Equality Federation won’t stop until all LGBTQ+ people are fully empowered and represented in their communities, experiencing full equality in their lives.

Curtis Thornhill is the CEO and Founder of Apt Marketing Solutions, an organization that creates tools and services to help marketing teams improve the visibility, accountability, and effectiveness of marketing programs.

Michael Lewis is a Director at PepsiCo, Inc. and works in marketing on their North America beverage business. He started his marketing career in the consumer packaged goods industry over a decade ago at Procter & Gamble and has also worked in marketing for Teach For America.

Julia Rosen is the Digital Director at ActBlue, where she brought a decade of online organizing experience on both electoral and issue campaigns. She comes from MoveOn.org, where she served as a Campaign Director, helping lead their electoral efforts, multi-issue advocacy and fundraising.

Looking for a concrete, meaningful project to engage activists in your state? Consider helping to grow the list of Mayors for the Freedom to Marry. Or use the list to help find allies in key districts you may be targeting for nondiscrimination campaigns.

In the 2012 election cycle alone, an estimated 25,000 transgender people were disenfranchised by strict new voter ID laws in just 9 states. With one-third of transgender people nationwide unable to update any of their voting IDs, this is a critical issue our movement must address.

Jenn is the Program Associate at Equality Federation, the strategic partner to state-based organizations winning equality in the communities we call home. In her role, she strengthens our major donor program — from managing a portfolio of our current donors to communicating with prospective donors.

Every year, the Equality Federation Institute hosts its annual Summer Meeting, bringing together LGBT movement leaders from across the country to build skills and forge connections that strengthen the incredible work that’s happening in all the communities we call home.

Our movement is led by some of the best and brightest individuals working hard to advance equality in the communities they call home. To develop the skills of emerging, new leaders, the Victory Institute invites LGBT leaders of color and transgender leaders to apply to the 2015 Victory Empowerment Fellowship.

Today the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear a case challenging same-sex marriage bans in four states in the Sixth Circuit, and a ruling is expected in June.

State-based organizations across the country are advancing major progress in the communities we call home -- where the work is hard, but the impact is great. We are only two weeks into 2015, and already another state has won the freedom to marry, and another could be on its way.

Last year, Idaho and Montana became two of the 36 states (and D.C.) that now have the freedom to marry. This was a great advancement for LGBT people in these states, but it also brought about a new reality: it is now legal to marry a same-sex partner in the same state where protections against discrimination are limited.

From incredible wins for the freedom to marry to the passing of over a dozen local nondiscrimination ordinances in cities across the country, 2014 was a year of remarkable advances for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people. However, despite these advances, deep disparities still remain in all aspects of life for LGBT individuals.

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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.