Equality Federation won’t stop until all LGBTQ+ people are fully empowered and represented in their communities, experiencing full equality in their lives.
The Georgia State Senate, by a vote of 35-19, advanced legislation that would allow taxpayer-funded adoption agencies to deny service to LGBTQ youth and families.
As part of our Raising the States resource development training program, Equality Federation is excited to team up with Network for Good to provide training opportunities open to all members!
Last week lawmakers in Georgia passed positive reforms to the state’s adoption and foster care code. HB 159 updates the state’s antiquated child welfare laws and does not include any discriminatory language.
Two additional bills targeting LGBTQ people have failed in the South Dakota Legislature. SB 160, which would have prohibited classroom instruction of gender expression or identity, and SB 202, which would have required all public restrooms to have a sign posted giving notice that a person of the “opposite sex” may be in the restroom, were both killed or voted down with bipartisan support.
The Education Department has said it will not investigate or take action on any complaints of discrimination filed by transgender students who are not permitted to use the facilities that match their gender identity.
Four bills that would have updated Virginia’s laws to include LGBTQ people in nondiscrimination protections were killed in a committee despite the broad support of fair-minded Virginians. Two of the bills had passed in the state’s Senate with 75% of the vote.
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.
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.
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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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