Equality North Carolina
The Equality North Carolina logo
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U.S. State of North Carolina
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| Founded | 1979 |
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Area served
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North Carolina |
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Key people
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Chris Sgro, executive director |
| Website | equalitync |
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Formerly called
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North Carolina Human Rights Fund |
Equality North Carolina (or Equality NC, or ENC) is the largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights advocacy group and political lobbying organization in North Carolina and is the oldest statewide LGBT equality organization in the United States.
Equality NC is an umbrella group of two separate non-profit corporations and a political action committee: Equality NC Foundation, a 501(c)(3) organization that provides educational programming on LGBT issues and conducts comprehensive campaigns to build public support for equal rights, Equality NC, a 501(c)(4) organization that conducts lobbying and advocacy efforts, and Equality NC PAC, a political action committee which works to elect fair-minded candidates. These organizations all work to secure equal rights and justice for LGBT North Carolinians.
The organization is a member of the Equality Federation.
Equality NC's leadership includes Executive Director Chris Sgro. Equality NC's work is supported by three boards: the Equality NC Board, the Equality NC Foundation Board, and Equality NC Action Fund Working Group. All three boards are composed of volunteers from across North Carolina.
Equality NC began in 1979 and originally was called the North Carolina Human Rights Fund. It was eventually named Equality North Carolina in 2002, when the board agreed they needed a parent organization to manage the work and to link all the smaller foundations together.
ENC's Matthew Shephard Memorial Act issued in 1999 became the first pro-gay bill ever voted on in the North Carolina House of Representatives, although it ended up losing by ten votes. In 2004, ENC succeeded in blocking a constitutional amendment prohibiting lesbian and gay marriages. Equality NC PAC also managed to get Senator Julia Boseman, the first openly gay state legislator in North Carolina, elected in 2004.
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