Front Page
Headlines
University of Pittsburgh Imposes Anti-Trans Bathroom Policy: Higher education has increasingly become an
environment where resources like gender-neutral bathrooms and “safe space”
training programs allow young people to explore their gender and sexuality in
safe and healthy ways. The University of Pittsburgh, however, took a defiant
step in the opposite direction, dictating last month that transgender students
could only use bathrooms and locker rooms that correspond to the gender on
their birth certificate. [Think Progress]
Study Examines the Roots of Homophobia:
Acceptance
of lesbians, gays and bisexual people has never been higher, but anti-LGB bias
still exists. A new study suggests intense hostility toward LGB
people may be linked to repressed same-sex attraction, combined with an
authoritarian upbringing. The study did not examine the root of transphobia and
how it negatively impacts transgender and gender non-conforming individuals. [USA Today]
Catholic
Charities’ Board Member Resigns in NYC: The head of New York City’s Roman
Catholic Archdiocese faces a challenge to his stance on LGBT rights: the
resignation of a church official who says he’s “had enough” of the Cardinal’s
attitude. Joseph Amodeo told The Associated Press on Saturday that he quit the
junior board of Catholic Charities after the Cardinal, Timothy Dolan, failed to
respond to a “call for help” for homeless LGBT youth. [Washington Post]
Schools Hear Critics When Filters Block Pro-LGBT Sites: Gahanna-Jefferson
school officials thought they were blocking pornography from the district’s
computers when they banned a category of websites that their filtering software
classifies as 'gay and lesbian issues’. But when a student was blocked from a
blog about marriage equality, administrators realized that the “gay and
lesbian” category had nothing to do with pornography, and instead was blocking
websites like PFLAG National’s, which provide important information to LGBT young
people and their families. [Columbus
Dispatch]
Mr. Gay World Comes to Africa: New Zealand's Andreas Derleth, a 32-year-old manager for a
chain of stationery stores, was named Mr. Gay World. A disappointed contestant
said he would nonetheless return to his native Namibia to fight "for gay
rights and human rights." South Africa is the first African country to host
Mr. Gay World, which debuted in 2009 in Canada. The bill of rights, adopted
after apartheid ended in South Africa in 1994, explicitly bans discrimination
on grounds of sexual orientation. Same-sex couples can marry and adopt children
in South Africa making it an ideal host for the Mr. Gay World Competition and
setting an example for other African countries to follow their lead in LGBT
rights. [Associated
Press]
Op-Ed: The Importance of Marriage Equality to Transgender
People: Marriage for
same-sex couples can be a divisive issue not only for straight people, but
among LGBT communities. While many LGBT people were thrilled when Maryland and
Washington joined the growing list of states affirming marriage equality,
others continue to question the logic of spending so much time and money on the
marriage effort when other issues, like health care access and economic
inequality, are more pressing for the community. This is especially true for
transgender people, some of whom are at greater risk to be living in extreme
poverty, to be under- or unemployed, to be denied healthcare and housing, and
to be harassed in schools and elsewhere. [The
Advocate]
Policy Watch
Anchorage Voters Reject Extension of Rights Protections to
Gay Residents: On Tuesday in Anchorage, Alaska, voters
overwhelmingly rejected a city wide ballot measure, known as Proposition 5,
that would have added protections for people regardless of “sexual orientation
or transgender identity” to the city’s civil rights laws. [New
York Times]
The Department of Education Refreshes Anti-Bullying Website: The Department of Education re-launched their impressive, and
informative bullying prevention site StopBullying.gov. It provides information from various government
agencies on what
bullying is, what
cyber-bullying is, who is at risk, and how you can help prevent and respond to bullying. [Stopbullying.gov]
Same-Sex
Benefits Denial is Ruled Discriminatory: The denial of insurance coverage to the
same-sex spouse of a federal court employee in San Francisco was ruled an act
of discrimination. The 1996 Defense of Marriage Act had prohibited same-sex
couples from federal marital benefits. The court's chief judge has now ruled in
an order that entitles the employee to compensation for the costs of private
insurance since there had been a violation of the federal courts
discrimination-free workplace guarantee. [SF Gate]
Same-Sex Couples
Can’t Wed in RI, But Bill Would Allow Divorce: Rhode Island does not recognize same-sex marriage, nor
does allow resident same-sex couples married in other states to file for
divorce. New proposed legislation in the Rhode Island
General Assembly would allow same-sex couples who have been legally married
outside Rhode Island to file for divorce without being forced to leave the
state. [Boston]
Appeals Court Hears Arguments on Marriage Equality
Law: A federal appeals court panel heard arguments Wednesday on whether to
uphold a lower court’s finding that a section of the 1996 law banning federal
recognition of same-sex
marriage is unconstitutional. The case is the first challenge
to the so-called Defense
of Marriage Act, or DOMA, to reach a
federal appeals court. In July 2010, Judge Joseph L. Tauro of the United States
District Court in Boston sided with the plaintiffs in two separate cases
brought by the state attorney general and a gay rights group. [New York Times]
Question from
the Field
Dear Policy Matters,
I am from Anchorage, Alaska where voters considered, and
overwhelmingly voted down, Prop 5, a ballot measure that if approved would have
added sexual orientation and gender identity to the City’s existing
anti-discrimination laws. I know that similar attempts to extend these
protections to LGBT people have failed in Anchorage, but this time around the
measure had very strong bipartisan support including both Senator Murkowski and
Senator Begich. What is the current status of the outcome for the measure, and
what can I do to help ensure that LGBT people living in Anchorage are protected
from discrimination?
Thank you,
Thomas
---------------
Dear Thomas,
Thanks for the question! Extending protections to LGBT
individuals in Anchorage has been and ongoing battle for advocates both for and
against these protections. In fact, a bill meant to protect against
discrimination for sexual orientation was vetoed 35 years ago by Mayor George
M. Sullivan (R) after it passed the City’s Assembly. In 2009, his son and the
current Mayor, Dan Sullivan (R), vetoed a similar bill that had passed the
Anchorage Assembly also regarding protections against discrimination for the
LGBT community. Different from the legislation being considered by the
assembly, when it comes to ballot measures, it is difficult to know how the
public will react and who will show up to vote or even vote at all on the
initiatives presented on the ballot.
Despite a significant amount of community education
conducted by One Anchorage and its partners and the fact that proponents
outspent the opposition 4 to 1, it appears that the measure lost by a 9 percent
spread, even though many ballots are still unaccounted for. Several factors
could have led to this outcome. A possible explanation could be what happened
at many of the polling stations. Many locations ran out of ballots because of
the unprecedented number of voters that came out for the election. Many people
filled out sample and copied ballots or event went to other precincts to vote.
It is a great possibility that these votes have not yet been counted and would
add up to about 9% of the ballots. Without these ballots it appears that about
58% of voters voted no while 42% voted yes, meaning that the ordinance did not
pass and the anti-discrimination law will not be extended to include protections
for LGBT people living in Anchorage. The ACLU is calling for a review of the
election to make sure that the outcome is fair.
Even though the election is over, it is still possible to
work towards ending discrimination of our LGBT loved ones in Alaska. Education
is a very effective tool to let people know about subjects that they don’t
understand. All the work the groups like One
Anchorage did was not done in vain. These issues were brought into the
public and started many conversations which is a small victory in itself. It is
important to lay the ground work for the future so that the next time such a
measure appears on the ballot, City residents will be more informed and willing
to vote for equal protections against discrimination.
Thanks for the great question!
Policy Matters
---------------
P.S. Have you signed up to participate in action alerts
yet? Register to be on our PFLAG
action e-list and receive a message when your involvement can make a
crucial difference!
If you would like to have a policy-related question
featured in our next edition, please e-mail rperry@pflag.org with your question
no later than Friday, April 20, 2012.
No comments:
Post a Comment