Equality Federation won’t stop until all LGBTQ+ people are fully empowered and represented in their communities, experiencing full equality in their lives.
Federation member PROMO Missouri is celebrating victory as anti-LGBTQ, religious exemption legislation, SJR 39, has failed to make it out of committee rendering it dead.
Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam has signed discriminatory legislation that allows counselors and therapists to refuse treatment based on their religious objections or personal beliefs. The American Counseling Association has called the legislation an “unprecedented attack” on the counseling profession.
On Thursday, April 28th, the House Armed Services Committee voted to pass a discriminatory amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act introduced by Representative Steve Russell (R-OK). The amendment applies the private employer religious exemptions of the Civil Rights Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act to religious organizations receiving any federal contract or grant – which could include universities and hospitals employing thousands of people.
President Obama called for the repeal of Anti-LGBTQ bills in North Carolina and Mississippi at a joint press conference with British Prime Minister, David Cameron. The British Government recently issued a travel warning to LGBTQ tourists visiting those states.
In a case brought by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the ACLU of Virginia, a federal court of appeals ruled in favor of plaintiff Gavin Grimm, a transgender student at Gloucester High School who was not permitted to use the facilities and participate in the programs that match the gender he lives everyday. This is a historic victory for transgender students who, like all students, deserve a fair opportunity to fully participate and succeed in school as their authentic selves.
Equality Federation member Forum For Equality issued the following statement praising Governor John Bel Edwards for signing an executive order forbidding state government and government contractors from discriminating based on a person’s sexual orientation and gender identity, while also repealing Gov. Bobby Jindal’s maligning Marriage and Conscience executive order.
The shocking outcome of the elections has made it clear that likely progress for LGBTQ rights will be happening in each state in the near future. Equality Federation is focused on doing just that.
The Freedom New Hampshire coalition – currently comprised of Transgender New Hampshire, New Hampshire PFLAG, Rights and Democracy, ACLU of New Hampshire, GLAD and Freedom for All Americans – introduced a comprehensive trans nondiscrimination bill this session.
After recently meeting with anti-LGBTQ mogul Jerry Falwell Jr. about education issues, Donald Trump has chosen Betsy DeVos for Secretary of Education. DeVos and her family foundations have donated millions of dollars to extreme, anti-LGBTQ organizations. Some have promoted dangerous, unscientific “conversion therapies” to convert LGBTQ youth and all of them have fought against basic nondiscrimination protections, school safety, and more.
Join Equality Federation condemning President-elect Donald Trump for meeting with one of the nation’s most prominent anti-LGBTQ leaders, Jerry Falwell Jr., to discuss a potential position in his Administration’s Department of Education.
Equality Federation is deeply concerned that Donald Trump has surrounded himself with a team of individuals who actively support the denial of LGBTQ equality and promote racism, xenophobia, and misogyny. Together with our state-based equality group membership we are prepared to defend our hard-fought gains at every level.
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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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