Equality Federation

More Than Just A Conference - Equality Federation's Convenings Make Change!

October 25, 2017

<2017 Annual Report

Equality Federation’s conferences, convenings, and trainings provide an extraordinary opportunity for member organizations to learn from and support each other.

Half the states in the country are represented at our West by Midwest and Southern Leadership Summits. These convenings focus on the challenges facing the South, Midwest and Mountain West states, and help us build regionwide infrastructure and strategy.

In recent years, we’ve held convenings in Atlanta, Tampa, Chicago, and St. Louis.

This year, 214 movement leaders attended our 20th Annual Leadership Conference, held in Alexandria, Virginia. Racial justice and the many ways our movements intersect took center stage, elevating the power of our stories like never before. Topics covered at our plenary sessions, workshops, and our famous 5-minute FEDtalks (See videos below!) included HIV, racial justice, banning conversion therapy, winning at the ballot box, gender nonbinary issues, and so much more.

A moment that illustrated the power of our unity and inspired us for the rest of the weekend happened on the first day of the conference when the President announced his intention to ban transgender people from the military.

Within minutes, every state organization signed a statement featuring the stories of transgender veterans.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZIlii3b25g&list=PLvrkapJ3ietHgmjsm3HhPvIsvvvWdnVO8

More You might like

Black & LGBTQ+ Organizations Mobilize in High-Stakes Supreme Court Battle

We joined The Center for HIV Law and Policy (CHLP), PrEP in Black America (PIBA), Afiya Center (Dallas), Women with a Vision (New Orleans), SisterLove (Atlanta), and BlaqOut (Kansas City, Missouri) in filing an amicus, or “friend of the court,” brief in the Braidwood v Kennedy case on appeal in the Supreme Court in order to take a stand defending access to preventative health care nationally and to protect the Black and brown lives that will be lost should this access be overturned.

Equality Federation

March 19, 2025

Leading Doesn’t Have to Be Lonely

Last month, we hosted our New Executive Director Intensive, one of our longest-running leadership programs. For over a decade, this program has brought together Executive Directors who are new in their role to foster healthy, sustainable organizations and leadership practices. Here are inspiring takeaways we got out of this year’s intensive!

Mel and Jay

March 19, 2025

Spotlight Interview featuring Ronnie, Advocacy, Policy, & Partnerships Director at FreeState Justice

In recognition of HIV is Not a Crime Day and Maryland's recent groundbreaking progress toward HIV law reform, we sat down for a conversation with Ronnie at FreeState Justice, one of our state partners. We discuss Maryland’s historic progress, its significance in the current landscape of HIV criminalization across the United States, and the importance of Black LGBTQ+ leadership in shaping HIV justice.

Equality Federation

March 19, 2025

Browse more

A young man smiling straight at the camera

Confident young woman standing with crossed arms.

Want To Make A Difference? Support Our Work

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.

Donate