Advocacy
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Advocate & Educate
Explore trusted resources on LGBTQ+ rights, local concerns, and meaningful steps you can take to advocate for equality.
View Our Educational Programs
Programs for community members and allies to learn about issues within the LGBTQ+ community
National Suicide Prevention Week
Ridgefield CT Pride Urges Visibility And Support During National Suicide Prevention Week
Gender Affirming Healthcare Links
GLAAD FACT SHEET
Evidence Based Healthcare for Transgender People and Youth
Transition-related health care for transgender people and youth is supported by every major medical association and leading health authority. Efforts to ban and criminalize this care are not based in medical or scientific expertise, and frequently spread misinformation about what the care is.
World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH)
Standards of Care Version 8 – WPATH
The field of transgender healthcare is a rapidly evolving interdisciplinary field. The overall goal of the guidelines from WPATH, called “Standards of Care”, is to provide clinical guidance for health professionals to assist transgender and gender diverse people with safe and effective pathways to achieve lasting personal comfort with their gendered selves, and to maximize their overall health, psychological well-being, and self-fulfillment.
Yale Law School
Team of Experts Provides Critical Review of Florida Medical Report on Transgender Care
The Report: A Critical Review of the June 2022 Florida Medicaid Report on the Medical Treatment of Gender Dysphoria
Transgender Athletes
ACLU
ACLU – 7 Myths about Trans Youth in School Sports, Debunked
The discriminatory effort by Indiana legislators to ban transgender girls from K-12 school sports attempts to create a “solution” to a “problem” that doesn’t exist, while needlessly demonizing and harming vulnerable kids.
ACLU – The Coordinated Attack on Trans School Athletes
Opponents of trans rights have moved from attacking trans students in restrooms to attacking trans students in sports.
The Center For American Progress
The Center for American Progress is an independent, nonpartisan policy institute that is dedicated to improving the lives of all Americans through bold, progressive ideas, as well as strong leadership and concerted action.
Transgender students deserve full and equal access to the benefits of school sports participation.
Despite recent legislative pushback, schools across the country are recognizing the important benefits of equal participation in sports for all young people, including transgender youth.
Human Rights Campaign
Human Rights Campaign – FAQ – Myths and Facts: Battling Disinformation About Transgender Rights
Transgender and non-binary people come from all walks of life. The HRC Foundation has estimated that there are more than two million of us across the United States.
We are parents, siblings and kids. We are your coworkers, your neighbors and your friends. We are 7-year-old children and 70-year-old grandparents. We are a diverse community, representing all racial and ethnic backgrounds, as well as all faith traditions. As you read this FAQ, we hope you learn more about our wonderful community and join us in supporting transgender and non-binary people.
NPR
NPR – Wave Of Bills To Block Trans Athletes Has No Basis In Science, Researcher Says (3/18/2021)
Vilain has advised both the International Olympic Committee and the NCAA, and says these laws generally aren’t based in scientific evidence, but rather “target women who have either a different biology or … simply look different.”
Laws and Guidance
Connecticut Laws
CT Public Act 11-55 – An Act Concerning Discrimination (House bill 6599)
This act ensures that individuals are not denied full and equal access to public establishments, housing, and other services based on their gender identity or expression.
GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD Law)
Through strategic litigation, public policy advocacy, and education, the works in New England and nationally to create a just society free of discrimination based on gender identity and expression, HIV status, and sexual orientation.
Does Connecticut have anti-discrimination laws that protect transgender people? Yes. On July 1, 2011, Governor Daniel Malloy signed into law Public Act 11-55, “An Act Concerning Discrimination,” which adds gender identity or expression to Connecticut’s anti-discrimination laws. The law protects against discrimination in employment, education, housing, public accommodations, and in any other areas in which sex discrimination is prohibited.
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LGBTQ+ Mental Health
The Trevor Project
2024 U.S. National Survey on the Mental Health of LGBTQ+ Young People
2023 U.S. National Survey on the Mental Health of LGBTQ+ Young People
2022 National Survey on LGBTQ Youth Mental Health
The Trevor Project Research Brief: Accepting Adults Reduce Suicide Attempts Among LGBTQ Youth – ” LGBTQ youth who report having at least one accepting adult were 40% less likely to report a suicide attempt in the past year”
Take Action
Attend a Town Meeting
- Sign up for Town Updates. Stay up to date with what is going on here in Ridgefield and make your voice heard.
- Attend a Town Meeting. Visibility matters. Be in the room where the action happens.
- Bring a friend. Share this info with at least 3 people who are supportive of our LGBTQ+ community.
- Write a letter to the Board of Selectpersons or a different board about the issues that are important to you.
- Speak at a town meeting.
- For additional info or if you are planning to attend or speak in support of LGBTQ+ rights here in town, email us at ridgefieldctpride@gmail.com.
Register to Vote
- Your vote is your voice. Only registered voters can speak and vote at certain town meetings.
- Register to vote or make changes to your registration
Contact your representatives regarding their stance on LGBTQ+ rights.
- Write a postcard, send an email or call.
- Include a personal story!!!!!! Thank them when they are supportive and call them out when they are not. If you have ideas for legislation, you can also contact them to ask them to sponsor it.
Some of the ways your State Representatives supported LGBTQ+ Equality:
- Expanded the definition of family in the FMLA bill.
- Passed “An Act Establishing A Task Force to Study The Effects of Hate Speech And Bullying On Children”
- Speak out repeatedly and consistently for LGBTQ+ Equality
Contact Info for your local representatives
- First Selectperson Rudy Marconi
400 Main Street
Ridgefield, CT 06877
203-431-2774
torfirstelectperson@ridgefieldct.gov - Board of Selectpersons – click for contact info for board members.
- Senator Julie Kushner (CT 24th)
Legislative Office Building
300 Capitol Ave
Room 3800
Hartford, CT 06106-1591
860-240-0509
julie.kushner@cga.ct.gov - CT Senator Ceci Maher (CT 26th)
Legislative Office Building
300 Capitol Ave
Room 3100
Hartford, CT 06106-1591
860-240-0068
ceci.maher@cga.ct.gov - CT Representative Aimee Berger-Girvalo (CT 111th)
Legislative Office Building
300 Capitol Ave
Room 2303
Hartford, CT 06106-1591
860-240-8585
aimee.berger-girvalo@cga.ct.gov - CT Representative Savet Constantine (CT 42nd)
Legislative Office Building
300 Capitol Ave
Room 4026
Hartford, CT 06106-1591
860-240-8585
savet.constantine@cga.ct.gov - US Senator Richard Blumenthal
90 State House Square
10th floor
Hartford, CT 06106
(860) 258-6940.
https://www.blumenthal.senate.gov/contact/write-to-senator-blumenthal Message Topic: LGBTQ+ Rights
- US Senator Chris Murphy
120 Huyshope Ave
Suite 401
Hartford, CT 06106
(860) 549-8463
https://www.murphy.senate.gov/contact, Message Topic: Civil Rights & Racial Equity - US Representative Jim Himes (CT 4th)
350 Fairfield Ave.
Suite 603
Bridgeport, CT 06604
(203)333-6600
https://himes.house.gov.
Adoption by LGBTQ+ Families
