Equality Federation won’t stop until all LGBTQ+ people are fully empowered and represented in their communities, experiencing full equality in their lives.
President Biden signed into law the Fiscal Year 2025 National Defense Authorization Act. This annual defense policy bill included a new provision blocking health care for the transgender children of military servicemembers. This provision is the first anti-LGBTQ+ federal law enacted since the Defense of Marriage Act in 1996.
Hear from the Fed team, and take a look at what we’ve been up to in 2024!
Equality Federation Institute is proud to partner on HRC’s 2024 Municipal Equality Index (MEI), a comprehensive tool that shows how cities nationwide foster LGBTQ+ equality through their policies, practices, and services.
We are pleased to announce Janeesha’s promotion from Events Manager to Director of Leadership & Capacity Building!
We held our largest Leadership Conference to date, with 360+ attendees from across the country coming together to build relationships and learn from one another.
Our state partner network is growing, and we’re so excited to introduce you to our newest member: Lavender Rights Project!
Equality Federation denounced today the enactment of North Carolina Senate Bill 2, an anti-LGBT law that allows magistrates and other public officials to opt out of performing marriage services for couples if they have religious objections to certain marriages. The law had been vetoed by Governor Pat McCory, but today the House of Representatives voted 69-41 to override his decision, which means SB 2 will become law.
Despite these laws and guidance, Media Matters for America found that various conservative media outlets have promoted myths that policies protecting transgender students "create confusion, violate students' privacy rights, and can be exploited by students who will pretend to be transgender in order to sneak into the restrooms for the opposite sex."
Want to be even more connected to the LGBT movement at this critical time?Follow these simple steps.
You won't want to miss this! Garden State Equality's executive director Andrea Majanik Bowen was interviewed in Slate's fun series Ask A Homo about how to talk with trans people with respect. Garden State Equality is a member of the Equality Federation.
On Monday, the Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) released a best practices guide that will ensure transgender employees has access to the restroom that corresponds to their gender identity. The 4-page "Guide to Restroom Access for Transgender Workers" provides guidance to employers on best practices regarding restroom access for transgender workers, with the goal of assuring that employers provide a safe and healthy working environment for all employees.
A bill (SB 2) that would exempt certain public officials from issuing marriage licenses without fear of losing their jobs if doing so “would violate their core religious beliefs” has passed in North Carolina's legislature and now awaits action from Governor McCrory.We join Equality Federation member Equality North Carolina in calling upon the Governor to veto the bill.
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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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