Equality Federation won’t stop until all LGBTQ+ people are fully empowered and represented in their communities, experiencing full equality in their lives.
Transgender Law Center and Equality California Institute are jointly launching a statewide public education campaign to combat widespread public misunderstanding about transgender and gender nonconforming people and the issues they face. The campaign aims to introduce the public to transgender people in a number of settings and will consist of message research, community engagement and a robust communications plan.
Chris Hartman, Executive Director of Fairness Campaign, an Equality Federation member, was one of the activists arrested in August while peacefully demonstrating at the Kentucky Farm Bureau's annual Country Ham Breakfast due to the company's longstanding anti-LGBT lobbying. This week, Hartman and fellow activists Carla Wallace and Sonja De Vries had their charges (which should never have been pressed) dropped.
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A legislative hearing is scheduled for Wednesday, October 7th, on the “Pastor Protection” Act. Federation member Equality Florida calls the act a misleading masquerade for religious freedom when in reality it is simply a cynical, anti-LGBT political move.
National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) has written a new practice guide for the Annie E. Casey Foundation entitled “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Youth in the Juvenile Justice System,” which provides juvenile justice agencies the tools they need to ensure the safety and well-being of LGBT youth in their care.
This position requires the Executive Director to be a self-starter with the enthusiasm to build MassEquality’s small, grassroots organization. The organization seeks a hands-on operational manager who can also fundraise and be the face of the organization.
Investing in furthering transphobic laws is a waste of precious resources, resources that come from our hard work. There are so many other things to invest in instead.
The Biden administration has issued new proposed regulations under Title IX, the federal civil rights law, stating that schools cannot categorically ban transgender students from joining athletic teams consistent with their gender identity.The regulations are a response to a coordinated nationwide effort to erase trans people from public life, including 64 bills seeking to bar transgender students athletes from participating in school sports. Since 2021, 20 states have banned trans student athletes from participating in school sports.Equality Federation Executive Director Fran Hutchins had the following comment on the proposed regulations:
LGBTQ+ Communities Fight Back Against Coordinated Nationwide Assault State legislators have passed 28, proposed 460 anti-trans and anti-LGBTQ+ bills In 2023, state lawmakers have introduced 460 bills attacking LGBTQ+ people, with 356 bills specifically targeting transgender people. Recent reports indicate that the record number of anti-LGBTQ+ bills result from a coordinated, nationwide effort by far-right politicians with ties to extremist groups.So far in 2023, states have enacted 28 anti-trans and anti-LGBTQ+ bills, including legislation or executive action banning or further restricting gender-affirming health care for adults or children in twelve states:, Florida, Iowa, Indiana, South Dakota, Utah, West Virginia, Georgia, Mississippi, Montana, Tennessee, Idaho, and Arkansas. In 2022, Arizona and Alabama passed similar laws banning health care. Advocates expect as many as twenty states will ban gender-affirming health care this year.
Trans people are the experts in their own lives and are not a monolith. We should listen to as many trans people as we are willing to share and trust that their lives will adequately supplement the data we have and are continuing to collect to create robust and effective policy.
December 14, 2022 - Yesterday, President Biden signed the Respect for Marriage Act into law, ensuring that the federal government respects and protects all marriages equally.
Today, philanthropist MacKenzie Scott announced that she has made a major gift to Equality Federation Institute as part of her pledge to give away a majority of her wealth through the Giving Pledge. Equality Federation received a $2 million gift to support the organization’s work as an advocacy accelerator for the state-based LGBTQ+ movement.
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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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