On May 23rd, President Trump released his first full federal budget proposal. While many knew it would be bad, nothing could have prepared us for this. If enacted, this budget would be devastating. It slashes funding for vital programs and services that help struggling individuals and families afford the basics- food, housing, heating, education, and healthcare. At the same time, the budget seeks an additional $54 billion for the defense department and gives corporations and the wealthy...
Our Voices
In North Carolina this week, anti-LGBTQ extremists tried to do the unthinkable. They introduced House Bill 780, also known as the “Uphold Historical Marriage Act” in an attempt to turn back the clock and, once again, whip up anti-LGBTQ sentiment. The bill directly challenges the Supreme Court’s 2015 marriage equality ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges by seeking to nullify same-sex couples’ marriages. North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper weighed in yesterday: “This bill is wrong. We need more...
“Perseverance in almost any plan is better than fickleness and fluctuation”—Alexander Hamilton When we adopted our NCLR tag line—”The audacity to fight for justice, the perseverance to win”—it was before President Obama’s book “The Audacity of Hope” and years before the cultural phenomenon that is “Hamilton” ushered in a refreshed examination of Alexander Hamilton’s writings. But now the words of one of our nation’s early founders are particularly...
In the wake of the elections, transgender people across the country are struggling to understand what the future may hold for our communities. In the past two decades—and especially in the past eight years under President Obama—we have made so many gains in employment protections, health care, student rights, family law, asylum, federally funded housing programs and homeless shelters, and other areas. In addition, President Obama has protected federal benefits programs and made health care...
In 2014, President Obama issued an Executive Order prohibiting discrimination against LGBTQ people by entities that contract with or receive grants from the federal government. This was an important milestone in expanding essential job protections for our community, and it is now under serious threat. Sweeping language in the House version of the National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2017 (NDAA) would nullify that Executive Order and authorize taxpayer-funded discrimination in each and...
By a slim margin, this nation has elected a demagogue who trafficked in bigotry, stoked racist hatred and normalized misogyny. The election of Donald Trump as President threatens basic principles of human dignity and justice. Many of our most cherished values—inclusion, honoring difference, embracing equality, dismantling oppressive systems—are in jeopardy, but we will not be deterred. This is the moment we are called to resist. We are about to be tested as never before, and speaking for...
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) recently issued a regulation that requires any homeless shelter that receives federal funding to treat transgender people equally. The rule expressly requires that shelters must house transgender individuals based on their gender identity. The rule is an important coda to the groundbreaking Equal Access Rule issued by the agency back in 2012, which prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity, and marital...
Kyler’s bedroom My mirror does not define me: Not the stranger that looks back at me Not the smooth face that belongs to someone else Not the eyes that gleam with sadness When I look for him and can only see her. My body does not define me: Not the slim shoulders that will not change Not the hips that give me away Not the chest I can’t stand to look at When I look for him and can only see her. My clothes do not define me: Not the shirt and the jeans That would look so perfect on him But...
At the very beginning of this year, NCLR filed an amicus brief in one of the most important abortion rights cases to reach the U.S. Supreme Court in decades. We urged the Court to look behind the rhetoric about “protecting women’s health” that Texas used to cloak its onerous abortion restrictions, and to be deeply skeptical when supposed health reasons are used to undermine fundamental constitutional rights, like the right to end a pregnancy. For such reasons have been used, in the past and...
We all know that LGBTQ people are everywhere, which is why NCLR launched our #RuralPride Campaign, which includes holding day-long summits in rural regions across the country to help LGBTQ folks connect with federal agencies, national organizations, and one another. For the past two years, we have worked with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the True Colors Fund to bring 13 summits to towns across the country, listening to the stories, hopes, fears, and needs of families, individuals,...
