Equality & Fairness
We advance federal civil rights for LGBTQ Americans and First Amendment freedoms for all Americans — together. Freedoms beget freedoms, and most Americans are tired of being told they have to choose.
There is a path forward.
For more than a decade, federal progress on LGBTQ civil rights has been frozen by partisan gridlock. Most Americans don't support the extremes. They want their LGBTQ neighbors safe, their faith communities protected, and their families recognized. Those aren't in conflict. We exist to prove it.
Safe at work, at home, and in public
LGBTQ Americans protected where it matters most — work, housing, and public accommodations.
Faith and conscience protected
First Amendment freedoms built into civil rights law as a core feature, not a concession.
Families recognized
Marriage, children, and the freedom to build a family — protected and respected.
Five pillars. One vision.
Our work is organized around five interlocking commitments. Together, they describe the country we’re working toward.
Nondiscrimination
Federal protections so LGBTQ Americans can’t be fired, denied housing, or turned away in public life because of who they are.
Read more →Religious Liberty
Strong First Amendment protections built into civil rights law, not opposed to it.
Read more →LGBTQ Families
Marriage, adoption, foster care, and the freedom to build a family — protected and respected.
Read more →Trans Americans
Pro-trans rights. Whole-person care led by families and healthcare professionals, not politicians.
Read more →Ending Conversion Therapy
Ending the practice on minors. Protecting adults from fraudulent and coercive practices.
Read more →Freedom begets freedom. A country that protects its LGBTQ citizens is better able to protect its religious minorities — and a country that protects religious liberty is better able to protect everyone. From our founding principles
Where the work is happening.
Respect for Marriage & Families
Working to ensure LGBTQ couples have the right to marry and the ability to form families in every state in the union — Respect for Marriage–style policy at the state level, and policy that protects and makes more accessible family formation from adoption to surrogacy.
Visit the project ↗Just Americans
Understanding how LGBTQ Americans and their neighbors can renew pluralism through surveys, focus groups, and honest conversations across difference.
Visit the project ↗Add your name.
Add your name to the Declaration of Equality and Fairness — a statement that civil rights, religious freedom, and all families are worth protecting, and that we can build a country that protects everyone.
Add your nameWe were built for this moment.
A bipartisan civil rights organization advancing federal protections for LGBTQ Americans and the First Amendment freedoms all Americans depend on. Scroll the history that brought us here.
Stonewall
Patrons of the Stonewall Inn stood up to police harassment, igniting the modern LGBTQ movement.
Lawrence v. Texas
The Supreme Court struck down sodomy laws, affirming adults’ right to a private life.
Massachusetts marries
The first state to recognize same-sex marriage — the first crack in the dam.
A majority, for the first time
A majority of Americans said same-sex marriage should be valid (53%, Gallup).
United States v. Windsor
The Court struck down the federal definition of marriage.
Obergefell v. Hodges
The freedom to marry became the law of the land in all fifty states.
Bostock v. Clayton County
The Court held that firing someone for being gay or transgender violates federal civil-rights law.
The Salt Lake City convening
Leaders from Equality Arizona, ONE Community, and American Unity Fund convened 100+ advocates, faith leaders, and experts — the coalition that became this Campaign.
The D.C. family fly-ins
Families of faith with LGBTQ members met with members of Congress.
Respect for Marriage Act
Congress codified federal recognition of same-sex and interracial marriage.
The Equality & Fairness Campaign
A bipartisan home for the work: federal protections for LGBTQ Americans and First Amendment freedoms for all.
From a coalition to a campaign.
In December 2021, leaders from Arizona, Georgia, North Carolina, West Virginia, Wyoming, and Washington DC convened more than a hundred LGBTQ advocates, faith leaders, and policy experts in Salt Lake City. The premise was simple: the partisan gridlock blocking federal LGBTQ civil rights had become its own problem.
That coalition has since grown — and so has the case for a permanent home. The Equality and Fairness Campaign is that home. We carry forward the work: bipartisan policy advocacy, dialogue between LGBTQ and faith communities, a steady insistence that the choice between equality and religious freedom is a false one, and advancing the rights of LGBTQ individuals and families.
We advance the civil rights of LGBTQ Americans and the First Amendment freedoms of all Americans — together — through bipartisan policy, honest dialogue, and a renewed commitment to pluralist democracy.
What we stand for.
Freedom begets freedom
Strong civil rights and strong religious liberty aren’t in competition; they reinforce each other.
Pluralism over division
A free society is one where people who deeply disagree can still live together and share a country.
Family is for everyone
Family isn’t a privilege the state grants; it’s a freedom the state protects.
Honest about hard things
On contested issues, we engage the substance, not the slogans. We listen before we legislate.
Across the aisle
Civil rights wins that last require durable majorities, not narrow ones.
Small-d democracy
Neighbors who can talk to each other, and institutions that earn trust.
How we work.
Three ways we turn shared principle into shared progress.
Get stuff done
Grassroots advocacy that produces real wins — like the Respect for Marriage Act.
Ask + listen
Honest, facilitated conversation across difference — the heart of Just Americans.
Connect people with power
Bringing everyday Americans to the table with decision-makers — like the D.C. fly-ins.
Five pillars. One vision of a free country.
Civil rights and religious freedom are co-equal American commitments. Treating them as opponents produced two decades of stalemate. The way out isn’t to pick a winner — it’s to do both, carefully, together.
Nondiscrimination Protections
Federal protections, drafted carefully, passed durably. No American should lose a job, a home, or access to public life because of who they are.
LGBTQ Americans should be protected from discrimination in employment, housing, public accommodations, credit, education, and federally funded programs.
Without federal law, an LGBTQ American’s basic security depends on which side of a state line they live on — and millions live on the wrong side.
- Federal nondiscrimination in employment, housing, and public accommodations
- Protections in credit, education, and federally funded programs
- Coverage for both sexual orientation and gender identity
- Thoughtful conscience protections for houses of worship and religious institutions
- Bipartisan drafting and bipartisan passage
- Patchwork state-by-state coverage as a substitute for federal law
- Broad commercial exemptions that swallow the protections
- One-party-only passage that produces easily-reversed law
- Framings that treat religious Americans as opponents of equality
- Framings that treat LGBTQ Americans as opponents of religious freedom
Religious Liberty & First Amendment Protections
Religious liberty is not a threat to equality. It is part of the foundation that makes equality possible.
The freedoms of speech, religion, and association are foundational to a free society. We support civil rights legislation with thoughtful conscience protections for houses of worship, religious institutions, and individual conscience — built in as a core feature, not a reluctant concession.
LGBTQ equality and religious liberty aren’t zero-sum; they’re co-equal commitments, and treating them as opponents produced two decades of stalemate that served no one. The same principles that lost narrowly before can pass durably when they’re written to protect both freedoms together.
- First Amendment protections for houses of worship and religious institutions
- Conscience protections for clergy and religious officiants
- Faith-based service providers preserved within civil rights frameworks
- Careful drafting that distinguishes religious activity from commercial discrimination
- Religious liberty as part of the mission, not a tactical concession
- Treating religious liberty as a threat to equality
- Broad commercial exemptions that swallow nondiscrimination protections
- Government interference with houses of worship, religious schools, or clergy
- Civil rights drafting that excludes faith leaders from the table
- Rhetoric that frames Americans of faith as opponents of LGBTQ Americans
Fairness for LGBTQ Families
Pro-marriage. Pro-family. Pro-freedom. LGBTQ Americans build families the same way their neighbors do.
LGBTQ Americans have the right to form, build, and protect families, and our work covers the full life of a family: how it begins, how it grows, and how it’s protected over time.
We defend the federal recognition of marriage and Obergefell, work to remove discriminatory language from state constitutions, protect adoption and foster care, defend access to assisted reproduction, preserve ethical paths to surrogacy, and secure parental recognition at birth and across state lines.
These aren’t separate issues. They’re chapters of one story about American families — and LGBTQ Americans belong fully in it.
- Preserving Obergefell v. Hodges and the federal freedom to marry
- Removing discriminatory marriage language from state constitutions
- LGBTQ adoption and foster care, including kinship placement
- Access to assisted reproductive technology for all family-builders
- Ethical, well-regulated paths to gestational surrogacy
- Parental recognition at birth and across state lines
- Efforts to overturn or weaken federal marriage equality
- Restrictions on LGBTQ adoption or foster placement
- Restrictions on assisted reproduction that harm LGBTQ families
- Surrogacy bans that eliminate ethical paths to parenthood
- Legal frameworks that fail to recognize both parents at birth
Trans Americans
Pro-trans. Pro-family. Pro-doctor. Pro–whole person care. A position most Americans actually hold when they think it through.
Our position brings together commitments that have too often been pitted against one another.
For trans adults: the same civil rights as any other American. Nondiscrimination in employment, housing, and public accommodations, access to medical care, safety from violence, and recognition under the law.
For trans kids: support and safety. Trans kids exist. They deserve to be loved, supported, and kept safe at home, at school, and in their communities.
Families and doctors, not politicians. Decisions about a child’s care belong with families and their doctors, not with state legislatures passing one-size-fits-all bans or mandates.
Whole-person care, for a lifetime of health. The care that helps trans kids thrive is the same kind that helps every child thrive: care that treats the whole person — physical, mental, and emotional health together — and looks after their wellbeing across a lifetime, not just a single moment.
- Federal nondiscrimination protections covering gender identity
- Access to gender-affirming care for trans adults
- Care decisions led by families and their doctors
- Whole-person care that supports health and wellbeing over a lifetime
- Strong support services for families navigating these questions
- Safety, dignity, and recognition for trans Americans of every age
- Blanket state bans that override families and doctors
- Blanket mandates that override clinical judgment in the opposite direction
- Political pressure on clinicians from either direction
- Treatment of trans kids — or their parents — as political symbols
- Rhetoric that denies trans people’s existence or dignity
Ending Conversion Therapy
A medical consensus, finally reflected in law. Every major medical association has rejected the practice.
So-called conversion therapy — trying to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity — has been rejected by every major medical and mental health association in the country. It causes documented, serious harm, especially to minors. We support federal and state action to end the practice on minors and to protect adults from fraudulent and coercive practices.
Religious freedom isn’t an obstacle here: ordinary pastoral care, clergy counseling, and the work of houses of worship continue unaffected. What we oppose is conversion therapy marketed and sold as medical treatment.
- Federal action ending conversion therapy on minors
- State laws barring licensed professionals from offering it to minors
- Consumer protection against fraudulent and coercive practices marketed to adults
- Survivor support services and research on long-term outcomes
- Education for parents, schools, and faith communities on the medical consensus
- Continued practice of conversion therapy on minors
- Marketing it as legitimate medical or psychological treatment
- Coercive and fraudulent practices targeting LGBTQ adults
- Framing that confuses ordinary pastoral care with conversion therapy
- Framing that confuses survivor support with religious hostility
Equality and fairness are not red or blue issues.
They're American issues. If you agree, add your name.
Add your nameThere is a place for you in this work.
The Campaign is made up of people, institutions, and communities that don't always find themselves on the same side. Here's how to add your weight to it.
Equality and fairness aren't red or blue issues.
They're American ones.
We're people of every party, faith, and background who believe a free country protects everyone in it — LGBTQ Americans and people of faith alike. We refuse to choose between them.
- No one should be less than equal. No American fired, evicted, or turned away from a business open to the public for who they are or whom they love.
- Every family deserves recognition. The freedom to marry, raise kids, and build a family through adoption, foster care, and every other path belongs to all of us.
- Religious freedom is a right, not an obstacle. The protections that guard people of faith make equality stronger. We defend them without apology.
- Trans Americans are Americans. Care decisions belong to families and doctors — not politicians writing one-size-fits-all bans from a statehouse floor.
- No child should face conversion therapy. Trying to change who a young person is does real and lasting harm. Protecting kids from it is common sense, not controversy.
- We can disagree and still share a country. Conviction and pluralism can live together. We can argue honestly and still refuse to treat one another as enemies.
- Lasting change is built by majorities. Rights that swing with every election are never truly safe. We're building something that lasts — across parties, across faiths, across the whole country.
Equality and fairness belong to every American — and I'm ready to help make it real.
The Full Declaration
Equality and fairness are not red or blue issues. They are American ones.
We are people of different parties, faiths, and backgrounds who share one conviction: a free country protects everyone in it. It protects LGBTQ Americans from discrimination, and it protects every American's freedom of conscience, speech, and belief. We reject the idea that we have to choose between them. Freedoms beget freedoms — the same country that keeps you free keeps your neighbor free too.
We are adding our names to say where we stand.
We believe that no one should be treated as less than equal. No American should be fired, evicted, or turned away from a business open to the public because of who they are or whom they love. Equal protection under the law is not a favor to be granted. It is a promise to be kept.
We believe every family deserves to be safe and recognized. LGBTQ Americans have the freedom to marry, to raise children, and to build families through adoption, foster care, and every other path open to their neighbors — and the children in those families deserve the same security as any other.
We believe freedom of religion is a right, not an obstacle. People of faith are our neighbors, not our opponents. The protections that guard the church, the synagogue, the mosque, and the conscience of every American are the same protections that make equality durable. We defend them without apology.
We believe trans Americans are Americans. Trans people deserve to live, work, and be treated with dignity. Decisions about a young person's health care belong to their family and their doctors, guided by medical judgment focused on delivering lifelong health outcomes — not to politicians writing one-size-fits-all bans from a statehouse floor.
We believe no child should be subjected to conversion therapy. Trying to change who a young person is does real and lasting harm. Protecting kids from it is common sense, not controversy.
We believe we can disagree and still share a country. Pluralism is not the absence of conviction; it is how convictions live together. We can hold our beliefs firmly, argue them honestly, and still refuse to treat one another as enemies.
We believe lasting change is built by majorities. Rights that swing with every election are never truly safe. We are building something that lasts — across parties, across faiths, across the whole country — so these protections outlive any single campaign.
I add my name to this Declaration. I believe equality and fairness belong to every American, and I'm ready to stand with the people working to make it real.
Join the coalition.
Our coalition includes LGBTQ organizations, faith leaders, businesses, trade associations, foundations, and civic institutions.
If your organization is interested in partnership, briefings, or collaboration, we'd like to hear from you — from public coalition membership to confidential strategic collaboration.
Press inquiries.
Our press team responds within one business day.
For urgent same-day requests, mark your subject line URGENT. Press kits with logos, photography, boilerplate, and brand foundation are available on request.
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Effective date: July 9, 2026 · Last updated: July 9, 2026
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Effective date: July 9, 2026 · Last updated: July 9, 2026
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