Equality Federation won’t stop until all LGBTQ+ people are fully empowered and represented in their communities, experiencing full equality in their lives.
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.
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.
Summer Meeting 2013 just wrapped, and I’m feeling inspired and energized by the three incredible days we spent together in Salt Lake City.
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.
Every year at our Summer Meeting, we take the time to recognize our members who are doing exceptional work in the fight for LGBT equality. This year, as we gathered in Salt Lake City, we honored two state leaders whose work over the past year showcased the absolute best our movement has to offer: Monica Meyer from OutFront Minnesota and Ann Kaner-Roth from Project 515.
In the weeks following the Supreme Court’s ruling on DOMA and Proposition 8, member groups across the nation have held statewide celebratory rallies in response to these historic decisions. But Federation member organization Equality Alabama went one step further, holding a Marriage Town Hall Meeting focused on shedding some light on what the Court’s rulings mean for residents of Alabama.
At Summer Meeting 2013, our friends from the National Center for Transgender Equality joined us to facilitate an important topic of discussion: trans inclusion
Our member organizations are always striving to do the best work they can to serve the diverse LGBT communities in their states. To continue to do just that, Fair Wisconsin and Equality Wisconsin have decided to combine their efforts to create a more unified, stable, and successful LGBT equality movement in Wisconsin!
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
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.
.png)
