Nearly 200 leaders from Equality Federation’s state-based partner membership as well as leaders from national LGBTQ organizations attended our annual Leadership Conference this July in Portland, Oregon. Local hosts Basic Rights Oregon supported the efforts and an array of new sponsors ensured the event was a smashing success.

This year’s programming, from plenary speakers to workshops and social activities, displayed a commitment to racial, economic, and reproductive justice that we will continue throughout our work this year and beyond.

#EQFED16: Read updates from throughout the conference and read what our state-based partners are proud of on Twitter. See photos and watch video from the event on Instagram. Check out all the gorgeous photos from the event on Facebook.

We live streamed the Leadership Awards reception where we honored Equality Florida’s Nadine Smith and Basic Rights Oregon’s outgoing Executive Director Jeana Frazini. We also celebrated the leadership of Jeff Graham of Georgia Equality who will be termed out of our Board of Directors this year.

Our featured plenary session was called “And Justice for All: A Call To Action.” In this movement moment, state equality organizations are increasingly embracing an intersectional approach to their work and taking on issues that weren’t traditionally seen as part of the “LGBTQ Agenda.” Equality Federation’s Lived Equality Project has been partnering with state leaders working to advance innovative, intersectional partnerships on a range of issues. And, through a partnership with Race Forward, we’ve been working to incorporate a racial equity lens into all our work. Equality Federation Board Chair Michael Lewis emceed the engaging program. Basic Rights Oregon’s Co-Executive Director Nancy Haque spoke about their work on immigration. We learned about Forward Together’s reproductive justice work from Senior Policy Director Kalpana Krishnamurthy, and we learned about Youth First! Initiative’s campaign to end juvenile incarceration from President & CEO Liz Ryan.

Other highlights from the weekend included workshops on topics tackling issues like HIV among black men, messaging around gender non-binary identities, winning nondiscrimination protections at the state level, and so much more! See the full program below.

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