Program areas at Equality California
Working closely with lgbtq+ state legislators and allies, Equality California advocated at the state capitol for policies to improve the health and well-being of transgender and gender-nonconforming people, those living with hiv, and the diverse communities to which lgbtq+ people belong. Eleven of our sponsored bills were signed into law by governor gavin newsom, and the state of California made significant budget investments into lgbtq+ priorities, reinforcing California's standing as a national leader in protecting the lgbtq+ community.
Following our successful efforts to ensure that new congressional, legislative and other political district maps were redrawn to unite and empower lgbtq+ people, we saw landmark representation for lgbtq+ people. By engaging our 400,000+ members statewide in the november 2022 election, we helped to make California the first state in the nation to achieve 10% lgbtq+ representation in its state legislature.
As the politics of Nevada become more progressive, the outlook for electing pro-equality candidates to protect the lgbtq+ community continues to be attainable. Silver state Equality endorsed more than 50 candidates who were running for election with an 87 percent success rate. Silver state Equality worked to support the successful passage of the equal rights amendment ballot measure that added sexual orientation and gender identity and expression protections to the Nevada constitution.
In Washington, dc, Equality California worked with our partners in the biden-harris administration and California and Nevada's congressional delegations to advance lgbtq+ Equality. We secured "yes" votes from every congressional democrat from California and Nevada for the twelve bills supported by Equality California and silver state Equality, and successfully passed the landmark respect for marraige act, which was signed into law by president biden in december of 2022. Equality California also worked with allied partner organizations to advance lgbtq+ judicial nominees from California and created working coalitions to tackle credit reporting problems encountered by transgender and nonbinary people after a legal name change and to help lgbtq+ veterans who were expelled from the military with a less-thanhonorable discharge to receive upgraded discharges.