Equality NC is invested in ensuring that every North Carolinian can see themselves in the LGBTQ movement and helping create a safer, more equitable world for all marginalized folks.
Work surrounding the violence that vulnerable North Carolinians endure has always been at the core of the mission and philosophy of Equality North Carolina. Across the board, LGBTQ folks, people of color and other marginalized groups face disproportionate rates of violence, incarceration and barriers to care and protection when they do experience harm or threat.
Our efforts focus on both legislative tactics to grapple with these realities alongside public education about the lived experience of these groups across the state of North Carolina. This includes:
All of our anti-violence efforts are informed by the fact that transgender people and people of color bear the brunt of bias-related crime, yet they are disproportionately likely to face harassment and arrest when they seek help from law enforcement. We believe hate crimes legislation should increase reporting requirements and training for law enforcement and prosecutors without enhancing penalties that will be enforced disproportionately against our community. However, incidents of reported hate crimes for all LGBTQ people have spiked both within North Carolina and across the United States under our current presidential administration.
Equality North Carolina believes that we should all be working towards building a world where nobody experiences violence because of who they are or who they love.
Though we’ve come a long way from the AIDS crisis that wiped out a generation of artists, thought leaders and change makers, many communities – particularly communities of color – are still battling the HIV epidemic today. Harm reduction surrounding HIV/AIDS and ensuring that the communities most affected by the virus have the resources and support that they need is at the heart of the work of ENC.
The priorities for ENC when it comes to HIV/AIDS work include:
If you would like more information about PrEP or resources related to HIV, please visit the NC AIDS Action Network.
Policy Barriers to Ending the HIV Epidemic for Transgender People of Color in North Carolina & South Carolina
TRANSforming the Carolinas is a research project of the University of North Carolina created to learn more about the challenges that transgender people of color in North Carolina and South Carolina face when accessing healthcare. This provides an assessment of policy at the state and municipal levels in both states that may create barriers to ending the HIV epidemic for transgender people of color.
With North Carolina still lacking comprehensive nondiscrimination protections for the entire LGBTQ community, ENC is committed to both legislative and public education efforts to raise awareness about the discrimination queer folks and other vulnerable groups face on a daily basis.
Legislative nondiscrimination protections are crucial to ensuring that LGBTQ people are free to work, play, love and exist in public space without the fear that they may face bias or discrimination because of their identity. Equality NC believes that there is no place for discrimination of any kind in our state.
Our priorities include:
Equality NC is committed to fusing racial justice throughout all of our programming, messaging and work as a nonprofit. As the oldest statewide organization in the country dedicated to LGBTQ rights, we are committed to embodying an intersectional approach to our activism and to uplifting voices of color whenever possible.
We believe that this country was built on the labor of people of color whose voices have been historically shut out or erased in the interests of upholding structural white supremacy — even within the LGBTQ movement itself. Equality NC is committed to centering those most marginalized by power and privilege in our work and honoring the legacy of our radical ancestors who laid the foundation for the larger equality movement today.
Equality NC upholds this commitment to racial justice through coalition building with a multitude of community partners.
Young people truly are the future and Equality NC believes that we must protect and invest in the next generation in order to build the North Carolina that we all want to live in. We think that LGBTQ youth must be safeguarded from harmful practices like conversion therapy and given opportunities for empowerment and growth in order to become the leaders of tomorrow.
Our organization is committed to the youth of tomorrow through:
