The Lavender Leash Coalition
Who We Are
The Lavender Leash Coalition is a network of LGBTQI+ and allied animal welfare professionals and the organizations that support them. We're a community, a resource, and an accountability structure for a field that needs all three.We're building the kind of space where you can be fully yourself and fully professional at the same time, because those two things should never have to be separate.
The Lavender Leash Coalition believes that the diversity of our community is one of our greatest strengths. We recognize that discrimination and exclusion do not fall equally, and that queer and trans people who also navigate racism, disability, poverty, and other forms of marginalization carry compounded weight in this field and beyond.This coalition is committed to building a space where everyone in our community belongs, not just those for whom belonging has always come easily.
Partners Commit with Pride
1. We cultivate affirming workplaces.
Partner organizations commit to maintaining environments where LGBTQI+ staff, volunteers, and community members are genuinely welcome. This includes explicit nondiscrimination policies that name sexual orientation and gender identity, equitable practices in hiring and retention, and leadership that models and enforces those standards year-round, not only during Pride Month.2. We make our support visible.
Partner organizations commit to making their support for LGBTQI+ inclusion clear and public. LGBTQI+ workers, adopters, fosters, and community members should be able to identify a partner organization as a safe and affirming space without having to ask. Silence is not neutrality.3. We hold ourselves accountable.
Partner organizations commit to honest, ongoing self-assessment of their inclusion practices. We acknowledge that doing this work well requires humility, a willingness to receive feedback, and a commitment to grow when we fall short.4. We center the most marginalized.
Partner organizations commit to recognizing that discrimination does not fall equally. Our inclusion efforts must account for the compounded barriers faced by LGBTQI+ people who also navigate racism, disability, poverty, and other forms of marginalization. Inclusion that only serves the most privileged members of our community is incomplete.5. We reaffirm annually.
Each year, partner organizations will review and reaffirm these tenets by signing a joint statement published on the coalition's landing page. An organization that cannot reaffirm in good faith is expected to bring that concern to the coalition before the statement is due.
