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Even before the #metoo movement trained the spotlight on gender inequity and its impact across the globe, there were organizations doing the hard work to address these at-times violent failings.

From closing the wage gap and protecting reproductive rights to ending gender-based sexual exploitation, the push to support and empower women and nonbinary people has .

Recent attention has forced important conversations about gender into the public square鈥攐n social media, into office breakrooms, and around kitchen tables. And beyond the big, headline grabbing, celebrity-focused movements are efforts by grassroots organizations working to make a big difference in the area of gender equity. We highlight three of them here.

The LGBTQ Victory Institute

From judges to school board members to members of Congress, elected officials who openly identify as LGBTQ hold office across the United States. They serve in nearly every state, thanks in large part to the work of the .

One of several national organizations preparing candidates for political office, the Victory Institute has worked to elevate and advance LGBTQ leadership nationwide for more than two decades. In 1993, when it began, fewer than 50 gay and lesbian people held such positions.

Three years ago, when Victory Institute created Out for America, a map tracking LBGTQ elected officials across the country, it identified fewer than 500. The 2016 election results鈥攁nd more recently the presidential candidacy of Mayor Pete Buttigieg鈥攈ave energized potential candidates across the country, says Ruben Gonzales, Victory Institute鈥檚 vice president.  

Every training class since Donald Trump鈥檚 election has been at capacity.鈥疭till, LGBTQ people in political office nationwide represent fewer than 0.2% of all elected positions.

鈥淲e see an opportunity to build a bench at the earliest levels, what our opponents [of LGBTQ rights] have been doing for decades鈥攃ity mayor鈥檚 offices and the state legislatures, working their way up,鈥� Gonzales says.

Each year, the Victory Institute brings to Capitol Hill a cohort of interns across the gender, race, and even geographic spectrum, creating a pipeline into LGBTQ political leadership. And through its international program, the organization works with partners to train and . 

At the core of Victory Institute鈥檚 work is its boot camp where potential candidates learn what it takes to run for office鈥攆rom making fundraising goals to writing a field plan. LGBTQ elected officials attend and share their stories and experiences with participants. Victory Institute also helps candidates to publicly come out鈥攈elping them shape their messaging and connecting them with other LGBTQ officials who can provide mentorship.

The training also helps ground unreasonable ambitions, Gonzales says.鈥�鈥淲e have people come to the training and say, 鈥業 wanna run against Ted Cruz for Senate,鈥欌�� without fully realizing what it takes to do that, he says. 鈥淧eople are fired up and want to make change. The Victory Institute can show them that we need them just as much鈥攊f not more so鈥攐n the school boards and in local places.鈥�

That was true for , whom no one鈥攊ncluding Democratic Party leaders in her home state of Colorado鈥攅xpected to defeat her Republican opponent during the 2018 general election. Yet Titone garnered 439 more votes than her challenger in the conservative 27th district to become Colorado鈥檚 first out transgender state lawmaker鈥� in the country.

A geologist and software developer, Titone came out as a transgender woman in her late 30s and immediately became active in LGBTQ issues. When a party official suggested a run for state office, she was dubious. 鈥淣obody like me had ever really won a state office before, and my district hadn鈥檛 seen a Democrat since they redrew it following the 2010 census.鈥�

Titone attributes her victory to personally canvassing her district鈥攌nocking on doors and connecting with voters. The Victory Institute training, she says, models, as best it can, the experience LGBTQ candidates face on the campaign trail鈥攁nd that鈥檚 different from other training.鈥�

But with so few transgender candidates overall, she says, 鈥渢he curriculum is still based on the LGB portion of that experience.

鈥淵ou can apply a lot of the same techniques but being trans is still a special case, and we鈥檙e all starting to really learn about what works and what doesn鈥檛 work and how to manage.鈥�

Breakthrough

If you could openly share your story, how would you do it? What would you say?

, a human rights organization that uses bold, creative action to disrupt the cultural status quo, has launched a multimedia project to give girls and gender non-conforming youth of color just such a platform.

The project seeks to shift perception of marginalized communities by giving voice to young people at the intersection of race, immigration, gender, and sexuality who rarely see themselves represented in media. Throughout 2020, it will capture the stories of 75 young people, offering a snapshot into their lives through their own individual forms of art. It will feature a documentary film series, a traveling photo exhibit, community events, and an interactive online storytelling hub. 

Priya Kvam, associate director of strategic partnerships and initiatives, says her.stories aligns with Breakthrough鈥檚 partnership strategy of building relationships not only with young people, but also with a broad network of organizations, from student groups to academic institutions, that share a commitment to social justice.

鈥淩eally, the goal,鈥� she says, 鈥渋s to penetrate pop culture in such a way that people not only see and imagine other communities differently, and in a way that is much more respectful and affirming and celebratory, but also [to] look at structural violence and different kinds of human rights violations as they play out in real time.鈥� 

The project will include the stories of young people like Ta鈥橪or D鈥橸onna Mosley, a Black, queer actor, model, and writer living in Brooklyn, New York. Mosley says they want to showcase the agency and privilege they have in their identity and through their work. 

鈥淭his project gave me room to share what my queerness is to me,鈥� says Mosley. 鈥淚t highlights the importance of celebrating yourself through the hardships, violence, hate, and cruelty, and I hope people feel that, too, when they see me doing it.鈥� 

 If/When/How: Lawyering for Reproductive Justice

Perhaps no single issue important to women and nonbinary people has come under greater attack in recent years than reproductive health. With the ultimate goal of reversing Roe v. Wade, an alarming number of states have restricted access to abortions or moved to ban them outright.

It was within that gathering storm, in spring 2019, that an organization of lawyers, law students, and legal activists, working for years to protect reproductive freedom, with another group advocating for people criminalized for . Together they formed , a single movement committed to protecting those made vulnerable by the seismic shifts in reproductive health care. 

The group鈥檚 work is fiercely intersectional, focusing on racial, economic, immigrant, gender, LGBTQ, and disability justice, and recognizing that the law isn鈥檛 always designed for everyone and often works against certain communities.

鈥淲hat we鈥檙e building now is a movement of lawyers and law students who will transform the law and policy landscape, so that everyone can decide if, when, and how to define, create, and sustain their family,鈥� says Andrea Grimes, communications manager.

One key initiative involves working with other organizations to help improve abortion access for young people through such strategies as eliminating parental involvement laws. 

Another focuses on protecting access to self-managed abortions鈥攖he use of non-clinical methods to end a pregnancy鈥攃are that has become ever more urgent in this fraught environment. 

In a brief filed in a Louisiana case, , pending in the U.S. Supreme Court, If/When/How argues that with abortion access being diminished, there鈥檚 growing concern people will be investigated by law enforcement for choosing to end their pregnancies or buy abortion pills online. Those most vulnerable will be people of color.

鈥淭he specter of the 鈥榖ack-alley鈥� is now more historical fact than present concern due to the availability of abortion with pills鈥攂ut the fear of prosecution is real,鈥� says Farah Diaz-Tello, senior counsel for If/When/How.  

鈥淧eople who prefer clinical abortion care must be able to access it, and those who choose self-managed abortion鈥攐r who are forced to rely on it when clinics close鈥攎ust not be criminalized,鈥� she adds. 鈥淲hatever someone鈥檚 reason for ending a pregnancy, the law should protect them, not punish them.鈥�