This week in Henderson v. Box, the U.S. Supreme Court reaffirmed that marriage equality is the law of the land and that states must provide the same rights to same-sex and different-sex spouses. After the Supreme Court ruled in Obergefell v. Hodges in 2015 that same-sex couples had a right to marry, Indiana refused to list same-sex married parents on their children’s birth certificates. Eight same-sex married couples in Indiana sued the state and won before the trial court, and then...
Oprima aquí para leer la versión en Español de esta publicación [Editor’s note: Name changed in this article to protect NCLR client’s privacy.] After a lifetime of hardship, Sammie, an NCLR Immigration Project client, has finally found a new sense of community and belonging with the San Francisco based organization El/La Para TransLatinas. With the strength of her community behind her, Sammie continues to spread positivity for all transgender Latinx people escaping persecution and extends her...
Hello NCLR! This has been a difficult time, and many of us have been reflecting on why we do our work, what drives us, and what inspires us. In 1989 Kimberlé Crenshaw coined the term intersectionality. And although these days it has become a bit of a buzzword, it is still the concept that helps me best articulate why I do my work, and more specifically, why I do my work the WAY I do. Often, when we hear the word intersectional, it’s to explain how we talk about someone who...
September 15 to October 15 represents Latinx Heritage Month, a time for many of us to acknowledge and celebrate our cultures, ancestry, and families. For those of us in the LGBTQ community, it is a time that we honor our LGBTQ Latinx ancestors who paved the way. Sylvia Rivera, José Sarria, and Gloria Anzaldúa are just a few examples of the brave LGBTQ trailblazers who fought for our lives to be better. In the last week of September, we held our annual Rural Pride Summit, an event that...
You have been by our side for a long time, through moments of thrilling victory and through many moments of peril and uncertainty as well. We know you look to us to do our research, be one step ahead of our foes, and be ready to pivot and fight until we win the rights and achieve the lived equality we all deserve. Rest assured, we are working harder than ever to respond to inequities and create a more just world. This past week, Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, joined by...
Good morning NCLR! It feels like just yesterday I joined you, but, if you can believe this, I just hit my 6-month anniversary as part of the NCLR family! Even during COVID, NCLR has been working hard to protect our community. As a co-founder of the National Anti-Poverty Action Network, we continue to work to protect LGBTQ people living in poverty. If you didn’t get a chance to check out our priorities for the next administration check them out here. And we continue our groundbreaking work,...
Leer en español The National Center for Lesbian Rights and California Rural Legal Assistance, Inc. are co-hosting a virtual Rural Pride Summit for California. The Summit will take place over the week of September 21st, with panels, workshops, and discussions happening throughout the week. Participants are welcome to join for any and all of these. Below is a complete schedule of panels, workshops, and discussions. Register Online This Rural Pride Summit is a chance for those living in rural...
SUBMIT COMMENTS SUMMARY OF ISSUE On Friday, July 23, 2020, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) proposed a new rule that would gut protections for transgender people seeking safe shelter. This rule would strip away current protections that prohibit federally-funded homeless shelters from discriminating against transgender people. The new rule permits shelters to discriminate, which will result in needless suffering and death. No one should be denied access to a homeless...
SUBMIT COMMENTS SUMMARY OF ISSUE In early June, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Executive Office of Immigration Review (EOIR) proposed a new rule that would effectively destroy the asylum process in the United States. This rule would make it almost impossible for survivors of gender-based violence – including women, and LGBTQ+ people, especially those lacking legal representation – to obtain asylum in the United States. Instead countless people will be forcibly returned to...
Good evening and thank you for spending tonight with us. My name is Imani Rupert-Gordon, my pronouns are she/her/hers and I am honored to be the new executive director for the National Center for Lesbian Rights. I’m thrilled to be here. And I want to acknowledge that my heart is in Minneapolis right now, so I want to start with a message to the folks who are a part of the uprising that has spent the last several days demanding justice for George Floyd and for countless black citizens...
Equality Florida is the largest civil rights organization dedicated to securing full equality for Florida’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) community. We’re changing Florida through lobbying, grassroots organizing, education, and coalition building — so that no one suffers harassment or discrimination on the basis of their sexual orientation or gender identity or expression.
Come Out With Pride
The mission of Come Out With Pride Orlando is to cultivate visibility, authenticity, and acceptance by curating inclusive experiences that celebrate and embody the spirit of queer resilience.
Orlando Youth Alliance
Since 1990, the Orlando Youth Alliance (OYA) has been providing safe spaces for LGBTQ youth in Central Florida. Their coverage area includes metro Orlando, but also spans out to include the rural counties surrounding Orlando. In 2008, they created a chapter in Lakeland, Florida (Polk County). OYA oversees the highly successful Polk Pride Festival which attracts over 6,000 people annually.
Southern Legal Counsel
Southern Legal Counsel, Inc. (SLC) is a Florida statewide not-for-profit public interest law firm that is committed to the ideal of equal justice for all and the attainment of basic human and civil rights. SLC developed its Transgender Rights Initiative to fill a gap in access to justice for Florida’s transgender community, including in areas such as access to legal authenticity, access to safe and affirming school and work environments, access to medically necessary healthcare, and more. SLC’s Trans Rights Initiative protects the rights of Florida’s LGBTQ+ community utilizing federal impact litigation, policy advocacy, and individual representation. SLC has litigated many of the recent federal cases against the state of Florida, and has successfully overturned the Medicaid Ban on gender-affirming care (Dekker v. Weida); permanently enjoined the medical care bans for minors and restrictions for adults created by SB 254 and the Boards of Medicine rules (Doe v. Ladapo); preliminarily enjoined the pronoun ban for transgender teachers in Florida’s public schools; and more.
Joy Metropolitan Community Church
Joy MCC is the spiritual home to a multi-cultural, inclusive, and diverse community of faith. We are rooted in the life, ministry, and teachings of Jesus. We experience a vibrant spirituality that is positive, practical, and progressive. We’ve always been a totally open and affirming church. We welcome the full participation of people of allraces, cultures, ages, abilities, spiritual backgrounds, sexual orientations, and gender identities. We share a deep sense of community where our diversity is celebrated, not merely tolerated.
ACLU of Florida
The mission of the ACLU of Florida is to protect, defend, strengthen, and promote the constitutional rights and liberties of all people in Florida. We envision a fair and just Florida, where all people are free, equal under the law, and live with dignity.
QLatinx
QLatinx is a grassroots community-led racial, social, and gender justice organization dedicated to the advancement and empowerment of Orlando’s LGBTQ+ Latinx community. QLatinx is committed to building a supportive infrastructure, addressing inequity, promoting inclusionary QLatinx aims to deepen the political consciousness of LGBTQ+ and Latinx individuals about intersections and complexities of institutional, interpersonal, and internalized forms of oppression. This work includes empowering local LGBTQ+ leadership to become cognizant of gender and racial inequities with the LGBTQ+ community and in relation to cisgender populations.
Community Spring
Community Spring is a grassroots organization dedicated to economic justice. The two pillars of our work are income and power: income to meet people’s needs and power to reshape the systems that keep them down.
Pride Community Center of North Central Florida
The Pride Community Center of North Central Florida offers safe spaces, resources, services and events to foster and enhance the well-being and visibility of LGBTQ+ people in North Central Florida. Visibility changes minds. Here in North Central Florida, LGBTQ+ people deserve access to safe spaces where they can not only express themselves, but where they can also be a part of a community. Come join us.