Major New York LGBT advocacy group announces plans to conclude major operations in 2016

NEW YORK, NY – After 25 years of groundbreaking advocacy and service to New York’s LGBT community resulting in over 100 state legislative and policy victories, The Empire State Pride Agenda, New York’s statewide lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) civil rights organization, will conclude major operations in 2016. In the coming months, the Pride Agenda will identify aspects of its policy work to transition to partner LGBT organizations. The organization will maintain its Political Action Committee (PAC) in order to play a continuing role in electoral politics.

The announcement follows unanimous votes earlier today by the Boards of Directors of the Empire State Pride Agenda Foundation, Inc. and the Empire State Pride Agenda, Inc., to wind down their operations in first half of 2016. The Pride Agenda’s third corporate entity, the Empire State Pride Agenda Political Action Committee, will continue as part of this process.

The Boards’ decision comes on the heels of securing the Pride Agenda’s top remaining policy priority – protecting transgender New Yorkers from discrimination in housing, employment, credit, education and public accommodations – in the form of new regulations announced in partnership with Governor Andrew M. Cuomo at the organization’s Fall Dinner on October 22, 2015.

Upon learning of the Boards’ decision, Governor Cuomo said, “New York would not be the State it is today without the Empire State Pride Agenda. For decades, the Pride Agenda has been a premier champion of the LGBT community in New York – fighting injustice, securing and protecting equal rights, and advancing the principles of dignity and acceptance for all. Over the years this organization has made a difference in – and no doubt saved – countless lives. Together we have restored New York’s status as a progressive beacon for the nation, from securing marriage equality to helping ban transgender discrimination and bringing the end of the AIDS epidemic within reach. I am honored beyond words to have fought alongside the Pride Agenda and watched its successes over the years. Its impact will be felt for generations to come.”

The Pride Agenda has been central to over 100 legislative and policy victories for New York’s LGBT community, including adding sexual orientation protections to the state’s nondiscrimination laws, protecting LGBT youth from bullying in schools, and winning marriage equality. The Boards have determined that the Pride Agenda has achieved its top policy goals, and are proud that the organization’s achievements in the last quarter century have profoundly changed the lives of more than 1.5 million LGBT New Yorkers and their families, and set an example for the entire nation. The PAC will persist as a tool to help maintain the organization’s policy achievements and continue to influence New York electoral politics.

The coming months will be a time of transition. The Pride Agenda will carefully consider what elements of its policy programming should continue, and in what capacity, and seek to facilitate its transition to partner LGBT organizations. The next steps taken by the organization will be strategic, responsible and completed in a manner that honors and celebrates the many victories that the Pride Agenda has won for New York’s LGBT community. And the Pride Agenda’s PAC will remain.

“We have accomplished amazing victories as an organization and as a community since our founding in 1990,” said Nathan Schaefer, the Pride Agenda’s Executive Director. “The strides we have made toward equality and justice have been nothing short of extraordinary. It has been a true honor for me to lead this organization during a time of great advancement for our community. I am particularly grateful for the Pride Agenda’s exceptional staff, many of whom will undoubtedly move on to apply their talents to other fronts of the LGBT rights movement.”

Norman C. Simon, Chair of the Empire State Pride Agenda, Inc., Co-Chair of the Pride Agenda Foundation Board of Directors, and Chair of the Pride Agenda PAC said, “The Pride Agenda has achieved so much more than our founders ever could have anticipated 25 years ago, when LGBT people were frequent targets of discrimination and violence, yet lacked basic civil rights protections in the eyes of the law. I am grateful for the wealth of talent in our Boards and staff over this quarter century, which has enabled the Pride Agenda to serve as a successful model for achieving LGBT civil rights in other states and at the federal level.”

Melissa Sklarz, Vice Chair of the Empire State Pride Agenda, Inc. and Co-Chair of the Pride Agenda Foundation Board of Directors, added, “In 2009, the Empire State Pride Agenda made transgender civil rights its highest priority, alongside marriage equality. Governor Cuomo’s partnership with the Empire State Pride Agenda resulted in equal rights for transgender New Yorkers. As the Pride Agenda winds down, we will assist in the direction of time and financial resources to programs that directly work to create safe, secure, and stable lives for transgender New Yorkers and their families.”

Schaefer and the Board Co-Chairs also acknowledged the community for its long- standing support, without which the Pride Agenda’s work would not have been possible. “We could not have enjoyed the success of these 25 years without the steadfast support of our community, our allies and our partners in government, who have stood with us even when it was not popular to do so. In particular, we would like to thank our donors and funders, whose support we will continue to depend on so that we may conclude our major operations in an orderly manner that honors the more than 100 legislative and policy victories we have achieved together,” said Schaefer.

The Pride Agenda has been central to every legislative and policy victory our community has won in New York over the past two-and-a-half decades. Below are some of our major successes:

The Pride Agenda worked with Governor Cuomo to direct the Division of Human Rights to implement new regulations that will interpret the State’s Human Rights Law to include protections based on gender identity and expression.

The Pride Agenda was instrumental in the passage of the Marriage Equality Act.

The Pride Agenda helped to pass the Dignity for All Students Act, which addresses bullying in New York schools and stops hate at its root.

Through the administration of the NYS LGBT Health and Human Services Network, a statewide coalition of 54 nonprofit organizations that provide a broad spectrum of services to more than one-and-a-half million LGBT New Yorkers each year, the Pride Agenda has secured over $67 million in state funding for our community’s health and human service needs.

The Pride Agenda helped generate landmark statewide educational guidance from the New York State Education Department to promote safe, respectful, and supportive schools for transgender students.

Long before passage of New York’s Marriage Equality Act, the Pride Agenda helped to pass legislation providing medical decision-making authority to same- sex partners.

The Pride Agenda helped to pass legislation requiring that same-sex partners be treated the same as spouses for bereavement leave from their job.

The Pride Agenda helped to pass legislation allowing same-sex couples to adopt a child together. The Pride Agenda helped to pass legislation that expands and increases access to services for LGBT seniors.

The Pride Agenda helped to pass a state law allowing same-sex domestic partners access to Family Court and the domestic violence protections it provides.

The Pride Agenda helped to pass a state law guaranteeing domestic partners the ability to make decisions about the disposition of partner remains and about funeral arrangements.

The Pride Agenda helped to pass a state law that removes the last vestiges of New York’s history of stigmatizing homosexuality by eliminating terms like “sodomy” and “deviant sexual intercourse” used in the state’s penal code to describe forms of sexual assault.

The Pride Agenda was instrumental in the passage of the Sexual Orientation Non-Discrimination Act (SONDA) that outlaws anti-gay discrimination in housing, employment, public accommodation, education and credit throughout the state.

The Pride Agenda was a leader in the passage of the New York State Hate Crimes law that imposes penalties for bias-motivated crimes, including crimes motivated by antigay bias.