In early November, over 30 leaders representing Equality Illinois, OutFront Minnesota, Equality New Mexico, Equality Ohio, PROMO (Missouri), Equality Pennsylvania, and Equality Utah gathered in Chicago for Equality Federation’s West by Midwest Leadership Summit.

The National LGBTQ Task Force Action Fund has released The Voting Rights Toolkit for LGBTQ Advocates ahead of upcoming November and presidential primary elections. The new toolkit, which contains information as diverse as voter assistance guides to an overview of restrictive voting practices, is available online at: http://thetaskforceactionfund.org/vra/

MTV’s True Life: I’m Genderqueer premiers tonight and features Jacob Tobias, who spoke at Equality Federation’s Summer Meeting this July, and other young leaders who are bravely sharing their stories.

We applaud President Obama for his support of the Equality Act, an important piece of legislation that would help ensure all Americans, including LGBTQ people and their families, are fully and clearly protected from discrimination. The announcement builds upon seven years of this administration’s support. They have extended hospital visitation to LGBTQ families, ended discrimination among federal employees and contractors, supported marriage equality, opposed conversion therapy, and so much more.

On Tuesday, November 3rd voters in Houston repealed the city’s Equal Right Ordinance (HERO) which provided protections from discrimination based on 15 classes including race, disability, age, sexual orientation, and gender identity. Throughout the campaign, opposition used fear, lies, and misinformation to confuse voters.

CHICAGO – Leaders from lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) state equality organizations meet next week in Chicago for a conference on how to tackle serious challenges that remain despite the Supreme Court ruling in favor of marriage equality.