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Joseph DeFilippis is a gay-rights and anti-poverty activist, who has run two organizations, as well as being a teacher, public speaker and author.

In 2003, he founded Queers for Economic Justice, a non-profit organization in New York City that works with low-income lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. DeFilippis was the founding Executive Director from 2003-2009, during which time he built the organization from a volunteer organization into a nationally recognized non-profit organization, with various programs working on issues such as homelessness  , welfare   , immigration   and others. While under his leadership, Queers for Economic Justice succeeded in changing various NYC laws and policies impacting homeless transgender people and homeless domestic partners.

Prior to founding Queers for Economic Justice, DeFilippis was the Director for four years of SAGE/Queens, a non-profit serving gay and lesbian senior citizens. Before creating QEJ, he accepted a job as the LGBT Liaison for the County of Westchester, where he worked to expand outreach to LGBT people of color and low-income LGBT people. DeFilippis abruptly left the Liaison position mere months after taking it.

DeFilippis has taught graduate-level courses in Political Economy, Welfare Policy and Social Justice at Hunter College School of Social Work and Fordham University, and is currently teaching undergraduate Sexuality courses at Portland State University.

Queers for Economic Justice was born out of the work of the Queer Economic Justice Network, a coalition of anti-poverty and gay rights organizations that DeFilippis coordinated from 1999-2003. The Queer Economic Justice Network primarily focused on the impact of 1996's welfare reform on LGBT people , but also addressed other progressive causes.

During his tenure at Queers for Economic Justice, DeFilippis spearheaded the development and release of a document which caused tremendous controversy in the LGBT movement. Beyond Same-Sex Marriage: A New Strategic Vision For All Our Families and Relationships, which criticized the gay marriage movement as being too narrow, was organized by QEJ, drafted by DeFilippis and over a dozen leaders in the LGBT community, and signed by hundreds of other activists, including notable gay figures such as Armistead Maupin and Judith Butler, as well as non-gay liberal leaders such as Gloria Steinem, Cornel West, and Barbara Ehrenreich. The document called for a broader definition of family, beyond conjugal relationships, to recognize the numerous configurations of family that exist in this country. DeFilippis was one of the spokespeople of the document and because it generated a lot of media coverage (not just in the gay press  but also in mainstream publications, such as the New York Times  and Newsweek  and others) he was often in the news criticizing marriage equality strategies and leaders. DeFilippis and the Beyond Marriage statement were criticized by conservative writers who disagreed with the document's stated goals.

Under DeFilippis' leadership, Queers for Economic Justice was also outspoken in its critiques of other issues spearheaded by the LGBT movement. It regularly criticized the national gay rights organizations for failing to address poverty in the LGBT community. DeFilippis and QEJ also disagreed with the gay rights movement's emphasis on hate crimes legislation, arguing that the criminal justice system was racist and an inappropriate place to seek solutions to hate crimes.

DeFilippis has a long-term partner, David Koteles, and the two of them have a child. DeFilippis graduated from Vassar College in 1989, and obtained a Masters in Social Work in 1999 from Hunter College School of Social Work. He is currently pursuing a PhD at Portland State University while he teaches courses in sexuality.

DeFilippis is the recipient of the Union Square Award in 2004 and the Council on Social Work Education's Minority Fellowship in 2010.