The National LGBTQ Task Force (formerly National Gay Task Force; National Gay and Lesbian Task Force) is an American

social justice Social justice is justice in relation to the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society where individuals' rights are recognized and protected. In Western and Asian cultures, the concept of social justice has of ...

advocacy

non-profit A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...

organizing Organizing or organized may refer to: * Organizing (management), a process of coordinating task goals and activities to resources * Community organizing, in which communities come together to act in their shared self-interest * Professional organi ...

the

grassroots A grassroots movement is one that uses the people in a given district, region or community as the basis for a political or continent movement. Grassroots movements and organizations use collective action from volunteers at the local level to imp ...

power of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and

queer ''Queer'' is an umbrella term for people who are non-heterosexual or non- cisgender. Originally meaning or , ''queer'' came to be used pejoratively against LGBTQ people in the late 19th century. From the late 1980s, queer activists began to ...

(LGBTQ) community. Also known as The Task Force, the organization supports action and activism on behalf of

LGBTQ LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, Gay men, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning (sexuality and gender), questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, Asexuality, asexual, ...

people and advances a progressive vision of liberation. The past executive director was

Rea Carey Rea Carey (born December 22, 1966) is an American lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights activist and served as the executive director of the National LGBTQ Task Force (previously the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force) from 2008 t ...

from 2008-2021 and the current executive director is Kierra Johnson, who took over the position in 2021 to become the first Black woman to head the organization. The Task Force organizes the annual Creating Change conference, a skills-building event for community and allies with over 2,000 attendees each year. The Task Force Policy Institute

think tank A think tank, or public policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governme ...

conducts social science research, policy analysis, strategy development, public education, and advocacy.

History

Founded in 1973 as the National Gay Task Force, the organization became the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force in 1985. It adopted its current identity in October 2014. The founders of the National Gay Task Force included Robert L. Livingston and his husband, Tom Ellis; Dr.

Howard Junior Brown Howard Brown (April 15, 1924 – February 1, 1975) was a founder of the National Gay Task Force (now the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force) and a New York City Health Services Administrator who helped change the image of gay men and lesbians in ...

; Dr.

Bruce Voeller Bruce Raymond Voeller (May 12, 1934 – February 13, 1994) was a biologist and researcher, primarily in the field of AIDS, and gay rights activist. In 1973 he co-founded the National Gay Task Force. In 1977, the now renamed National LGBTQ Ta ...

; Father Robert Carter, a Roman Catholic priest; Ron Gold;

Nathalie Rockhill Nathalie is a female given name. It is a variant of the name Natalie/ Natalia which is found in many languages, and is especially common in French and English-speaking countries. Notable people with the name include: * Nathalie (born 1979), Itali ...

; Dr.

Martin Duberman Martin Bauml Duberman (born August 6, 1930) is an American historian, biographer, playwright, and gay rights activist. Duberman is Professor of History Emeritus at Lehman College in the Bronx, New York City. Early life Duberman was born into ...

; and Dr.

Frank Kameny Franklin Edward Kameny (May 21, 1925 – October 11, 2011) was an American gay rights activist. He has been referred to as "one of the most significant figures" in the American gay rights movement. During the Lavender scare, in 1957, Kame ...

. Later board members included Lani Ka'ahumanu, who was the first out bisexual to be invited and to serve on a national gay and lesbian board. The Task Force has acted to promote LGBTQ rights and acceptance. In 2005, the Task Force protested against the Instruction Concerning the Criteria for the Discernment of Vocations with regard to Persons with Homosexual Tendencies in view of their Admission to the Seminary and to Holy Orders, prohibiting the

ordination Ordination is the process by which individuals are Consecration in Christianity, consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the religious denomination, denominationa ...

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

homosexual seminarians. In 2010, Jaime Grant, then director of the Task Force's Policy Institute, introduced the idea of a bright pink sticker for people to stick on census envelopes which had a form for them to check a box for either "lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or straight ally", which her group called "queering the census". Although the sticker was unofficial and the results were not added to the census, she and others' goal was to include the statistic in the 2020 census. In 2013, the Task Force received the Large Nonprofit Organization of the Year award as part of the Pantheon of Leather Awards.

Creating Change conference

The annual National Conference on LGBT Equality: Creating Change was first held in 1988, one year after aiding in the organization of the

Second National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights The Second National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights was a large Demonstration (people), political rally that took place in Washington, D.C., on October 11, 1987. Around 750,000 people participated. Its success, size, scope, and hist ...

. The Task Force has added and changed components of the conference over the years. For example, in 2003, the Creating Change conference featured the first ever Skills Academy for Leadership and Action, a daylong session dedicated to skills training for grassroots activists.

Executives

Robert L Livingston, Broadway producer, producer of the Joey Bishop show, first openly gay Commissioner for Human Rights, New York City, his husband, artist Tom Ellis, and Doctor Howard Brown, Surgeon General of New York City; co-founders, 1973, New York City. *

(1973–1976; co-director 1976–1978) *

Jean O'Leary Jean O'Leary (March 4, 1948 – June 4, 2005) was an American lesbian and gay rights activist. She was the founder of Lesbian Feminist Liberation, one of the first lesbian activist groups in the women's movement, and an early member and co-di ...

(co-director 1976–1979) *

Charles Brydon Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was ...

(co-director 1979–1981) *

Lucia Valeska Lucia may refer to: Arts and culture * ''Lucía'', a 1968 Cuban film by Humberto Solás * ''Lucia'' (film), a 2013 Indian Kannada-language film ** ''Enakkul Oruvan'' (2015 film), its 2015 Tamil-language remake, also known as ''Lucia'' * '' L ...

(co-director 1979–1982) *

Virginia Apuzzo Virginia "Ginny" Apuzzo (born June 26, 1941) is an American gay rights and AIDS activist. She is a former executive director of the National LGBTQ Task Force. She served as executive deputy of the New York State Consumer Protection Board and as t ...

(1982–1986) * Jeff Levi (1986–1989) *

Urvashi Vaid Urvashi Vaid (October 8, 1958 – May 14, 2022) was an Indian-born American LGBT rights activist, lawyer, and writer. An expert in gender and sexuality law, she was a consultant in attaining specific goals of social justice. She held a series of ...

(1989–1992) * Peri Jude Radecic (1992–1994) * Melinda Paras (1994–1996) * Kerry Lobel (1996–2000) * Elizabeth Toledo (2000–2001) *

Lorri Jean Lorri L. Jean (born ) is an LGBT rights activist and the former CEO of the Los Angeles LGBT Center (LALGBTC). Jean spent ten years as an attorney with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), including three years overseeing the disaster re ...

(2001–2003) * Matt Foreman (2003–2008) *

(2008–2021) * Kierra Johnson (2021–present)

National LGBTQ Wall of Honor

In February 2019, the Task Force, in conjunction with the

Imperial Court System The International Imperial Court System (IICS) also known as the International Court System is one of the oldest and largest LGBT organizations in the world. The Imperial Court System is a grassroots network of organizations that works to build ...

, announced a joint project, the

National LGBTQ Wall of Honor The National LGBTQ Wall of Honor is a memorial wall in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City, dedicated to LGBTQ "pioneers, trailblazers, and heroes". Located inside the Stonewall Inn, the wall is part of the Stonewall ...

, to be installed at the

Stonewall Inn The Stonewall Inn (also known as Stonewall) is a gay bar and recreational tavern at 53 Christopher Street in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It was the site of the 1969 Stonewall riots, which led to th ...

, to mark the 50th Anniversary of the

Stonewall Riots The Stonewall riots (also known as the Stonewall uprising, Stonewall rebellion, Stonewall revolution, or simply Stonewall) were a series of spontaneous riots and demonstrations against a police raid that took place in the early morning hours of ...

. The Stonewall Inn is in the middle of New York's

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village, or simply the Village, is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street (Manhattan), 14th Street to the north, Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the s ...

, and is across from the

Stonewall National Monument Stonewall National Monument is a U.S. national monument in the West Village neighborhood of Greenwich Village in Lower Manhattan, New York City. The designated area includes the Stonewall Inn, the Christopher Park, and nearby streets including ...

, the first

U.S. National Monument In the United States, a national monument is a protected area that can be created from any land owned or controlled by the Federal government of the United States, federal government by Presidential proclamation (United States), proclamation ...

dedicated to

rights Rights are law, legal, social, or ethics, ethical principles of freedom or Entitlement (fair division), entitlement; that is, rights are the fundamental normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people according to some legal sy ...

and

history History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...

. The monument committee accepted nominations to honor "the lives of

trailblazers, pioneers and s/heroes who have passed", and have had a positive impact on LGBTQ civil rights. The first fifty names were unveiled in June 2019 as part of the

Stonewall 50 – WorldPride NYC 2019 Stonewall 50 – WorldPride NYC 2019 was a series of LGBTQ events and celebrations in June 2019, marking the 50th anniversary of the 1969 Stonewall riots. It was also the first time WorldPride was held in the United States. Held primarily in the ...

celebration. The nominations are administered by a Board of Governors. LGBTQ leaders include

transgender activist The transgender rights movement is a movement to promote the legal status of transgender people and to eliminate discrimination and violence against transgender people regarding housing, employment, public accommodations, education, and health c ...

Marsha Botzer, Black LGBTQ activist Mandy Carter, LGBTQ youth advocate

Wilson Cruz Wilson Cruz (born Wilson Echevarría; December 27, 1973) is an American actor known for playing Rickie Vasquez on ''My So-Called Life'', Dr. Hugh Culber on '' Star Trek: Discovery'', and the recurring character Junito on '' Noah's Arc''. As a g ...

, LGBTQ human rights activist

Stuart Milk Lawrence Stuart Milk (born December 26, 1960) is an American LGBT human rights activist and political speaker. The nephew of civil rights leader Harvey Milk, he is the co-founder of the Harvey Milk Foundation. He has engaged in domestic and inter ...

, and founder of the

Metropolitan Community Church The Metropolitan Community Church (MCC), also known as the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches (UFMCC), is an international LGBT-affirming Christian denominations, LGBT-affirming mainline Protestant Christian denomination. The ...

Troy Perry Troy Deroy Perry Jr. (born July 27, 1940) is an American cleric who founded the Metropolitan Community Church, with a ministry with the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender communities, in Los Angeles on October 6, 1968. Early life Troy Pe ...

References

External links