The Latest

by Wes Sanders

The License to Discriminate is back.

Extremist state lawmakers have introduced Senate Bill 368 which would give adoption agencies — including taxpayer-funded ones — a license to discriminate against same-sex couples and LGBTQ youth.

This is unconscionable. Lawmakers are playing politics with the lives of the 12,000+ children waiting for loving homes in Georgia’s adoption and foster care system, all because some extremists want to discriminate against LGBTQ people.

We’ve stopped bills like this before, and we will do it again. Our best shot right now is to make sure SB 368 never gets out of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Rush a message to your Senator right now urging them to reject SB 368.

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by Danielle Quesenberry

15 LGBTQ and Allied Organizations Call for Trans-Inclusive Bathroom Policy for Pickens County School District

                   

                    

15 LGBTQ and allied organizations (listed below) urged the Pickens County School District to develop a trans-inclusive bathroom policy. The group, led by Georgia Equality, is disappointed in the Pickens County Board of Education’s recent determination to suspend its decision to allow transgender students to use restrooms that align with their gender identity. The decision comes after a heated discussion during an open Town Hall held by the school board on Monday with hundreds of parents and community members in attendance. The discussion was centered around the reasons parents disagreed with the decision to allow transgender students the right to use the bathroom that aligns with their gender identity. The school board has reported death threats, threats of violence, and vandalism tied to this debate as the reason for the suspension of their initial decision to allow a trans affirming policy for bathroom use. We condemn these threats of violence and hatred.

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by Danielle Quesenberry

Nondiscrimination Protections Now!

The U.S. Supreme Court heard three LGBTQ civil rights cases today that will interpret federal employment nondiscrimination laws and could affirm LGBTQ protections from harassment or discrimination at work. However, the vulnerability to discrimination and harassment due to the lack of protections at the state level is not new to LGBTQ Georgians.

Georgia is only one of three states without employment protections for anyone, including LGBTQ people. Check out this editorial from Blue Ridge resident, Connie Galloway. Connie was fired without cause and faced the same discrimination as the plaintiffs in the cases heard by the Supreme Court today.

Regardless of the outcome of the cases heard by the Supreme Court, we’re telling Georgia lawmakers, ‘Peach State, We’re Late!’ and calling on our state legislature to pass a comprehensive statewide nondiscrimination law to ensure enduring protections for all Georgians. Click here to tell your state lawmaker that you support nondiscrimination protections.

Don’t forget to join us tomorrow (Oct. 9) at 7:00 p.m. as we partner with the ACLU of Georgia for a special Facebook live town hall meeting to review the oral arguments and discuss what Georgians can do to respond.We’ll be streaming live and taking questions from people throughout the state. Click here for details.

by Danielle Quesenberry

Georgia Equality Files Amicus Brief in Employment Discrimination Case

Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia is Scheduled to be Argued Before the U.S. Supreme Court this Fall

ATLANTA (July 8, 2019) – Georgia Equality has filed an amicus brief in the case Gerald Lynn Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia, along with two related cases. These combined cases will be argued before the U.S. Supreme Court this fall and will examine whether employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity are covered under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Georgia Equality filed the independent brief to highlight the importance of protecting Georgia’s LGBTQ community against discrimination under federal law. Continue reading →

by Danielle Quesenberry

Stonewall at 50 and Atlanta’s LGBTQ History

By: Chanel Haley

We often forget that the first Pride Parade was not a celebration, but march against the oppression faced by LGBT communities. This week marks 50 years since the Stonewall Riots in New York City, an event sparked by tensions between the New York Police Department and local LGBT communities that birthed the LGBT Pride Parades we currently commemorate.

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