by Jeff White
On October 8, as the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments on three cases to decide whether LGBTQ+ workers should keep existing workplace protections, NEAT was organizing hundreds of people on the court steps and supporting thousands more in local events from coast to coast. Our partners had shown up to support LGBTQ+ worker protections as part of one of NEAT’s collaborative national actions called #DecisionDay.
#OurDayInCourt is a national collaborative organized and facilitated by NEAT to respond to key U.S. Supreme Court cases that affect LGBTQ+ people. The coalition includes large national LGBTQ+ groups like the National LGBTQ Task Force, HRC, and the ACLU, as well as over fifty local grassroots organizations nationwide. In addition to the major rally at the U.S. Supreme Court where NEAT’s Founder and Executive Director Brian Silva addressed the crowd, groups organized local rallies, faith services, “honk-and-wave” events and more to garner media coverage and community support for a potentially dangerous ruling from the Court.
On October 8, as the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments on three cases to decide whether LGBTQ+ workers should keep existing workplace protections, NEAT was organizing hundreds of people on the court steps and supporting thousands more in local events from coast to coast. Our partners had shown up to support LGBTQ+ worker protections as part of one of NEAT’s collaborative national actions called #DecisionDay.
#OurDayInCourt is a national collaborative organized and facilitated by NEAT to respond to key U.S. Supreme Court cases that affect LGBTQ+ people. The coalition includes large national LGBTQ+ groups like the National LGBTQ Task Force, HRC, and the ACLU, as well as over fifty local grassroots organizations nationwide. In addition to the major rally at the U.S. Supreme Court where NEAT’s Founder and Executive Director Brian Silva addressed the crowd, groups organized local rallies, faith services, “honk-and-wave” events and more to garner media coverage and community support for a potentially dangerous ruling from the Court.
As part of #OurDayInCourt, NEAT created the temporary microsite OurDayInCourt.org as a central hub for information about the cases and resources to organize community responses. NEAT hosted multiple organizing and public education calls and webinars, and created multiple resources to assist partners in executing their actions.
All of this culminated in NEAT’s Virtual Town Hall the evening after oral arguments where the panel, including legal experts from Harvard Law School, Freedom for All Americans and Equality Case Files, shared their thoughts and analysis from oral arguments and answered attendee questions. Over 500 LGBTQ+ leaders and members participated on this call and hundreds more were able to access the information via a recording afterwards. As part of NEAT’s ongoing efforts on this issue, we continue to phone bank to push legislators to pass the Equality Act to mitigate any potential negative ruling on these cases, as well as organize for a community response - good or bad - on #DecisionDay in 2020 when the Court hands down its decision.
All of this culminated in NEAT’s Virtual Town Hall the evening after oral arguments where the panel, including legal experts from Harvard Law School, Freedom for All Americans and Equality Case Files, shared their thoughts and analysis from oral arguments and answered attendee questions. Over 500 LGBTQ+ leaders and members participated on this call and hundreds more were able to access the information via a recording afterwards. As part of NEAT’s ongoing efforts on this issue, we continue to phone bank to push legislators to pass the Equality Act to mitigate any potential negative ruling on these cases, as well as organize for a community response - good or bad - on #DecisionDay in 2020 when the Court hands down its decision.