Equality Federation won’t stop until all LGBTQ+ people are fully empowered and represented in their communities, experiencing full equality in their lives.
Strong and sustained leadership is an important part of building strong and effective state groups with the capacity to fend off the opposition and secure important wins for the LGBT community. We know that in the past year, states were able to withstand and defeat more than 100 anti-LGBT legislative attacks thanks to incredible state-based movement leaders.
This October, I was honored to participate in an event that is a great model for transgender advocacy and community building: the Transgender Information and Empowerment Summit (TIES) organized by Federation member Equality Virginia. I’ve asked James Parrish, executive director of Equality Virginia, some questions about this inspiring event to share the wealth of knowledge.
Here at the Equality Federation Institute, we know that local and incremental work matters. That’s why we began an investigation into the impact these campaigns have on our movement.
Today, our partners at the Movement Advancement Project (MAP) released a new report revealing that a shocking 70% of the geographic area of the United States lacks any city, county, or state employment protections for LGBT people, with comprehensive employment protections concentrated in just 30% of the country geographically.
We have a unique role that is fundamentally the Finance and Administration Director, which plays a critical role in partnering with other members of the organization in strategic decision making and operations as OutFront Minnesota continues to live out its mission and vision.
Equality Federation congratulates two of our staff members for recently being awarded for their work to win equality!
Today President Trump signed an unnecessary and divisive directive that bans the military from recruiting transgender service members, and bans the Department of Defense from providing necessary medical care for current transgender service members. At press time, it is unclear if currently serving members will be able to continue since The White House has left questions unanswered.
The state-based movement for LGBTQ equality and justice is broad and diverse. That’s why we strive to ensure that our membership reflects the whole country.
Today we join transgender Texans and their families in celebration because, after many months of courageous storytelling and coalition building, the efforts to pass anti-transgender bathroom ban legislation have FAILED.
The violence in Virginia over the weekend of August 12th was a terrible reminder of the racism that is rampant in our country today. The current Administration has emboldened those who wish to divide us.
One thing our movement has learned for sure is that our stories have the power to transform hearts and minds, and that we must never be silent. Last week, the keynote speakers at our 20th Annual Leadership Conference provided extraordinary examples of that.
We are so proud to have had the support of each of our sponsors at our 2017 Leadership Conference last week in Alexandria, Virginia. At Equality Federation, our partnerships go beyond simple monetary support – each and every sponsor works with us in the 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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