Laughing Gull Foundation Announces $2 Million in Grants to Support LGBTQ+ Equality in the U.S. South
As anti-trans legislation and federal rollbacks accelerate, LGF grantees are building the infrastructure Southern LGBTQ+ people need to feel safe, cared for, and free.
Durham, NC – The Laughing Gull Foundation (LGF) is proud to announce $1,950,000 in grants awarded in 2026 to 35 organizations working to protect and expand LGBTQ+ equality in the U.S. South.
2026 continues to be a difficult year for LGBTQ+ organizations in the South. Judges and state lawmakers continue their efforts [EW1] to restrict health care, threaten teachers, and erase trans people from public life. Those in power are stripping away recognition and protections that took decades to win. For many LGBTQ+ Southerners, especially trans and gender nonconforming people, the question is no longer whether their rights will be challenged, but how fast and how often. The pace of attacks is unrelenting.
LGF grantees have answered with speed, ingenuity, and care. They’ve built legal defense funds, mutual aid networks that move faster than any government grants, are training the next generation of movement leaders, and are finding creative ways to keep clinics and community spaces safe and open despite funding cuts. They’re not going anywhere, and neither are we. LGF proudly provides flexible, multi-year general operating support so that LGBTQ+ organizations can remain nimble and responsive.
“There’s no sugarcoating it—this is an incredibly challenging time for our LGBTQ+ grantees. They’re carrying a weight on their shoulders that keeps growing, all while continuing to show up for their communities every day. LGF is committed to having their backs, boldly and without hesitation, even as and especially because so many others have pulled away or turned their backs. Now is not the time to sit on the sidelines. We need everyone to get in the fight and support LGBTQ+ organizations as they create a future of freedom and belonging.
– Dr. LaTonya Penny, LGF Chief Executive
LGF’s grantmaking approach reflects the full range of what organizations say they need right now: legal advocacy, direct services, coalitions and base-building, cultural organizing and more. It centers organizations that are led by and build power with Black, Indigenous, Latine, and people of color; transgender and gender expansive people; immigrants; and people with disabilities—communities absorbing the sharpest edges of attacks and requiring more robust support.
The need for LGBTQ+ funding, especially in the South, far outpaces the resources. There are more LGBTQ+ people in the South than any other region, yet southern organizations receive only a small fraction (11 percent) of funding.
“Nearly every conversation I’ve had with grantees this year starts the same way – they’re doing far more with far less and moving at an unsustainable pace because their communities need them. I’ve seen organizations set up new emergency response programs in a matter of weeks, coordinate across state lines to ensure people get access to care, and hold space for their staff to grieve heart wrenching loss. Yes, they keep going, but this resilience shouldn’t have to be the norm. LGBTQ+ organizations in the South are visionaries, truthtellers, and caregivers. They’re meeting this moment in powerful ways, and so should those who can provide them with real, sustaining resources to keep going.
– Ebony West, LGF Grants and Programs Manager
Beyond direct grantmaking, including capacity-building support, LGF works alongside other funders and funder networks to grow the pool of resources Southern LGBTQ+ organizations need. LGF tries to make the case, loudly and often, that the South and its people can never be an afterthought. Our grantees are leading the way, and they need more of us in their corner.
LGF awarded grants to the following LGBTQ+ organizations in 2026:
ACLU of NC Legal Foundation – Raleigh, NC
Advocates for Trans Equality – New York, NY
Alliance for Full Acceptance – North Charleston, SC
Campaign for Southern Equality – Southern Regional
Campaign for Southern Equality’s Southern Equality Fund – Southern Regional
*Charlotte Trans Health – Charlotte, NC
Comfrey Films – Durham, NC
El Centro Hispano – Durham, NC
The Embodiment Institute – Southern Regional
Equality Federation Institute – Southern Regional
*Equality Federation Institute’s Trans Organizing and Narrative Shift (TONS) Project – 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
*Harriet Hancock Center – Columbia, SC
Healing in the Margins – Nashville, TN
Health Brigade – Richmond, VA
The Knights & Orchids Society – Selma, AL
Lavender Lodge – Lynchburg, VA
LGBT Center of Raleigh – Raleigh, NC
LGBTQ Center of Durham – Durham, NC
MashUP – Nashville, TN
National LGBTQ Task Force – Southern Regional
Nationz Foundation – Richmond, VA
Orange County Rape Crisis Center QTBIPOC Survivor Advocates Institute – Chapel Hill, NC
*Pauli Murray Center for History and Social Justice – Durham, NC
Side by Side – Richmond, VA
Siembra NC – Greensboro, NC
Southern Vision Alliance – Durham, NC
TAKE Birmingham – Birmingham, AL
Time Out Youth – Charlotte, NC
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 strategies, approaches, priorities, and impact, please click below.
