LGBTQ+ Equality and the 2025 Landscape

5:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. Check-in and Reception

6:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. Program

RSVP required for admittance. Admission is free, but registration is required for each attendee.

Featured speaker: Tony Hoang, Executive Director, Equality California and Silver State Equality

Over the past quarter-century, California has spearheaded tough civil rights protections for the LGBTQ+ community that have become a model for the nation. As we move through 2025, new challenges and opportunites are emerging in the fight for full equality, especially in the wake of the 2024 election and shifting political dynamics.

In this UCLA Luskin Lecture, LGBTQ+ rights leader Tony Hoang will share the high points of the fight for full lived equality and identify how to defend against efforts to dismantle the progress. Hoang is executive director of Equality California, the nation’s largest statewide LGBTQ+ advocacy organization. For over 25 years, the nonprofit has advanced civil rights legislation at the local, state and national level, and helped elect hundreds of pro-equality candidates to office, up and down the ballot.

The son of Vietnam War refugees and the first person in his family to attend college, Tony Hoang grew up understanding the marginalized intersections of sexuality, gender, race and immigration status. As a college student, he joined Equality California as a field intern in 2009, beginning his long career with the organization. Hoang also serves as executive director of the Nevada-based Silver State Equality, a member of the City of Los Angeles Innovation and Performance Commission, and a UCLA Luskin Senior Fellow.

• Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA)
• Santa Monica Municipal Bus Lines - "Big Blue Bus"
• Culver City Municipal Bus Lines
• LADOT Commuter Express
• Antelope Valley Transit Authority
• Santa Clarita Transit
• Metrolink (Commuter Trains)
• LAX Transportation Services

View map

Direction: From the 405 freeway, exit on Wilshire Boulevard East. Turn left on Westwood. Proceed north onto the UCLA campus.

Parking: The nearest parking lots to the venue are Parking Structure 4, Parking Structure 8, and Parking Structure 9. You may purchase a parking permit through the Bruin ePermit system and at self-service pay stations. An all day pass currently costs $16 per vehicle and $5 per vehicles with handicapped placard.

For more information, please visit UCLA Parking Rates and Fees.

The UCLA Luskin Lecture Series enhances public discourse on topics relevant to the betterment of society. The Series features renowned public intellectuals, bringing together scholars as well as national and local leaders to address society’s most pressing problems. Lectures encourage interactive, lively discourse across traditional divides between the worlds of research, policy and practice. The Series demonstrates UCLA Luskin’s commitment to encouraging innovative breakthroughs and creative solutions to formidable public policy challenges.

Photo Release: By attending this event, you will be entering an area where photography, audio and video recording may occur. With your presence, you authorize UCLA Luskin and its licensees to photograph you, make sound and/or video recordings of you, and use the recordings for marketing, publicity and promotion of this event and UCLA Luskin generally. Please click on the link for the full UCLA Luskin Notice of Filming Release.

Attendance by a public official will constitute acceptance of a reportable gift.

The Luskin School of Public Affairs at UCLA acknowledges the Gabrielino/Tongva peoples as the traditional land caretakers of Tovaangar (the Los Angeles basin and So. Channel Islands). As a land grant institution, we pay our respects to the Honuukvetam (Ancestors), ‘Ahiihirom (Elders) and ‘Eyoohiinkem (our relatives/relations) past, present and emerging.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

UCLA Kerckhoff Hall, Grand Salon, 308 Westwood Plaza #2, Los Angeles, United States