We are excited to announce the addition of two new member organizations to the Equality Federation: Gender Justice League and Wyoming Equality!

Gender Justice League is a Washington State trans* and allied activist group based out of Seattle. Their mission is to empower trans* activists and allies to fight oppression based on gender and sexuality in Washington State and to create a community where trans* people can live their lives safely, true to themselves, and free from discrimination.

Wyoming Equality is a state-based equality organization that seeks to enhance the lives of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people in the Equality State by providing education, information activities, support, a networking system, and an advocacy system for people impacted by gender and sexual orientation issues.

Both Gender Justice League and Wyoming Equality are as excited to be new members as we are to welcome them to the Federation family. When asked about their reason for joining, Gender Justice League said:

“As a relatively new organization, we are excited to join the Equality Federation and get access to a wealth of knowledge, support, and resources that might help us when we run into the inevitable stumbling blocks of creating a long term, sustainable, organization fighting oppression based on gender and sexuality. We also see it as important that trans voices have strong representation in national LGBT politics and strategies, especially as more and more states move into a post-marriage political landscape.”

Wyoming Equality added:

“Once we found out about the Equality Federation -- what it does, how it operates, goals and mission. I really thought it was a no brainer to join. In fact, I wondered why we hadn't joined sooner!”

Within the next year, Gender Justice League is focusing their efforts towards making a major change around health care for trans* people. They are helping lead a coalition working to remove trans exclusion clauses from both public and private health plans as well as participating in and advising HIV prevention/education campaigns. Additionally, some of their team members will be teaching one of the first transgender medical electives in a major medical university in America! They will also be focusing on leadership development and training to expand the sustainability and capacity of their organization and the larger trans* community.

As for Wyoming Equality, they want to grow their leadership, improve technology, become more efficient fundraisers, and find the most effective ways to advance their programs and platforms. They are a big believer in best practices and are thrilled that they don't have to "reinvent the wheel" when it comes to advocating for LGBT folks in The Equality State.

We look forward to working with Gender Justice League and Wyoming Equality! We hope you will join us in welcoming them to the Federation!