Equality Federation won’t stop until all LGBTQ+ people are fully empowered and represented in their communities, experiencing full equality in their lives.
Earlier this month, I had the opportunity to attend the LGBT* in the South Conference, hosted by Campaign for Southern Equality in Asheville, North Carolina.About 500 people from around the region gathered for two days of peer learning and collaboration.
A bill that would have made it illegal for any transgender person to use a restroom that did not match their gender assigned at birth has failed in Florida. HB 583, the “Single-Sex Public Facilities” bill, or Florida’s “Bathroom Bill,” introduced by State Representative Frank Artiles, was aimed to punish transgender individuals.
Last month, Equality Federation and our partner Campaign for Southern Equality filed an amicus brief calling on the Supreme Court to act quickly to ensure the freedom to marry across the nation.
On Friday April 24th, Bruce Jenner came out about transitioning to womanhood in a special episode of 20/20 with Diane Sawyer. Throughout the interview Jenner remained warm, calm, and honest. Diane was a kind and respectful interviewer.
Equality Federation has joined 63 organizations in calling on Congress to support the Student Non-Discrimination Act in the House and Senate.The Student Non-Discrimination Act (SNDA) would explicitly prohibit public schools from discriminating against any student on the basis of actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity.
Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) ruled that same-sex couples, legally married in jurisdictions that recognize their marriages, will be treated as married for federal tax purposes. The ruling applies regardless of whether the couple lives in a jurisdiction that recognizes same-sex marriage or a jurisdiction that does not recognize same-sex marriage.
Executive Director Betsy Smith has been leading EqualityMaine for fourteen years. After securing many incredible wins for LGBT Mainers, she has announced that she will soon step down from her position. Before Betsy officially leaves the Federation family (though we'll always count her as one of our own), we wanted to learn everything we could from her work and experience. So we caught up with her to talk about her successful tenure at EqualityMaine.
Every day, the momentum for full marriage equality across this country builds. And our members are right in the thick of this critical work, achieving some major victories. Just look at what’s been happening these past ten months.
For years, our members have requested assistance and guidance in the area of communications. And although we have always been able to connect state groups with resources and provide some useful advice, we simply weren’t equipped to offer comprehensive communications support.
Our final FEDtalk given at the Summer Meeting 2013 is from John Smallwood, Advocacy & Organizing Director at Fair Wisconsin.
Our ninth FEDtalk given at the Summer Meeting 2013 is from Shannon McCann, Intern at Equality Utah.
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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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