Equality Federation won’t stop until all LGBTQ+ people are fully empowered and represented in their communities, experiencing full equality in their lives.
In state after state this year, opponents have used ever-evolving strategies to legislate anti-LGBTQ discrimination. The two most common strategies are religious exemption bills (so-called “religious freedom” bills) and bills focussed on restroom access.
Update: Equality Federation extends our deepest gratitude to the eight courageous Senators in Missouri who filibustered for a historic 39 hours to prevent a discriminatory religious exemption bill from moving forward in the legislature. SJ39 is a dangerous bill that would ask the voters of Missouri to amend their constitution to allow religious organizations and individuals to use their faith to legally justify refusing services and benefits to LGBTQ people.
Now is the time for transgender equality, and more states are doing the right thing. They are no longer forcing transgender people to have surgery or obtain court orders in order to change the gender marker on their birth certificates.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, a federal agency that ensures the enforcement of federal laws that make it illegal to discriminate on specified grounds against a job applicant or an employee has announced two lawsuits alleging anti-gay discrimination.
Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch Carmichael delivered a tearful floor speech in support of a “civil rights amendment” to an anti-LGBTQ religious exemption bill, #HB4012, to prevent the bill from being used to discriminate. The amendment passed, and on Wednesday, March 2nd, the entire bill was killed in a 27-7 vote.
Over 400 companies including major corporations like Delta, Coca Cola, Home Depot, SalesForce, and Hyatt, along with small businesses throughout Georgia and the Georgia Visitors and Convention Bureau, have come together to say no to discrimination and stand in opposition to the antii-LGBTQ religious exemption bills making their way through the legislature.
Today New York’s legislature passed GENDA, the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act, that will ensure New Yorkers are protected from discrimination on the basis of gender identity and expression in employment, housing, and public accommodations. The legislature also passed a ban on the dangerous and discredited practice of conversion therapy.
Today, Equality Federation Institute and the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Foundation and the released their annual State Equality Index (SEI), a comprehensive state-by-state report detailing statewide laws and policies that affect LGBTQ people and their families and placing states in one of four categories based on their pro- and anti-LGBTQ state laws.
The Supreme Court has denied to review two cases that challenged Mississippi‚ dangerously broad anti-LGBTQ law, HB 1523.
On Monday, January 7th, Michigan’s Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed an executive order banning discrimination against LGBTQ state employees and Wisconsin’s Governor Tony Evers signed an executive order expanding nondiscrimination protections to transgender state employees.
Our regional summits are growing! This year’s West by Midwest (WxMW) Leadership Summit was our biggest and best ever. For the third year in a row, we’ve invited members from the Western states to join us at what used to be the Midwest Leadership Summit.
On a cold December night in Chicago, Fran Hutchins, our deputy director, and I hustled from our hotel to dinner with four executive directors who’ve stepped up to lead in their states in 2018. We’d just wrapped up the first of two intensive days of training at our New Executive Director Boot Camp.
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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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