by Jessica Douglas

Black LGBTQ History w/ Dr. Ashley Coleman Taylor

In honor of Black History Month, Georgia Equality was fortunate to interview historian Dr. Ashley Coleman Taylor. Dr. Coleman Taylor has worked on the oral history project, Atlanta as Black Queer Space, for several years.

The interview is conducted by Kermit Thomas, state outreach manager, denoted by “K,” and Dr. Coleman Taylor, “A,” and it explores race, space, identity, the ever-changing politics of the south, and more.

 

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.

Continue reading →

by Jessica Douglas

Welcoming New Staff

Georgia Equality is excited to welcome three new staff members to the team! Please join us in welcoming Alexandra Audate, Deputy Director, Jessica Douglas, Development and Communications Manager, and Halle Vargas-Sullivan, Field Organizer.

Alexandra Audate (she/her) is the Deputy Director of Georgia Equality. She earned a Bachelors Degree, a Masters of Laws Degree in Intercultural Human Rights and a law degree from St. Thomas University. She is licensed to practice law in the state of Florida. Prior to joining Georgia Equality, she worked as the managing attorney of the QueerMigration Law Group in Florida where she represented and supported queer and transgender immigrants.

Her career in human rights advocacy spans over a decade and consists of legislative lobbying, policy writing, and coalition building. Prior to practicing law, she worked as a social worker providing direct service to survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault and human trafficking.

She also worked as a community organizer and spent the last fifteen years traveling all over the United States advocating on issues related to 2LGBTQIA+rights, immigration, racial equity, police brutality, HIV/AIDS, disability rights, environmental racism and the school-to-prison pipeline. She is the author of the legal portion of the most recent edition of the Broward County Public Schools LGBTQ+ Critical Support Guide.

Alexandra is a proud immigrant from Haiti and is fluent in Haitian Creole, French, English and Spanish. During her spare time, she loves painting, going to the beach, reading and writing about Black feminist theory.

Jessica Douglas (she/her) is the Development and Communications Manager at Georgia Equality. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from the University of Georgia, where she also minored in African American Studies and served as a Student Government Senator and activist. During her time at UGA, Jessica interned for Georgia Equality twice, working in communications, legislative advocacy, and field organizing.

Jessica previously served as an external relations officer for the Center for Victims of Torture in Georgia, advocating for refugee and immigrant survivors of torture and other conflict-related trauma. She is passionate about approaching social issues from a trauma-informed and intersectional lens. In her spare time, Jessica enjoys reading and spending time with her cat, Felix.

Halle Vargas-Sullivan (she/her) is the Field Organizer at Georgia Equality. Her background includes art activism, creative entrepreneurship, and community engagement. Since being cast as “Young Nala” in Disney’s The Lion King on Broadway at nine years old, she has been committed to utilizing art as a pathway towards reshaping the world into an inheritance that is sustainable, just, and joy-focused. She studied Recorded Music at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts prior to transferring to Spelman College. There, she majored in Comparative Women’s Studies and curated a research focus of “Representations of Blackness, Latinidad, and Womanhood in the Media.” Engaging with her intersectional, bilingual perspective (English/Spanish), she is dedicated to doing the work required to secure the protection, equity, and representation of those who have been historically oppressed. 

by abryant

Georgia Equality Applauds the Passage of the Respect for Marriage Act by the US Congress and Calls for Further Action

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.”

Continue reading →

by Wes Sanders

grateful & thankful

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 →

by abryant

Hiring: Field Organizer

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.

Continue reading →