Hundreds of marriage equality supporters, some driving for hours to get to Olympia, filled the Washington State Senate Gallery Wednesday night to witness the critical Senate vote that brings Washington closer to marriage equality. Supporters were not disappointed. The bill passed in the Senate 28-21. “This is a huge win and historic day for all
Montana Human Rights Network is a leader in the statewide LGBTQ equality movement and a longtime grantee of Pride Foundation. After unsuccessfully lobbying the legislature for decades to include sexual orientation and gender identity in the state’s Human Rights Act, the group has changed tactics, partnering with the ACLU of Montana to pass local non-discrimination
A grassroots effort to add the words “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” to the Idaho Human Rights Act took a significant step forward in January following a day of several highly attended statewide rallies and events in support of the action, and the announcement of a print hearing on February 10th by the Senate State
Steve Parsons met Bill McKnight eighteen years ago and the friendship was instant. They met through what was then called Seattle AIDS Support Group (now Compassion & Choices of Washington), when they were both grieving the loss of people in their lives due to AIDS. Steve and Bill decided to meet up for coffee, to
Just weeks into her position as the new Executive Director of Pride Foundation, Kris Hermanns takes her first official road trip to visit supporters and grantees in Montana. My time in Montana made it vividly clear to me why I choose to do this work. It also reaffirmed for me why Pride Foundation is committed
One of the most exciting developments of the past year or two is the rise of new Gay-Straight Alliances in small communities across the state. It seems that in rural Alaska the movement for LGBTQ equality is being led by young people who aren’t content to wait for things to get better in the future,
Kori Rodley, a Pride Foundation grants volunteer, shares the experience of what it was like to get to give the money away to great grantees. As someone who has written dozens of grant proposals, the opportunity to be on the “giving” side of the granting process was one I just couldn’t pass up. While mission,
We’re still basking in the glow of last week’s State Senate vote on the marriage equality bill. The success of the Senate vote was critical in moving the bill forward. Staff and volunteers from many Washington United for Marriage coalition members, including the Pride Foundation team, watched from the Senate Gallery as history unfolded with
During new Executive Director Kris Hermanns’ inaugural visit to Montana, the state’s Leadership Action Team volunteers convened at a retreat center in Red Lodge January 28 to assess the first year of Pride Foundation’s regional expansion in Montana and to help set the course for 2012. “The Montana retreat recognized, created and harnessed some of
Dorothy Harris, a Pride Foundation volunteer, lives in the town of Ephrata located in Eastern Washington, just north of Moses Lake, where everyone knows everyone. She, along with her close-knit family, are doing their part in the community to create equality, provide support and make their community a better place for McKyna, Dorothy’s lesbian daughter,