The Empire State Pride Agenda (ESPA) was a statewide political advocacy organization in New York that advocated for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBTQ) rights, including same-sex marriage.

[2] ESPA was founded in 1990 through the merger of the New York State Gay and Lesbian Lobby and the Friends and Advocates for Individual Rights.

[5] As of 2005, ESPA was the largest statewide lesbian and gay political advocacy and civil rights organization in the United States.

[10] In 2012, ESPA received press attention when, approaching the end of Ross D. Levi's second year as executive director, it assigned his duties to his deputy Lynn Faria pending a long-term replacement.

[17] In 1998, ESPA launched "Pride in the Pulpit", a program to combat the use of religion to advance anti-LGBT amendments and legislation; in 2005, more than 450 non-LGBT religious leaders participated.

[19] In the early 2000s, ESPA, together with a local Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, convened the Dignity for All Students Coalition, bringing fifty community groups together to work on anti-bullying and anti-discrimination legislation.

[29] In 2002, the New York State legislature passed Sexual Orientation Non-Discrimination Act (SONDA) with ESPA being the "major lobbying muscle".

[30] SONDA was criticized for not covering transgender individuals, but observers felt that the inclusion of gender identity as a protected category would make it impossible to pass the bill (which had first been introduced in 1971).

[27][28] In October 2005, ESPA joined the Lambda Legal Defense Fund and a coalition of anti-censorship groups to oppose a new zoning law that would shut down an estimated 149 adult-oriented bookstores, theaters and clubs including all of the businesses on Christopher Street.

Levi had been a legislative assistant at the New York State Legislature starting in 1997 and part of ESPA's Albany staff since before 2000, and since 2006 had held its title as Director of Public Policy & Education.

[52] At a "couldn't-be-higher stakes" November 2010 meeting with Governor David Paterson and other elected officials who supported the same-sex marriage bill, Senate Democratic Leader John Sampson and Senator Jeff Klein "did not mince words in letting Van Capelle know they were upset by" his critical comments at the Fall Dinner.