Equality Federation won’t stop until all LGBTQ+ people are fully empowered and represented in their communities, experiencing full equality in their lives.
Equality Federation members scored key municipal policy wins this year. While we often focus on statewide wins, these city and county victories are critical components of the fight for equality in the communities we call home.
In 1997, a few LGBTQ movement leaders, including our current executive director, Rebecca Isaacs, came together at the Highlander Center in Tennessee. Sitting in a circle of rocking chairs in the room where Rosa Parks was trained in civil disobedience, they envisioned coming together as a state-based movement to form the “Federation of Statewide LGBT Political Organizations.” From that loose network, an organization grew.
Equality Federation’s Legislative Action Center tracks every piece of LGBTQ-focused legislation in all 50 states, allowing us to deploy critical resources to our state partners at every step of the legislative process. This year we tracked over 350 bills affecting the LGBTQ community. Fifteen states faced down anti-transgender bathroom ban legislation this year and we were victorious in fighting every one of these discriminatory efforts.
This year was the most successful ever in the fight against so-called “conversion therapy.” Equality Federation supported legislation in 20 states to protect youth from the harmful, unscientific, disproven practice of sexual orientation and gender identity conversion efforts.
Equality Federation congratulates Equality California as Governor Brown has signed seven of their sponsored bills that will ensure fairness and equality for LGBTQ Californians! The groundbreaking roster of legislation includes a bill that will allow for a nonbinary gender marker on state issued IDs, a bill of rights protecting LGBTQ seniors, and an update to the state’s HIV criminalization laws.
Equality Utah welcomes state and national leaders to the 16th Equality Federation Institute Summer Meeting. The meeting will be held at the Sheraton Salt Lake City, located in the beautiful, complex state of Utah. Reserve your room online.
HRC's Municipal Equality Index rates selected municipalities by their laws, policies, and services affecting LGBT people. Starting in 2012 with a snapshot of 137 cities in 50 states, the 2013 Index adds 150 more locations to their report. The Equality Federation Institute and the Victory Fund are joint partners in this project.
Equality Federation Institute’s annual Summer Meeting is the premier gathering of state-based and national LGBT movement leaders. More than 150 advocates from across the country gather to connect and forge relationships, collaborate for future success and build momentum toward even greater wins in the communities we call home.
Strong leaders have propelled the movement for equality forward, with unprecedented wins over the last decade. Now our movement is facing new challenges -- from working in more conservative parts of the country to advancing social justice policies like immigration reform and health equity.
Through smart advocacy and strategic public education, our movement has secured key policy victories that have dramatically improved the lives of LGBT people. But as more than a dozen states have now won the freedom to marry for same-sex couples, in addition to several other critical protections for LGBT people and families, our state-based movement has reached a turning point.
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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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