State Green Parties are running statewide candidates in the midterm elections in many states to gain new ballot lines and defend existing ones. Achieving the votes required for ballot access in elections for statewide office is essential for the Green Party’s political survival because it enables other Green Party candidates to run with lower petition requirements, or without petitioning. In the 2016 general election, the Green Party had ballot lines in 44 states plus DC, including the seven largest states. Voters in three additional states could write in the presidential candidate, Jill Stein. Snapshots of some of these ballot access–critical races are below.

Hundreds to gather in New Haven to urge humane reform of Connecticut's and US Prison policy

August 20, 2018 — On Saturday August 25th, residents from across Connecticut will mobilize in New Haven to voice their support for prisoners around the United States who will be participating in strike actions, calling for an end to inhumane conditions of confinement, including overcrowding, lack of rehabilitation services, labor at a fraction of the minimum wage, and the absence of any meaningful process by which prisoners may voice grievances.

Jennifer V. Kurland, Michigan Green Party candidate for Governor, praised members of Michigan's LGBTQIA community and their supporters for continuing pressure on Michigan's elected leaders to include gender identity and sexual orientation in our state's civil rights laws. Kurland also sharply criticized Attorney General Bill Schuette for overreaching his constitutional authority in issuing a "legal opinion" that claims Michigan law does not provide for the protection of the civil rights of LGBTQIA people.

"In May, Michigan's Civil Rights Commission ruled that discrimination because of sex, which is prohibited by the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act, also prohibits discrimination on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation," Kurland said. "The Attorney General does not have the authority to determine what the law is. His job is to enforce the law."

The Green Party joins advocacy groups in urging U.S. Education Secretary Betsy Devos to retain essential guidance on school discipline in regard to race.

Devos is considering whether to rescind a 2014 letter — jointly issued by the U.S. Departments of Education and Justice – that offers guidance to public elementary and secondary schools on administering student discipline in a manner that does not discriminate on the basis of race. This follows her rescission of guidance on the protection of transgender students and on campus sexual assault.

Vietnam veterans are unafraid of long shots. VVA's Veronika Fimbres is no exception. She's running for governor of California. Most of her professional life has been spent nursing — a vocation that even precedes her stint as a Navy corpsman. The only political position she has had is as San Francisco Commissioner of Veterans' Affairs, an office she held for more than fourteen years under three mayoral administrations.

Should she get elected, Fimbres will be the state's first African-American governor and its first transgender governor.

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The National Lavender Green Caucus of the Green Party of the United States has released a statement responding to the ban on military service by transgender people that was announced by President Trump on July 26.

The statement, which represents the Green Party's position, strongly condemns the ban. The text follows below. 

The Lavender Green Caucus is the party's advocacy group on gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning, intersex, and asexual issues. The Green Party, in its national platform, supports full legal and political equality for all persons, regardless of sex, gender, sexual orientation, or gender identity, characteristics, and expression.

In an article written recently by Sean R. Cahill, PhD and Harvey J. Makadon, MD, for the LGBT Health journal, it is reported that the Trump-Pence administration is eliminating the use of Sexual Orientation And Gender Identity (SOGI) questions on national surveys. They write:

The Trump Administration recently removed sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) questions from a national aging survey, and decided not to add a sexual orientation category and a transgender identity field to a national disability survey as planned. These actions have raised concerns that the major expansion of SOGI data collection on surveys and in clinical settings, which has occurred in recent years, may be under threat. SOGI data collection is essential to understand lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) health and the extent to which LGBT people access critical social services, including elder and disability services essential for living in community.

The Green Party of Atlantic County (GPAC) supports the Egg Harbor Township School District’s (EHTSD) proposed policy regarding Transgender Students. This policy would put the rights of personal identity where they belong, with the student in all instances where the student is able to advocate for themselves. This policy aligns with the Green Party’s affirmation of self-determination with regards to a person’s gender identity and sex.