In just a few weeks, advocates, attorneys, organizers, ministers and community members will come together to strategize about new approaches to LGBT advocacy in the South. The Federation’s Ian Palmquist will join the conversation. 

Ian is based in North Carolina and has more than a dozen years of experience advocating for LGBT equality in the south, having led the successful campaign to pass the School Violence Prevention Act, the first LGBT-inclusive law in state history and the first statute to include protections for the transgender community in the South.

Ian will join Rev. Jasmine Beach-Ferrara from Campaign for Southern Equality, Caitlin Breedlove from Southerners on New Ground, Kelly Durden from Freedom Center for Social Justice’s LGBTQ Law Center and Ryan Wilson from South Carolina Equality for a panel discussion called In It Together: Building an Effective LGBT Movement in the South.

Featuring perspectives from the front lines of organizing and direct services across the region, the discussion will focus on new and established strategies for pushing local, state and federal advocacy in the South; organizing at the intersection of sexuality, gender, class and race; building an impactful movement with a diversity of tactics; and sustaining ourselves and our community as we do this work.

Equality Federation is a proud sponsor of LGBT in the South: Advocacy Within and Beyond the Law. We’ve been working in the south for years, focusing on efforts to build a strong movement for equality, and today, two of our team members (Ian and Jace) are based in the region. We’re excited to participate in this important conversation about new strategies to win in the south.