News
November 6, 2016
I am pleased to announce several staffing changes at Funders for LGBTQ Issues. First, Lyle Matthew Kan, who has been working with us as our strategic communications consultant since February, has now joined us on a full-time basis as our Director of Communications and Education. In the past five months, Lyle has revamped Qnotes to make it a more useful tool for our members, expanded our social media presence, strengthened the branding of our annual retreat, and developed a comprehensive communications strategy for the organization. In this new, expanded role, Lyle will not only lead our communications efforts, he will […]
November 6, 2016
As I write this, my partner and I about to leave for Borough Hall to get our marriage license. Today’s Supreme Court decisions on the Defense of Marriage Act and California’s Proposition 8 went largely as expected, yet I still found myself shocked and overwhelmed with joy that, for the first time in my life, I am able to marry the man I love with the full recognition of the law. No more “skim milk” marriages – now we have the real thing. This decision means that my partner can finally become a citizen and that we can at last […]
November 6, 2016
In 2011 we saw a record-breaking $123 million in grants awarded to LGBTQ issues. However, the U.S. South saw less than $4 million of that historic sum. In fact, the U.S. South barely saw 3% of the year’s LGBTQ funding despite the fact that over a third of the U.S. population lives in the 13 states of the South (as defined by Grantmakers for Southern Progress). With an estimated 11 million “out” LGBTQ people living in the U.S., foundation funding for LGBTQ issues averages out to $11.20 per LGBTQ person. In the U.S. South, there are an estimated 3,438,872 million […]
November 6, 2016
I am a love exile. I fell in love with a gay French man and everything in my life changed. There was no way to stay in Philadelphia with DOMA firmly in place. The only way we could stay together was if one of us had a complete and radical change to both our professional and public life. With years of immigration lawyers and wait-n-see not an option, our family’s solution was for me to immigrate to France to maintain our status. In doing so, we came face to face with a byzantine system of relocation. To survive, we had […]