Equality Federation won’t stop until all LGBTQ+ people are fully empowered and represented in their communities, experiencing full equality in their lives.
For years, we've been sending our members Fed Head News, a somewhat monthly email newsletter with announcements, news, and tips all focused on building a strong movement for equality. Today, we bid farewell to this old friend. It has served us well, but it's time to move on.
With July right around the corner, we're really looking forward to seeing all of our members and partners in Salt Lake City at the 16th Annual Summer Meeting, hosted by Equality Utah.
This weekend, families across the country celebrated Father's Day. My partner Brad and I got to spend the evening with my parents, relaxing on their screened porch here in Raleigh.
This year’s Summer Meeting is shaping up to be one of the best yet. We’re planning sessions that will fuel collaboration within regions, caucus groups that will connect attendees based on their organizational roles, and workshops that are geared toward helping state leaders build greater success in lobbying, organizing, communications, organizational development, and more.
This Pride season, we have so much to celebrate in our community. I’m proud of the marriage victories and non-discrimination wins that Federation members have had a part in this year. I’m also extremely proud of the stand that the LGBT community, including many Federation members, has taken on immigration reform.
In November 2012, three states -- Maine, Maryland, and Washington -- extended the freedom to marry to same-sex couples. And in the past few months, three additional states -- Rhode Island, Delaware, and Minnesota -- have followed suit, reaching 12 states in the nation that allow all loving couples to share in the joys and responsibilities of marriage.
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.
Washington, DC: Equality Federation joined Representative Takano (D-Calif.) and leaders of Pride at Work and Wyoming Equality today to hold a press conference opposing Andrew Puzder for Labor Secretary.
Our pressure worked. Earlier today we held a press conference with Pride At Work and Wyoming Equality to raise concerns over Andrew Puzder’s lack of qualifications to be Labor Secretary.
Federation members Equality Texas have launched a campaign backed by many big name creative artists who are calling upon Texas leaders not to enshrine discrimination targeting LGBTQ people into state law.
Within hours of Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ confirmation, the Department of Justice put a wrench in the Department’s ongoing defense of President Obama’s guidance on fairness for transgender students, sending a troubling hint that the new Administration may be taking a different course.
Equality Federation stood in solidarity with the broad, diverse opposition to Senator Sessions for Attorney General due to his history of opposing fairness, freedom, and justice for all. He has a record of opposing LGBTQ equality, making racist statements, and acting as a barrier to progress for people of color, women, immigrants and other communities.
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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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