Laughing Gull Foundation Announces $1.9 Million in Grants to Organizations Advancing Justice for LGBTQ+ Southerners
Durham, NC – The Laughing Gull Foundation (LGF) is pleased to announce the approval of $1,942,500 in grants to be awarded in 2023 to 32 organizations advancing justice for the LGBTQ+ community in the U.S. South.
“We share a commitment with our grantee partners to equality, ensuring all people and especially LGBTQ+ people feel valued, empowered, supported. At this critical time, when LGBTQ+ Southerners, particularly transgender and gender nonconforming people, are facing significant risks to their safety and are experiencing difficulty in accessing health care, we hope other funding partners will join us in supporting LGBTQ+ focused work around issues like education, health, civil rights, and democracy. We trust our grantees’ wisdom and expertise and will continue to find ways to resource their transformative work. ”
– Dr. LaTonya Penny, LGF Chief Executive
LGF’s LGBTQ+ Equality Grantmaking Program funds organizations that advance LGBTQ+ equality—ensuring all people can safely and authentically pursue full lives, free of discrimination—and is grounded in an approach that employs multiple strategies and invests in everything from direct services to direct action. The current portfolio of grantee partners reaffirms LGF’s commitment to organizations focused on the principles of racial equity and who are led by, serving, and building power for the breadth of diversity of the LGBTQ community, including Black, Indigenous, and people of color; transgender and gender expansive people; immigrants, people with disabilities, and formerly incarcerated persons; and other system-affected communities.
“LGBTQ+ advocates across the South are building and sustaining powerful movements to advance equality. We proudly stand with and support these organizations as they engage in critical work to protect LGBTQ+ Southerners’ freedom to be themselves and pursue their dreams. LGF grantees are pushing back against harmful laws and policies that target transgender youth and courageously fighting to ensure LGBTQ+ people have the resources they need to be happy and healthy.”
– Hez Norton, LGBTQ+ Equality Program Consultant
LGF’s 2023 LGBTQ+ Equality Fund grants were made to the following organizations:
ACLU of NC Legal Foundation – Raleigh, NC
Borealis Philanthropy’s Fund for Trans Generations – Southern Regional
Campaign for Southern Equality – Southern Regional
Campaign for Southern Equality’s Southern Equality Fund – Southern Region
Comfrey Films – Durham, NC
El Centro Hispano – Durham, NC
Equality Federation Institute – Southern Regional
Equality North Carolina Foundation – Durham, NC
Equality Virginia – Virginia
Freedom Center for Social Justice – Charlotte, NC
Funders for LGBTQ Issues Out in the South Initiative – Southern Regional
Griffin-Gracy Educational Retreat & Historical Center – Southern Regional
Health Brigade – Richmond, VA
Horizons Foundation – Southern Regional
LGBT Center of Raleigh – Raleigh, NC
LGBTQ Center of Durham – Durham, NC
The Movement for Black Lives’ Black Transgender, Gender Non-Conforming, and Intersex Task Force – Southern Regional
National LGBTQ Task Force– Southern Regional
Nationz Foundation – Richmond, VA
OUTRight Youth of Catawba Valley – Hickory, NC
Side by Side – Richmond, VA
Somos Siembra – Greensboro, NC
*South Carolina United for Justice & Equality – Columbia, SC
Southern Vision Alliance – Durham, NC
Southerners on New Ground – Atlanta, GA
Time Out Youth – Charlotte, NC
Trans Justice Funding Project – Southern Regional
Tranzmission – Asheville, NC
Virginia Anti-Violence Project – Richmond, VA
Virginia Center for Inclusive Communities – Richmond, VA
*We Are Family – Charleston, SC
*Western North Carolina Community Health Services – Asheville, NC
Youth OUTRight of Western North Carolina – Asheville, NC
* denotes new grantees
For more information on LGF’s LGBTQ+ Equality Grantmaking program’s strategies, approaches, priorities, and impact, please click below.
