Equality Federation won’t stop until all LGBTQ+ people are fully empowered and represented in their communities, experiencing full equality in their lives.
Today, after its passage in the Georgia Senate, Equality Federation called upon the House to reject taking action on HB 757, a wide-reaching and harmful piece of legislation which demolishes the time-honored separation of Church and State and allows faith-based organizations that receive taxpayer funding to deny critical services to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people, single mothers, and others; if they feel certain people conflict with their religious belief of marriage as between one man and one woman.
South Dakota’s Senate voted on Tuesday, 20-15, to approve a bill that would prevent transgender students from using the facilities that match the gender of which they identify and live. The bill has already passed in the House, and is awaiting the Governor’s action.
Last week, Governor Cuomo of New York announced regulations that will ban public and private healthcare insurers from covering so-called gay conversion therapy and prohibit state mental health facilities from conducting the controversial practice on minors. This is big news.
In a close 25-24 vote, the Washington Senate today shut down an anti-transgender bill, SB 6443, that would have undone the state’s regulations that ensure transgender people are able to use the facilities that match their gender identity.
Equality Florida made historic progress by achieving a committee hearing on The Florida Competitive Workforce Act (HB 45/SB 120). It was the first time a comprehensive nondiscrimination bill had such a hearing in Florida.
Two anti-LGBTQ bills were defeated on February 9th in Virginia thanks to the hard work of Federation member Equality Virginia and many advocates on the ground who bravely shared their stories and asked their legislators to stand for fairness.
According to the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs (NCAVP), people who identify as transgender are 28% more likely to experience physical violence than those who are not trans-identified. And each year, a tragic number of transgender individuals lose their lives due to acts of anti-transgender violence.
All of us at Equality Federation are proud to welcome Mark Snyder to our team as Director of Communications. He will begin working at the Federation next month, and is looking forward to connecting with many of you very soon.
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.
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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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