Equality Federation won’t stop until all LGBTQ+ people are fully empowered and represented in their communities, experiencing full equality in their lives.
Today the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear a case challenging same-sex marriage bans in four states in the Sixth Circuit, and a ruling is expected in June.
State-based organizations across the country are advancing major progress in the communities we call home -- where the work is hard, but the impact is great. We are only two weeks into 2015, and already another state has won the freedom to marry, and another could be on its way.
Last year, Idaho and Montana became two of the 36 states (and D.C.) that now have the freedom to marry. This was a great advancement for LGBT people in these states, but it also brought about a new reality: it is now legal to marry a same-sex partner in the same state where protections against discrimination are limited.
From incredible wins for the freedom to marry to the passing of over a dozen local nondiscrimination ordinances in cities across the country, 2014 was a year of remarkable advances for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people. However, despite these advances, deep disparities still remain in all aspects of life for LGBT individuals.
In just the past few months, the freedom to marry has been granted to same-sex couples in more states than ever before. While the benefits to committed and loving same-sex couples are vast, the economic impact of marriage equality within each state is great as well.
For many of our movement’s state-based organizations, funding is often stretched too thin.Groups continue to make progress, but there is always more work to be done and more support than can be provided. Luckily, there is a new opportunity for some of our groups to receive this needed funding.
This position requires a combination of internal direct service and external outreach and education. The successful candidate must provide direct service to survivors of violence via a crisis line, peer counseling, court accompaniment, police accompaniment, and otherwise as needed.
Only 22 percent of states—including the District of Columbia—offer free or reduced-cost ID cards to young people who are homeless. With research that suggests that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) youth are significantly overrepresented among young people experiencing homelessness, this is a problem.
Chris Hartman, Executive Director of Fairness Campaign, an Equality Federation member, was one of the activists arrested in August while peacefully demonstrating at the Kentucky Farm Bureau's annual Country Ham Breakfast due to the company's longstanding anti-LGBT lobbying. This week, Hartman and fellow activists Carla Wallace and Sonja De Vries had their charges (which should never have been pressed) dropped.
2015 Icons
A legislative hearing is scheduled for Wednesday, October 7th, on the “Pastor Protection” Act. Federation member Equality Florida calls the act a misleading masquerade for religious freedom when in reality it is simply a cynical, anti-LGBT political move.
This position requires the Executive Director to be a self-starter with the enthusiasm to build MassEquality’s small, grassroots organization. The organization seeks a hands-on operational manager who can also fundraise and be the face of the organization.
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
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.
.png)
