Government Affairs Director

Title: Government Affairs Director

Organization: Equality Texas and Equality Texas Foundation

Reports to: CEO

Location: Texas – Austin, Dallas, or Houston

Compensation: $75,000 – $85,000

FSLA Status: Exempt

THE POSITION

Equality Texas – the state’s leading organization solely dedicated to securing full, lived equality for all LGBTQ Texans – is seeking a full-time Government Affairs Director (GAD) to provide advanced legislative and technical leadership to aid our state-wide efforts to secure full-lived equality for LGBTQ Texans. The GAD provides knowledge and analysis of state LGBTQ legislative issues to our constituents, community partners, and key stakeholders. The GAD also works with staff to facilitate written and verbal communications between EQTX, state leadership, and members of the Legislature. This Government Affairs Director reports to the CEO and is based in Austin, Dallas, or Houston.

BENEFITS

Equality Texas offers excellent benefits, including employer-paid health insurance, dental, vision, life, short term and long-term disability, and generous PTO.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Job responsibilities include but are not limited to:

• Develop communication on LGBTQ issues for a legislative audience. Working closely with staff, create various documents including reports, presentations, talking points, briefing documents, memorandums, and letters.
• Monitor legislative issues and the status of legislation impacting Equality Texas. Attend legislative hearings and meetings. Develop summaries for board and staff and provide legislative follow-up as necessary. Prepare bill summaries, bill analyses and other written information related to filed bills.
• Develop and maintain effective relationships with community, government officials (local, state, federal delegations), and their staff and associations. Champion pro-LGBTQ policies, proclamations, and ordinances.
• Closely monitor issues of concern and relevance to community stakeholders and assist in creating solutions; provide strategic support, advice, and positioning. Develop materials that effectively communicate policy issues to community stakeholders, including a bi-annual scorecard recording legislative votes on key bills.
• Coordinate issue education for legislators for briefings, literature drop, and aid lobbyists in ensuring lawmakers can better understand our issues; respond to legislative staff inquiries regarding LGBTQ issues; ensure that responses are appropriate, accurate, strategic, and timely.
• Provide input in the development of overall political strategy in collaboration with the CEO.
• Represent Equality Texas at internal, external, legislative, and non-legislative meetings. Provide guidance to board committees.
• Develop and sustain relationships with key community organizations to build power in and outside of the state legislature; ensure partners are aligned/informed in overall state strategy and can plug into advocacy as required by the political landscape.

CANDIDATE PROFILE

The candidate should possess the majority of these requirements:

• Extensive knowledge of Texas legislative processes.
• Experience working on policy issues during a Texas legislative session.
• Objective independent judgement to synthesize speedy analysis to provide recommendations.
• Skilled at breaking down complex information for a variety of audiences.
• Experience building consensus and buy-in among individuals and coalition partners through relationship building and sound reasoning.
• Skilled in organization and problem solving.
• Skilled at preparing, researching, reviewing, and editing reports, presentations, and other assigned documents.
• Proven, effective oral and written communication skills and interpersonal skills necessary to interact with a broad range of constituencies and key stakeholders.
• Possess strong project management skills; results-driven, adaptable with ability to manage multiple priorities and meet deadlines.
• Ability to navigate stressful situations in a fast-paced and often changing environment.
• Strong government contacts at local, state, and federal levels.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Good judgment and ability to work independently.
• Availability to work evenings, nights, and/or weekends during the legislative session.

ORGANIZATION OVERVIEW

Equality Texas envisions a Texas where all LGBTQ people and their families have full equality in the hearts and minds of their fellow Texans and in all areas of the law. Headquartered in Austin, Equality Texas is dedicated to securing full legal and lived equality for LGBTQ Texans through political action, education, community organizing, and collaboration. With tens of thousands of members across the state, Equality Texas is the state’s leading state-wide organizing and advocacy organization for LGBTQ Texans.

Today’s Equality Texas is comprised of two nonprofit organizations:

• Equality Texas Foundation, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that provides educational programming on LGBTQ issues and conducts campaigns to build public support for equal rights, and
• Equality Texas, a 501(c)4 organization that conducts direct lobbying and advocacy efforts to advance pro-LGBTQ legislation and candidates and to defeat anti-LGBTQ legislation.

Each organization is governed by a volunteer Board of Directors; these Boards have 33 members in total who represent a cross-section of LGBTQ community, business, and philanthropic leaders and allies. Equality Texas had combined (c)3 and (c)4 revenue of roughly $2.3 million in 2023.

Equality Texas values the leadership of BIPOC and LGBTQIA individuals and strongly encourages people of all traditionally underrepresented identities to apply.

No applicant will be discriminated against because of race, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, religion, national origin, disability, ancestry, marital status, veteran status, medical condition, or any protected category prohibited by local, state or federal laws.

APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS

Please email your resume and cover letter detailing how your experience prepares you to assume the responsibilities and expectations of the Government Affairs Director role at Equality Texas to jobs@equalitytexas.org with subject line: EQTX Government Affairs Director.