Equality Federation won’t stop until all LGBTQ+ people are fully empowered and represented in their communities, experiencing full equality in their lives.
Equality Federation celebrates the defeat of anti-transgender Proposition 1 in Anchorage, Alaska and congratulates our member organization Alaskans Together for Equality and Fair Anchorage for this hard-fought victory.
Popular culture images of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people suggest that most LGBT people live in cities or on the coasts. Yet an estimated 2.9 – 3.8 million LGBT people call rural America home. Today, the Movement Advancement Project (MAP) released a new report, Where We Call Home: LGBT People in Rural America, which examines the structural differences in rural life and their unique impact on LGBT people in rural areas, who are both more vulnerable to discrimination and less able to respond to its harmful effects.
HIV is still very much an LGBTQ issue. Yet, for the past two decades, HIV has not been a high priority for many LGBTQ advocacy organizations; it’s past time for that to change. HIV organizations and advocates living with HIV are doing important and successful work but there are significant gaps in HIV advocacy capacity in many states.
Equality Federation applauds this week’s decision by the United States District Court for the District of Maryland, ruling that transgender students’ right to use the restroom and locker rooms matching their gender identity is protected by federal and state law. Congratulations to our member FreeState Justice, who filed the original suit, and the ACLU of Maryland, who joined as co-counsel, on this historic victory!
Our mission to advance and empower the state-based LGBTQ movement has remained constant for the almost 21 years of Equality Federation’s existence. The communities we call home continue to be attacked, which means we must be strategic in our work and growth.
In the nearly three years since the Obergefell ruling legalized marriage in all fifty states, we’ve faced an uphill battle. Victory has often meant defeating anti-LGBTQ legislation rather than passing proactive, pro-equality legislation.
From the fall of 2018 through spring 2019, Equality Federation members across the country played important roles in registering and turning out hundreds of thousands of voters to elect pro-equality candidates and win ballot measures. But what we learned as the national partner to these groups is that it isn’t just during elections that they need volunteers and donors to advance their missions — state-based equality organizations need this year round.
Words fall short to describe the woman who led some of the fiercest legal battles in service of making this country more just — more equal.
Yesterday at the kick-off of Equality Federation’s virtual Leadership Conference, I made the bittersweet announcement that after a long and wonderful run, I have decided to step down at the end of 2020—on my 10th anniversary—as leader of the Equality Federation. It has been a great honor to not only serve in this position for a decade but also to have been involved with the Equality Federation from its very inception.
Today in a historic 6-3 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed that employers can’t unfairly fire or otherwise discriminate against LGBTQ people in the workplace.
We, the undersigned, recognize we cannot remain neutral, nor will awareness substitute for action. The LGBTQ community knows about the work of resisting police brutality and violence.
ALOK and Vivian Topping from Equality Federation teamed up to share some important updates with you about anti-transgender legislative trends from around the country.
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
With your support, we'll be able to continue our work to build the leaders of today and tomorrow, strengthen state-based LGBTQ+ organizations, and make critical progress on the issues that matter most—like protecting transgender people, ending HIV criminalization and ensuring access to care, and banning conversion therapy across the country.
.png)
