NEAT News Blog

The NEAT Blog: Organizing, Solidarity and Victories for LGBTQ+ Justice

Keep up with the National Equality Action Team as we campaign for equality, mark hard-fought legal wins, and stand beside communities confronting injustice.

NEAT Needs You This Year for #GiveOUTDay

Posted 6/26/2020

The national #GiveOUTDay is back on June 30, and your involvement can help turn it into a big success. Give OUT Day is the only nationwide giving day devoted to the LGBTQ+ community, and since 2013 it has raised millions of dollars for hundreds of LGBTQ+ organizations. Every gift of $10 or more made to NEAT between now and June 30 helps us compete for extra cash and other valuable prizes.

This year the campaign spans all of Pride Month, so contributions made throughout June count toward the total. Nearly $100,000 will be awarded to qualifying organizations. Your support is what keeps NEAT fighting for justice for the LGBTQ+ community.

Intersections: Using Privilege to Challenge Systemic Racism

Posted 6/22/2020

NEAT recently joined more than 800 other LGBTQ-focused organizations in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement through the joint statement LGBTQ Organizations Unite to Combat Racial Violence. Building on that solidarity, this month's Intersections looks at how we can deepen allyship in service of this cause.

"Privilege" is a term heard often these days, and it can sometimes put people on the defensive. Yet everyone holds different privileges; a wealthy person, for example, enjoys the advantages that come with financial security. A short four-minute video below explains the basics of privilege.

Now the entire LGBTQ+ community, and especially white individuals, is called to rise up and fight for our Black family, shield them from harm, and lift up their equality. Every bit of privilege that was used to advance marriage equality should now be aimed at and leveraged for Black Lives Matter. This call to action is easier said than done, since privilege does not welcome being used to diminish itself. But Pride is hollow and sad if it does not include all of us, and it is once again time to earn the right to be proud.

If you hold privilege and are unsure where to begin, NEAT also endorsed the Human Rights Campaign's LGBTQ Organizations Unite in Calling for Transformational Change in Policing statement, which lays out concrete changes to implement nationwide:

• Divest public funding from police and invest in our communities
• Shift most first responder responsibilities away from police
• End predictive policing
• Make police union contracts public and hold officers liable

Call on your communities and lawmakers to focus on these topics and redirect resources toward them so real change can take hold across the country.

VICTORY: Supreme Court Rules LGBTQ+ Discrimination Illegal Under Federal Law

Posted 6/15/2020

Written by the NEAT News Team. The U.S. Supreme Court has handed down its opinion in three cases, ruling that LGBTQ+ employment discrimination is illegal under federal law. The National Equality Action Team (NEAT) will host a Virtual National Rally followed by our Virtual Town Hall. Join the Rally here or through our Facebook page tonight at 7pm ET, where we will gather as a community and hear from remarkable speakers. Also RSVP for the Town Hall login, which will feature experts analyzing the opinion, how it affects our lives, and what work remains.

The historic 6-3 opinion was written by conservative Associate Justice Gorsuch, joined by Chief Justice Roberts and their liberal colleagues. In essence, the court agreed that a person's sex cannot be separated from discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. The holding is clear and unequivocal: "An employer who fires an individual merely for being gay or transgender violates Title VII." While the case is limited to employment, it necessarily creates protected classes for the LGBTQ+ community. This deserves celebration as a major victory with far-reaching implications for lived equality.

It is important to remember that these cases were brought by real people and citizens. We mourn the recent loss of Aimee Stephens, the Michigan transgender woman who brought one of these cases to the high court, and Don Zarda, who also died during the litigation while his family continued his representation. Sadly, neither Don nor Aimee lived to see this triumphant conclusion. Along with Gerald Bostock, a mental health counselor, these three have left a lasting mark on this country and should be recognized now and in history as champions for human rights.

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