Our friends at the Victory Institute invite emerging LGBT nonprofit executives to apply to the 2014 Movement Leaders Fellowship.

Andy is Program Manager at Equality Federation, the strategic partner to state-based organizations working to win equality in the communities we call home. In this role, he strengthens the states working to pass local and state-level nondiscrimination laws by identifying and developing programs and resources, including legal and legislative support, communications resources, messaging, and constituency group expertise.

This year, we’re celebrating more than family, friends, food and exciting progress in the fight for LGBT equality. Why? Because December is also about health. Your health. Your family’s health. Your friends’ health. Our community’s health.

With all the excitement and energy around recent marriage equality wins, it can be easy to forget that despite our monumental progress on marriage, LGBT people are still under attack in many places.

Since 2006, the State of the States report by the 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 West Virginia, the LGBT community remains hidden far too often. The stories of individuals facing employment discrimination as they work hard to earn a living, of couples struggling to take care of one another because they’re denied the freedom to marry, have been left untold for far too long.