UPDATE: June 23, 2021 – Victory! On June 23rd, the US Supreme Court ruled in favor of high school student B.L. in Mahanoy Area School District v. B.L. This important ruling protects students’ freedom of speech off-campus, and is especially significant for students of historically marginalized backgrounds who experience disproportionate levels of discipline and scrutiny at school. Read the ruling here.
GLAD joined a friend-of-the-court brief in Mahanoy v. B.L., a case currently before the U.S. Supreme Court. The brief raises important issues about the potential impact of the Court’s decision in this case on students from historically marginalized backgrounds who experience disproportionate levels of harassment and school discipline, including LGBTQ students and students of color. We urge the Court to issue a ruling that allows schools to address off-campus speech that targets and invades the rights of students, but does not enable over-policing of out of school free speech.
Today, the Pentagon is set to issue new guidance on transgender service members that, as reported, rolls back Trump-era restrictions on enlistment and service by qualified transgender people. This step reinstates rules and policies that had been put in place originally by Secretary Ash Carter that equalize terms of service for transgender people. In response to this announcement of the anticipated guidance, transgender experts issued the following statements:
“It’s a relief to see the Pentagon releasing new policy guidelines reinforcing the end of the transgender military ban, and it’s especially meaningful to see this policy announced today, on Transgender Day of Visibility,” said Nicolas Talbott, an aspiring service member who challenged the transgender military ban. “I look forward to seeing the military’s core values of fairness and respect reflected in a clear policy that welcomes all people who are qualified and willing to serve and I’m more confident than ever that when I apply to enlist, I will be judged on my skills and my accomplishments, instead of my transgender status, which has nothing to do with my ability to serve.”
“With this new set of regulations, the military is putting an end to an ugly and shameful chapter in our nation’s history and once again embracing our nation’s highest ideals of equal opportunity for all. The new policies recognize the contributions of transgender service members and will increase the strength and stability of our armed forces,” said Shannon Minter, Legal Director at National Center for Lesbian Rights. “Increasing troops’ access to gender-affirming medical care will help transgender service members focus on their work, so they can do the best they can at their job, instead of having to worry about red tape stopping them from getting the health care they need.”
“With this policy, the Pentagon is setting a clear example for our federal government when it comes to fairness and equal opportunity,” said Jennifer Levi, Director of Transgender Rights Project at GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD). “These policy changes are an important step toward strengthening the military. Of course, we still need comprehensive federal nondiscrimination protections like the Equality Act so that transgender service members are able to live with freedom and dignity whether in uniform or in civilian life.”
This Women’s History Month, we have chosen to honor some of the innumerable LGBTQ women, non-binary people, and femmes who have impacted the world throughout history. Our community is powerful, and each person has their own remarkable part to play. We celebrate them this month, and all year long: those who came before us, or are making history right now. At GLAD we remain committed to uplifting these voices and building a world that celebrates them unreservedly.
Marsha P. Johnson
Marsha P. Johnson (August 24, 1945 – July 6, 1992) was an outspoken gay liberation activist and self-identified drag queen. Along with her close friend Sylvia Rivera, she was one of the key people involved in the 1969 Stonewall uprising. Stories differ on whether she threw a brick or threw a shot glass, but she became a symbol involved with the event to this day. A popular member of the New York Art scene, she worked with Andy Warhol and as a drag performer. After working in the Gay Liberation Front, Marsha co-founded Street Transvestites Action Revolutionaries (S.T.A.R.). She worked with STAR for years, founding the STAR House, a shelter for gender-nonconforming and transgender youth. She moved specifically into AIDS-related activism in the 1980s, working with groups like ACT UP.
Marsha was a cornerstone of the queer community in New York and beyond until she died in July of 1992. Her death was originally ruled a suicide, but after extensive pressure from her close friends and family, advocacy groups, and fellow activists, it was reopened as a possible homicide. Since her passing, she remains one of the most well-known figures in the queer community. Her story, recently memorialized in the documentary “The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson,” inspired many activists and LGBTQ people today to fight for what they believe in. In her memory, the Marsha P. Johnson Foundation fights for the equality and rights of Black transgender individuals.
Pragati Singh
Pragati Singh is an activist and one of the preeminent leaders of the asexual rights movement in India. She began her career as a maternal health doctor, when she discovered that there were no online communities for anyone on the asexual spectrum in India. She created Indian Aces, a group designed to help foster community and support. Dr. Singh also conducted research to identify the unique challenges and hopes of India’s asexual community. She was able to push against a rigid medical establishment to get her research published, helping to raise awareness of people on the ace spectrum in both the medical field and the country at large. Her groundbreaking work enabled her to present at international conferences and was chosen to be one of the BBC’s 100 Women of the Year in 2019. She continues to work to provide a space and a voice for the ace community in India. Read Dr. Singh’s interview with Asexual Magazine here.
Christine Jorgenson
Christine Jorgenson (May 30, 1926 – May 3, 1989) was the first person in the United States widely known to have received gender-confirming surgery. The Bronx native and World War II veteran received medical care in Denmark in 1952 and immediately became a media sensation. Christine originally intended to live a private life but realized she had a platform to speak up. She became a performer, went on talk shows and radio shows, and wrote her autobiography. From the ’60s to the ‘80s, she toured college campuses and other venues to speak about issues of transgender rights. Christine passed away in 1989 from cancer, but her legacy helped change the way people thought about LGBTQ people. Her fame brought about visibility at a time when there were very few people living openly as transgender and shaped the national discussion on gender identity.
Tammy Baldwin
Tammy Baldwin was the first openly gay person to be elected to both chambers of Congress. Baldwin has been an advocate for LGBTQ rights, access to healthcare, and student debt relief. She introduced the Ending LGBT Health Disparities Act which sought to fund research and cultural competence for LGBTQ healthcare. She has regularly fought for these issues, including supporting the upcoming Equality Act, which would close many gaps in nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ individuals, women, people of color, and people of minority faiths.
Brenda Howard
Brenda Howard (December 24, 1946 – June 28, 2005) was heavily involved in planning the first Pride event in 1970 after coordinating rallies to commemorate the 1-month, 1-year, and subsequent anniversaries of the Stonewall Rebellion of 1969. Known by some as “Mother of Pride,” Brenda is widely credited with coming up with the modern idea of the week-long pride event that we see celebrated internationally. Initially active in the feminist and antiwar movements, in 1987 she turned more towards bisexual-specific organizing with organizations like BiNet USA and the New York Area Bisexual Network. She helped plan dozens of marches and brought issues of bisexual representation to the forefront in the queer community, and worked for kink and polyamory visibility. Sadly, she passed away from cancer in 2005, but her legacy lives on Pride celebrations worldwide.
Kim Coco Iwamoto
Kim Coco Iwamoto is a politician from Hawaii. From both her lived experience as a transgender individual and her grandparents’ experience as survivors of Japanese internment in California, she grew up no stranger to the pressing need to protect all people’s rights. To this end, she served on the Hawaii Board of Education, and later on the Hawaii Civil Rights Commission. This made Kim the first openly transgender person elected to statewide office in the country. She ran both for Lieutenant Governor and State Representative, only narrowly losing both races. Kim continues to push the boundaries for the Asian-American LGBTQ community and fights to represent all people’s interests in her work, including leading advocacy efforts for LGBTQ youth experiencing homelessness in Hawaii.
Janet Mock
Janet Mock is a transgender rights advocate, writer, and media producer. Originally from Hawaii, she worked as the staff editor for People magazine, where she came out as transgender. She wrote her first autobiography in 2012, which began her entry into more overt advocacy by speaking on her experience transitioning as a teen in Hawaii. She worked for a medley of media organizations and formats before settling into screenwriting. After writing her second autobiography, she began writing the critically-acclaimed show Pose on FX. Pose was groundbreaking for casting trans actors to play trans characters and accurately depicting the Ballroom scene of 1980’s New York. Janet is the first openly transgender woman of color to write a television episode and secure a major studio deal. Her work on and off-screen has increased crucial transgender representation in the media.
Amazin LeThi
Born in Saigon, Amazin LeThi is a fierce advocate for LGBTQ kids in sports. Amazin was adopted into a white family in Australia and began her lifelong passion for athletics as a bodybuilder at age 6. She was bullied both for being Asian and LGBTQ, and her work at the intersection of these identities has been influential. She founded the Amazin LeThi Foundation, which works to prevent anti-LGBTQ and anti-AIDS discrimination. She works tirelessly for the inclusion of LGBTQ people in sports and has worked publicly to further queer Asian representation in sports and the media with Athlete Ally, the BBC, and the Obama White House, among many others.
Angela Davis
Angela Davis is a longtime activist, first in the movement against the Vietnam War and as a defining second-wave Black feminist. A self-identified, long-time Communist, she has been a vocal advocate for prison abolition and alternatives to incarceration. Angela has been an educator for many years, lecturing on feminism at colleges across the globe. Through her work in these movements, Davis has consistently advocated for women and the LGBTQ community, even to the point of breaking with other leaders who were not listening to those voices. She has been a leading advocate for intersectional advocacy and activism and has led the field by example. She lives now with her long-time partner and fellow UC Santa Cruz professor Gina Dent.
Jennicet Gutierrez
Jennicet Gutierrez is an advocate for the trans undocumented community. Jennicet moved to the US at 15, learning English and being subjected to intolerance simultaneously. Famously, she interrupted President Obama during an LGBTQ Pride reception to raise the issue of his administration’s treatment of transgender immigrants. This generated a national conversation on the issue and the politics of respectability in the LGBTQ movement. She was a founding member of La Familia: Trans Queer Liberation Movement, an organization that works at the local and national levels to achieve the collective liberation of trans, queer, and gender-expansive Latinx people.
Yasmin Benoit
Yasmin Benoit is an asexual and aromantic activist in the UK. She is one of the first and most successful Black alternative models. Pushing into a white-dominated field with Eurocentric standards of beauty, she got many questions from journalists and had to advocate for herself from the beginning of her career. As a model, she has also gotten many questions about her asexuality and fights many misconceptions about the ace community. Benoit has said in interviews, “I’m not trying to sell myself, I’m selling a product,” a refrain she has had to repeat over her career. She has worked with AVEN, the Asexuality Visibility and Education Network (where she now serves on the Board of Directors), to increase the knowledge of and acceptance for the asexual and aromantic community. She is also lending her perspective to a movement that often is dominated by white voices, showing how diverse the queer community really is.
Deborah Batts
Deborah Batts was the nation’s first openly gay federal judge. She served as an Assistant US Attorney in New York and was a professor at Fordham Law School before she was nominated for the Southern District of New York seat, following the recommendation of Senator Patrick Moynihan. Her confirmation in 1994 made her the first openly lesbian federal judge, not to mention the first African-American lesbian judge. While she never stressed her sexuality, she understood that she was a role model for many. In a 2019 interview, when asked about her thoughts on being a role model, she said “You can certainly be a mentor, someone who encourages people who think that they can’t do it. They can do it.”
Washington, DC — In a historic vote on Wednesday, the U.S. Senate confirmed Dr. Rachel Levine as assistant secretary of health at the Department of Health and Human Services. Dr. Levine, an experienced pediatrician who has led Pennsylvania’s Department of Public Health since 2017, is the first openly transgender presidential nominee to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate.
During her tenure as Pennsylvania’s highest ranking health official and top doctor, Dr. Levine led the state’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as addressing the opioid and HIV epidemics and increasing the rate of childhood immunization. She has personally worked to raise awareness of LGBTQ issues, where discrimination creates barriers to healthcare access and healthcare quality.
GLAD congratulates Dr. Levine on her confirmation to this role. She has the opportunity to make an immense positive impact on the health of LGBTQ people, people living with HIV, and Americans as a whole. As our nation continues to navigate the COVID-19 pandemic, we will be well-served by Dr. Levine’s experience and expertise, as well as her commitment to ensuring that all LGBTQ people can access the healthcare they need. Dr. Levine’s confirmation and leading role at our nation’s federal health agency will also inspire a new generation of transgender youth by showing that there are no limits to what they can achieve.
The Freedom & Opportunity For All campaign launches with support from hundreds of nation’s top leaders in civil rights, faith, education, health care, and advocacy. The campaign will continue growing nationwide support for federal anti-discrimination protections for LGBTQ people, women, people of color, and people of all faiths.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, a new national campaign advocating for urgent passage of the Equality Act launched with support from hundreds of the nation’s top leaders in civil rights, faith, education, health care, and advocacy. The Freedom & Opportunity For Allcampaign will continue growing the nationwide effort (already supported by hundreds of the nation’s top business leaders) advocating for the Equality Act — historic federal legislation that would modernize and improve our nation’s civil rights laws by including explicit, permanent protections for LGBTQ people, as well as women, people of color, and people of all faiths. The Equality Act passed the House with bipartisan support last month and had its first-ever hearing in the Senate last week.
The campaign — launching with an initial investment of $4 million that will grow to eight figures as the campaign continues beyond the launch and initial phases — will collaborate closely with hundreds of supporting organizations to harness the grassroots energy of millions of members across the country. With the support of these organizations, the campaign will work to grow support for the Equality Act, educate Americans on the urgent need for the Equality Act, and engage and mobilize supporters to take action and reach out to their lawmakers. The campaign will do this through a mix of activities including legislative advocacy and lobbying, building and implementing national advertising campaigns, and executing traditional communications tactics and social media campaigns.
Broad, Overwhelming Support for the Equality Act
Freedom & Opportunity For All — co-founded and led by 16 of the nation’s leading advocates for equality — reflects the broad and overwhelming support for the Equality Act mirrored in communities across the country, and its announcement comes on the heels of new polling from Hart Research Associates finding that 70 percent of Americans (including 50 percent of Republicans) support the Equality Act.
To date, a majority of Americans, hundreds of members of Congress, hundreds of advocacy organizations, and more than 60 business associations — including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers — have endorsed the Equality Act. Nearly 400 major U.S. companies — including dozens of Fortune 500 companies such as Coca-Cola, Apple, General Mills, Johnson & Johnson, and Kellogg — have endorsed the Equality Act because they believe it is good for their employees and their businesses. Collectively, these companies have headquarters based in 33 states overseeing operations in all 50 states, and generate a collective revenue of $6.5 trillion. In total, these companies employ more than 13.5 million people across the United States.
Freedom & Opportunity For All is co-founded and led by 16 of the nation’s leading advocates for equality, including Center for American Progress, Equality Federation, Freedom for All Americans, GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders, GLSEN, Human Rights Campaign, Lambda Legal, National Black Justice Coalition, National Center for Lesbian Rights, National Center for Transgender Equality, National LGBTQ Task Force, National Women’s Law Center, PFLAG National, SAGE, Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund, and The Trevor Project.
The full list of organizations supporting the Equality Act can be found here. Below are quotes from the 16 co-founding organizations of Freedom & Opportunity For All. Janson Wu, Executive Director, GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders:
“This is the moment to pass the Equality Act. Every day we hear the stories of individuals from communities across the country who continue to face discrimination and harassment. Our federal nondiscrimination laws are in place to advance fairness for everyone, and the overwhelming majority of Americans agree it is past time to ensure LGBTQ people are included in those protections. Because it extends nondiscrimination protections for women in public spaces and federal services, addresses the discrimination that people of color and people of minority faiths encounter in such areas as contemporary retail spaces and transportation including car services, and adds clear and explicit protections for LGBTQ people, the Equality Act is the civil rights legislation we need now to move us closer to the promise of freedom and opportunity for all.”
Winnie Stachelberg, Executive Vice President, External Affairs, Center for American Progress:
“We stand at the precipice of history for the LGBTQ community. The Equality Act will finally enshrine into law the fundamental and uncontroversial principles of fairness and dignity for all people, and our coalition is committed to seeing it passed. An overwhelming majority of the American people — as well as lawmakers from both parties, the Biden administration, faith leaders, and corporate giants — support the Equality Act because they recognize that LGBTQ people deserve to be treated fairly and with respect by their employers, health care providers, educators, and civil servants. We stand united to work with the U.S. Senate to fulfill its obligation to the American people to support and defend the rights of everyone equally.”
Fran Hutchins, Executive Director, Equality Federation:
“For far too long, LGBTQ people across this country have been denied basic protections from discrimination simply based on what state or zip code they call home. The Equality Act is much-needed legislation that will ensure a more just and equal America for all of us. That is why Equality Federation is proud to be a founding member of the Freedom & Opportunity For All coalition, formed with the purpose of advocating for swift passage of these needed protections. From California to New York to Alaska to Florida, there is a groundswell of people in state and local communities calling on lawmakers to pass this legislation as soon as possible. We commit to ensuring the public’s demand for passage is heard all across the country.”
Kasey Suffredini, CEO and National Campaign Director, Freedom for All Americans:
“For the first time in nearly 50 years of trying, our nation is poised to ensure our LGBTQ friends, family members, and neighbors are treated with dignity and respect no matter who they are, who they love, or where they live. Majorities of Americans in every state and of every demographic and political ideology support federal LGBTQ nondiscrimination protections, as do hundreds of faith leaders and our nation’s most recognizable corporate brands. America is ready for Congress to pass the Equality Act, and Freedom for All Americans is proud to be working to make the people’s will a reality as a founding member of Freedom & Opportunity For All.”
Melanie Willingham-Jaggers, Interim Executive Director, GLSEN:
“In this transformational moment, as our nation rethinks what our education system can look like amid the pandemic and reopening, we have the opportunity with the Equality Act to implement a robust new commitment to equity in all aspects of education, from school policies to school lunch programs to classroom repairs to curriculum materials. The ongoing pandemic has hit hardest the communities already vulnerable in our school system — including LGBTQ+ students who face unique challenges — and support and protection to the students and families who need it most will create a stronger school community that benefits all students in our system.”
Alphonso David, President, Human Rights Campaign:
“The Equality Act is a pivotal moment in history and serves to be one of the landmark civil rights moments in our country’s long march toward a more perfect union. Today, the United States Senate holds equality for the LGBTQ community in its hands and we plan to engage on all fronts, utilizing all tools to ensure that our voices are heard. More than two-thirds of LGBTQ people face discrimination in this country and the overwhelming bipartisan majority of Americans agree: discriminating against someone for who they are or who they love is simply wrong. We plan to work in coalition to end the discrimination, violence, and injustice that LGBTQ people live with every day and ensure that federal non-discrimination protections finally become the law of the land. The time to pass the Equality Act is now.”
Kevin Jennings, CEO, Lambda Legal:
“Lambda Legal is proud to stand with advocates for LGBTQ people, people of color, women, and immigrants as a part of the Freedom & Opportunity For All coalition to make the Equality Act a reality. Our communities continue to face pervasive, often-devastating discrimination in our everyday lives. Congress needs to close the many civil rights gaps that have left so many of our community members vulnerable, unprotected, and too often defenseless against injustice in virtually every aspect of public life. We deserve dignity and the same rights and protections as everyone else. There has never been an opportunity like the one now to finally get this done.”
David J. Johns, Executive Director, National Black Justice Coalition:
“One of our nation’s foundational promises is freedom, but if we are going to celebrate freedom, it must be for all of us: the white Jewish kid denied a haircut at the only barber shop in town because of their religious beliefs; the Black same gender loving couple given a higher home loan interest rate because of their sexual orientation and race; the interracial couple denied the opportunity to foster or adopt a child because the agency’s bias overshadows its mission to give every child a forever home — freedom from discrimination and the ability to participate in public programs must be universal. All of us includes Black transgender women profiled by police and Black boys murdered under the guise of resembling a suspect. All of us include innocent medical workers like Breonna Taylor killed while sleeping at home in their own beds by police officers paid by taxpayer funded federal law enforcement grants. Discrimination should not be legal in a country with the motto ‘Out of Many, One.’ Passing the Equality Act is necessary if we are to live into our national promise and be who we say we are: The land of the free.”
Imani Rupert-Gordon, Executive Director, National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR):
“NCLR is proud to be joining a coalition of advocates from the LGBTQ, women, people of color, immigration, and faith communities who have all joined the Freedom & Opportunity For All coalition to urge the swift passage of the Equality Act in the Senate. The tragic fact is that the LGBTQ community, especially the most vulnerable Black and transgender individuals, continue to report dramatically higher rates of discrimination in every aspect of their lives. Whether it be housing, healthcare, education, lending, or any other facet of everyday life, no one deserves to be discriminated against or denied services simply because of who they are. The Equality Act would amend the Civil Rights Act to finally ensure that everyone is protected from this pervasive discrimination, which is why the Senate must vote to pass it swiftly and send it to President Biden for his signature.”
Mara Keisling, Executive Director, National Center for Transgender Equality:
“Passing the Equality Act would mean that transgender people could worry less about disrespect, discrimination, and even violence, and we could live our lives as more full members of society. Everyone deserves to be treated with respect. Transgender people, like all people, should be able to count on protection from discrimination no matter what state they call home. It is long past time for Congress to get this done.”
Kierra Johnson, Executive Director, National LGBTQ Task Force Action Fund:
“The lives of millions of LGBTQ people in this country and our families would be improved through the Equality Act, best exemplified by the comments of Rep. Marie Newman (D) at the recent Senate Judiciary hearing: ‘No American should have to live a lie… you will feel deep depression, anxiety, and yes, suicidal.’ This is what is at stake for our community. Our lives. Our children’s lives. Our friends’ and families’ lives. The gift and opportunity of this moment is to look deep inside of our collective selves and ask, ‘What are the limits of Love and Justice?’ We believe they are unlimited. We will do the work to prove it and are proud to be part of Freedom & Opportunity For All.”
Fatima Goss Graves, President and CEO, National Women’s Law Center:
“The Equality Act represents a landmark step in the fight against all sex discrimination. The lives of LGBTQ women are marked by discrimination at every step, from the class room to the board room to the locker room, and this bill will strengthen the rights of all women to live free of fear from discrimination. This is especially true of transgender women and LGBTQ women of color, whose risk for violence and abuse is worsened when we deny them full rights under the law. Our commitment to inclusion of transgender women is inseparable from our commitment to safety, dignity, and justice for all women.”
Brian K. Bond, Executive Director, PFLAG National:
“Parents of LGBTQ+ people want for their children what all parents want for their children: The opportunity to live, learn, work, pray, and play safely, fairly, and free from discrimination, harassment, and harm. It is especially painful to see faith used as a weapon to exact such discrimination, when so many parents of LGBTQ+ kids ARE people of faith. PFLAGers in every corner of the country will continue to reach out to their lawmakers and send a clear message: To be a person of faith, and to be a person who is — or loves someone who is — LGBTQ+ are not mutually exclusive; our families matter, we are your constituents, and we support passage of the Equality Act.”
Michael Adams, CEO, SAGE:
“Our elders have taught us that freedom and opportunity advances when people of good will come together. That is why SAGE is proud to lift up our elders’ voices as a co-founder of the coalition to pass the Equality Act.”
Andy Marra, Executive Director, Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund (TLDEF):
“TLDEF is proud to be a founding member of the Freedom & Opportunity For All coalition. For too long, transgender people have experienced discrimination in every aspect of life. The Equality Act will finally provide protections for LGBTQ people nationwide and bring us one enormous step closer towards full legal and lived equality for transgender people. The moment to pass the bill is now, and we are honored to work alongside a bipartisan group of people of faith, business leaders, and civil rights partners to get the job done.”
Amit Paley, CEO and Executive Director, The Trevor Project:
“The Trevor Project is proud to join the Freedom & Opportunity For All coalition to pass the Equality Act and protect the LGBTQ community from discrimination. When LGBTQ young people are excluded or treated differently solely because of who they are, it can negatively impact their mental health and sense of self. According to The Trevor Project’s research, LGBTQ youth who experienced discrimination in the past year attempted suicide at more than twice the rate of those who did not. It is long past time to grant LGBTQ people the same legal protections as everyone else.”
About the Equality Act
Currently, 29 states do not have laws that explicitly protect LGBTQ people from discrimination. Without the Equality Act, LGBTQ Americans remain vulnerable to being evicted from their homes, kicked out of a business that’s open to the public, denied health care, or denied government services in a majority of states simply because of who they are. The Equality Act would provide clear, consistent non-discrimination protections for LGBTQ people across critical areas, including housing, credit, education, public spaces and services, federally funded programs, and jury service. The Equality Act also extends protections to millions of women — who aren’t covered by some existing federal anti-discrimination laws — to ensure they don’t have to live in fear of harassment or discrimination. In addition, it modernizes public accommodations law to provide increased protections to people of color and people of all faiths.
Freedom & Opportunity For All is a national campaign advocating for the urgent passage of the Equality Act — historic federal legislation that would modernize and improve our nation’s civil rights laws by including explicit, permanent protections for LGBTQ people, as well as women, people of color, and people of all faiths.The campaign — supported by hundreds of the nation’s top leaders in civil rights, faith, education, health care, and advocacy — is co-founded and led by 16 of the nation’s leading advocates for equality, including Center for American Progress; Equality Federation; Freedom for All Americans; GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders; GLSEN; Human Rights Campaign; Lambda Legal; National Black Justice Coalition; National Center for Lesbian Rights; National Center for Transgender Equality; National LGBTQ Task Force; National Women’s Law Center; PFLAG National; SAGE; Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund; and The Trevor Project.
GLAD mourns alongside the Atlanta community following the murder of eight people, six of whom were Asian American women, across the city earlier this week. We stand in unity with the Asian American community in Georgia and across the country as this brutal and heartbreaking attack and its aftermath come in the midst of a reported 150% increase in hate-motived violence against Asian Americans over the past year.
This increase in anti-Asian American attacks, many directed at elders and other particularly vulnerable members of the community, are not only manifestations of despicable heightened anti-China and anti-Chinese sentiment spurred in some cases from the top of our federal government over the past year, but of a long history of racial bias against Asians, Asian Americans, and Pacific Islanders in the U.S.
Structural racism and accompanying individual bias impact all communities of color in the U.S., though those impacts manifest and are felt differently among us. As justice seeking people, whether AAPI, Black, Latinx, Native American, or white, whether LGBTQ+ or not, we can come together to dismantle the painful and destructive legacy of white supremacy, lift up one another’s humanity, and support our friends, neighbors, and community members with love and dignity. We join with you, and thank you for joining GLAD, in our shared commitment to this work.
Wednesday’s powerful Senate Judiciary Hearing highlighted the urgency of passing the Equality Act.
Committee members and the public heard compelling arguments from legislators and community leaders. We heard poignant stories from transgender high school sophomore Stella Keating about how the Equality Act will mean greater opportunity for her and other young people, and from Edith Guffey, an African American faith leader and mother about how the bill will increase safety and opportunity for her transgender child.
LGBTQ people across the country continue to face discrimination without secure legal protections. Their stories make it clear: passing this legislation will change people’s lives. With these testimonies fresh in the mind of our Senators, it’s time to let them know that we need them to support the Equality Act when it gets to the Senate floor.
The time to act is now. Tell your Senator to support the Equality Act using the tool below, or call (202) 224-3121.
We have a chance to make lasting change for LGBTQ people by passing this critical legislation. The Equality Act will ensure that LGBTQ people – and all people – can contribute to their families, communities, and workplaces while being treated with the dignity and equality all Americans need and deserve.
The Equality Act also updates the Civil Rights Act to ensure protections for all of us. The bill by extends nondiscrimination protections in public spaces on the basis of sex, and modernizes the legal definition of public accommodations to apply to retailers, public venues, and transportation – places where people of color and people of minority faiths consistently face discrimination.
The vast majority of Americans support updating our federal laws to explicitly prohibit discrimination against LGBTQ people. Let your Senators know now how important it is to vote YES on the Equality Act. We can pass clear, consistent federal discrimination protections if we act today!
Statement on the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Equality Act Hearing
Following today’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the Equality Act, GLAD Executive Director Janson Wu issued the following statement:
“Today’s powerful hearing added momentum for passing the Equality Act and highlighted the urgency of enacting the critical protections the bill will provide. The members of the Senate Judiciary Committee and the public heard poignant stories from transgender high school sophomore Stella Keating about how the Equality Act will mean greater opportunity for her and other young people, and from Edith Guffey, an African American faith leader and mother about how the bill will increase safety and opportunity for her transgender child. The more we hear these stories of individuals from every state and every community who continue to face discrimination without secure legal protections, the clearer it becomes how important it is to pass legislation that the vast majority of Americans (over 70%) support and that will make such an important difference in people’s everyday lives.”
The ability to be treated with dignity and respect should never depend on who you are, who you love, or what zip code you call home.
Right now, we have a patchwork of state-based protections for LGBTQ people across the country – but millions of LGBTQ Americans remain vulnerable to discrimination every day.
The Equality Act would update the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and other federal civil rights laws to affirm that sexual orientation and gender identity are clearly and explicitly included within those protections.
This is a pivotal moment for our community, and for everyone who believes in fairness and equality. The Equality Act passed in the House, but we need support in the Senate.
Let’s make sure this U.S. Congress is the one to pass the Equality Act and bring a level playing field to LGBTQ people nationwide as we live our lives. We give so much to our communities, work, and families and need and deserve the same dignity, fairness, and respect as others.
GLAD is a proud co-founding member of the Freedom & Opportunity For All campaign. The campaign, which has support from hundreds of the nation’s top leaders in civil rights, faith, education, health care, and advocacy, will continue growing nationwide support for federal anti-discrimination protections for LGBTQ people, women, people of color, and people of all faiths.
Washington, D.C. (March 17, 2021) – Today, the Senate Judiciary Committee is set to hold a hearing on the Equality Act. The House of Representatives has voted to pass the Equality Act, and if passed by the Senate as well, the bill would create strong federal nondiscrimination protections to ensure fair treatment for LGBTQ and all people in employment, housing, health care, education and public spaces.
“I know what it’s like to be told I can’t do a job I’m qualified for just because I’m transgender,” said Nicolas Talbott, an aspiring service member who challenged the transgender military ban. “Even though the transgender military ban is now lifted, transgender people like me often face discrimination at home. In my home state of Ohio, we don’t have any statewide nondiscrimination protections. So while I and other transgender people can now serve our country overseas, we still have to worry about encountering extra barriers when we do something as ordinary as grocery shopping or taking a trip to the bank, or something as important as going to a pharmacy or health clinic for the COVID vaccine. The Equality Act is an important step to ensure that all LGBTQ people in every state are able to do what we all want: to work hard, support ourselves and our families, and contribute to our communities.”
“Transgender service members like me are contributing every day in the military and in our communities, but we still face discrimination in our daily lives, whether it’s when we go to the doctor or apply for a credit card,” said Blaire McIntyre, an Afghanistan veteran and current service member in the Michigan National Guard.“Whether in uniform or not, we deserve the chance to live with dignity and freedom just like everyone else and it’s about time that our federal laws reflect that.”
“Laws that ensure all people are treated fairly help strengthen our entire country, and there’s no reason that someone’s zip code should determine whether or not they will be treated fairly when they are at work, at a hospital or at a bank,” said Jennifer Levi, Director of Transgender Rights Project at GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD). “Federal nondiscrimination protections like those in the Equality Act are essential to ensuring that all people can contribute to their communities and reach their full potential.”
“Throughout history, our country has been strengthened by extending the promise of equality to formerly excluded groups,” said Shannon Minter, Legal Director at National Center for Lesbian Rights. “Our Senators have the opportunity to embrace the equal dignity of LGBTQ people and move our country one step closer to freedom and opportunity for all.”
The Supreme Court’s ruling on health care for transgender youth is heartbreaking and you may have questions. GLAD Law Answers has your back. Contact our legal infolinefor information about your rights.
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