After seven years with the Federation, our wonderful colleague Renée Perry is stepping down from her position as Director of Operations. During her time with us, Renée has kept our completely distributed organization running smoothly across four time zones.

Since 2006, the State of the States report by Equality Federation has documented the strength and sustainability of state-based advocacy organizations that advance equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in the communities they call home. Over the past eight years, State of the States has faithfully documented our movement’s triumphs and trials as reflected in the capacity of our state-based organizations.

Over the past several months, we have seen great changes in the state-based LGBT movement. Marriage wins continue in states across the country, and national attention is shifting to work in places where LGBT people aren’t protected from discrimination.

Resources are often scarce for many lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals. For transgender individuals, there is often an increased barrier to accessing resources when attempting to find adequate healthcare, attain name change documents, or simply find a safe space to discuss trans-related issues.

Each day, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender students face ongoing hostile school climates that impact their safety and mental health. Equality Federation and our members are working to build safe and just schools for LGBT youth nationwide so that students can learn, grow, and thrive.

For many of our movement’s state-based organizations, funding is always stretched too thin.Groups continue to make progress, but there is always more work to be done and more support that can be provided.