 | |
| Formation | March 11, 2010 |
|---|---|
| Dissolved | April 2018 |
| Headquarters | Washington, D.C. |
Director | Robin McGehee |
| Website | GetEQUAL.org (archived) |
GetEQUAL was, from 2010 to 2018, [1] an American non-profit organization and advocacy group which advocates for LGBT social and political equality through confrontational but non-violent direct action.
GetEQUAL's mission was as follows:
Our mission is to empower the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) community and our allies to take bold action to demand full legal and social equality, and to hold accountable those who stand in the way.
The organization was founded on March 11, 2010, by Robin McGehee of Jackson, Mississippi (she was a co-director of the National Equality March and the Meet in the Middle March 4 Equality, both of 2009), and Kip Williams of Knoxville, Tennessee [3] as a nationwide alternative to other, older LGBT civil rights advocacy organizations such as the Human Rights Campaign.
GetEQUAL was envisioned as a group to establish the continuation of the message presented at the National Equality March which was to hold political leaders accountable for their campaign promises to the LGBT community as well as broaden this effort at the grassroots level. The message was a focus on recently elected officials in the presidency as well as the congressional leaders in power at the time which consisted of the Democrat house and senate majority leadership.
The organization was launched into the national spotlight when McGehee participated with Lt. Dan Choi and Captain Jim Pietrangelo in a March 18, 2010, protest on the sidewalk in front of the White House lawn; [4] all three were arrested by Washington, D.C., police after handcuffing themselves to the White House fence. It has since protested against the don't ask, don't tell (DADT) policy of the United States military and in favor of ENDA and UAFA, neither of which have passed a congressional vote as of October 2010.
GetEQUAL issued travel alerts for LGBT travelers, particularly targeting places in which laws or government actions threaten to discriminate against or impact the safety of LGBT people. Local branches issued travel alerts for San Antonio (when, in 2013, the city council threatened unsuccessfully to strike down a municipal non-discrimination ordinance [5] ) and Mississippi (when, in 2014, the state legislature worked on a bill which would allow business owners to refuse service to customers on religious grounds [6] ).
While many events have resulted in arrests for minor misdemeanors, the general public and news media have taken increasing notice of their activities and have often resulted in responses made by congressional leaders with some local success.
Within the LGBT community, critics have objected to the tactics of GetEQUAL as annoyances that may hurt the LGBT cause by criticizing the political party they view as having done most everything politically possible with the way politics actually operate from a pragmatic viewpoint. GetEQUAL has addressed these critics by clarifying the expectations being requested by leaders and addressing it from the viewpoint of promises and statements made by these leaders even though they may not have had the actual capability of fulfilling them. More recently, they have engaged these leaders in meetings where possible and when allowed.
Supporters in the LGBT community support the efforts to remind people of LGBT issues—feeling that the majority are still unaware of many LGBT issues like continued lack of work protections and the forgetting of broken promises made by politicians.
The organization's more recent activities, even before the election have quelled some of these criticisms within the community by addressing politicians like republican Senator John McCain in Arizona demonstrating their focus on LGBT rights and holding the current leadership and obstructionists accountable, regardless of party. After the 2010 congressional elections, media attention increased due to the apparent dissatisfaction by lower LGBT voter turnout and an ongoing emphasis of DADT repeal was combined with the Trevor Project's It Gets Better Project.
Once considered a wedge issue, DADT is now considered to hold out some promise as a bipartisan pilot issue that may gain traction on other needed and critical civil liberties such as equal employment rights, equal tax deductions, and granting stop gap solutions for families separated solely based on their LGBT identity.
"Don't ask, don't tell" (DADT) was the official United States policy on military service of non-heterosexual people, instituted during the Clinton administration. The policy was issued under Department of Defense Directive 1304.26 on December 21, 1993, and was in effect from February 28, 1994, until September 20, 2011. The policy prohibited military personnel from discriminating against or harassing closeted homosexual or bisexual service members or applicants, while barring openly gay, lesbian, or bisexual persons from military service. This relaxation of legal restrictions on service by gays and lesbians in the armed forces was mandated by Public Law 103–160, which was signed November 30, 1993. The policy prohibited people who "demonstrate a propensity or intent to engage in homosexual acts" from serving in the armed forces of the United States, because their presence "would create an unacceptable risk to the high standards of morale, good order and discipline, and unit cohesion that are the essence of military capability".
The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) is an American LGBTQ advocacy group. It is the largest LGBTQ political lobbying organization within the United States. Based in Washington, D.C., the organization focuses on protecting and expanding rights for LGBTQ individuals, most notably advocating for same-sex marriage, anti-discrimination and hate crimes legislation, and HIV/AIDS advocacy. The organization has a number of legislative initiatives as well as supporting resources for LGBTQ individuals.
The Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) is legislation proposed in the United States Congress that would prohibit discrimination in hiring and employment on the basis of sexual orientation or, depending on the version of the bill, gender identity, by employers with at least 15 employees.
The Log Cabin Republicans (LCR) is an organization affiliated with the Republican Party which advocates for equal rights for LGBT+ Americans.
The National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE) is a nonprofit social equality organization founded in 2003 by transgender activist Mara Keisling in Washington, D.C. The organization works primarily in the areas of policy advocacy and media activism with the aim of advancing the equality of transgender people in the United States. Among other transgender-related issue areas, NCTE focuses on discrimination in employment, access to public accommodations, fair housing, identity documents, hate crimes and violence, criminal justice reform, federal research surveys and the Census, and health care access.
Out & Equal Workplace Advocates is a United States lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) workplace equality non-profit organization headquartered in Oakland, California.
Join the Impact was an American LGBT political organization started in reaction to the passage of Proposition 8 in California which rapidly developed into a national coalition of local LGBT rights groups. The website for the group was established November 7, 2008, after founders Amy Balliett and Willow Witte decided to utilize a website to try to galvanize attention for the cause. The level of success the two women had orchestrating a nationwide protest only a week later may have benefited from the recent historical success the Obama campaign had with the medium.
Judy Shepard is the mother of Matthew Shepard, a 21-year-old student at University of Wyoming who was murdered in October 1998 in what became one of the most high-profiled cases highlighting hate-crimes against LGBT people. She and her husband, Dennis, are co-founders of the Matthew Shepard Foundation, and advocate for LGBT rights.
The United States Navy dog handler hazing scandal was a pattern of misconduct engaged in by members of the United States Navy at Naval Support Activity Bahrain between 2004 and 2006. Naval investigators documented nearly 100 incidents of abuse committed against several members of a Military Working Dog (MWD) unit stationed at the United States military base at Juffair. Documented incidents of abuse include racial intimidation, sexual harassment, physical abuse and anti-gay harassment. One sailor, Master-At-Arms 3rd Class Joseph Rocha, suffered post-traumatic stress disorder because of his abuse at the hands of fellow sailors, and he alleges that another sailor committed suicide because of her treatment. The Navy investigated the allegations in 2007 and documented the abuse, but took little substantive action. However, Pennsylvania Congressman Joe Sestak, a former Vice Admiral, demanded a new examination of the report's findings which led to the disciplining of Rocha's former superior, Chief Petty Officer Michael Toussaint. The scandal came to widespread public attention as United States President Barack Obama faced increased pressure to repeal the military's gay-exclusionary policy known as "don't ask, don't tell" (DADT).
Lawrence Stuart Milk is an American LGBT human rights activist and political speaker. The nephew of civil rights leader Harvey Milk, he is the co-founder of the Harvey Milk Foundation. He has engaged in domestic and international activism, including work with LGBT movements in Latin America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East.
Meg Sneed is an LGBT activist from Phoenix who founded the Right to Marry: Arizona campaign and cofounded the H.E.R.O. organization.
Equality Matters was a media and communications initiative in support of LGBT rights in the United States. Equality Matters was a partner organization with Media Matters for America, a progressive media watchdog group. Richard Socarides, a longtime LGBT rights activist and former senior advisor to President Bill Clinton on gay civil rights issues, served as the founding president of Equality Matters, and Kerry Eleveld, journalist for The Advocate, served as editor beginning in 2011. Both announced their departure from the organization in November 2011.
LGBT history in the United States spans the contributions and struggles of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people, as well as the LGBT social movements they have built.
Dan Choi is an American former infantry officer in the United States Army who served in combat in the Iraq War during 2006–2007. He became an LGBT rights activist following his coming out on The Rachel Maddow Show in March 2009 and publicly challenged America's Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy, which forbade lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) service members from serving openly.
United States v. Choi, 818 F. Supp. 2d 79, was a federal criminal case in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. In November 2010, Choi and 12 other protesters chained themselves to the White House fence in protest of the military "Don't Ask Don't Tell" policy, shouting "Let us serve." All 13 were arrested and charged federally. Choi rejected a plea bargain deal, and trial commenced on August 29, 2011, before United States Magistrate Judge John M. Facciola. It was halted by the prosecution after three days to pursue a writ of mandamus prohibiting the defense of selective and vindictive prosecution. After the writ was issued, Choi was convicted of a single misdemeanor charge on March 28, 2013, and fined $100.
Equality Illinois (EI) was founded in 1991 to work towards building a better Illinois by advancing equal treatment and social justice through education, advocacy, and protection of the rights of the LGBT community.
Executive Order 13672, signed by U.S. President Barack Obama on July 21, 2014, amended two earlier executive orders to extend protection against discrimination in hiring and employment to additional classes. It prohibited discrimination in the civilian federal workforce on the basis of gender identity and in hiring by federal contractors on the basis of both sexual orientation and gender identity.
The Equality Act is a bill in the United States Congress, that, if passed, would amend the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex, sexual orientation and gender identity in employment, housing, public accommodations, education, federally funded programs, credit, and jury service. The Supreme Court's June 2020 ruling in Bostock v. Clayton County protects gay and transgender people in matters of employment, but not in other respects. The Bostock ruling also covered the Altitude Express and Harris Funeral Homes cases.
Chastity D. Kirven, known as C. D. Kirven is a community organizer, human rights activist, writer, artist, filmmaker, comic book creator, feminist and outspoken LGBT rights activist. Kirven spoke at the Supreme Court during the oral arguments for the Defense of Marriage Act and Proposition 8 on March 27, 2013, which was attended by over 10,000 people.
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