Equality Federation won’t stop until all LGBTQ+ people are fully empowered and represented in their communities, experiencing full equality in their lives.
This legislative session, we’ve hired a Policy Fellow to analyze the impact of proposed policies related to the LGBTQ community in all 50 states at the state legislative level. After a wide search with numerous qualified applicants, this week we welcomed Maryse Pearce to the team.
Today the Trump Administration took a giant step back from their previously stated commitment to champion fairness and equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people.
In late January, South Dakota’s SB115, was withdrawn from the senate. The bill, which would have banned transgender students from fully participating in school programs and using the facilities that matched the gender they live every day, was pulled by its sponsor right before its hearing on January 31st.
Equality Federation joins Equality Florida in applauding the Jacksonville, FL City Council for banning discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender expression.
In early February, the South Dakota legislature introduced SB149, a FADA (First Amendment Defense Act) style adoption bill. Despite the bill’s sponsor’s claim to the contrary, the impact of the legislation is clear. This bill will allow taxpayer funded adoption agencies to discriminate against LGBTQ people.
Did you know that bisexual-identified people comprise more than half of the LGB community? In fact, recent polls suggest that one-third of young people don’t identify as straight or gay or lesbian. When communicating with your members, the public, law makers, or the media, a simple and powerful way to include this enormous, but often invisible, population is to add examples of how various policies impact the lives of bisexual people. Here are a few simple examples.
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 has condemned Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam for signing HB 1111/SB 1085, requiring that all words in Tennesee state code be defined as their so-called “natural” or “biological” meanings.
Today President Trump signed a troubling and unnecessary executive order (full text below) that directs the Justice Department to draft religious exemptions guidelines that could promote anti-LGBT discrimination, promotes limiting access to contraception, and promotes partisan political spending by churches.
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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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