Equality Federation won’t stop until all LGBTQ+ people are fully empowered and represented in their communities, experiencing full equality in their lives.
In 1997, a few LGBTQ movement leaders, including our current executive director, Rebecca Isaacs, came together at the Highlander Center in Tennessee. Sitting in a circle of rocking chairs in the room where Rosa Parks was trained in civil disobedience, they envisioned coming together as a state-based movement to form the “Federation of Statewide LGBT Political Organizations.” From that loose network, an organization grew.
Equality Federation members scored key municipal policy wins this year. While we often focus on statewide wins, these city and county victories are critical components of the fight for equality in the communities we call home.
Equality Federation’s conferences, convenings, and trainings provide an extraordinary opportunity for member organizations to learn from and support each other.
Equality Federation congratulates Equality California as Governor Brown has signed seven of their sponsored bills that will ensure fairness and equality for LGBTQ Californians! The groundbreaking roster of legislation includes a bill that will allow for a nonbinary gender marker on state issued IDs, a bill of rights protecting LGBTQ seniors, and an update to the state’s HIV criminalization laws.
Our BIG LGBTQ MIXER event has become a San Francisco institution! Hundreds of locals, from tech gurus to artists, come out to have a good time for a good cause.
Equality Federation Institute’s annual Summer Meeting is the premier gathering of state-based and national LGBT movement leaders. More than 150 advocates from across the country gather to connect and forge relationships, collaborate for future success and build momentum toward even greater wins in the communities we call home.
Equality Federation Institute’s annual Summer Meeting is the premier gathering of LGBT movement leaders. The 2014 Summer Meeting (July 30 – August 2) will feature informative workshops, inspiring speakers, and incredible social events — in the amazing city of Minneapolis, with OutFront Minnesota as our host.
Hawai’i is often thought of as the state that put in motion our modern march toward marriage equality. Even so, the Aloha State didn’t extend the freedom to marry to same-sex couples until last year. But it did so through a dramatic campaign that ended with a special legislative session and the passage of SB-1 — the Hawai’i Marriage Equality Act.
In an unprecedented decision this week, the Supreme Court ruled that employers can use their religious beliefs to deny their employees access to benefits that they are guaranteed by law to receive.
Today, the Supreme Court of the United States handed down its highly anticipated decisions in two cases that were brought by for-profit companies arguing that requiring them to include contraception in their employees’ health plan violates their religious liberty rights under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
Seven cities in Idaho protect LGBT individuals from discrimination. But that number almost dropped to six — until advocates ran a robust campaign to keep the challenged law in place. In 2013, Pocatello, Idaho adopted a local nondiscrimination ordinance barring employers, landlords and most businesses from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.
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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.
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