Equality Federation won’t stop until all LGBTQ+ people are fully empowered and represented in their communities, experiencing full equality in their lives.
The Federation is proud to welcome Anne Stanback to our team, as Director of State and National Partnerships. Many of you already know Anne as she's spent nearly 30 years in our movement -- including spending the past year working as a consultant with us. We're thrilled that Anne will continue the work she started as a consultant -- now as a full-time staff member based in Connecticut.
Anne Stanback is the Director of Strategic Partnerships for the Equality Federation, the movement builder and strategic partner to state-based organizations winning equality in the communities we call home. Anne’s primary focus is working with states to develop plans, strategies and resources to pass laws to protect LGBT people from discrimination in employment, housing and public accommodations.
Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) ruled that same-sex couples, legally married in jurisdictions that recognize their marriages, will be treated as married for federal tax purposes. The ruling applies regardless of whether the couple lives in a jurisdiction that recognizes same-sex marriage or a jurisdiction that does not recognize same-sex marriage.
For years, our members have requested assistance and guidance in the area of communications. And although we have always been able to connect state groups with resources and provide some useful advice, we simply weren’t equipped to offer comprehensive communications support.
Every day, the momentum for full marriage equality across this country builds. And our members are right in the thick of this critical work, achieving some major victories. Just look at what’s been happening these past ten months.
Executive Director Betsy Smith has been leading EqualityMaine for fourteen years. After securing many incredible wins for LGBT Mainers, she has announced that she will soon step down from her position. Before Betsy officially leaves the Federation family (though we'll always count her as one of our own), we wanted to learn everything we could from her work and experience. So we caught up with her to talk about her successful tenure at EqualityMaine.
The entire Equality Federation team is looking forward to connecting with our members, partners and friends at The National LGBTQ Task Force's National Conference on LGBT Equality: Creating Change!
Today the Human Rights Campaign in partnership with Equality Federation launched the first State Equality Index which details how a patchwork of non-discrimination laws state-to-state has left millions of LGBT Americans - including those who can legally marry - without reliable protections.
About 30 parents, students and community members demonstrated in front of the Rankin County Mississippi School District administrative building to protest the school's new policy requiring parental permission before youth are able to join clubs, an effort passed in reaction to the formation of a Gay Straight Alliance. Watch the video below, and click here to read more.
Our movement is led by some of the best and brightest individuals working hard to advance equality in the communities they call home. To develop the skills of emerging, new leaders, the Victory Institute invites LGBT leaders of color and transgender leaders to apply to the 2015 Victory Empowerment Fellowship.
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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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