Equality Federation won’t stop until all LGBTQ+ people are fully empowered and represented in their communities, experiencing full equality in their lives.
Equality Federation recognizes Empire State Pride Agenda (ESPA) for their incredible accomplishments, including the passage of over 100 pieces of legislation that advanced LGBTQ equality. For 25 years the ESPA team was at the forefront of the movement, often achieving wins that paved the way for other states and inspiring the nation
Equality Federation is proud to share Funders for LGBTQ Issues’ new report Out in the South: Opportunities for Funding LGBT Communities in the U.S. South.
Equality Federation’s Legislative Action Center (LAC) is a proactive state legislative tracking and assistance program that will serve Federation partners, coalition members, and movement leadership and staff.
This week, we wrapped up the second convening of Fair Share for Equality, our annual forum of California state and local elected officials, LGBT and civil rights leaders and social service agencies, aimed at addressing the daunting disparities in health and wellbeing LGBT people still face compared to the general population. In her address to the audience, California Controller Betty Yee said that “the agenda for California and the rest of the country is quite vast.”
As efforts to protect lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people from discrimination intensify, LGBT social justice organizations’ revenues experienced a decline in revenue for the first time since the Great Recession of 2007-2008. According to a new report (below) by the Movement Advancement Project (MAP), despite the decrease in revenue, leading LGBT social justice organizations are projecting combined 2015 expense budgets totaling $189.6 million, a 12% increase from 2014 expenses.
Today is the Transgender Day of Remembrance honoring the transgender people we’ve lost, often due to violence. This year, at least 23 transgender women were murdered in the United States and 81 worldwide.
Swampscot, MA has joined the movement led by towns and cities across the country to protect people from discrimination based on gender identity. Carly Burton, interim co-executive director of Federation member MassEquality, released the following statement in response to the decision.
Last night, the Charlotte City Council rejected a proposed nondiscrimination ordinance supported by Equality Federation member Equality North Carolina and their coalition partners. The measures would have added sexual orientation and gender identity, among other characteristics, to already protected classes in four city non-discrimination ordinances.
The Department of Labor has issued some great news for LGBT couples and their families: married same-sex couples will soon be eligible for benefits under the Family and Medical Leave Act even if they live in a state that doesn’t recognize their marriage. From a release on the Department’s website, workers in same-sex marriages will have the same rights as those in opposite-sex marriages to federal job-protected leave under the FMLA to care for a spouse with a serious health condition.
Dangerous forms of "therapy" are performed every day in the United States and throughout the world in an attempt to "convert" lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people to conform to heterosexuality and traditional gender standards. Despite the progress we've made achieving the freedom to marry in many states and the increased cultural acceptance of LGBT people, this dangerous practice continues.
Nathan Schaefer is the Executive Director of the Empire State Pride Agenda and the Empire State Pride Agenda Foundation. In this capacity, he oversees the organization’s staff across the state and is responsible for advancing equality and justice for LGBT New Yorkers via the various facets of both organizations.
A Michigan pediatrician has refused to care for the baby of a lesbian couple, a sad illustration of why every state needs inclusive nondiscrimination laws that do not have loopholes that could put lives in danger. Currently, 206 million people live in a state that does not have nondiscrimination laws to fully protect gay and transgender people.
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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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