Media Releases

Washington, DC – Today the state of Florida joins 35 other states in granting same-sex couples the freedom to marry. This action comes after Federal District Court Judge Robert Hinkle ruled last August that Florida’s law barring same-sex couples from marrying violated the equal protection and due process requirements of the U.S. Constitution and stayed his ruling until January 5, 2015. Both the 11th Circuit and the U.S. Supreme Court subsequently denied the State of Florida’s request to extend the stay, which ultimately led to marriage equality as the law of the land in Florida as of today. The National Black Justice Coalition (NBJC) applauds the ruling and celebrates Florida joining the movement to expand marriage rights to same-sex couples in our nation.

Washington, DC – Today, the National Black Justice Coalition (NBJC) joined the call for Michigan lawmakers to include protections for transgender people in legislation to expand the state’s non-discrimination law. Michigan’s current non-discrimination law, known as the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act, was passed in 1976 and banned discrimination in employment, housing, and public accommodations based on race, sex, religion, age, height, weight, marital or family status, and national origin. An updated non-discrimination bill was introduced this week in the Michigan House of Representatives to protect against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, but failed to include protections on the basis of gender identity or gender expression.

 
Washington, DC -- The National Black Justice Coalition (NBJC) joins the call for the organizers of the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival (MWMF) to end their informal policy of not welcoming transgender women to participate in the international, all women music festival. Birthed out of the feminist movement of the late twentieth century, MWMF has provided an exclusive space built by and for women since 1976. This weeklong music and community festival, located in a small wooded area of Hart, Michigan, has maintained a policy that only women who were assigned female at birth should attend. 

Washington, DC—July 21, 2014 – Today, President Obama signed an Executive Order to ban federal contractors from discriminating in the workplace based on their employee’s sexual orientation or gender identity. This Executive Order is the single largest expansion of LGBT workplace protections in the nation’s history, protecting one-fifth of the entire U.S. labor force. According to the Williams Institute at UCLA Law School, President Obama’s action is estimated to extend protections to about 14 million workers whose employers or states currently do not have such nondiscrimination policies.