(i who have died am alive again today,
and this is the sun's birthday;this is the birth
day of life and love and wings:and of the gay
great happening illimitably earth)
Posts tagged LGBTQ.
California restaurant kicks out trans women, eats humble pie
By Matt Wood
Transgender Law Center assisted two transgender women in Los Angeles who were wrongfully asked to leave a restaurant in Burbank in October. While eating dinner, the two women, Jennifer Reid and Victoria Rose were approached by the restaurant’s manager and asked to leave, allegedly because their clothing was not appropriate for a “family restaurant.” The women rightly believed that they were being targeted because of their gender identity and contacted TLC for information about the law and their rights.
Transgender Law Center explained to Jenny and Victoria that the Unruh Civil Rights Act, California’s public accommodations law, prohibits discrimination on the basis of gender identity in business establishments – including transgender and gender nonconforming folks alike.
(Any place that provides goods and services to the general public is considered a public accommodation – this includes restaurants, grocery stores, health clinics, hospitals, health clubs, homeless shelters and most social services).
Armed with this information, Jenny called the restaurant’s Regional Manager and demanded a public apology from the restaurant manager, a refund for the meal she and Victoria were unable to finish, and a promise that the restaurant would do remedial training with all of their managers and staff so that no transgender person would face this kind of discrimination.
Less than 24 hours after that conversation, Jenny was contacted by the Regional Manager who made a personal apology and arranged for the Burbank manager to apologize to Jenny and Victoria in the restaurant in front of the Burbank restaurant staff. Jenny and Victoria were also given a refund and extra gift coupons. Even more impressively, Jenny was then contacted by the restaurant’s Regional Human Resources Manager who was impressed with how informed Jenny was, and had decided to use some of the information from Jenny’s conversation with the Regional Manager to institute sensitivity training for all management and staff at the restaurant chain, effective immediately. As a result of Jenny and Victoria’s courageous self-advocacy, this restaurant chain is now on notice that transgender customers must be treated with the same dignity and respect afforded to all other customers.
Jenny and Victoria’s experience is an example of how transgender and gender nonconforming people often experience discrimination in their communities when accessing public accommodations, including being refused service, being treated differently than their non-transgender peers, or being victims to harmful verbal and physical violence when simply trying to carry out their daily activities.
If you need legal assistance, please call the TLC legal hotline at (415) 865-0176 x306, or via the online intake form at: http://transgenderlawcenter.org/help
Matt Wood is a staff attorney at Transgender Law Center
(via ethiopienne)
Missouri Advances ‘Don’t Say Gay’ Bill
Just two days after Tennessee advanced its infamous ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill, the state of Missouri referred to committee a measure that would eliminate discussions of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people in public schools, prohibit teachers from addressing bullying based on sexual orientation, and likely ban gay-straight alliances.
170.370. Notwithstanding any other law to the contrary, no instruction, material, or extracurricular activity sponsored by a public school that discusses sexual orientation other than in scientific instruction concerning human reproduction shall be provided in any public school.
The bill is sponsored by Rep. Stanley Cookson (R) and has attracted 19 GOP co-sponsors, “including the two most powerful leaders in the House, Speaker Steve Tilley and Majority Leader Tim Jones (yes, the same Tim Jones who is a plaintiff in Orly Taitz’ birther lawsuits).”
PROMO, Missouri’s LGBT equality organization, describes its advancement as “a desperate tactic by frightened, bigoted, cynical individuals who are terrified at the advancement the LGBT community has made in breaking down the barriers to full and equal treatment under the law.”
This apparently works with racism too - if you don’t talk about it, it goes away.
(via anarcho-queer)
Obama Will Not Sign Executive Order Banning LGBT Workplace Discrimination
After months of dodging questions about the progress of an executive order prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity in federal contracting, the White House won’t issue the directive, but will instead study whether gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender employees require employment protections. The news comes after White House senior advisor Valerie Jarrett held a meeting with LGBT advocates to discuss the matter.
Existing studies suggest that 11 to 16 million additional employees would have gained protections as a result of the measure, since many “federal contractors do not currently have those policies, and they employ millions of workers.”
Earlier this month, 72 Congressional lawmakers urged the administration to enact the order, noting that it would “extend important workplace protections to millions of Americans, while at the same time laying the groundwork for Congressional passage of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA).” Data show that “43 percent of LGB people and 90 percent of transgender people have experienced workplace discrimination” and that the overwhelming majority of Americans — 73 percent — would have supported a measure prohibiting it.
(via anarcho-queer)
Trans* girl in Germany to be institutionalized →
A court in Germany has ruled that an 11-year-old girl can be legally institutionalized in a mental health clinic because she is transgender.
Alexis Kaminsky’s mother sought therapy for her daughter to ease the process of coming into her own identity, and after a short interview with the Youth Welfare Office, a nurse decided the best plan would be for Alexis to be “remanded to an institution and eventually entered into the foster care system.”
Her mother requested a professional, impartial diagnosis and then filed suit, but the court upheld the ruling giving Alexis’ father the right to decide what happens. Unfortunately, he’s not supportive of her female gender identity. From Queerty:
While it can be debated whether a child of 11 is old enough to make decisions regarding her mental state and gender identity, the youth office maintains Alexis’ mother is pressuring her to adopt a female persona and that, in the best interest of the child, Alexis be removed from any “sphere of influence.”
11 years old and they want to institutionalize her. This is completely disgusting and we shouldn’t let it go. There’s a petition circulating to ask the Mayor of Berlin to intervene - sign it here.
(via anarcho-queer)
Labels Project, Vol. One
The Labels Project is a collaborative project between myself and Hedda Hammer, a bay area artist and writer, and came after we attended our first pride events in Los Angeles and Long Beach. Being newly out we noticed quite a few groups and sub groups that we felt were not properly represented in the media, even our own media. We felt that there was so much about the LGBTQ community that we did not know, and I’m sure others don’t know about.
Though the project has gone through some changes since it’s initial conception, we hope it hope it will continue to grow and evolve as does our community.
