We Are Equality South

Equality South (ES) is a three-pronged organization founded on the idea that the south has a deep well of talented, courageous leaders waiting for the right push and a helping hand to step up and change their communities for the better. The Equality South Foundation provides public workshops with the purpose of educating the public as well as future candidates on the nuts and bolts of both important issues and how to tackle them through advocating to local officials for better change.

The Action Fund builds on this momentum by recruiting those candidates to run for office, connecting them to the resources, and supporting elected officials who further the goals of Equality South. The Equality South PAC endorses candidates, provides funding, and helps candidates succeed with everything they need to run a successful campaign. Through recruitment, education, funding, endorsements, and the provision of a long-term support network, Equality South gives people across Oklahoma, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas and Alabama a fighting chance to elect strong LGBTQ+ candidates and allies running for local, county, tribal and statewide offices.

As the former mayor of a small town, the founder of Equality South, Adam Graham, knows what it’s like to be one of only a handful of LGBTQ+ elected officials in his home state of Oklahoma and the challenges that LGBTQ+ candidates and allies face running for office in the south. Equality South is built around the belief that it is critical to recruit, support and elect members of the LGBTQ+ community and allies in running for public office because it ensures that the perspectives and experiences of the community are represented in decision-making at all levels of government, which in turn leads to more inclusive and fair policies for all of us. The only way that this vision could be fully actualized was by creating an organization that is involved at all steps of the changemaking process, from education, to recruitment, to long-term support for elected officials doing the good work to terraform the south into a region that is safe and supportive for LGBTQ+ people.