National Resources for LGBT+ Students

Legal/ Civil Rights Support

  • American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
    The ACLU is a nonpartisan organization which brings lawsuits on such topics as discrimination, parenting, etc. designed to impact civil rights and constitutional law in order to achieve GLBT equality.
  • Human Rights Campaign
    America's largest civil rights organization working to achieve lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality. 
  • Immigration Equality
    Based in New York City and Washington D.C., Immigration Equality is the national leader in lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and HIV immigration rights. They helped end the HIV travel ban, and they led the successful fight to secure green cards for LGBT families. 
  • Lambda Legal
    Lambda Legal is the oldest and largest national legal organization whose mission is to achieve full recognition of the civil rights of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgender people and those with HIV through impact litigation, education and public policy work.
  • Outserve-Servicemembers Legal Defense Fund (SLDN)
    Outserve-SLDN is a non-partisan, non-profit, legal services, watchdog and policy organization dedicated to ending discrimination against and harassment of military personnel.

Support/ Advocacy Groups

  • GLAAD
    GLAAD amplifies the voice of the LGBT community by empowering real people to share their stories, holding the media accountable for the words and images they present, and helping grassroots organizations communicate effectively. By ensuring that the stories of LGBT people are heard through the media, GLAAD promotes understanding, increases acceptance, and advances equality.
  • Intersex Society of North America
    The Intersex Society of North America (ISNA) is devoted to systemic change to end shame, secrecy, and unwanted genital surgeries for people born with an anatomy that someone decided is not standard for male or female.
  • Asexual Visibility & Education Network
    AVEN hosts the world's largest online asexual community as well as a large archive of resources on asexuality. AVEN strives to create open, honest discussion about asexuality among sexual and asexual people alike.
  • Bisexual Resource Center
    The Bisexual Resource Center is the oldest national bi organization in the U.S. that advocates for bisexual visibility and raises awareness about bisexuality throughout the LGBT+ and Allied communities.
  • National Youth Advocacy Coalition (NYAC)
    The mission of National Youth Advocacy Coalition is to advocate for and with young people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender in an effort to end discrimination against these youth and to ensure their physical and emotional well-being.

    The National Youth Advocacy Coalition takes a comprehensive approach to improving the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youth. The Coalition strongly believes that to be effective in creating change at the National level, we must work with and support local community based work as well. The Coalition stresses that the expertise required to strengthen the LGBT youth services movement can be found among both youth and adults from around the country.
  • PFLAG
    Made up of parents, families, friends, and straight allies united with people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT), PFLAG is committed to advancing equality and societal acceptance of LGBT people through its threefold mission of support, education and advocacy.
  • Services & Advocacy for gay, lesbian, bisexual, & transgender elders
    Services & Advocacy for GLBT Elders (SAGE) is the country's largest and oldest organization dedicated to improving the lives of LGBT+ older adults.
  • Trans Lifeline
    Trans Lifeline is a non-profit dedicated to the wellbeing of transgender people. They run a hotline staffed by transgender people, for transgender people. Trans Lifeline volunteers are ready to respond to whatever support needs members of our community might have. This is a free helpline run by volunteers and supported by the community. You can reach the Trans Lifeline in the US by calling (877) 565-8860.
  • Consortium of Higher Education Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Resource Professionals
    The Consortium of Higher Education Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Resources Professionals was officially born at the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force's Creating Change Conference in San Diego (November, 1997) but the consortium had actually been working together on an informal basis for several years prior to that. The combined vision and mission on the Consortium is to achieve higher education environments in which lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender students, faculty, staff, administrators, and alumni have equity in every respect. Our goals are to support colleagues and develop curriculum to professionally enhance this work; to seek climate improvement on campuses; and to advocate for policy change, program development, and establishment of LGBT Office/Centers.
  • National Center for Transgender Equality
    The National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE) is a 501(c)3 social justice organization dedicated to advancing the equality of transgender people through advocacy, collaboration and empowerment.
  • National Gay & Lesbian Task Force
    The mission of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force is to build the power of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community from the ground up. As part of a broader social justice movement, they work to create a nation that respects the diversity of human expression and identity and creates opportunity for all.
  • Trikone
    Trikone is the leading group for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender South Asians. Based in San Francisco, Trikone publishes a regular magazine. 

Links to resources and websites are provided as a service to our students, and do not constitute an endorsement of their organizations or programs. MTSU is not responsible for the content of the individual web pages found at these links.

NOTE: If you discover a problem with one one of the links on this page, please contact Intercultural and Diversity Affairs at 615-898-5812 or lgbt@mtsu.edu.