Turn Up Tuesdays to Highlight Barriers the LGBTQ+ Community Experiences While Voting

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Kiren Marshall, The Leadership Conference, [email protected]

WASHINGTON –  The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and All Voting is Local, with its joint And Still I Votecampaign, will hold multiple events this week to mobilize LGBTQ+ voters and urge the Senate to pass the HEROES Act to ensure officials across the country have the vital resources for fair, safe, and accessible elections in 2020, especially for LGBTQ+ voters. These activities are part of Turn Up Tuesdays, a weekly national call to action to inform and activate people to vote in November.

Turn Up Tuesdays is dedicated to ensuring that upcoming elections do not encounter the disarray that voters experienced in the Wisconsin and Georgia primary elections. The activities this week will highlight how democracy works best when everyone can fully participate, no matter their sexual orientation, gender, or gender identity. The activities will urge Congress to allocate $3.6 billion to states to expand early voting and establish no-excuse mail voting and other vital protections.

Tuesday, June 30
5:30 p.m. EST

Turn Up Tuesday Facebook Live Event – The Leadership Conference and All Voting is Local will speak with guests about the issues facing the LGBTQ+ community, including vote by mail and voter ID requirements, which disproportionately affect trans and gender-nonconforming individuals.

Speakers:
Vanessa Gonzalez, executive vice president of field and membership, The Leadership Conference – moderator
Jason Collins, former NBA player and advocate
Christian Lovehall, Pennsylvania field organizer, Human Rights Campaign
Courtnay C. Avant, junior legislative counsel, Human Rights Campaign
Joe Saunders, senior political director, Equality Florida

Thursday, July 2
7 p.m. EST

And Still I Vote℠ Movie Night Conversation and Screening: “John Lewis: Good Trouble” –The Leadership Conference and All Voting is Local, in partnership with Color Farm Media, Participant Media, and Magnolia Films will hold an advanced screening of select clips from the upcoming documentary, “John Lewis: Good Trouble.” The evening will integrate key moments of the film with a discussion about the film’s creative process and voting rights organizing and activism of the past, present, and future.

Speakers:
Leigh Chapman, director of voting rights program, The Leadership Conference
Tay Anderson, at-large director, Denver School Board
Dawn Porter, director, “John Lewis: Good Trouble”
David J. Johns, executive director, National Black Justice Coalition
Erika Alexander, producer, “John Lewis: Good Trouble”
Hill Harper, award-winning actor, best-selling author and philanthropist
Aklima Khondoker, Georgia state director, All Voting is Local
Wanda Mosley, senior coordinator, Black Voters Matter

The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights is a coalition charged by its diverse membership of more than 220 national organizations to promote and protect the rights of all persons in the United States. The Leadership Conference works toward an America as good as its ideals. For more information on The Leadership Conference and its member organizations, visit www.civilrights.org.

All Voting is Local fights to eliminate needless and discriminatory barriers to voting before they happen, to build a democracy that works for us all. It is a collaborative campaign housed at The Leadership Conference Education Fund, in conjunction with the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation; the American Constitution Society; the Campaign Legal Center; and the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. For more information about All Voting is Local, visit https://allvotingislocal.org and follow us on Twitter @votingislocal.