The Southern Equality Fund (SEF) is part of the larger Campaign for Southern Equality (CSE). The SEF provides grant money to LGBT interests, registers voters, advocates for codifying Supreme Court decisions promoting social-liberal policy outcomes, and seeks to expand left-of-center political power in the southern United States. Southern Equality Fund and Campaign for Southern Equality prioritize funding and training for groups that address the “intersection of race, class, and gender” and provide legal guides on LGBTQ law, trans rights and law for youth, and same-sex adoption and family law.

Background

Campaign for Southern Equality began in a church basement in 2011 with an initial goal of securing state recognition of same-sex marriages in the southern states. ¹ From 2011 through 2015, CSE led efforts to have more than 200 same-sex couples apply for marriage licenses to draw attention to the matter and promote legal action. ²

Campaign for Southern Equality then joined lawsuits that struck down bars on state recognition of same-sex marriages in North Carolina and Mississippi and a lawsuit that ended an adoption ban for same-sex couples in Mississippi. ³ CSE operates programs through the Southern Equality Fund, Legal Equality Program, Community Health Program, Southern Equality Research and Policy Center, and Southern Equality Studios. ⁴

Issues

Launched in 2015, the Southern Equality Fund is a program of Campaign for Southern Equality that provides funding and training to LGBTQ individuals in the southern U.S. ⁵ SEF prioritizes funding and training for groups and individuals that are working to address the “intersection of race, class, and gender.” ⁶ Southern Equality Fund’s core goal is to build grassroots leadership with a vision of building LGBTQ political power in the South. ⁷ SEF produces webinars on community organizing and fundraising at the local level. ⁸

The Southern Equality Fund has called on Congress to codify Supreme Court decisions that secured social-liberal policy ends into federal law. ⁹ Cases SEF has advocated federal legislation to codify include Roe v. Wade, Obergefell v. Hodges, Griswold v. Connecticut, and Bostock v. Clayton. ¹⁰

The Southern Equality Fund publishes a guide “Trans in the South” that lists medical and legal service providers that will assist trans persons. ¹¹ SEF has hosted legal workshops on trans youth law in South Carolina, LGBT family law in North Carolina, a guide for students on “Know Your Rights” on LGBT policies and best practices, and pop-up workshops at LGBT-pride festivals throughout the South. ¹²

SEF has state chapters throughout the South focusing on LGBT issues and voter registration drives. ¹³ The Campaign for Southern Equality has worked with the Cenzontle Language Justice Cooperative to work on “language justice” and building multilingual spaces and movements. ¹⁴ Southern Equality Fund and Campaign for Southern Equality also provides guides and webinars on creating 501(c)(3) organizations through the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and how to apply for grant money. ¹⁵

Funding

In 2020, Campaign for Southern Equality reported net assets of $992,384. ¹⁶ According to the organization’s tax returns, in 2020 Campaign for Southern Equality recorded $1,308,872 in revenue and $1,021,095 in expenses. ¹⁷ In 2019, Campaign for Southern Equality had $670,664 in revenue and $824,580 in expenses. ¹⁸

Each year, the Southern Equality Fund constitutes 10 percent of CSE’s budget in grants including general fund grants of up to $500. ¹⁹ In 2022, SEF provided $20,000 in emergency grant money in Texas to those claiming to be affected by anti-transgender rules in the state. ²⁰ General grants were suspended in 2020 and 2021 to focus on providing COVID-19 emergency grants to individuals and organizations. ²¹

SEF awarded over $525,000 in emergency COVID grants from 2020 to 2021. ²²  Emergency COVID grants were funded by the Ford Foundation, Schmidt Futures, Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation, and left-wing activist George Soros’ Open Society Foundation. SEF also provided community response grants during the COVID pandemic for food distribution, technology, and mental health services as well as frontline grants to assist medical first responders. ²³

Leadership

Jasmine Beach-Ferrara is founder and executive director of Campaign for Southern Equality and Southern Equality Fund. ²⁴ Beach-Ferrara has served on the Biden Foundation’s Advisory Council for Advancing LGBTQ Equality. ²⁵ Beach-Ferrara graduated from Brown University, has an MFA from the Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College, and an MDiv from Harvard Divinity School. ²⁶

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14. “Archive of Grassroots Webinars and Training Materials.” Southern Equality Fund. Accessed October 7, 2022. https://southernequality.org/grassroots-webinars-training-materials/.
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16. Campaign for Southern Equality, Return of a Nonprofit Corporation (Form 990), 2020.
17.  Campaign for Southern Equality, Return of a Nonprofit Corporation (Form 990), 2020.
18.  Campaign for Southern Equality, Return of a Nonprofit Corporation (Form 990), 2019.
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20. DuBose, Erika. “Emergency Fund Launched to Fight Texas Anti-Trans Restrictions.” The Black Wall Street Times. March 2, 2022. Accessed October 10, 2022. https://theblackwallsttimes.com/2022/03/02/emergency-fund-launched-to-fight-texas-anti-trans-restrictions/.
21. “Getting Funding: COVID-19 Rapid Response Grant Program.” Campaign for Southern Equality. Accessed October 7, 2022. https://southernequality.org/fund-your-work/get-funding/.
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