PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A lawyer based in Philadelphia’s Gayborhood is celebrating Pride Month with a road trip. The purpose is to expand access to legal services for rural and underserved LGBTQ folks around the country.
She is calling it the Caravan of Hope. Through the month of June, Angela Giampolo, aka “Philly Gay Lawyer,” is going from city to city, visiting LGBTQ communities that she says are still fighting for equal rights.
“I am taking a 32-foot RV cross-country — 13 cities — providing pro bono legal services to LGBTQ folks in underserved, typically rural, areas,” she said.
Although there’s still work to do, LGBTQ communities in Philadelphia have protections that many other places don’t have.
“We have regulations and laws on the books that protect folks here in Philadelphia,” Giampolo said. “And people don't realize, when things happen — like [Ruth Bader Ginsburg] dying and Trump getting elected and Amy Coney Barrett going to the Supreme Court — that people in other places like Alabama and Oklahoma, the fears that they feel … because [they’re] fighting for just the [basic] needs at some level — food, clothing, shelter.”
Giampolo says that’s what inspired her to make the trip. The journey will begin on June 6.
“So we start here in Philly on Tuesday, and from there we go to Charlottesville, Virginia. From there we go to Charlotte, North Carolina. Then … Little Rock, [Arkansas]; and then Alabama; Laramie, Wyoming; Lincoln, Nebraska; then Chicago; then Columbus, [Ohio]; then Pittsburgh; and then finishing June 30 here in Philly. So, we leave from Philly, but we'll actually be here providing legal services on the very last day.”
According to Giampolo's website: "LGBTQ individuals in the 29 states without state laws that prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation consistently see greater disparities than in the 21 states with such laws, including less social acceptance and greater economic vulnerability."
She says the problems are disproportionately worse for Black LGBTQ people, and particularly transgender people. And because of the significant risks faced by the people she wants to help, "special care will be taken to ensure that our outreach in identifying underserved populations is carried out strategically and covertly if necessary, to maintain people’s safety after the Caravan of Hope pulls away."
For much more detail about the Caravan of Hope and the outreach Giampolo is doing, visit Philly Gay Lawyer, the advocacy arm of Giampolo Law Group, online.