Racial Justice Statement

Why

In 2026, we recognize that efforts toward racial justice face renewed resistance across the country. As anti-LGBTQ+ and anti-equity movements attempt to roll back decades of progress, our commitment to racial justice is not diminished. We affirm that true liberation for LGBTQ+ people cannot exist without dismantling racism in all its forms.  

The crosscutting attacks our communities face today show why our racial justice framework must be intersectional. Equality Federation recognizes that systems of oppression are interconnected: racism, transphobia, ableism, xenophobia, colonialism, and classism reinforce one another, and our liberation is bound together.

Systemic and institutional racism continue to undermine the foundations of well-being for BIPOC communities by denying equal access and upholding barriers to opportunities for jobs, wealth building, housing, health care, education, and equal treatment under the law. Racism hurts everyone, denies our communities the richness of diversity, and weakens collective culture. As a justice-seeking organization, we value listening to people who are impacted by injustice, centering the most marginalized, and leaving no one behind.

We are on a collective journey, one that requires courage, repair, and imagination. Our commitment to racial justice is not just institutional; it is personal, cultural, and ongoing. We will continue to listen, learn, and lead alongside our communities toward a future where equity is not aspirational but real.

What Racial Justice Means to Us

We define racial justice as the systemic fair treatment of people of all races, resulting in equitable opportunities and outcomes for all.

In an organizational context, this means working internally within our organization and externally with our partners to achieve measurable outcomes, system change, and institutional accountability to reduce racial disparities.‍

Equality Federation Racial Justice History

Like many advocacy organizations, Equality Federation is on a racial justice journey. We believe this is a journey without an end point, an ongoing practice where we will continue to commit time and resources to this work for our staff, board, and state partners. Over the last ten years, we have gone from having one or two staff of color to the majority of our leadership team and the majority of our staff being BIPOC. We know that demographics alone aren’t the only indicator of progress, so in that time, we have consistently worked on incremental improvement to our systems and policies to increase equity by allocating time and resources to this work. Still, we acknowledge that despite our intentions, we have sometimes replicated the inequities we aim to dismantle. We recognize that there are ways we still need to learn and improve, and so we are creating this document to record our commitments.

We write this statement knowing it is just that, a statement. Some have even questioned whether we need a separate statement on racial justice, arguing that if racial justice is truly incorporated into every facet of our organization, it should be fully reflected in our mission, vision, and values. Unfortunately, we are not there yet, so this statement represents our ongoing commitment to racial justice in practice, through measurable actions, transparent reporting, and shared accountability across all levels of our organization. Each commitment in this document will be tied to specific timelines, responsible parties, and progress reports in individual work plans and our organizational strategic plan.

How We Put Racial Justice into Practice

Commitment to Transparency and Accountability

We believe transparency builds trust and drives change. We will

• Provide staff and board with annual updates on our racial justice and JEDI (Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion) goals, including progress, challenges, and lessons learned.
• Establish clear KPIs, such as compensation benchmarks, leadership diversity goals, and member regranting/funding allocations to ensure accountability.
• Dedicate financial resources in our annual budget to ensure this work is sustained and measurable.

Internal Culture and Organizational Change

We commit to building an internal culture rooted in justice, belonging, and care. We will:

• Ensure equitable compensation, benefits, and advancement opportunities across all roles.
• Maintain a Racial, Gender, and Disability Justice Committee of the Board of Directors and an internal staff-led racial justice working group with rotating membership to sustain learning and drive organizational progress.
• Provide ongoing professional development and JEDI training for all staff and board members.
• Normalize a culture of reflection and repair by making space to learn from harm when it occurs and to rebuild trust through honest dialogue and restorative practices.

Partnership and Power-Sharing

We recognize that real equity requires sharing power and resources. We will:

• Prioritize new partnerships with BIPOC-led, trans-led, and grassroots organizations that are advancing racial and gender justice.
• Through our regranting philosophy, invest in capacity-building for partners who have historically been under-resourced within our movement.
• Practice equitable procurement, directing purchasing power toward BIPOC-owned/led businesses and organizations.

External Advocacy and Movement Alignment

As an LGBTQ+ movement organization, we understand that racial justice must shape our advocacy priorities, communications, and coalition-building. We will:

• Advocate for public policies that advance racial equity and economic justice, while opposing laws and practices that harm BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and other marginalized communities.
• Use our platform to amplify the voices and leadership of Black, Indigenous, and other leaders of color.
• Build relationships and work across movements—disability justice, immigrant justice, reproductive justice, climate justice, and economic justice—to strengthen our collective liberation.
• Align our programmatic goals with racial justice outcomes.

Our Ongoing Commitment

Racial justice is not a destination but a continual practice of accountability, learning, and repair. We know this work will challenge us, and we embrace that challenge as necessary to our mission. We invite staff, partners, and community to hold us accountable, to push us when we fall short, and to join us in imagining and creating a future rooted in equity, joy, and shared liberation.