Equality Federation won’t stop until all LGBTQ+ people are fully empowered and represented in their communities, experiencing full equality in their lives.
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.
The 2020 legislative session has been interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to the current coronavirus crisis, many state legislatures have either suspended session or are focusing primarily on pandemic relief bills.
As Director of Advocacy and Civic Engagement, Vivian Topping works with state-based LGBTQ organizations to craft smart, effective legislative and electoral campaigns.
Earlier this month, the FDA decided to relax its rule of banning donations from gay men, bisexual men, and trans people from 12 months to 3 months. This is a good start but it's not a win. Any ban based solely on identity is wrong.
Emmett Schelling, Executive Director of TENT: Being an immigrant born in South Korea always plays a factor in who I am and how I am treated in America. However, with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the xenophobia that I am experiencing related to the pandemic is heartbreaking.
Great organizations need great leaders — and they need them to stick around a little while. For years, the turnover rate in our statewide LGBT advocacy groups has been high, and in 2010, Equality Federation Institute identified this challenge as one of our organizational priorities. Committed to addressing this turnover, particularly among executive directors, we began tracking executive tenure and rolling out new programs to help ensure that state leaders were thriving.
On October 5, more than 80 cities across the country will host marches and rallies for the National Day of Dignity and Respect in support of immigration reform. Immigrant communities in America as well as faith, labor, and civil rights groups will join together to call on Congress to pass immigration reform in 2013.
The Obama Administration is continuing to implement the Supreme Court's landmark decision striking down Section 3 of the so-called Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). In the months since the June ruling, federal departments have issued guidance and policy updates further detailing the far-reaching impact of DOMA's demise.
Because transgender people so often experience discrimination at the hands of government institutions, many expect to encounter harassment and other challenges from our legal system. But a new study conducted by OutFront Minnesota and lawyer Ellen Krug found that many transgender Minnesotans report positive experiences with the courts.
Across the nation, our members are working to ensure that transgender people are treated fairly and equally at work. They're advocating for employment nondiscrimination laws, inclusive healthcare policies, and employment benefits, procedures, and practices that honor everyone's gender identity and expression.
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.
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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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