EQUALITY CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE

Equality California Institute brings the voices of LGBTQ+ people and allies to institutions of power in California and across the United States, striving to create a world that is healthy, just, and fully equal for all LGBTQ+ people. We advance civil rights and social justice by inspiring, advocating, and mobilizing through an inclusive movement that works tirelessly on behalf of those we serve. Equality California Institute, along with its affiliate 501(c)(4) Equality California, are the nation’s largest statewide LGBTQ+ civil rights organizations, with 900,000 members, and California’s only LGBTQ+ civil rights organizations working at the local, state, and national levels.

We are a diverse organization, accountable to California’s diverse LGBTQ+ community. We define “LGBTQ+ issues” broadly and are fighting for full, lived equality for all LGBTQ+ people and the diverse communities to which we belong — centering those in our community most at-risk of discrimination, including LGBTQ+ people of color, TGI people, immigrants, young people, women, and people living with HIV. For more than 20 years, Equality California Institute has been fighting for LGBTQ+ equality, and we will keep fighting until the work is done.

Our priorities areas are:
• Health & Well-being: Reducing disparities in LGBTQ+ health and well-being
• Leadership: Empowering LGBTQ+ elected, appointed and community leaders
• People Power: Increasing civic participation and building political power within the LGBTQ+ community

Through these and other channels, Equality California Institute is seeking to create change in our communities and public systems and to reduce disparities in LGBTQ+ health and well-being.

Advance Cutting-Edge Legislation
• Continue to advance LGBTQ+ civil rights and social justice legislation in California, including legislation to protect the most vulnerable among us.
• Promote California’s pro-equality legal landscape as a roadmap for states across the country.
• Advance LGBTQ+ civil rights and social justice legislation at the federal level.
• Expand programs to assist LGBTQ+ organizations in other states to adopt LGBTQ+ civil rights and social justice legislation.
• Create affiliate infrastructure in other states where existing capacity is weak or nonexistent.

Enhance Our Electoral Clout
• Build the bench of openly LGBTQ+ elected and appointed officials to fuel the LGBTQ+ movement in California and beyond.
• Mobilize voter turnout for pro-equality candidates at the state and national levels.

Address Disparities In Health & Well-Being
• Continue to invest in programmatic work that focuses on vulnerable communities to which LGBTQ+ people belong, including communities of color and faith, immigrants, people living with HIV, elders, youth, people with disabilities, women and members of TGI communities.
• Improve LGBTQ+ competency in institutions that support the public in times of need and crisis, including healthcare providers, schools and universities, faith organizations and law enforcement.
• Expand programming focused on implementation of California’s pro-equality laws, including healthcare access programming and the Safe & Supportive Schools Initiative.
• Advocate for increased government resources to meet the needs of all LGBTQ+ people and people at risk of, or living with, HIV.

Educate, Mobilize & Engage Our Community
• Maintain a robust, comprehensive communications strategy to mobilize and engage the community at the local, state and federal levels.
• Increase Equality California’s earned media platform to become one of the go-to organizations in the nation for issues and stories relevant to the LGBTQ+ community.
• Maintain and strengthen Equality California’s role as the statewide convener and leader of the California’s LGBTQ+ community regarding health, electoral, legislative and policy issues.
• Increase and strengthen collaboration with LGBTQ+, labor, business and progressive partners to advance the community’s priorities.
• Optimize technology infrastructure to improve programmatic effectiveness.

Serve As A Talent Engine For The LGBTQ+ Movement
• Recruit and train the next generation of LGBTQ+ community leaders, enhancing their understanding of LGBTQ+ civil rights and social justice issues and community priorities.
• Invest in training and career advancement for staff through professional development opportunities that expand and refine skill sets that can be used to advance priorities in the public and private sectors.
• Mentor smaller organizations in the movement to build LGBTQ+ movement capacity at the local and state levels.
• Expand mentorship opportunities for volunteer leadership at Equality California.

Equality California Institute, along with its affiliate 501(c)(4) Equality California, are the nation’s largest statewide LGBTQ+ civil rights organizations and California’s only LGBTQ+ civil rights organizations working at the local, state, and national levels.

Our size lends itself to our strong communications and mobilization capacity, allowing us to reach large numbers of LGBTQ+ and allied individuals to conduct outreach, public education, and mobilization. As a leader in the fight for marriage equality, Equality California Institute is well known in the LGBTQ+ community and has a reputation for being leaders in the fight for LGBTQ+ equity and inclusion. We have positive relationships with LGBTQ+ and allied social justice organizations and non-profits across the state, are well-respected among our peer organizations and elected and appointed officials, and have an engaged and loyal board of directors, staff, and volunteer base.

Equality California Institute, along with our affiliate 501(c)(4) Equality California, was established in 1998 as the California Alliance for Pride and Equality (the name Equality California was adopted in 2003) with a mission to ensure the dignity, safety, equality and civil rights of all lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) Californians.

Today, Equality California is the largest statewide LGBTQ+ civil rights organization in the nation. Our programs cover a wide range of topics that impact the diverse LGBTQ+ community, including healthcare, immigration, education, HIV prevention, TGI (transgender, gender-nonconforming and intersex) visibility, mental health, religious acceptance of LGBTQ+ people and leadership development for LGBTQ+ youth and adults.

We have achieved historic firsts in California—protecting LGBTQ+ youth from so-called “conversion therapy,” expanding access to life-saving HIV prevention medication, protecting transgender students from discrimination, and guaranteeing healthcare for transgender youth in foster care. We have launched innovative programs to support LGBTQ+ students in the Central Valley, empower the next generation of LGBTQ+ leaders to pursue elected and appointed office, and ensure healthcare professionals and homeless service providers have the tools and training they need to care for the LGBTQ+ community. Through these and many other efforts, we have also paved the way for the rest of the nation to follow—creating a roadmap and helping our partners in other states replicate our success. We have built California into a beacon of hope to LGBTQ+ people around the world, and we will not stop fighting until the work is done.