Equality Federation won’t stop until all LGBTQ+ people are fully empowered and represented in their communities, experiencing full equality in their lives.
Many Federation members across the country are committed to a broad social justice agenda, working in their communities to end all forms of oppression.Over the past few years, Basic Rights Education Fund, the 501(c)(3) arm of Basic Rights Oregon, has become a national leader for their racial justice work within LGBT movements. Knowing that for decades, the LGBT movement left out the voices, experiences, and hopes of LGBT people of color -- Basic Rights Education Fund understood the need for real change and put racial justice at the top of their agenda.
State-based organizations across the country are making change in the communities we call home -- where the work is hard, but the impact is great. Nearly every week, we hear about another victory that provides LGBT people the protection, respect, and dignity they need and deserve. These wins build critical momentum in the fight for full and lasting equality -- but we don’t often hear about them. Far too often, they go unnoticed and uncelebrated by the broader LGBT movement.
Anne Stanback is the Director of Strategic Partnerships for the Equality Federation, the movement builder and strategic partner to state-based organizations winning equality in the communities we call home. Anne’s primary focus is working with states to develop plans, strategies and resources to pass laws to protect LGBT people from discrimination in employment, housing and public accommodations.
Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) ruled that same-sex couples, legally married in jurisdictions that recognize their marriages, will be treated as married for federal tax purposes. The ruling applies regardless of whether the couple lives in a jurisdiction that recognizes same-sex marriage or a jurisdiction that does not recognize same-sex marriage.
Executive Director Betsy Smith has been leading EqualityMaine for fourteen years. After securing many incredible wins for LGBT Mainers, she has announced that she will soon step down from her position. Before Betsy officially leaves the Federation family (though we'll always count her as one of our own), we wanted to learn everything we could from her work and experience. So we caught up with her to talk about her successful tenure at EqualityMaine.
Every day, the momentum for full marriage equality across this country builds. And our members are right in the thick of this critical work, achieving some major victories. Just look at what’s been happening these past ten months.
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.
The workshops at Summer Meeting 2014 are going to blow you away. All the topics you care about, all the speakers you want to learn from, all the opportunities you need to strengthen the work you're doing. Just check out our full list below!
Soon our board of directors will vote on three new at-large members: Michael Lewis, Julia Rosen, and Curtis Thornhill (the exceptional candidates we introduced to you just a few weeks ago). These incredible leaders will help to expand the board’s reach in order to better equip the Equality Federation and the Equality Federation Institute to be the strategic partner to the state-based movement.
In states across the country, Federation members are working hard to advocate for statewide and local nondiscrimination laws that protect lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) workers.
Back by popular demand! FEDtalks were a breakaway favorite plenary session from last year’s Summer Meeting. So we're excited to announce they're back this year!
This is what leadership looks like. In a series of announcements over the past several weeks, the Obama administration has taken critical steps to protect LGBT Americans. These groundbreaking changes in U.S. policy are making it easier for LGBT Americans to earn a living, provide for themselves and their families, and pursue health and happiness.
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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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