This week marked the 3rd anniversary of my tenure at NCLR. This anniversary has another significance for those of us in the Bay Area: I started this job the same day California introduced a mandatory shelter-in-place order due to the global COVID pandemic. The pandemic punctuates the way many of us have experienced the past three years. Because the pandemic and my start at NCLR happened at the same time, for me, it has served as a reminder that we are inextricably interconnected, a...
“Urvashi was a trailblazer, a true leader and an inspiration to all she touched. She changed the world, she changed the movement, and on a personal note, she changed me. Her influence is felt everytime we take a more intersectional approach to our work. She will be missed by us all, but her legacy will be felt forever.” – Imani Rupert-Gordon, NCLR Executive Director “We call for the end of bigotry as we know it. The end of racism as we know it. The end of child abuse in the family...
During Lesbian Visibility Week, the National Center for Lesbian Rights, National Center for Transgender Equality, and the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund honor the lives and experiences of transgender and non-binary lesbians. We affirm that trans women are women and that trans and non-binary lesbians are a valued part of the LGBTQ community. As politicians and policymakers seek to strip LGBTQ people, especially transgender people, of their freedoms, it is important for us to stand...
When Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson was confirmed last week as the first Black woman to serve on the United States Supreme Court, many of us rejoiced as we saw yet another crack in the symbolic glass ceiling that has historically kept women, especially Black women and women of color, from reaching our full potential. This week is Black Maternal Health Week, and while I am still elated for what Judge Jackson represents, I can’t help but feel disheartened by the barriers and inequities that still...
Today we honor the life and legacy of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. His vision and courage defined the Civil Rights Movement and fundamentally shaped the fight for racial and economic justice. His vision continues to serve as a guide for all other social justice movements to this day. And, as far as we’ve come to Dr. King’s “beloved community,” even in 2022, there are still so many obvious ways that we continue to fall short. In 1964, Dr. King called poverty an “evil that plagues the...
Because of the strength and courage of survivors, today is Andrew Cuomo’s last day as the Governor of New York. It has taken years of abuse, a 5-month long investigation, a 7-day waiting period, and a 14-day transition for a man credibly accused of sexually harassing and abusing women on his staff, to step down from his position. And while we owe a debt to the women who came forward, it should not take the incredible bravery of these 11 women to achieve this level of accountability. It should...
Happy Juneteenth! Something pretty incredible happened this week. On June 17th, President Biden signed a bill that officially commemorates Juneteenth as the 11th annual federal holiday in the United States. Slavery is perhaps our country’s most appalling and shameful legacy. Even after President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 declaring the end to slavery in the United States, this was not enforced in every part of the country. In fact, it was not until more than two years...
I remember where I was when then President-elect Biden was the first to mention gay and transgender people in his Presidential victory address. My wife and I looked at each other in disbelief. It was a bold way to show us that we matter. Yesterday, we learned that this wasn’t an empty promise, when on his very first day in office, one of President Biden’s first executive orders was to apply all federal sex discrimination laws to include sexual orientation and gender identity. This...
Hello NCLR! This has been a difficult time, and many of us have been reflecting on why we do our work, what drives us, and what inspires us. In 1989 Kimberlé Crenshaw coined the term intersectionality. And although these days it has become a bit of a buzzword, it is still the concept that helps me best articulate why I do my work, and more specifically, why I do my work the WAY I do. Often, when we hear the word intersectional, it’s to explain how we talk about someone who...
Good morning NCLR! It feels like just yesterday I joined you, but, if you can believe this, I just hit my 6-month anniversary as part of the NCLR family! Even during COVID, NCLR has been working hard to protect our community. As a co-founder of the National Anti-Poverty Action Network, we continue to work to protect LGBTQ people living in poverty. If you didn’t get a chance to check out our priorities for the next administration check them out here. And we continue our groundbreaking work,...
