News & Resources

Equality Federation won’t stop until all LGBTQ+ people are fully empowered and represented in their communities, experiencing full equality in their lives.

The Latest

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Equality Utah Seeks Injunction in Landmark Case

In October, Equality Utah made history by filing a lawsuit against Utah’s state education office. The lawsuit challenges a curriculum law that prohibits discussing homosexuality in a positive way.

February 6, 2017
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Georgia Lawmakers Introduce Historic Civil Rights Bill

Lester Jackson (D-Savannah) introduced a historic, comprehensive civil rights bill in co-sponsorship with five of his colleagues. The bill represents the first time a civil rights bill that includes nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ people was introduced in the state.

February 6, 2017
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Read the Leaked Draft of Trump's Religious Exemption Order

A copy of Trump’s religious exemption executive order has leaked, and it is being described by legal experts as staggeringly broad in scope. The order would give license to discriminate to any person or organization and flies in the face of the values Americans hold dear – fairness, freedom, and treating others the way we’d like to be treated.

February 2, 2017
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Trump's Anti-LGBTQ Scotus Pick: Neil Gorsuch

Tonight President Trump announced Neil Gorsuch, a judge of the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals, as his nominee for the Supreme Court of the United States.

February 1, 2017
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Extremist Jerry Falwell Jr. Appointed to Task Force on Higher Education

Equality Federation condemns President Trump’s decision to name one of the nation’s most prominent anti-LGBTQ leaders, Jerry Falwell Jr., to the Task Force on Higher Education.

February 1, 2017
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Victory! Discriminatory Bill Withdrawn in Wyoming

On Thursday last week, Wyoming’s state legislature withdrew House Bill 135. HB135 would have allowed businesses, state and local governments to discriminate against LGBTQ people.

January 31, 2017

Press Releases

Executive Director Betsy Smith Steps Down from EqualityMaine After 14 Years of Incredible Work

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.

August 28, 2013
FEDtalks Daily: John Smallwood of Fair Wisconsin--Watch Now!

Our final FEDtalk given at the Summer Meeting 2013 is from John Smallwood, Advocacy & Organizing Director at Fair Wisconsin.

August 26, 2013
FEDtalks Daily: Shannon McCann of Equality Utah--Watch Now!

Our ninth FEDtalk given at the Summer Meeting 2013 is from Shannon McCann, Intern at Equality Utah. 

August 23, 2013
Sam Nitz

Sam Nitz currently serves as the Data & Targeting Manager for EMILY’s List, using data and targeting to help elect more Democratic, pro-choice women to office across the country. Previously, he served as the Deputy Targeting Director at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in 2010 and worked at political direct mail and polling firms.

August 22, 2013
More FEDtalks Now Available!

At this year’s Summer Meeting, we invited state leaders and our Federation interns to take five minutes to share a big idea, talk through an innovative strategy, or offer up an exciting concept. We called the presentations FEDtalks, and since the meeting wrapped, we keep getting requests to publish the videos online.

August 22, 2013
Aaron Welo

Aaron Welo is an at-large director and the Treasurer for the Equality Federation. He is currently an associate with Thompson Coburn LLP in St. Louis, where he practices in the firm's business litigation group on a variety of class and complex litigation matters.

August 22, 2013
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