United Voice: The Wyoming Equality Magazine
March 2023 Issue
We’ve Grown…
Since its founding in 1987, Wyoming Equality has been a small organization with a big impact. Running the state’s LGBTQ advocacy organization sometimes mean just that: running from place to place, whether for crisis intervention or support. A team of one to three individuals were responsible for serving our mission: equity for all lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, two-spirit, and queer Wyomingites.
So, you might think that, with the recent hire of three new staff members and an intern, the old hats might be taking a well-earned opportunity for a breather. You’d be wrong, though. It’s all-hands-on-deck, still, across the state.
Read on to learn more about each staff member, old and new, and what they’re working on to help build a Wyoming where the dignity and humanity of all LGBTQ Wyomingites are celebrated and protected in the communities we call home.
Wyoming Equality has recently added new staff members. Read on to learn more about them!
Kota represents WE at a community event
alongside Enroll Wyoming.
Kota Babcock came to Wyoming Equality to help lead the Wyoming Equality Healthcare Access Project (WEHAP). He arrived with an impressive resume. For seven years, he’d worked with All the Tea, an HIV advocacy group, and with Children’s Hospital Colorado. He created marketing for the cabotegravir for PrEP research study, and trained as a journalist at Colorado State University. In 2018, he was honored with the Pedro Zamora Young Leaders’ Award by the National AIDS Memorial Grove for his efforts in HIV advocacy.
He’s already built and bolstered the network of providers and organizations across state. Perhaps most excitingly, he’s helped initiate the Gender Affirming ECHO program. This program will help healthcare providers around Wyoming better meet the needs of transgender and nonbinary individuals by providing free professional development and training. Learn more about the program here.
Kota was the ideal person to help spearhead WEHAP. But he hasn’t been doing it alone. Soon after he came on board, Wyoming Equality welcomed our first intern from the University of Wyoming Masters of Social Work program. Hana Lerwick quickly dived into the fray, helping organize efforts like our community groups. Read Hana’s reflections on what this work means to her here.
Sarah Hays (right) with her wife.
In the last few weeks, we’ve completed the WEHAP team by bringing on Sarah Hays as our Healthcare Outreach Coordinator. Now, while Kota focuses on supporting the Wyoming LGBTQ community, Sarah will build the state’s network of educated, informed providers. Like Kota, Sarah has a pretty impressive background. As a former park ranger and researcher in ecology and zoology, she knows how to balance up-to-date science with building relationships with the public.
Want to learn more about WEHAP? CLICK HERE!
While Kota, Sarah, and Hana are busy with healthcare equity in our state, Ray Kasckow is busy all over the state, working on behalf of our young people. Ray coordinates Wyoming Equality’s Safe & Healthy Schools Program. The program includes thirty schools: while it’s one of our most impactful programs, Ray prefers to work behind the scenes. This is because if LGBTQ kids find themselves in the spotlight, they become political targets. So Ray helps empower these young people to build supportive clubs and groups, while also working with teachers and administrators. Read a beautiful reflection from Ray here.
CLICK HERE to learn more about Safe and Healthy Schools.
Ray Kasckow
A staff member who is even more behind-the-scenes is the one you probably hear from the most…you just may not know it. Daniel Galbreath is Wyoming Equality’s new Director of Communications. He oversees our web and social media presence, and communications with stakeholders. He also works closely with Executive Director Sara Burlingame on legislative advocacy and grassroots mobilization, and with Ammon Medina on the communications facet of organizational strategy and fundraising. That’s a lot of hats to wear; the challenge of serving so many parts of the mission keeps him on his toes.
Above all, his role is to build Wyoming Equality’s voice and establish us as thought leaders in the state. And these goals are just two parts of an important strategy to help Wyoming communities thrive by celebrating diversity. Every member of staff has a vital role to play for Wyoming, and with Wyoming Equality’s new, expanded team, the future has never looked brighter.
Billy Medina & Daniel Galbreath
