This week, Congress will hear HR 734– a bill to ban transgender youth from participating in sports. This bill is a clear attempt to put politics over the well-being of transgender youth. It must be stopped– Send a message to your Congressperson, RIGHT NOW, and urge them to oppose HR 734!
HR 734 would force an already vulnerable group of young people in Georgia Continue reading
K: Could you introduce yourself and the project you’re working on?
A: I’m Ashley Coleman Taylor and I am an Atlanta native; my family has been in Atlanta since the 1970s. I am a professor of Religious Studies and Women and Gender Studies at the University of Texas at Austin. My work is primarily about Black embodiment, Black gender, sexuality, and Africana religions. My work is situated in Puerto Rico and also Atlanta.
K: Can you tell us a little about your work in Puerto Rico and Atlanta?
A: Yeah, so in the Puerto Rico work, I look at religion as a tool of white supremacy, so I look at how it’s impacted Black and Indigenous embodiment in Puerto Rico. I particularly focus on Black women and how they use their bodies as tools of resistance; to resist racism, sexism, classism, and coloniality. My Atlanta work is an oral history project with Black LGBTQ elders, so I look at how they have used their bodies as tools in the fight for social justice as activists over decades.
Today, the US House of Representatives passed the Respect for Marriage Act with a strong bipartisan vote, reaffirming the freedom to marry for hundreds of thousands of same-sex and interracial Georgians, and couples nationwide! The bill now heads to President Biden’s desk, where he is expected to sign it into law.
“Recognizing the importance of marriage, acknowledging that diverse beliefs and the people who hold them are due respect, and affirming that couples, including same-sex and interracial couples, deserve the dignity, stability, and ongoing protection of marriage is an important milestone,” said Jeff Graham, executive director of Georgia Equality. “And the strong bi-partisan support of members in both chambers of Congress and support from a diverse set of conservative faith voices, is a hopeful recognition that supporting LGBTQ rights is not in conflict with conservative values.”
Friend–
As we come nearer to the end of another year in this fight together, we have yet to take our foot off the gas pedal. Our staff and volunteers have been educating and informing voters of upcoming elections for what seems like the entire year – and we won’t stop until after the December 6th runoff for US Senator from Georgia.
While you’ll be seeing plenty of messages from us on that front in the coming weeks, I want to pause today to say THANK YOU – because of you, your continued commitment to this work, and our amazing staff and volunteers, we’ve seen unprecedented successes this year!
Here are just a few of those accomplishments: Continue reading
Georgia Equality seeks a full-time Field Organizer located in Atlanta Metro Area to help lead the implementation of Georgia Equality’s programs. The Field Organizer will assist all programs, events and issue areas as needed, including passing pro-equality legislation, expanding healthcare access, voter registration , HIV/AIDS advocacy, transgender rights, and electing pro-equality candidates to office on a local and state level. Georgia Equality’s ’s work includes an intersectional approach to issues, as well as working with a wide range of institutions such as schools, businesses, unions, religious congregations, local governments, health clinics, law enforcement and LGBTQ centers. We strongly encourage people with personal experience with HIV, people of color, and queer, trans, and gender non-conforming folks to apply for this position. Ideally, this position would be based in either Macon or Savannah and will report to the Deputy Director.