Your Gift Has an Impact!

Click here to return to our main donation page!

HIV/AIDS Prevention & Care Funding

In early 2010, the state's AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP), which provides life-saving medicine to low-income people living with HIV, was closed to new enrollees due to insufficient funding. Equality NC and our allies sprang into action and, despite a large budget shortfall, secured an additional $14.1 million for the program — more than doubling the state's investment. We were also successful in maintaining ongoing funding for HIV prevention programs.

Marriage Discrimination Amendment

For the seventh year in a row, Equality NC successfully blocked efforts to amend our state constitution to deny same-sex couples marriage and any other type of relationship recognition. We remain the only Southern state without such an amendment, and have a tough fight ahead of us in 2011 to keep it that way.

Safe Schools

This year the nation finally turned its attention to the epidemic of anti-LGBT bullying in our schools, and we are proud North Carolina was ahead of the curve. Thanks to our work to win passage of the SVPA in 2009, every public school student in North Carolina started this school year with comprehensive, inclusive anti-bullying protections in place. Equality NC Foundation's SVPA Implementation Toolkit provides a valuable resource for students, parents, and community members to ensure local school districts live up to their obligations under the law and provide additional resources like training and programming for students.

Comprehensive Sexuality Education

Because of the Healthy Youth Act, also passed in 2009, public school students in grades 7-9 now have access to comprehensive, medically accurate sexuality education instead of the failed "abstinence until marriage" of the past.

UNC System Code of Conduct

The Board of Governors for the 17-campus University of North Carolina approved a revised student code of conduct that prohibits harassment based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Equality NC and others advocated for this inclusive policy because threats of violence and harassment should never be ignored or dismissed. 

Hospital Non-Discrimination

Equality NC's Transgender Policy Task Force, a group of volunteers who lead our efforts to win transgender-inclusive policies at the state level, identified health care discrimination as a top issue for the transgender community. On their recommendation, Equality NC petitioned to add "gender identity" to the non-discrimination provision of the Hospital Patients Bill of Rights for the state and to update "sexual preference" to "sexual orientation." After securing unanimous approval from the Medical Care Commission and the Rules Review Commission, this important rule took effect on January 1, 2011.

Hospital Visitation

This November, the US Department of Health and Human Services implemented national hospital non-discrimination rules based on the policy Equality NC secured at the state level in 2008. President Barack Obama quoted the North Carolina policy in his Presidential Memo initiating this important change for families nationwide, another reminder that change for our community flows up from the states, not down from Washington, DC.

Elections

Although the election brought many new anti-equality legislators into office, there was good news for the community as well. Voters elected Marcus Brandon to serve as the first openly gay member of the NC House of Representatives and one of just five openly gay African-American legislators in the country.

North Carolina voters were clearly not focused on social issues like LGBT rights. Equality NC PAC's endorsed candidates fared well; none of the group's endorsed candidates who were previously elected to their seats were defeated, and 42 of 52 endorsed legislative candidates won their races. While some pundits said that voting for our pro-equality legislation was politically dangerous, legislators in challenging districts who were directly attacked for supporting the School Violence Prevention Act won re-election. 

Equality Conference & Gala

In spite of the economy and elections, Equality NC Foundation's fourth annual Equality Conference & Gala was another amazing success, raising $93,000 and attracting 275 conference participants and 280 gala attendees. Houston's openly lesbian mayor, Annise Parker, gave an inspiring keynote address to close out a phenomenal day of workshops and networking at the conference. At the gala, outgoing House Speaker Joe Hackney received our 2010 Legislative Leadership Award, and our very first Equality Champion Awards were presented to amazing community leaders from five regions across the state:  Roberta Dunn, Ellen "Lennie" W. Gerber, Reverend Joe Hoffman & Noel Nickle, Aaron Lucier, and Joshua Lee Weaver.

Day of Action

This May, more than 175 people assembled in the state capital to lobby their elected officials during the short legislative session. Our 2010 Day Of Action brought together a diverse crowd in support of equality for LGBT North Carolinians, including a People of Color Caucus who met with members of the NC Legislative Black Caucus.

Education & Outreach

Equality NC staff, board, interns, and volunteers provided educational, awareness-raising, and volunteer opportunities from the mountains to the coast this year, as well as numerous virtual ways for North Carolinians to raise their online voices for LGBT rights. Just a smattering of these include: 

• a summit for LGBT-affirming clergy in Western North Carolina
• a "Respect in our Schools" anti-bullying training for educators in Guilford County, organized by Equality NC and several local organizations
• tabling at PRIDE events across the state
• the creation of the Celebrating Our Families blog to promote positive stories of LGBT-headed families
• an educational event with the Human Rights Campaign focused on LGBT discrimination at the state and federal levels
• multiple fun and successful volunteer days at both the Raleigh and Greensboro offices
• partnering with the UNC Lambda Legal Law Student Association for power of attorney clinics
• participation in social justice events such as the commemorative march celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Woolworth's sit-ins in Greensboro
• partnering with the LGBT Center of Raleigh for the Transgender Day of Remembrance
• supporting the ongoing outreach work of our Transgender Policy Task Force and new People of Color Task Force
• presentations at colleges including Davidson College, Fayetteville State University, UNC Greensboro, and UNC Wilmington, as well as for community groups, faith communities, and businesses across the state.

Building Our Base

Growing our base of supporters statewide makes us more and more effective each year. With over 13,000 dedicated online activists, 4,500 followers on Facebook, and 1,500 on Twitter, we have a strong group of people ready to take action for fairness.

Building Our Leaders

Building up great leaders is always an important part of our work. We put 22 local activists through an intensive day-long training in Greensboro this June. We also helped train another generation of leaders through our internship program. We couldn't accomplish so much with so little without the work of our dedicated interns:  Cameron Breither, Aaron Camp, Daniel Green, Jack Grote, Brandon Hicks, Matthew McGibney, Brant Miller, Danielle O’Bryan, Devin Post, Hillary Waugh, and Rebecca Weidler.

Building Our Capacity

With the ongoing economic downturn, we had to work harder than ever to secure the necessary resources for our work, but once again, our supporters came through. Funds raised for Equality NC and Equality NC Foundation increased by 11% from 2008-2009. Our leadership gifts team worked extra hard in 2010, raising just over $111,000, up from $105,000 in 2009 and $80,000 in 2008. Our annual PAC Challenge was also successful in 2010, generating over $40,000 to help support pro-LGBT candidates in North Carolina.

We are proud to report that monthly giving to Equality NC and Equality NC Foundation has almost quadrupled since 2007. Monthly donations now make up a third of Equality NC's total budget, making it possible for our lobbying organization to achieve big things like getting the School Violence Prevention Act passed. Our donors are our investors and we take their confidence in our work very seriously.

We are deeply grateful to all of our donors for their continuing support of our work during this time, and to all those people who have become monthly donors and/or joined our Equality Council in this and previous years.

Thanks to our increased support and a special grant from the Guilford Green Foundation, we were able to open our first satellite office in Greensboro this year, making it easier for us to extend our reach into the western part of the state.

"Fruitloops" Campaign

After NC Representative Larry Brown sent an email calling LGBT people "queers" and "fruitloops," Equality NC called out his bigotry and urged supporters to send messages to Brown along with boxes of Froot Loops and donations to Equality NC. The campaign garnered hundreds of donations from across the country, generated 279 messages to the representative, and raised $8,500 (and we delivered the actual cereal to Triad Health Project's food pantry). The incident also generated great coverage across the state and as far afield as CNN, Perez Hilton, and Saturday Night Live!

Awards & Recognition

• Q-Notes – QList Best LGBT Non-Profit in North Carolina
• Q-Notes – QList Most Effective Grassroots Advocacy