talking the talk.Social implicationsAuthentic communication arises from an organization's broader holistic commitments to diversity, equity and inclusion.Originality/valueThe insights derived by our participants are unique, as they are perspectives traditionally “written out” of research.