ADVOCACY
(Organizations that advocate for full equality including: Fair representation in the media, marriage equality, equality in the military, anti-hate crimes, and more.)

Freedom to Marry, is the gay and non-gay partnership working to win marriage equality nationwide. Headed by Evan Wolfson, one of America's leading civil rights advocates and lawyers, Freedom to Marry brings new resources and a renewed context of urgency and opportunity to this social justice movement. Freedom to Marry brings the work of its partner organizations and their many approaches — litigation, legislation, direct action, and public education — into a larger whole, a shared civil rights campaign that fosters heightened outreach to non-gay allies.
www.freedomtomarry.org

The Empire State Pride Agenda is New York's statewide lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) civil rights and advocacy organization. Our mission is to win equality and justice for LGBT New Yorkers and our families.  We recognize that while significant cultural, legal and governmental advances have led to greater equality for LGBT New Yorkers, we and our families remain highly vulnerable without the vast majority of rights and protections that most New Yorkers take for granted. Through our education, organizing and advocacy programs, we work toward creating a broadly diverse alliance of LGBT people and our allies in government, communities of faith, labor, all sectors of the workforce and other social justice movements to achieve equality for LGBT New Yorkers and the broader goals of social, racial and economic justice. www.prideagenda.org

Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) is dedicated to promoting and ensuring fair, accurate and inclusive representation of people and events in the media as a means of eliminating homophobia and discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation,  http://www.glaad.org/

The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) is America’s largest civil rights organization working to achieve gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender equality. By inspiring and engaging all Americans, HRC strives to end discrimination against GLBT citizens and realize a nation that achieves fundamental fairness and equality for all. HRC seeks to improve the lives of GLBT Americans by advocating for equal rights and benefits in the workplace, ensuring families are treated equally under the law and increasing public support among all Americans through innovative advocacy, education and outreach programs. HRC works to secure equal rights for GLBT individuals and families at the federal and state levels by lobbying elected officials, mobilizing grassroots supporters, educating Americans, investing strategically to elect fair-minded officials and partnering with other GLBT organizations, www.hrc.org 

International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commision (IGLHRC) Our mission is to secure the full enjoyment of the human rights of all people and communities subject to discrimination or abuse on the basis of sexual orientation or expression, gender identity or expression, and/or HIV/AIDS status. We actively foster partnerships with local, national, and international activists and organizations to further this mission through the following strategies: Emergency Response, Human Rights Education, and Linking Human Rights and Social Movements. www.iglhrc.org 

Lambda Legal is a national organization committed to achieving full recognition of the civil rights of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgender people and those with HIV through impact litigation, education and public policy work. At Lambda Legal, we imagine a different world — a world of full equality for lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgender people and people with HIV — and we work to create that world every day. We pursue impact litigation, education and advocacy to make the case for equality in state and federal court, the Supreme Court and in the court of public opinion, www.lambdalegal.org.

Marriage Equality New York is an all-inclusive organization whose mission is to educate the public by raising awareness of the important right of all persons to enter into legally recognized gender neutral civil marriage with all the benefits and responsibilities that entails. Without marriage, committed same-sex couples are denied over 1,138 federal rights and obligations including social security, hospital visitation, co-parenting rights, estate tax, and immigration, just to name a few, www.marriageequalityny.org.

National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. The mission of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force is to build the grassroots power of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community. We do this by training activists, equipping state and local organizations with the skills needed to organize broad-based campaigns to defeat anti-LGBT referenda and advance pro-LGBT legislation, and building the organizational capacity of our movement. Our Policy Institute, the movement’s premier think tank, provides research and policy analysis to support the struggle for complete equality and to counter right-wing lies. As part of a broader social justice movement, we work to create a nation that respects the diversity of human expression and identity and creates opportunity for all. www.thetaskforce.org.

PFLAG Hartford, Library: You will find an extensive list of books on LGBT issues.  http://www.pflaghartford.org/library.html