Equality NC Celebrates Our 2011 Achievements

HIV/AIDS Prevention & Care Funding

In a difficult budget climate, Equality NC and our allies mobilized supporters and succeeded at maintaining AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP) funding, which provides life-saving medicine to low-income people living with HIV, as well as HIV prevention funding, and we fought back attempts to impose prior authorization restrictions on HIV meds for Medicaid recipients.

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.

Joint Custody of Kids for LGBT Couples

The NC Supreme Court affirmed same-sex shared custody in cases that were previously decided by the Court of Appeals two years ago. (More information and details can be found at Court of Appeals Decisions Give Road Map for Same-Sex Parents.)

Equality NC provided critical information and data to the NC Supreme Court regarding a case on second-parent gay adoption before this decision was made. While second-parent same-sex adoption is not legal in North Carolina, the affirmation of previous legal custody findings affirmed rights for LGBT families. Family law attorneys Sharon Thompson and Corye Dunn explain: "There will now no longer be any legal question in North Carolina that if you were jointly raising a child with your partner who is the legal parent, then you will be entitled to pursue a claim for custody if you were to unfortunately break up."

Equality NC Hires New Staff

Equality NC increased our capacity by hiring Communication Director Jen Jones and Development Associate Devin Post, and we transitioned in new Director of Field Organizing Sam Parker and Executive Director Stuart Campbell (following interim Executive Director Alex Miller).

Equality NC also got to work with an assortment of amazing organizers and interns across the state to educate the public on the harms of the proposed legislation, as well as start to develop the next generation of LGBT and allied leaders. These include: Jasmine Beach-Farrara, Scott Bishop, Hillary Bruce, Paul Choi, Gree Cook, Lee Crayton, Nathan Creger, Kane French, Teawan Gausi, Daniel Green, Catherine Medlock-Walton, Tucker Middleton, Brant Miller, Jessica Osborn, Matt Phillippi, Andrew Porter, Ryan Rowe, Chris Speer, and Josh Wynne.

Marriage Discrimination Amendment

Equality NC was able to mobilize over 57,000 supporters to contact their legislators to oppose a ballot measure to vote a constitutional marriage discrimination amendment.

While the newly arch-conservative legislature did pass this measure to be voted on May 8, 2012, Equality NC gained gained national attention on this issue. In response to the legislative decision, we co-founded Protect All NC Families, a broad coalition of advocacy groups, civil rights organizations, faith leaders, the disabled community, domestic violence victims, corporations, nonprofits, professional associations, congregations, and elected officials who are spearheading the campaign against this attempt to write discrimination into out state's founding document.

To see the full list of coalition partners, go here.

For a list of faith leaders committed to equality, click here.

Equality NC also partnered with the Human Rights Campaign to run ads from faith leaders in leading newspapers across the state. You can view the ad here. [ADD AD IMAGE AND LINK]

Public Policy Polling, Elon, CNN, and Gallup Polling Show Majority Support Legal Recognition of NC Same-Sex Couples

The anti-LGBT, anti-family marriage amendment also gave us the opportunity to engage at an unprecedented level with people across the state, as well learn about the public's attitudes towards fairness and LGBT equality through a series of validated polls.

Public Policy Polling (PPP) surveys show 52% of North Carolina voters support marriage equality (24%) or another form of legal recognition (28%). PPP also showed that 12% of Republicans polled are in favor of full marriage rights, while 39% support civil unions, i.e., 51% support some form of relationship recognition.

This poll confirms that North Carolinians are increasingly supportive of basic protections of same-sex couples and their families, and as the generational shift continues that support will only increase.

The poll also showed 64% of independent voters and 60% of Democratic voters support LGBT relationship recognition.

The Elon poll showed 57% support for marriage, civil union, or partnerships for same-sex couples, with only 35% opposing any legal recognition for same-sex couples. That represents 9% increase in support for legal recognition of same-sex relationships in the past two years. This year, 29% support civil unions or partnerships, while 28% support full marriage rights.

The survey also found a 56% of North Carolinians oppose or strongly oppose an amendment to the state constitution that would prevent any same-sex marriages, with just 38% supporting. Opposition to the amendment increased 5% in the last two years.

Similarly, a CNN opinion research poll shows a majority of Americans favor  marriage equality, with 51% saying that marriages between gay and lesbian couples “should be recognized by the law as valid.”

Finally, Gallup's polling of the issue this year showed that a majority of Americans (53%) believe gay marriage should be recognized by law.

Statewide Equality In Action Tour Launched

Equality NC worked on the ground organizing supporters, speaking with groups, and holding programs in these cities and towns this year, mobilizing the power of people in action across the state:

• Asheville
• Boone
• Chapel Hill
• Charlotte
• Cullowhee
• Davidson
• Durham
• Fayetteville
• Greensboro
• Greenville
• Jamestown
  
• Newton
• Pinehurst
  
• Raleigh
• Rocky Mount
• Salisbury
• Wilmington
• Winston-Salem
• ...and many more thanks to our amazing online activists and volunteers!

Equality NC's Postcard Campaign Collected and Delivered 57,000 Signatures In Opposition to the Anti-Family, Anti-LGBT Amendment Legislation

• Terri Brinton, Mark Brown, David Carter, Christy Croft, Emily Croft, Mark Croft, Gerry Daley, Callie DeBellis, Stormy Ellis, Mike Gould, Royce Hardin, Ashley Holland, Julie Keever, Brandon Manchester, Joe Marker, Cathy Marshall, Joan McCallister, Judy McCord, Chris McDougald, Tim Niles, Melissa Nord, Dave Ruffin, and Ryan Smith.

Equality NC Recruits Student Ambassadors

Equality NC recruited highly-motivated undergraduate students from colleges and universities across North Carolina to work against the discriminatory amendment. These students all have a passion for LGBT equality and are part of our flagship Equality NC Student Ambassadors program. These motivated and energetic students include:

Equality NC Moves To The Cutting Edge And Leverages Social Media

Equality NC launched an innovative campaign to build our online presence, especially on Facebook and Twitter, leading to an amazing 42,600 FB friends and 4,400 Twitter followers. ENC also convened dozens of Twitter parties, engaging hundreds of supporters across the state through virtual gatherings. We raised money thanks to Chris Hughes, co-founder of Facebook, and his $10,000 FB challenge, and through Twitter with the Stiefel Freethought Foundation $10,000 challenge.

National and Statewide Support for Equality

Equality NC convened a number of events across the state, and thanks to our work to stop the anti-family, anti-LGBT amendment, we received comments from well-known national and statewide individuals and organizations opposing the idea of voting on civil rights, including:

• Raleigh Mayor Charles Meeker
  
• John M. Robinson, Director of the Office of Civil Rights for the U.S. State Department
• Gov. Bev Perdue
• Lt. Gov. Walter Dalton
  
• Rep. Renee Ellmers
  
• Rep. Brad Miller
• Rep. David Price
• Sen. Kay Hagan
• President Barack Obama

Organizations that voiced their support include:

• NAACP
• Episcopal Diocese of NC
• NC State University
• NC Central University
• NC Psychological Association
• NC Advocates for Justice

Companies that expressed their commitment to fairness and equality include:

• Self-Help Credit Union and the Center for Responsible Lending
• Bank of America
• Facebook
• American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA)
• Replacements, Ltd
• Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams
• Argyle Social
• The Body Shop
• The Sorin Group Insurance

Equality NC Tabled at Events Throughout North Carolina

• Blue Ridge Pride
• Charlotte Business Guild
• Crape Myrtle Festival
  
• Drag Bingo (across the state)
• NC Council of Churches Legislative Seminar
  
• NC Gay & Lesbian Film Festival
  
• NC Pride
• NC State Fair
• OutRaleigh
  
• Pride Charlotte
  
• Rallies Against the Anti-LGBT Constitutional Amendment (across the state)
  
• Transgender Day of Remeberance (across the state)
• Triangle Black Pride
  
• Vigils for Equality (across the state)
  
• Winston-Salem Pride

Asheville, Carrboro, Durham, Chapel Hill, and Raleigh City Councils Oppose Amendment

Several cities and municipalities voiced their support for all of their citizens, including the metropolitan ones listed above.

NC Newspapers Oppose Amendment

The majority of newspapers across the state, including The News & Observer, The Triangle Business Journal, The Charlotte Observer, The Charlotte Business Journal, The Wilmington Star-News, The Shelby Star, The Winston-Salem Journal, The Greensboro News & Record, and The Lexington Dispatch wrote editorials opposing the amendment for the harms it causes NC families and the damage it could cause to the economy.

Equality NC's Fundraising Campaigns Eclipses Previous Years

The Bucks Against Bigotry Challenge raised $14,016, breaking the record previously set by its Froot Loops campaign of $8,500.

The Facebook challenge gained more than 10,000 new FB followers and $10,000.

We raised $32,161 in our Turn The Tide Campaign.

Thanks to thousands of retweets during our 'Truth Tuesday' campaign, we earned $10,000 from the Stiefel Freethought Foundation.

As always, we could not have done any of our work without the dedicated and regular support of all of our donors. Every gift helps us to work for equality for all LGBT North Carolinians. We give special thanks to the major donors in our Equality Council.

2011 Equality Conference & Gala

The 2011 Equality Conference & Gala at UNC-G and the Empire Room in Greensboro was the most successful ever. [EXPAND NUMBER OF ATTENDEES, MONEY RAISED, WORKSHOPS OF NOTE]

Awards & Recognition

Finally, Equality NC collected several awards again this year, including:

• Q-Notes – QList Best LGBT Non Profit Organization
  
• Q-Notes – QList Most Effective Grassroots Advocacy

• Equality Federation - Most Creative Organizing Tactic, "Keep Discrimination Out of North Carolina" 2011 Postcard Campaign

• Equality Federation - Best Fundraising Effort, "Bucks Against Bigotry" Challenge Fundraising Campaign

• Equality Federation - Most Out of the Box Strategy, Froot Loops Campaign
  

While 2012 is already proving to be an exciting and challenging year, we thank all of our supporters, donors, and allies. Working together, we will all move North Carolina towards a state of equality for its LGBT residents.