Campaign for Southern Equality (CSE) is an LGBT activist organization based in Asheville, NC, founded in 2011. While the organization is based in North Carolina, it operates throughout the American South to both finance and organize activists, advocate before state governments, and participate in advocacy litigation. The organization is listed as a public charity and engages in grantmaking activities to fund local organizations, as well as the larger Southern Equality Fund. It also uses its funding to run its own activist activities and litigation. ¹

As of 2017, it had given approximately $60,000 in grants across 12 southern states, including to noncharitable pro-LGBT grassroots organizations. ²

LGBT Activism and Public Statements

Campaign for Southern Equality largely supports local LGBT grassroots organizations through the Southern Equality Fund, which was the top expense of the organization on its 2018 tax return. That year alone, the CSE gave nearly $75,000 to just less than 100 activist groups, to which it also gave leadership training. ³

Since 2018, CSE has launched the Community Health Program. The program publishes a list of “trans-friendly medical providers,” supports the provision of HIV care, provides pop-up legal and health clinics focused on LGBT matters, provides legal resources focused on LGBT matters, and provides trainings and continuing education on supporting transgender people. ^{4 5 6}

Through the Legal Equality Program, CSE was active in litigation opposing traditional marriage legislation in both North Carolina and Mississippi. ⁷ Through this project, CSE operates voter-registration projects for upcoming elections and mobilizes activists to support LGBT-favoring secondary-school policies. ⁸

Monkeypox

During the 2022 monkeypox outbreak, a CSE spokesperson criticized efforts to make the public aware of the demographic? distribution of cases. Monkeypox is an illness largely transmitted through sexual or other intimate contact; as of August 2022, approximately 98% of reported cases were among men who have sex with men. ⁹ CSE’s community health program director, Ivy Hill, publicly expressed concern that this information could create a stigma against LGBT people. “A lot of the messaging has been very stigmatizing,” Hill said. “Particularly for men who have sex with men, and even trans folks. It’s really not ideal the way things have been talked about.” ¹⁰

Meeting the Moment Campaign

One of CSE’s 2022 programs is the Meeting the Moment Campaign, created as a response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization that overturned the Court’s prior holding of a nationwide right to abortion under Roe v. Wade. ¹¹ The program included a 2022 voter-mobilization initiative and a total of $30,000 in Southern Equality Fund grants to youth organizations throughout the southern states. ¹²

One of CSE’s programs within the Meeting the Moment Campaign is the Codify It, Congress initiative. The program included a 2022 letter-writing campaign in the South to advocate for same-sex marriage, access to abortion, and the “right to contraception.” ¹³

Leadership

Campaign for Southern Equality was founded by its executive director, Jasmine Beach-Ferrara, a minister in the United Church of Christ. She also sat on the Biden Foundation advisory council for “Advancing LGBTQ Equality.” ¹⁴

Beach-Ferrara has written and spoken frequently in mainstream news publications regarding how to advance left-of-center LGBT policies in Southern states. In 2016, Beach-Ferrara was elected Buncombe County Commissioner. She won reelection in 2020. ¹⁵

1. Annual Report 2020 – Campaign for Southern Equality. Campaign for Southern Equality, https://southernequality.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/CSE-AnnualReport-2020.pdf.
2. Beach-Ferrara, Jasmine. “Pay It Forward: A New Way to Fund Grassroots LGBTQ Organizing in the South.” National Committee For Responsive Philanthropy, 23 Aug. 2017, https://www.ncrp.org/publication/responsive-philanthropy-summer-2017/pay-it-forward-a-new-way-to-fund-grassroots-lgbtq-organizing-in-the-south.
3. “Campaign for Southern Equality.” Form 990, 2018 https://southernequality.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/CSE-2018-Form-990-Final-for-Public-Inspection.pdf
4. Beach-Ferrara, Jasmine. “Pay It Forward: A New Way to Fund Grassroots LGBTQ Organizing in the South.” National Committee For Responsive Philanthropy, 23 Aug. 2017, https://www.ncrp.org/publication/responsive-philanthropy-summer-2017/pay-it-forward-a-new-way-to-fund-grassroots-lgbtq-organizing-in-the-south.
5. Abbott, Greg. Directive to the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services. Governor Greg Abbott – Office of the Texas Governor, 22 Feb. 2022, https://gov.texas.gov/uploads/files/press/O-MastersJaime202202221358.pdf.
6. “Community Health Program.” Campaign for Southern Equality, August 5, 2019. https://southernequality.org/our-work/community-health-project/.
7. “Legal Equality Program.” Campaign for Southern Equality, 1 Oct. 2020, https://southernequality.org/our-work/legal-equality-project/.
8. “Campaign for Southern Equality.” Form 990, 2018 https://southernequality.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/CSE-2018-Form-990-Final-for-Public-Inspection.pdf
9. Doucleff, Michaeleen, and Pien Huang. “Monkeypox: The Myths, Misconceptions – and Facts – about How You Catch It.” NPR, NPR, 5 Aug. 2022, https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2022/08/05/1115859376/clearing-up-some-of-the-myths-that-have-popped-up-about-monkeypox.
10. Jabour, Tara. “Advocates say monkeypox is creating stigma against LGBTQ community.” ABC 13 News. August 5, 2022. https://wlos.com/news/local/lgbtq-advocates-say-monkeypox-is-creating-a-stigma-against-community-charleston-west-ashley-wciv
11. Meeting the Moment in the LGBTQ South.” Campaign for Southern Equality, 22 July 2022, https://southernequality.org/meetingthemoment/.
12. Polaski, Adam. “In the Wake of Dobbs Decision, CSE Launches ‘Meeting the Moment,” Campaign to Mobilize LGBTQ Southerners.” Campaign for Southern Equality, 22 July 2022, https://southernequality.org/in-the-wake-of-the-dobbs-decision-campaign-for-southern-equality-launches-meeting-the-moment-a-new-campaign-to-mobilize-lgbtq-southerners/.
13. “Tell Congress: Codify Landmark Supreme Court Decisions and Protect LGBTQ+ Southerners.” Action Network, https://actionnetwork.org/letters/tell-congress-codify-landmark-supreme-court-decisions-and-protect-lgbtq-southerners/.
14.  “Our Team.” Campaign for Southern Equality, July 5, 2022. https://southernequality.org/about/our-team/.
15.  “Our Team.” Campaign for Southern Equality, 5 July 2022, https://southernequality.org/about/our-team/.