Dr. Fred Richter, Champion for Equality

On July 29, 2023 in Statesboro, Georgia Equality was proud to honor Dr. Fred Richter with the Champion for Equality Award due to his hard work to advance fairness, safety, and opportunity for LGBTQ+ people in Statesboro and across Georgia. This is Dr. Richter’s acceptance speech:

I am deeply grateful for this honor, but in truth, all I’ve ever done is SAY GAY. The incriminating word was “homosexual” when I was a boy, and I said it to myself in my closet of despair. A crime, a sickness, a sin. Heavy burden for any young boy or girl.

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PRESS RELEASE: DEKALB COUNTY PASSES ADDITIONAL LGBTQ PROTECTIONS FROM DISCRIMINATION

Georgia’s latest municipality to explicitly protect LGBTQ people.

July 11, 2023 (DeKalb County, GA) – Today, by unanimous vote, the DeKalb County Board of Commissioners passed a nondiscrimination ordinance providing critical public accommodation protections to LGBTQ folks and other marginalized groups who live, work, and visit DeKalb County as well as explicit employment protections to LGBTQ county employees. Continue reading


PRESS RELEASE: 303 CREATIVE: U.S. SUPREME COURT ALLOWS BUSINESSES LICENSE TO DISCRIMINATE

June 30, 2023 (Atlanta, GA) – In response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s breaking decision that 303 Creative, Inc. can constitutionally refuse business to customers on the basis of their sexual orientation, experts released the following statements:

Jeff Graham (he/him), Executive Director of Georgia Equality, said:

“Today, the U.S. Supreme Court gave way to targeted efforts to roll back long-standing protections for LGBTQ+ people. Our country decided long ago that a business opening its doors to the public must do so to everybody on the same terms. Yet this radical and reckless ruling contradicts decades of settled law and opens the door for discrimination against people of all different backgrounds– LGBTQ+ people, people of color, women, and people of different faiths. We commend Justice Sotomayor’s dissent in this case, likely the most affirming statement on the history and dignity of LGBTQ+ people to ever appear in a Supreme Court opinion.

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PRESS RELEASE: CITY OF TUCKER PASSES LGBTQ INCLUSIVE NONDISCRIMINATION ORDINANCE

Georgia’s 15th municipality to pass such an ordinance.

TUCKER, Georgia (June 13, 2023) – Last night, in a 6-1 vote, the Tucker City Council passed their nondiscrimination ordinance– providing critical protections to LGBTQ folks and other marginalized groups. Tucker became Georgia’s 15th municipality to offer such protections to those who live, work, and visit there.

“Thanks to the hard work of local advocates in Tucker, the passage of this ordinance ensures 38,000 more Georgians are provided the necessary protections from discrimination that we all deserve,” said Jeff Graham, Georgia Equality’s executive director. “All of us at Georgia Equality are proud to have been involved in this work, as we continue pushing for the passage of these protections in cities and counties across Georgia.”

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