From critical victories in legislatures to historic wins in the courts to huge jumps in the polls — we’ve had unstoppable momentum for marriage equality these past few years. We’re closer than we’ve ever been to winning the freedom to marry for all couples all across this country.

But at the Federation, we know that while winning marriage is a major milestone, it is not the end of our journey.

That’s why, over the past year, we have been working with states that are beyond the marriage milestone and helping them answer a tough question: What’s next after winning the freedom to marry?

Click here to read what we learned — detailed in our new report, What’s Next: Building Strong LGBTQ Organizations Beyond the Marriage Milestone.

As the strategic partner to the state-based movement, we’ve been collaborating with organizations and advocates in post-marriage states as they’ve worked to determine their organizations’ futures and the futures of the movement in the communities they call home. Through partnerships and conversations, we’ve come to deeply understand the challenges facing states that have won marriage.

Written by Federation staff member Fran Hutchins, What’s Next: Building Strong LGBTQ Organizations Beyond the Marriage Milestone carefully considers what it looks like to do LGBTQ advocacy work after winning marriage, offering recommendations for movement leaders and funders to ensure that we are using our marriage momentum to build a strong movement that continues to win.

At Equality Federation, we believe that LGBTQ political power can be effectively developed, held, and mobilized at a statewide level. We believe that healthy LGBTQ advocacy groups in each state make for a strong nationwide movement. We believe a strong state-based and national movement is critical to winning lasting equality — including but not limited to marriage.

This report is about making sure our movement is strong enough to keep working and thriving after marriage.

Download What’s Next: Building Strong LGBTQ Organizations Beyond the Marriage Milestone.