Equality Federation congratulates two of our staff members for recently being awarded for their work to win equality!

Andy Garcia, Program Manager, will be given the 2015 Game Changer Award in the category of Community Partner by Family Values @ Work, a network of coalitions in 21 states which brings together more than 2,000 grassroots organizations to advocate for paid sick days and affordable family leave.

Family Values @ Work said of Andy, “You have been a powerful voice speaking out about the benefits of these policies for all workers and their families. You’ve been a tremendous partner in the Brain Trust, generously making connections within Equality Federation’s network, and bringing your expertise to strategy in the states.”

And here’s what Andy has to say about how this partnership benefits our intersectional work/Lived Equality Project: “We not only need to protect LGBTQ people from being fired from their jobs; we also need to make sure those jobs pay a living wage, offer paid sick leave, and recognize the diversity of our families. Lived equality, indeed.”

Andy will receive his award at a ceremony in Washington D.C. on November 18th.

Anne Stanback, Director of Strategic Partnerships, was recently awarded the William Sloane Coffin ’56 Award for Peace and Justice from Yale Divinity School.

Here’s what the Divinity School had to say about Anne and the award:

The Coffin award is given in honor of the life and ministry of William Sloane Coffin, former Chaplain to the University and one of the 20th century’s most significant religious leaders. The recipient of the Coffin award  is someone who shares Coffin’s passionate and prophetic witness, a courageous devotion to the dignity and worth of all persons, and who has made a notable contribution to the work of peace and reconciliation.

Anne Stanback has spent 30 years working for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender civil rights, including her work as the founding Executive Director of Love Makes a Family, the lead organization that successfully fought for the freedom to marry in Connecticut. In addition, Anne served as the volunteer Co-Director of the Connecticut Coalition for Lesbian and Gay Civil Rights during the passage of the 1991 law that prohibited discrimination in employment, housing, credit, and public accommodations on the basis of sexual orientation. She later worked as part of the Connecticut Equality coalition to add gender identity and expression to the state’s nondiscrimination law.

Prior to her work with Love Makes a Family, Anne was the Executive Director of both the Connecticut Women’s Education and Legal Fund (CWEALF) and the Connecticut affiliate of the National Abortion Rights Action League (CT NARAL).

Anne has received numerous awards for her work on behalf of women and the LGBT community and in 2006 was inducted into the Connecticut Women’s Hall of Fame.

Anne is an active member at Immanuel Congregational Church (UCC) in Hartford. She is a graduate of Davidson College in North Carolina and Yale Divinity School. She lives in Avon, Connecticut, with her wife, Charlotte Kinlock.

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