Equality Federation won’t stop until all LGBTQ+ people are fully empowered and represented in their communities, experiencing full equality in their lives.
As we kick-off Pride month, I’d like to look back on the legislative season and my time as Policy Fellow at Equality Federation, tracking and analyzing bills that impact the LGBTQ community. Here are two of the major highs and lows in trends this legislative season.
Equality Federation congratulates Basic Rights Oregon on the historic passage of HB 2673A. This legislation allows transgender individuals to amend both name and gender marker on their birth records without going to court.
In a case brought by Transgender Law Center, on behalf of high school senior Ash Whitaker, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court’s ruling that transgender students are protected from discrimination under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (Title IX) and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
As we mark a year from the Pulse massacre that claimed the lives of 49 people, Equality Federation stands with Equality Florida in their campaign to #HonorThemWithAction.
Governor Abbott has called for a special session to continue pushing for an anti-transgender bathroom ban.
Equality Federation congratulates our partners and advocates on the ground who have worked tirelessly for these victories in Connecticut and Nevada. This week, we add two more to the list of states that have banned conversion “therapy” for minors.
Equality Federation staff will hold parties featuring live goats on both coasts this spring, and anyone who contributes to the organization’s Give OUT Day efforts will be added to the guest lists. Give OUT Day, held on April 19th, is a national day of giving for LGBTQ organizations raising hundreds of thousands of dollars for the movement.
Equality Federation celebrates the defeat of anti-transgender Proposition 1 in Anchorage, Alaska and congratulates our member organization Alaskans Together for Equality and Fair Anchorage for this hard-fought victory.
Popular culture images of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people suggest that most LGBT people live in cities or on the coasts. Yet an estimated 2.9 – 3.8 million LGBT people call rural America home. Today, the Movement Advancement Project (MAP) released a new report, Where We Call Home: LGBT People in Rural America, which examines the structural differences in rural life and their unique impact on LGBT people in rural areas, who are both more vulnerable to discrimination and less able to respond to its harmful effects.
HIV is still very much an LGBTQ issue. Yet, for the past two decades, HIV has not been a high priority for many LGBTQ advocacy organizations; it’s past time for that to change. HIV organizations and advocates living with HIV are doing important and successful work but there are significant gaps in HIV advocacy capacity in many states.
Equality Federation applauds this week’s decision by the United States District Court for the District of Maryland, ruling that transgender students’ right to use the restroom and locker rooms matching their gender identity is protected by federal and state law. Congratulations to our member FreeState Justice, who filed the original suit, and the ACLU of Maryland, who joined as co-counsel, on this historic victory!
Our mission to advance and empower the state-based LGBTQ movement has remained constant for the almost 21 years of Equality Federation’s existence. The communities we call home continue to be attacked, which means we must be strategic in our work and growth.
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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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