Equality Federation won’t stop until all LGBTQ+ people are fully empowered and represented in their communities, experiencing full equality in their lives.
Houston Unites is the coalition of local, state and national organizations working to defend Houston’s Equal Rights Ordinance (HERO).
Competitive Arizona, a coalition of organizations, is seeking a qualified Statewide Field Director to manage a statewide field operations campaign informing and engaging residents of Arizona about the importance of passing a statewide nondiscrimination statute. The Statewide Field Director will work with the Campaign Manager and Field/Outreach Working Group to implement Competitive Arizona’s Field/Outreach plan.
Competitive Arizona is working to support a stronger transgender movement in Arizona and better integrate transgender issues and activists throughout Competitive Arizona’s work for LGBT equality.
This Summer, Equality Federation partnered with organizations and leaders across the nation in a new project called Our Tomorrow. This project was created to help LGBT organizations and funders engage with each other and the LGBT community to be sure all our voices are lifted up as we begin to chart the course ahead in our work to secure full equality.
Jacksonville, Florida is one of the largest cities in the country that does not have a law that protects LGBT people from discrimination. The Jacksonville Coalition for Equality, with the support of Federation member Equality Florida, is hoping to change that, and is working with local legislators to encourage them to pass a law this year.
The Federation is proud to welcome Wyoming Equality as one of our newest members, though they have been around for over three decades. They’ve accomplished a lot in their state, especially in the past year, and have big plans for the future. I recently spoke with their Public Education Coordinator, Laura Weatherford, to learn more about the organization’s history, recent victories and current priorities.
While efforts to address anti-LGBT bullying have been getting a lot of attention these last few years, more and more we're coming to understand that un-addressed bullying and harassment is just one of many ways that LGBT young people—and especially LGBT youth of color—are being systematically pushed out of the education system and into poverty, homelessness, or the criminal justice system. Equality Federation Institute is proud to be working with state equality groups to address the critical issue of school pushout.
The implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) brings about new questions and concerns for the LGBT community and access to healthcare. For this reason, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has called for information regarding the necessary inclusion of gender identity and sexual orientation-based discrimination under the sex-based nondiscrimination protections included in Section 1557.
Washington, DC — On September 27, in support of National Gay Men's HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, hundreds of organizations and individuals have signed onto a joint letter (http://www.wethelgbt.org) to re-engage with the broader LGBT community in the fight against HIV/AIDS. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), gay men, bisexual men, and men who have sex with men accounted for 63% of the new HIV infections in 2010. In fact, gay men are the only group in which HIV infections are increasing.
Founded in 1984, EqualityMaine is the largest LGBT organization in Maine, with a $500,000 budget and 5.25 FTE staff. It is headquartered in Portland, ME, with a satellite office in Brewer ME. The Executive Director will lead this highly respected and historically successful organization into its new future, following the passage of marriage equality in Maine in 2012.
Too often, LGBT immigrants are forced into two closets — one because of their sexual orientation or gender identity and the other because of their immigration status. At the Federation, we believe that it’s time for all immigrants, including at least 267,000 LGBT immigrants, to be able to come out of the shadows. And we believe that our members can be a powerful voice in helping this dream become a reality.
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.
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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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