Equality Federation won’t stop until all LGBTQ+ people are fully empowered and represented in their communities, experiencing full equality in their lives.
Soon our board of directors will vote on three new at-large members: Michael Lewis, Julia Rosen, and Curtis Thornhill (the exceptional candidates we introduced to you just a few weeks ago). These incredible leaders will help to expand the board’s reach in order to better equip the Equality Federation and the Equality Federation Institute to be the strategic partner to the state-based movement.
In states across the country, Federation members are working hard to advocate for statewide and local nondiscrimination laws that protect lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) workers.
Back by popular demand! FEDtalks were a breakaway favorite plenary session from last year’s Summer Meeting. So we're excited to announce they're back this year!
This is what leadership looks like. In a series of announcements over the past several weeks, the Obama administration has taken critical steps to protect LGBT Americans. These groundbreaking changes in U.S. policy are making it easier for LGBT Americans to earn a living, provide for themselves and their families, and pursue health and happiness.
All of us at Equality Federation are proud to welcome Jenn Curtin to our team as Program Associate.Jenn has been with the Federation as an intern for the past year working with our Communications Director Jace Woodrum.
When I first got involved in the movement to advance the rights of LGBT people, I joined a cohort of those who worked hard to create the extraordinary moment we are living in now. It feels great to have reached this milestone alongside many of my colleagues from back then and with the many young activists who have joined our ranks in the last 30 years.
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.
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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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