CLAYTON, Mo. (AP) – Same-sex marriage and gays in the military may dominate the headlines, but activists in many states say their fight is much more fundamental: basic rights and protections against discrimination in employment, housing and public accommodation.

Activists from state-based GLBT advocacy organizations from throughout the U.S. are meeting in Missouri this week to share their efforts to make inroads in state legislatures, municipalities and school districts.

“In Missouri, you can still be fired for being lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender,” A.J. Bockelman, executive director of PROMO, Missouri’s statewide organization advocating for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality, said July 30. “Sexual orientation is not a protected class in Missouri.”

A spokesperson for the Missouri Commission on Human Rights confirmed that is the case, saying past efforts to include sexual orientation as a protected class have failed.

Toni Broaddus, executive director of their national alliance, the Equality Federation, said Same-sex marriage has never been the movement’s No. 1 priority. Rather, it’s about the ability to work, get housing, adopt children, have families and have their partners recognized, she said.

“We just want the rights that everyone else has,” she said. “This is about being equal citizens under the law.”

At a get-acquainted session Thursday, dozens of activists provided updates on progress and setbacks in the states.

In Tennessee, transgender activist Marisa Richmond said advocates are working to pass a hate crimes law that would include GLBT people under its protection.

In recent weeks, she said, they won a commitment from Memphis-based Federal Express to add gender identity to its nondiscrimination policy.

Wisconsin passed new domestic partnership protections this summer that the Wisconsin Family Action recently challenged in the state Supreme Court, saying the new registry for same-sex couples violates the state constitution’s ban on same-sex marriage and civil unions.

In Oklahoma, a group formed recently to fight what Oklahoma State University professor Laura Belmonte called “an intensely hostile environment” where only one small municipality has an anti-discrimination law.

“People ask me why I stay, but I say, ‘It doesn’t have to be this way,’” she said. “You can put your head in the oven and blow out the pilot light, or you can fight back.”

Last year, gay and lesbian groups demanded Oklahoma state legislator Sally Kern apologize after she told a political group that “the homosexual agenda” poses a bigger threat to the United States than terrorism.