Dear glifaa Members,

Greetings from your new board members!  For nearly three decades, glifaa has advanced issues facing the LGBT+ community in the State Department, USAID, and other foreign affairs agencies.  Thanks to the dedication and leadership of previous glifaa boards and the participation of a robust membership that now numbers nearly 1000 current and former employees, we have made great strides toward fairness and equality for LGBT+ employees and family members.  Much work remains.  As your board, we plan an active year advocating the issues most important to our members and the broader community.

Our strength comes through our diverse, expansive and and active membership.  Thus, we are also calling on our members to help us make our organization stronger and more effective than ever.  As a first step, last week we sent out a survey to help us better understand the top priorities of our member.  With this survey, in the coming weeks, we will draft and distribute our strategy for the coming year.  Throughout our tenure, we will look to you often for guidance and assistance.  Please stay on the look-out for opportunities to support glifaa’s efforts.  For example, last week we sent out a request to volunteer on various working groups centering on diversity and inclusion.  We will also maintain a robust calendar of activities aimed at further strengthening and expanding our network.

Thank you again for your dedication.  We look forward to working with you to further advance fairness and equality for the LGBT+ community.

As always, please feel free to contact us with any questions, comments, or concerns at board@glifaa.org.