At this critical moment for our movement, the South is playing a growing role in the fight for full equality. And the state-based movement, working with local and national partners, is key to success. With 15 LGBT equality organizations working throughout the South, we have a strong base for making progress on the critical issues that matter most -- nondiscrimination, marriage, safe and just schools, and transgender justice.

At the Equality Federation, we’ve been working in the South for years, and we’ve had the opportunity to partner with state-based leaders whose work is both strategic and inspiring.

In Georgia, Jeff Graham and his team at Georgia Equality have worked to make Atlanta one of the most LGBT-friendly cities in the country. In North Carolina, Equality NC under the leadership of Chris Sgro, is beginning a year-long partnership with the NAACP to elevate the LGBT voice in response to the NC General Assembly’s harmful policies on voting rights. In Florida, Nadine Smith and her team at Equality Florida have set an example for what successful business organizing looks like. In Kentucky, Chris Hartman and the Fairness Campaign are on a roll, winning local nondiscrimination ordinances from tiny Vicco in the Appalachian mountains to the state capitol of Frankfort.

And those are just a few examples. We are seeing state leaders bring about real advances in every state in the region. In the coming months and years, we’re sure to see more remarkable work in the South to change hearts and minds, to advance local policies, and to build the infrastructure needed for successful statewide campaigns.

We’re connected to this groundbreaking work in the South because we have a long history and deep roots in the region. With Ian Palmquist, our Director of Leadership Programs, and Jace Woodrum, our Director of Communications, based in the south -- and many of our other staff members with a southern upbringing -- we’re invested in winning here.

But our commitment doesn’t just come from our staff. Years ago, at the request of our southern state-based groups, we developed a robust Southern Leaders program. This program connects our southern-based advocates together for collaboration opportunities, and it also gives our southern organizations increased access -- through Ian -- to our leadership development and organizational development programs.

The cornerstone of our Southern Leaders program is our Southern Leadership Summit, our annual gathering which brings together advocates from all the states in the region for two days of peer learning and training.

At this year’s Southern Leadership Summit in March, I was struck by how much we could learn as a movement from the work that’s happening in the South:

• It’s intersectional. Our groups understand the need to address all the ways oppression harms our community. The south has been at the center of every civil rights struggle in this country; that history has made our groups prepared to organize across race and across class, especially with the high rates of poverty in the region, in order to create change.

• It’s collaborative. Our groups have built strong coalitions with partners who are helping to build the case for equality and who count on the LGBT group’s voice at the table and work in the community. Often, these coalitions include some unexpected allies since work in the South demands the cultivation of people of faith, conservatives, and rural folks.

• It’s strategic. Our groups understand that we simply can’t win full equality nationwide without making progress and winning hearts and minds in parts of the country that are the toughest. They’re working not only to win real, immediate protections for the folks who live there but also to create the right environment for the U.S. Congress and the Supreme Court to act on our behalf.

At the Federation, we’ve learned a lot over the years from our Southern state leaders. As more resources and energy flow to the South, I know we’ll continue to be inspired and excited by what is accomplished.

And I know we’ll continue our commitment to working in the region -- to developing the leaders of today and tomorrow, to strengthening our state-based organizations, and to advancing the policies that matter most to those who call the South home.