An Agenda of Working Together

We found this posted in Indiana Equality's site, a release from the Equality Federation citing working together across organization and state lines as an important part of their 2010 agenda.  We have been strong proponents of less organizations and more cooperation, so we believe this is a very good approach:

Equality Federation board members from states across the country returned home from San Francisco yesterday after a two-day retreat intended to set the organization’s agenda for the next year. The Federation plays a critical role in the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equal rights movement by delivering resources to the organizations and leaders who organize, educate, and lobby for LGBT people in the communities where they live.



This year, the Board committed itself to launching a multi-state dialogue about the role of our LGBT advocacy organizations in working on issues surrounding race, gender identity, and poverty. “I am very excited by the commitment of Equality Federation board members to a project working on racial, transgender and economic justice,” said Federation board member and Basic Rights Oregon executive director Jeana Frazzini. “We are already doing this kind of work at Basic Rights Oregon and I look forward to sharing what we have learned and engaging with other movement leaders committed to dismantling racism.”


“I am especially pleased by the Board’s desire to better understand the issues faced by transgender people, who overall experience some of the harshest discrimination in our communities,” said Gunner Scott, executive director of Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition. “Transgender people face extremely high rates of poverty and transgender people of color are hit especially hard by discrimination.”


Over the next year, Equality Federation will take specific steps to address issues of racial, transgender, and economic justice by training its board, exploring partnerships and funding to support state justice training and projects, and actively working through committees and membership meetings to assess strategies through this justice framework.
 
Click here to read the rest of this release.