Equality Federation won’t stop until all LGBTQ+ people are fully empowered and represented in their communities, experiencing full equality in their lives.
Every year, the Equality Federation Institute hosts its annual Summer Meeting, bringing together LGBT movement leaders from across the country to build skills and forge connections that strengthen the incredible work that’s happening in all the communities we call home. Even as many of us are still energized from the 2014 Summer Meeting in Minneapolis, next year’s meeting will be here before you know it, and we want you to save the date!
Are you running into challenges with your board of directors? Do you wonder how to recruit engaged and active leaders?
At this year’s Summer Meeting, we invited state leaders to take five minutes to share a big idea, talk through an innovative strategy, or offer up an exciting concept in a FEDtalk.These energetic and captivating presentations about the most innovative parts of our members’ work stood out, once again, as a major highlight of Summer Meeting.
We’re in the midst of a unique moment in the movement for equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people. As marriage wins continue in the courts, and national attention shifts to work in places where LGBT people aren’t protected from discrimination — strong leadership in the states is more important than ever.To guide the movement beyond the marriage milestone, we need adaptive leaders.
At Equality Federation, we believe the movement for equality is not done once the freedom to marry has been extended to same-sex couples nationwide. We know we have more work to do.
Protecting lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people from discrimination in employment, housing, and public accommodations has been a priority for the movement since the 1980s. And still, the end goal of prohibiting discrimination nationwide eludes us.
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.
For years, our members have requested assistance and guidance in the area of communications. And although we have always been able to connect state groups with resources and provide some useful advice, we simply weren’t equipped to offer comprehensive communications support.
Our final FEDtalk given at the Summer Meeting 2013 is from John Smallwood, Advocacy & Organizing Director at Fair Wisconsin.
Our ninth FEDtalk given at the Summer Meeting 2013 is from Shannon McCann, Intern at Equality Utah.
The State Equality Fund (SEF) has announced its new guidelines for 2014 and issued an invitation for letters of inquiry (LOI).For the past eight years, Federation members have used support from SEF to make huge policy advances that improve the lives of LGBT people in their state. And at the Federation, we're eager to help even more of our state groups take advantage of this critical funding stream.
It's one of the most common questions we're asked: How do state groups grow the number of LGBT people financially supporting our work?And now, we have some real answers. Or, at least, the beginning of some real answers.
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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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