Equality Magazine Late Winter 2014

H U M A N

R I G H T S

C A M P A I G N

LATE W I NTE R 2014

ACTOR

ELLEN PAGE

TAKES THE BRAVE STEP TO LIVE OPENLY

Great Combinations.

You and Us. What a great combination.

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BOARD OF DIRECTORS

MAKING HISTORY TOGETHER DEAR FRIEND, ou are holding in your hands one of the most important benefits of your Human Rights Campaign membership — Equality — our award-winning magazine. We hope you will flip through it, share it with friends or display it proudly on your coffee table. Not only does it contain critical updates and information about our work, it is a permanent record of the history we are making together. Read between the lines, and know that your support has helped us achieve great things. But there is so much more to do.

Last month, all eyes were on Sochi, where athletes competing in the Olympics inspired the world. But thanks to your support, HRC was able to shine a light on the dark side of these Olympic Games: the chilling discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in Russia. Yet, this story is not limited to Russia. Politicians in Nigeria and Uganda have taken dramatic steps to further criminalize LGBT individuals and make LGBT advocacy illegal. In Nigeria, you could be imprisoned for 10 years for being a member of an organization like HRC. In Uganda, you could be subject to life imprisonment just for being LGBT. These laws are no coincidence. Anti-LGBT extremists like Scott Lively, notorious for his involvement in the “ex-gay” movement, have been traveling to Russia, Uganda and other countries advocating for discriminatory laws against LGBT people.

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EQUALITY

LATE WINTER 2014

I encourage you to read more about how Lively and other extremists are exporting their hate abroad in the article on page 11.

Sadly, the intolerance, discrimination and violence that extremists are exporting overseas can also be found in our own backyard. In many states here at home, LGBT people live with laws on the books eerily similar to the ones we’ve been speaking out against so forcefully around the world. Meanwhile, horrifying violence against transgender people, especially transgender women, continues — with 16 reported homicides in the United States last year alone.

Are we making progress? Without question — yes. As we went to print, we saw unbelievable steps forward in Virginia and Kentucky where marriage equality is now one step closer to reality. In Virginia, U.S. District Judge Arenda Wright Allen ruled that the state’s ban on marriage for lesbian and gay couples is unconstitutional, upholding the fundamental idea that gay and lesbian Americans are entitled to full equality under the law. This is a victory won in court, but hard fought for years by activists like you who helped change the political landscape in Virginia to help move LGBT people across the country closer to full equality.

So what next? We are going to redouble our efforts and build on this incredible momentum. We are ready to work with all fair-minded people to accomplish our goals, which is why, in the United States, HRC is reaching out to members of both political parties to advocate for the passage of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act in Congress and moving marriage equality forward. In this issue of Equality, we sit down and talk with Republican Sen. Mark Kirk of Illinois — a true champion of equality. We are deeply grateful for his leadership.

Your role in this movement is just as important. That’s why we end each day thankful for the loyal HRC members who keep equality moving forward. We couldn’t do it without you.

Gratefully,

Chad Griffin President

Tracie Ahern NY, Lacey All WA, Ian Barrett TX, Bruce Bastian UT, Terry Bean OR, Vanessa Benavides TX, Les Bendtsen MN, Michael Berman DC, Scott Bishop NC, Paul Boskind TX, Chris Carolan NY, Bill Donius MO, Tim Downing OH, Chris Flynn MA, Jody Gates LA, Kirk Hamill DC, Suzanne Hamilton OH, Jim Harrison TX, Tom Knabel MN, Chris Labonte PA, Joan Lau PA, Joni Madison NC, Joshua Miller NV, Hank Provost CO, Cheryl Rose OH, Linda Scaparotti CA, Judy Shepard WY, Molly Simmons GA, Steve Sorenson CA, Meghan Stabler TX, Brad White CA, Frank Woo CA, Tony Woods DC, Lisa Zellner OH

FOUNDATION BOARD Tracie Ahern NY, Gwen Baba CA, Elena Baca CA, John Barry IL, Bruce Bastian UT, Terry Bean OR, Les Bendtsen MN, Scott Bishop NC, Todd Canon TX, Lee Carter NC, Edie Cofrin GA, Bill Donius MO, Chris Flynn MA, Charlie Frew GA, Suzanne Hamilton OH, Sheila Kloefkorn AZ, Britt Kornmann TX, Joan Lau PA, Andy Linsky CA, Joshua Miller NV, Hank Provost CO, Henry Robin NY, Cheryl Rose OH, John Ruffier FL, Cathi Scalise TX, Frank Selvaggi NY, Ashley Smith DC, Steve Sorenson CA, Faye Tate CO, Frank Woo CA

BOARD OF GOVERNORS Marilyn Abalos NY, John Affuso MA, Steve Amend NV, Tal Anderson MN, Carl Andrews TX, Andrew Arnold CA, Karen Aronoff OH, Jennifer Bajorek TX, Phillip Baker AZ, Greg Battaglia NY, Kevin Baucom TX Vanessa Benavides TX, Jay Biles NC, Doris Bobadilla LA, Ronna Bolante PA, Chris Boone WA, Brian Bourquin MA, Kathy Bowman OH, Dawn Brown IL, Linda Brown OR, Deiadra Burns TX, Brian Buzby TX, Rory Cahn OH, Nancy Caldwell TX, Torey Carrick CA, Jeremy Carter NC, Steven Cayton GA, Jeffrey Caywood OH, Camille Cook TX, Jeffrey Coop WA, Angie Cottrell MO, Thomas Cowley CA, Lynn Currie TX, Dani Daley CA, James Depelteau CA, Brad DiFiore GA, Jaime Duggan TX, Patty Ellis NY, Tamra English TX, Alexandra Ernst DC, Michael Fifield UT, Taylor Fiscus IL, Heather Freyer CA, Patrick Gamble AZ, Matt Garrett GA, Amy Gavin PA, Cherie Green NC, Melinda Greene GA, Deb Guidry LA, Jonathan Gundersen PA, Mark Halsell TX, Randall Hance TX, S. Kelly Herrick CA, Gary Hilbert NY, Latoya Holman NV, Ted Holmquist CA, David Horowitz AZ, Tim Jenkins IL, Alana Jochum OH, Deanne Jockish MO, Dean Keppler WA, Kathrin Kersten TX, John Kim OR, Kyle Klatt IL, Champ Knecht NY, Kevin Knoblock MA, Kristine Kuzemka NV, David Lahti CA, Wally Lanci OH, Jason Laney DC, Brian Larios MO, Duane Lefevre MA, Chris Lehtonen CA, Char Ligo OH , Alex Lindquist CO, Heather Beckel Luecke TX, John Mancuso MO, Jeff Marsocci NC, David Martinez III AZ, Paul Mataras MA, Dan Mauney NC, Kelley McCoy CA, Sean Mehew UT, Missy Morgan NV, DyShaun Muhammad MN, Chris New GA, Robert Newhart IL, Robert Niccolai MO, Derek Osterman MA, Bryan Parsons CA, Ed Patterson GA, Byron Pelt MO, Arouna Phommasouvanh MN, Densil Porteous OH, Kaitlin Porter GA, Steven Pospisil MN, Robb Puckett TX, Ron Quinn NV, Catherine Reid WA, Michael Reiser MO, Chad Reumann TX, Mario Rodas MA, Jonathan Russell GA, Cathy Sarky OH, Shelly Schoenfeld NC, Dustin Schrecengost UT, Thearon Scurlock FL, Kristin Shrimplin OH, Daniel Slater CA, Matthew Smith TX, Ashley Smith DC, Corey Smith MN, Michael Smithson OH, LaRence Snowden TX, Leah Solo MN, Amy Speers CO, David Steiman CA, Kevin Stone CA, Jeff Strater TX, Dan Tanner FL, Tim Thomas TX, Paul Thompson CA, Tiffany Tosh TX, Lauren Verrusio NY, Ed Wagner OH , Benjamin Waldman WA, Willis Ward NC, Melissa Warren LA, Jamaul Webster IL, Claudine Wessel AZ, Amy White WA, Andrew Winters DC, Philip Wright TX CURRENT AS OF MARCH 16, 2014

HRC SENIOR STAFF Chad Griffin President Brad Clark Director of Programmatic Development Michael Cole-Schwartz Communications Director Ann Crowley Membership & Online Strategy Director

Photo: Kevork Djansezian / Getty

Robert Falk General Counsel Andrea Green Finance Director Allison Herwitt Vice President for Government Affairs Anastasia Khoo Marketing Director Don Kiser Creative Director

INSIDE

Jeff Krehely Vice President & Chief Foundation Officer Ana Ma Chief of Staff & Chief Operating Officer Brian Moulton Legal Director Cathy Nelson Vice President for Development & Membership Tom O’Donnell Vice President for Policy & Political Affairs

Photos: Jessie Sheffield; Courtesy of Tippi McCullough

Jim Rinefierd Vice President for Finance & Operations Marty Rouse National Field Director Fred Sainz Vice President of Communications & Marketing Susanne Salkind Vice President of Human Resources & Leadership Development Christopher Speron Development Director David Stacy Governmental Affairs Director

FEATURES

INTERNATIONAL

11 EXPORTING HATE: AMERICAN EXTREMISTS PROMOTE HATE IN NIGERIA, UGANDA AND RUSSIA.

IN THE STATES

13 A NEW DAY IN THE OLD DOMINION: YES, ELECTIONS REALLY DO MATTER.

HRC EQUALITY STAFF Janice Hughes Publications Director

Robert Villaflor Design Director

15 TIPPI McCULLOUGH: “OUR PRIVATE LIVES HAVE BECOME VERY PUBLIC.”

Sarah Streyle Senior Graphic Design Specialist Jessie Sheffield Marketing Assistant

DISPATCH FROM THE SOUTH

SPECIAL CONTRIBUTORS Breanna Bishop, Jeff Krehely, Mike Mings, Brian Moulton, Rebecca Parks, Jeremy Pittman, Karin Quimby, Dan Rafter, Fred Sainz, Kisha Webster

OTHER CONTRIBUTORS Liz Cooper, Ty Cobb, Alison Delpercio, Ryan Dillon, Limor Finkel, Richard Gagliano, Justin Gianquinto, Ellen Kahn, Anastasia Khoo, Andrea Levario, Jason Lott, Adam Marquez, Rose Matias, Lisbeth Meléndez Rivera, Ben Shallenberger, Chris Speron Equality is a publication of the Human Rights Campaign and the Human Rights Campaign Foundation. Equality (ISSN 10925791) is published quarterly by HRC, 1640 Rhode Island Ave., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036. Copyright 2014. All rights reserved. Subscription rates: Free to members. Printed in the USA. The Human Rights Campaign and HRC Foundation names and Equality logos are trademarks of the Human Rights Campaign and HRC Foundation.

To join HRC, call 800-727-4723, visit www.hrc.org or TTY at 202-216-1572.

8 IN VEGAS… A SMASH HIT INAUGURAL CONFERENCE HELPS YOUTH-SERVING PROFESSIONALS 17 BILL T. JONES ON JAMES BALDWIN HONORING AN AMERICAN ICON, HIS ART AND IDEAS 20 NO APOLOGIES: MARY LAMBERT WRITING “SAME LOVE,” TOURING & SUPER DIRTY GIN MARTINIS 23 LINCOLN, DIRKSEN & U.S. SEN. MARK KIRK

Are you an HRC member? Have a question? ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­HRC’s Member Services team, led by Dana Campbell, works every day to provide HRC’s more than one million members and supporters with the best membership experience possible. To contact Member Services, email membership@hrc.org or call 800-727-4723.

25 WHAT NOT TO DO WHEN CALLING YOURSELF A TRANSGENDER ALLY

All advertisers in Equality magazine are Human Rights Campaign National Corporate Partners. Because of HRC’s commitment to improving the lives of LGBT Americans in the workplace, all of our National Corporate Partners must demonstrate their own dedication by achieving a score of 85 percent or greater on HRC’s Corporate Equality Index. Companies such as these have advanced the cause of LGBT equality in the workplace. For specific scores, criteria and more information on the Corporate Equality Index, please visit www.hrc.org/CEI.

32 LAST LOOK

GENDER-EXPANSIVE YOUTH SURVEY

DEPARTMENTS 5

UPFRONT

31 GALA EVENTS 31 FOUNDATION PARTNERS

NATIONAL CORPORATE SPONSORS

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up front

ON MONDAY, I WILL ISSUE A NEW POLICY MEMORANDUM that will — for the first time in history — formally instruct all Justice Department employees to give lawful same-sex marriages full and equal recognition, to the greatest extent possible under the law. …

Photo: Ross D. Franklin

53%

DEBUNKING Sociologist Mark Regnerus’ roundly discredited 2012 parenting study, which used flawed methodology to claim that children of LGBT people experience worse outcomes than others, is still being shopped around by foes of equality, despite the repudiation of hundreds of scholars and the American Sociological Association. Most recently, the plaintiffs in a Michigan court case challenging the state’s ban on marriage equality moved to reject Regnerus as an “expert witness.” Under its Regnerus Fallout project, the HRC Foundation is tracking where the discredited study shows up — and exposing the anti-LGBT agenda behind the study’s inception. Learn more at www.regnerusfallout.org.

“What’d you do this weekend?” Millions of workers chat every Monday around the water cooler, in meetings and on the plant floor. And yet for over half of LGBT workers nationwide, these simple conversations can be a real challenge.

The HRC Foundation’s new report, The Cost of the Closet, shows 53 percent of LGBT workers remain in the closet at work.

And it isn’t just individual employees who suffer — businesses lose precious time and productivity to employees weighed down by environments that don’t feel inclusive. But there’s hope that having non-discrimination policies, LGBT and ally resource groups, trainings and more can make workplaces welcoming. See www.hrc.org/climate.

“This means that in every courthouse, in every proceeding and in every place where a member of the Department of Justice stands on behalf of the United States — they will strive to ensure that same-sex marriages receive the same privileges, protections and rights as oppositesex marriages under federal law.”

— Attorney General Eric Holder announcing, at HRC’s Greater New York Gala, landmark changes in how the federal government treats married lesbian and gay couples. As a result, when lesbian and gay couples testify in federal court, visit family in federal prison or file for bankruptcy, they will be treated the same as heterosexual couples. The Justice Department will also recognize same-sex couples vis-à-vis key benefits programs it administers, like that for surviving spouses of law enforcement officers and firefighters, Holder announced.

MOBILIZING! After intense pressure, Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer vetoed a bill that would have given businesses a license to discriminate. HRC urged its business and faith allies, and its members, to email, write, call and speak out against the bill. The Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Arizona Tech Council, dozens of faith leaders, the Arizona Super Bowl Host Committee and Sens. John McCain and Jeff Flake all pushed for a veto. Similar bills are under way in other states — Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, Maine, Missouri, Ohio, Oregon, South Dakota and Tennessee. Tighten your seatbelts!

WWW.HRC.ORG

LATE WINTER 2014

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up front Photo: Chantal Dussuel

The Washington Post has named HRC President Chad Griffin as one of the 21 most influential openly gay and lesbian Washingtonians. As LGBT equality advances across the country, and as more openly LGBT members join Congress, issues of equality “occupy pride of place on the political agenda” and are shifting the power structure of the nation’s capital, according to the National Journal, the insiders’ weekly that also recently named Griffin and others as an “entirely new class of D.C. power players.”

UP CLOSE & PERSONAL KISHA L. WEBSTER HRC Foundation’s Welcoming Schools Reading Selma,1965 by Charles E. Fager and Unbought and Unbossed by Shirley Chisolm.

Listening Janelle Monáe’s Electric Lady.

Work Travel Ritual “I always pack for trips between 3 and 5 a.m.”

Photo: Jessie Sheffield

Most memorable teacher “Mrs. Moore.

Eleventh grade, U.S. history. She made me retake a test the next day at 7 a.m. — school started at 8:30 a.m. — because I received a C on it and she stated there was ‘nothing average about me.’ She told me I was to retake it and score nothing less than an A. I scored an A.” The moment she realized she wanted to be an educator “When my 10th grade guidance counselor told me I was ‘not a college-bound student’ because I was not excelling in math then, and suggested I stop my college prep classes and become a beautician. But I knew I wanted to become an educator, to uplift students.”

Hardest thing about working at HRC “The opportunities to eat.”

5 FAMILIES, 5 STORIES

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new short film by HRC Foundation’s Religion and Faith Program documents the journey of five Latino/a families toward more fully understanding and accepting a family member who is lesbian, gay, bisexual and/or transgender.

The documentary Before God: We Are All Family, which is being released on DVD this spring, was filmed in the United States and Puerto Rico. It shows how the families embrace their LGBT family members while hitting up against the constraints of socially conservative religious leaders and their rigid interpretation of the Bible.

HRC’s religion and faith team is holding trainings in Houston, Dallas and Seattle, using the film to help foster dialogue in the Latino/a community about LGBT issues. All trainings are bilingual.

Another goal is to equip people with the ability to answer anti-LGBT opponents, said Lisbeth Meléndez Rivera, national coordinator of the HRC Foundation’s A La

“IT’S IMPORTANT FOR ATHLETES WHO ARE OUT TO SPEAK UP FOR THOSE WHO REMAIN SILENT.”

The most fun “The opportunities to eat!”

Favorite quote “‘Service is the rent that you pay for room on this earth.’ Shirley Chisolm.”

Webster is the director of education and community engagement for Welcoming Schools, an HRC Foundation project that offers tools, lessons and resources on family diversity, gender role stereotyping, bullying and more. Webster — an assistant principal and lead principal for years — has an undergraduate degree in secondary education from Delaware State University and a graduate degree in educational administration from Trinity Washington University.

— NBA player Jason Collins, during a recent visit to HRC headquarters with his brother Jarron. Last month, Collins made history by becoming the first openly gay player to be signed by an NBA team — the Brooklyn Nets. He played in his first game against the Los Angeles Lakers Feb. 24th.

Familia project. “So when some religious leaders in a community use the Bible as a tool of hate, there will be people who say, ‘No, here is a different interpretation, and it emphasizes Christ’s message of love.’”

See www.hrc.org/familia to request a copy of the film and for more information.

WWW.HRC.ORG

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Maybe I can make a difference — to help others have an easier and more hopeful time. Regardless, for me, I feel a personal obligation and a social responsibility. …

…“I also do it selfishly, because I am tired of hiding and I am tired of lying by omission. I suffered for years because I was scared to be out. … And I’m standing here today, with all of you, on the other side of all that pain. I am young, yes, but what I have learned is that love, the beauty of it, the joy of it and yes, even the pain of it, is the most incredible gift to give and to receive as a human being. …

“There are too many kids out there suffering from bullying, rejection, or simply being mistreated because of who they are.

Too many dropouts. Too much abuse. Too many homeless. Too many suicides. You can change that and you are changing it.”

— Actor Ellen Page, who came out during an address at the HRC Foundation’s Time To Thrive conference attended by educators, counselors and other youth-serving professionals. (See p. 9.) A video of the remarks by Page, perhaps best known for her Academy Award-nominated role in Juno, drew more than 4 million views on YouTube in less than a week.

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EQUALITY

LATE WINTER 2014

IN VEGAS… A SMASH HIT

INAUGURAL CONFERENCE HELPS YOUTH-SERVING PROFESSIONALS

Photos: Jeff Bottari / AP for HRC

M

ore than 600 teachers, social workers, counselors and other youth-serving professionals from across the country gathered for three days in Las Vegas recently to learn how to better support lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth — and attendees are still talking about it.

It was not your average conference, many agreed. There were more than 60 workshops led by experts in their fields — on everything from making schools safer, to helping families stay together, to preventing HIV/ AIDS. Emerging topics, like creating inclusive spaces for gender-expansive youth, were discussed. Attendees also heard from a number of young people, telling their own stories, during plenary sessions.

From the first day — when popular actor Ellen Page came out publicly, in an emotional speech that blew up on social media

— to the final plenary, when Chelsea Clinton took the podium, with all of the trainings and conversations in between, the gathering hummed with intensity. It was a conference with heart.

The Human Rights Campaign Foundation teamed up with two major players — the National Education Association and the American Counseling Association — to put on the event, the first-ever Time To Thrive conference. And now, all three organizations are eager to continue their work together, says Ellen Kahn, director of the HRC Foundation’s Children, Youth and Families Program, which spearheaded the event. HRC itself provides tools of all kinds throughout the year for youth-serving professionals, and plans to do even more, she notes. HRC’s efforts were sparked, in particular, by the findings of a major survey of youth it conducted to better understand their

pressing needs and issues.

“People, especially educators, are really hungry for more information about how they can be better allies, how they can make a difference,” says Kahn. And professionals who are LGBT, and are labeled as “pushing an agenda,” or who may not even be out at work yet, left the gathering feeling empowered and ready to take more risks, Kahn notes.

Days before the conference, HRC released a study — based on its survey results — about those youth who identify as transgender or express their gender as “other” than male or female. Those youth, Kahn says, feel even more marginalized at school and in their communities and need more attention.

See www.hrc.org/timetothrive for more videos of the plenaries or to check out the workshops. Details about the next Time To Thrive will be released by this summer. Stay tuned!

(L-R) Chelsea Clinton, vice chair, Clinton Foundation; Earvin “E.J.” Johnson, son of Magic and Cookie Johnson, with Conference Chair Vincent “Vinnie” Pompei, director of the HRC Foundation’s Youth Well-Being Project; Dolores Huerta, president, Dolores Huerta Foundation; Judy Shepard, co-founder of the Matthew Shepard Foundation, and Betty Degeneres, national civil rights activist and mother of Ellen DeGeneres.

WWW.HRC.ORG

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Photo: Eduard Meltzer

The HRC Foundation hosted the first discussion of global LGBT rights in Davos, Switzerland, during the recent World Economic Forum’s annual meeting, in a program that included the U.N. Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay and (L-R) CNN’s Fareed Zakaria; Alice Nkom, Cameroonian lawyer; Masha Gessen, Russian journalist and activist; and Dane Lewis, Jamaican LGBT activist.

HATE

EXPORTING AMERICAN EXTREMISTS PROMOTE HATE IN NIGERIA, UGANDA AND RUSSIA

A

lthough few in the United States know his name, Scott Lively is quietly making a career out of exporting homophobia to countries around the world. Over the past few years, Lively has racked up frequent flier miles traveling to Russia, Uganda and other countries advocating for harsh laws against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. Lively even takes credit for Russia’s law that bans gay “propaganda,” claiming that he “proposed just such a law” on a 2007 trip to St. Petersburg. Lively

cheers on the growing crackdown on Russian LGBT citizens, crowing “Go Russkies!” as homophobic violence increases and LGBT Russians live in fear.

Lively is just one of a group of Americans who have traveled abroad over the past couple of years to meet with government officials and faith leaders to promote anti-LGBT policies. Nigeria and Uganda are clear examples of what the consequences of this lobbying can lead to. Both countries recently passed sweeping legislation further criminalizing same-sex relationships and

By Rebecca Parks

punishing LGBT people and their allies with lengthy prison sentences. In Nigeria, this has already resulted in the roundup and arrest of dozens of men.

These horrific laws were applauded by some American conservatives, like Mat Staver of Liberty University and Sharon Slater, who visited Lagos in 2011 to urge the Nigerian Bar Association to stand up against the advancement of “fictitious sexual rights.”

HRC President Chad Griffin recently underlined the far right’s activities when he spoke to an audience of business and

political leaders during the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

“The messaging is coming from the United States. We are exporting the hate from our country to their countries,” Griffin said.

Americans and American organizations are “advocating, leading and funding efforts in each of these countries,” he said.

In Russia, American extremists continue to visit in droves — more than a dozen last year alone.

These visitors include a longtime foe of LGBT equality: National continued on p. 27

WWW.HRC.ORG

LATE WINTER 2014

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A NEW DAY IN THE

There’s a new wave of support for LGBT equality in the traditional South: Yes, elections really do matter.

OLD DOMINION

Photo: Bill Tiernan / AP

McAuliffe said simply, “HRC made a difference in this election.”

In the months since taking office, each of the new officeholders has lived up to his campaign promises on LGBT equality.

In his first action after being sworn in as governor, McAuliffe issued an executive order protecting LGBT state employees from discrimination. “My administration is committed to keeping Virginia open and welcoming to all who call our commonwealth home,” he said after signing the order. While some previous Virginia governors had issued similar executive orders, McAuliffe’s order is the first to explicitly include transgender state employees.

Northam presides over the state Senate, which has particular importance because the Senate is tied along party lines. His election ensures that the chamber will have pro-equality leadership and a pro-equality majority.

Shortly after taking office, Herring announced that his office would no longer defend the state’s constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage and would instead argue in court that the ban should be overturned. His action bolsters the case for plaintiffs seeking to take down Virginia’s ban in two key cases, Bostic v. Rainey and Harris v. McDonnell. After a federal judge struck down the state’s marriage ban, Herring held a news conference, declaring it “a great day for equality in Virginia.”

By Jeremy Pittman

L

ast November, voters in Virginia went to the polls to elect a new governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general. The voters had a clear choice on issues of equality.

The HRC-endorsed candidates — Terry McAuliffe for governor, Ralph Northam for lieutenant governor and Mark Herring for attorney general — proudly spoke out on the campaign trail for equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. Their opponents had long histories of supporting and enacting anti-LGBT policies.

To back up HRC’s endorsements, HRC’s political action committee hired a campaign

MARRIAGE VICTORY!

manager and seven organizers to work directly with the candidates’ campaigns and to mobilize HRC members and supporters to volunteer and vote. The HRC organizers worked countless hours in campaign offices around the state, and HRC’s “Virginia is for Lovers of Equality” campaign T-shirts quickly became a hot commodity.

McAuliffe, Northam and Herring prevailed at the polls. The results were so close in the attorney general race that a recount was necessary, with Herring ultimately declared the winner by fewer than 1,000 votes out of more than 2.2 million votes cast. In a message after the election, Governor-elect

…

On the evening before Valentine’s Day this year, in a sweeping and eloquent opinion, Judge Arenda Wright Allen ruled in Bostic v. Rainey that Virginia’s marriage ban violates the guarantees of the U.S. Constitution. Her decision will now go before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit on appeal, and could end up before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Pittman is HRC’s deputy field director.

The plaintiff couples (above), Timothy Bostic and Tony London, and longtime HRC members Carol Schall and Mary Townley (and Emily, their 16-year-old daughter), teamed up with attorneys Ted Olson and David Boies and the American Foundation for Equal Rights on the case. Olson and Boies brought down California’s Proposition 8 at the Supreme Court last year.

WWW.HRC.ORG

LATE WINTER 2014

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Photo: Mike Wintroath for HRC

“You are…”. The store was super crowded.

We were waiting in line at the self-checkouts, and everyone was frantically shopping to get milk and bread because of the forecasted snow that day that would probably melt the next, but in between, of course, we might all possibly starve. This lady was holding everyone up, and we were helplessly stuck waiting to see how she was going to finish her sentence. With a knot in my stomach, I listened as she continued, “…our famous couple. I just want you to know how proud I am of you two.”

We breathed a sigh of relief, thanked her and finished our bread and milk transaction.

In Arkansas, most people are polite. If Southerners can’t say something nice then they are not supposed to say anything at all.

We know dissenters are out there but they have politely avoided a public confrontation.

New co-workers meet me and begin with “I know your story.” There is a lot of ambiguity in that statement but I choose to think the best of people and hope they get to know me. Am I completely comfortable with this new life?

No, but I am getting there. My life is so much better for being able to be openly who I am which, at 50 years old, is high time.

So, as the camera was about to snap in front of one of the iconic institutions of civil rights, Central High School, which continues to fight discrimination in this brave new world, Barb asked, “What do you want to do?” I replied, “Heck, I don’t know!” She then said, “Do you want to link arms?” “No,” I said emphatically. We then leaned in a little closer and smiled — one small step closer to openly living our story without fear of retribution in the South.

TIPPI McCULLOUGH:

“OUR PRIVATE LIVES HAVE

BECOME VERY PUBLIC.”

A

s Barbara and I posed outside historic Little Rock Central High School in Arkansas on a bitterly cold day, I flashed back to how I arrived at this surreal moment. The high school’s newspaper had run an article about our marriage soon after it had taken place in October and shortly after my firing from Mount St. Mary Academy. Now, three months later, the paper was publishing a piece that I was hired to teach English at the school. The student writer and photographer were having us pose for a photo for the cover of the Feb. 14th Valentine’s Day issue, of all things.

First of all, they commented on our matching coats that were not, to me, similar at all except for the fact that they were both coats.

One of the students enthusiastically instructed us: “Just pose like a couple.” I ran the

gamut of feelings at that point. What does that mean? Can we do that? How should that pose look? What will people think? I had defaulted to my conditioning of growing up in a South where I never posed as a couple — roommates or friends maybe — but never a couple.

My life since October has changed in many ways. I have turned 50, married Barbara after a 14-year, committed relationship, been fired from my longtime job for getting married, have started two new jobs and been afflicted with the flu. People now know us and we don’t always know them.

Our private lives have become very public.

Many of these encounters have happened at the supermarket in our neighborhood.

One day, an older lady in one of those motorized carts rolled up to us and said,

Tippi McCullough was fired from her teaching post last fall at Mount St. Mary Academy in Little Rock, Ark., where she had taught for 14 years, when she was threatened with dismissal moments after she married Barb Mariani.

Three months later, McCullough called HRC — who had circulated an online petition, gathering 50,000 signatures from 50 states, and delivered them to the school — about her new job at Little Rock Central High School.

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Around here, being yourself is a job requirement. When we encourage Googlers to express themselves, we really mean it. In fact, we count on it. Intellectual curiosity and diverse perspectives drive our policies, our work environment, our perks and our profits. At Google, we don't just accept difference -- we thrive on it. We celebrate it. And support it, for the benefit of our employees, our products and our community.

We are proud that Google’s spirit of inclusion has been recognized with a 100% HRC Corporate Equality Index rating for six years in a row. We congratulate HRC for all of its work furthering equal rights for the LGBT community and look forward to our continued partnership.

www.google.com/diversity © 2012 Google Inc. All rights reserved. Google and the Google logo are trademarks of Google Inc

Photo: Melanie Stetson Freeman / Getty

BILL T. JONES JAMES BALDWIN

ON

HONORING AN AMERICAN ICON, HIS ART AND IDEAS

By Janice Hughes

NEW YORK

Photo: Boris Horvat / Getty

T

here are always plenty of reasons to celebrate James Baldwin.

Baldwin — one of America’s most poetic and powerful writers — shed a piercing light on the mix of class, race, sex and violence — in a way like no one else. His classics, Giovanni’s Room, Another Country and Go Tell It on the Mountain, inspired millions. His eloquence about being gay, dealing with racism and defining what it is to be an American ignited discussions everywhere.

Bill T. Jones — an icon in his own right — is making sure the celebration of Baldwin continues. Jones, the world- renowned choreographer, dancer, writer and theater director, is a driving force behind a huge citywide festival — lunchtime readings, videos, installations and dance — about Baldwin, commemorating the 90th anniversary of his birth.

Equality caught up with Jones — a Human Rights Campaign member — in his offices in the New York Live Arts building in Chelsea, before an afternoon rehearsal with his acclaimed dance company. Jones talked about Baldwin and his influence on his own life as an openly gay artist.

What about James Baldwin resonates with you the most?

Here’s an example of a black man who is not an entertainer, who is not a great beauty, who is not an athlete, but when you heard him speak…! As (L-R) Choreographer Bill T. Jones, author James Baldwin an example of literally what a person could and what a black person could at the level of 30,000 feet, but literally across be, he’s very important. I think there’s somea coffee table or in each other’s arms. That thing about the bravery in him. Literally, one of level of understanding of how human beings the first descriptions I ever read of two men operate was breathtaking for me. I really was having sex … was in Another Country. I’m too young, but I got a glimpse of it, of what 16 years old, in a small town in upstate New that could be.

York, reading this book about this exotic place called Harlem.

What are your aims for the festival?

Baldwin is writing in the most visceral I’ll actually go out on a limb and say that we’re and plausible way about what, less than a … promoting democracy. Democracy, I believe hundred years before, had been called “the and I could be wrong, requires a thoughtful love that dares not speak its name,” and here and informed populace. Now, that’s a big deal. he is writing about it with great naturalness Education is a problem in our country. Do and ease and real force. His writing said to people know the truth about America’s role me, “Young man, you could have a voice. Are around the world, historically? If they don’t, you educated? … Have you traveled? If not do they understand what our own expectaliterally have you traveled, have you traveled in tions of our government are and how we’re your imagination?” viewed by the rest of the world? How do we

There was something about his take on teach the children what is right and wrong in the dynamic between men and women and foreign policy? continued on p. 19 between black people and white people, not

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There was something about his take on the dynamic between

men and women and between black people and white people, not at the level of 30,000 feet, but literally across a coffee table or in each other’s arms.”

Now, is that heavy lifting? Do people want to know? Most of us don’t have the patience of researchers to analyze. Artists are supposed to be able to make it visceral, put it in front of you, you can feel it, taste it and it’s not only politics. We want to ask the questions about the culture right now. What is true cultural progress?

James Baldwin addressed the “American Project” — What does it mean to be an American? What is America afraid of?

What about sexuality? … And I say, “Ok, that’s all well and good, but can we get America in the room?” … As opposed to people who are just like us. That’s a challenge.

every special holiday, it was like a service. It was spontaneous. It was about my mother’s notion of her God and the personal spirit and the private spirit and at that moment, they became one. It was almost like asking huge questions about what it meant to be alive and why did life hurt so much. …

She would call out to God and to see her work herself into this transcendent, sweaty epiphany — that was so frightening, so moving. That was my first theater. Then, there was Merce Cunningham, Alvin Ailey, Proust, James Baldwin.

Which artists inspired you?

I always say it was my mother, praying. That was one of the first things. She was an amazing preacher. Every Christmas morning,

If you met James Baldwin today, what would you talk about?

I’d want to talk to him about what he didn’t get right about the future. … I don’t think

James Baldwin is able to foresee the prison industrial complex. I don’t think he understood literally how the sexual politics would develop. I don’t think he could see how many variations are going to be around the question of identity that he, in some ways, encouraged us to come out, come out and talk from your truths.

SELECTED WORKS

Photo: Dmitri Kasterine

Photo: Boris Horvat / Getty

Bill T. Jones cont’d from p. 17

“JAMES BALDWIN, THIS TIME!”

Go Tell It on the Mountain (1953): This semi-autobiographical account of Baldwin’s life focuses on the role the Christian church plays in the African-American community.

James Baldwin, the oldest of nine children, was born in Harlem, N.Y., in 1924. From an early age, he aspired to become a writer and published short stories, essays and book reviews. His first and best-known novel was Go Tell It on the Mountain (1953). Baldwin — who was also a major force within the civil rights movement — moved to France to escape American bigotry in 1948.

He died of cancer in 1987.

Celebrate James Baldwin April 23-27 in New York with nearly 20 events – dance, video, visual art installations, theater, readings and conversations. The festival launches The Year of James Baldwin in partnership with Harlem Stage and Columbia University School of the Arts, and includes a world premiere of the theater work, Nothing Personal, based on the 1964 collaborative work by Baldwin and Richard Avedon. See newyorklivearts.org/liveideas.

Giovanni’s Room (1956): Baldwin’s second novel focuses on the life of an American man living in Paris and his relationships with various men.

Another Country (1962): Set in Greenwich Village in the late 1950s, Another Country tackles the subjects of sexual identity, race and adultery.

Nothing Personal (1964): Baldwin collaborated with his good friend, Richard Avedon, to create this powerful and poignant photo essay.

If Beale Street Could Talk (1974): This 1970s Harlem love story takes on the role of race in America and the importance of family.

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NO APOLOGIES

MARY ORLANDO, FLA.

T

here are so many things to like — no, love — about the singer-songwriter Mary Lambert. She’s passionate, she’s vulnerable. She’s unapologetic about loving women, about body image. She doesn’t take herself too seriously. And she talks dreamily about super dirty gin martinis.

You were initially raised in the Pentecostal church. I understand that when you figured out you were lesbian you, at first, prayed for forgiveness but not for being gay. Always from a young age, I was brought up to believe “You’re who you are.” … I didn’t realize the battle that I was going to be facing was the “contradictory lifestyle” of being active in the church and being gay.

You’ve gotten comments on YouTube not for being LGBT, but about body image. Is that still going on? I’m so used to it. I think anybody who is plus-sized is used to it. I think anybody who is a woman 20

EQUALITY

LATE WINTER 2014

Photo: Monty Brinton / Getty Images

Lambert deserves every sip, for sure. Less than two years ago, she was a virtual unknown, working long hours, bartending, writing and singing her songs, doing slam poetry in Seattle.

Now, she’s singing shoulder to shoulder onstage with Madonna at the Grammys, along with Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, Queen Latifah and Trombone Shorty.

Recently, Lambert sat down for an interview with Equality before a show at the House of Blues in Orlando, laughing about how her life has changed dramatically since she first jotted down, in two hours’ time, lyrics for a chorus for Macklemore & Lewis’ now-famous anthem, “Same Love,” and began touring nationally with them to sold-out arenas, and struck out on her own with her single, “She Keeps Me Warm.”

She recently released a new EP, “Welcome to the Age of My Body.”

Lambert, whose mother is lesbian (“she’s very, very proud of me”), spoke about the dizzying whirl of the past months and what she wants next.

LAMBERT

by Janice Hughes

Photo: Michael Tran

is used to it. Anybody that’s human is used to some sort of discrimination in some capacity. … What’s not palatable is the idea that full-figured women can be sexy or romantic or wear cute clothes or carry themselves with confidence.

It’s such important work you are doing. The deal is you can inspire people, and we inspired people with “Same Love.” We wrote a song that meant something to us. What’s really beautiful about it is that society latched onto it and the way that our culture has made it a priority. And it’s the same way that I feel about me … I’m just creating music that I feel is authentic and beautiful and what I want to stand for. The fact that it’s getting out there and has that reach says more about where we are culturally than anything else.

You make your sexuality a very clear, open point of who you are as a songwriter. Can you talk about that a little bit? That was just that conscious idea that I was going to be unapologetically who I am, in my personal life, and as well as being an artist. One thing that I did do consciously was allow myself to write in female pronouns in my art because I think that’s really a strong point of contention as a gay artist because you don’t want to alienate an audience, and it’s not necessarily because you’re scared or you’re in the closet or something, it’s simply business. I knew I didn’t want to be a gay artist. I wanted to be known as just an artist who happens to be gay and that these songs can be applied to everybody, even if they have female pronouns. … I think that’s the whole point: It’s an equal form of love.

What’s your goal as an artist? I want to be a hundred percent genuine, making sure that the

music that I’m creating is impactful, not exploitive. …

I want to make pretty music. … And I want to keep writing poetry and have that be a visible part of who I am as an artist.

How was touring with Macklemore & Ryan Lewis? I understand you were sort of the “wild girl.” On our first tour, I was definitely more wild. This year, I’ve been very focused. I really just did not have time to drink as much as I wanted to — I was a bartender for a long time and I love drinking.

It’s like a hobby. It’s a craft. I had been drinking super dirty gin martinis and if it had been a long day, I’ll just have whiskey. But I haven’t had time. I can’t remember the last time I had a drink.

Lambert and Madonna singing “Same Love” at the Grammys.

“WE INSPIRED PEOPLE WITH ‘SAME LOVE.’ WE WROTE A SONG THAT MEANT SOMETHING TO US.” What’s ahead for you? There’s a lot of work I want to do, in terms of what I put as a focal point in my art, not just gay rights. … I’m not going to write “Same Love” again, and I’m just going to do it my way. For instance, I want to be able to talk openly about rape and sexual abuse. I don’t think people are doing that … it’s part of the reason that it’s such an epidemic. I want women to talk about it. I want men to talk about it. How will we make that happen? It’s this idea of “It’s really time to start a dialogue.” I don’t give a sh-about “starting a dialogue.” I want to solve problems. I want to give awareness, poverty awareness. I’m aware people are poor. Do we have tools to fix it? How do we do this? How do we accomplish this?

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LINCOLN, DIRKSEN AND

SEN. MARK KIRK

By Mike Mings

Life comes down to who you love and who loves you back, and government has no place in the middle,”

Senator, a year ago you announced your support for marriage equality. Thank you.

Your support included standing up for marriage equality during a fight back home in Illinois, inside the Republican Party.

The true tradition of the Republican Party of Illinois is of individual dignity and equal

rights, where we look back to Abraham Lincoln, the force behind the Thirteenth Amendment to end involuntary servitude in the United States, and Everett Dirksen — whose seat that I hold — who as a Republican, got the Civil Rights Act of 1964 through. When you look at the story of Illinois, you see an unfolding story about advancing human dignity and freedom when we are living to our highest potential.

It’s an important issue for us, obviously.

We’ve found that people are more supportive of equality if they know a coworker, friend or family member who is LGBT. Do you see that happening as well?

Absolutely. I would say that there’s a big change from the 1950s when people were in the closet. Now they’re not, now continued on p. 29

Photo: Dakota Fine for HRC

blogged Republican U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk of Illinois last year, announcing his support for marriage equality — only the second sitting GOP senator to do so, and just months after suffering a major, life-threatening stroke.

Last fall, in his first speech on the Senate floor after his stroke, Kirk urged his colleagues to support the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, a key law that would ensure that employees cannot be fired based on their sexual orientation and gender identity.

On a recent afternoon, Mike Mings, the Human Rights Campaign’s PAC director, met with Kirk in his Senate offices — 14 years after the two first met, when Mings interviewed him about his views on LGBT issues when he first ran for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, where he served from 2001 to 2010.

A large portrait of President Abraham Lincoln hangs in his office. Near his desk is the helmet and uniform he wore during his three deployments to Afghanistan with the Navy Reserve.

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In a recent op-ed in The Advocate, Human Rights Campaign Chief Foundation Officer Jeff Krehely discussed the importance of being an ally — an informed one — after TV talk show host Piers Morgan’s controversial interviews with transgender advocate Janet Mock. In discussing her autobiography, Redefining Realness, Morgan — who considers himself an ally — focused mainly on Mock’s medical history and the disclosure of her gender history to her boyfriend and little else about her life. Further, an on-screen text during Morgan’s program said Mock “was a boy until age 18.” In a second interview with Mock, prompted by criticism from transgender activists and others, Morgan showed he had failed again to do his homework. Excerpts of Krehely’s op-ed follow.

WHAT NOT TO DO WHEN CALLING YOURSELF A

By Jeff Krehely

B

TRANSGENDER ALLY

eing good, well-intentioned or liberal doesn’t mean you get it. And it doesn’t make you an ally. I know something about this myself — having worked in social justice for more than 15 years, I’ve had to do a whole lot of work to get to the ally point.

I was a 27-year-old openly gay man when I first met someone who openly identified as transgender. He was the boyfriend of a colleague of mine. And he was incredibly forthright about his journey and provided me with my first opportunity to understand what “gender identity” was all about.

I felt supportive, but I didn’t get it. And I wasn’t all that inclined to believe that his challenges were particularly wrapped up in mine. At that time, what are now known as LGBT organizations were very much about the L, the G, and sometimes the B. Most white gay men like me — even liberal ones — didn’t have much incentive to pressure LGBT groups to expand their agenda, especially as the right wing led efforts to outlaw our right to marry. Because of my own privileges, that was my main cause and my sole source of oppression in 2004 America.

A couple of years later, I landed a professional LGBT job. And even though I

could be hired with very little cultural competency when it came to transgender people, transgender issues were about to become much more visible. In 2007, gender identity was dropped from the House’s version of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, and the LGBT movement declared war on itself.

I didn’t yet understand how keenly transgender people needed workplace equality. But the political wonk in me saw the fissure that had happened. And I knew if we couldn’t come together as a movement, we might as well surrender to the far right.

I was an advocate, but I wasn’t an ally.

But in the course of my work — directing research at the Movement Advancement Project — we decided to do a deep-dive on transgender issues. That meant a partnership with the National Center for Transgender Equality and the Transgender Law Center.

We approached this research as we did all other projects, which meant that the first step for us was to interview and listen to advocates, researchers and others who were squarely in the issue space. We spent several weeks reading pretty much everything that had been written on what transgender people go through in our country, including many first-person accounts of the struggles,

strengths and resiliency that define the lives of so many transgender people.

Mara Keisling at NCTE and Masen Davis at TLC were both incredibly patient with my learning curve, and it was clear to me they had spent many seconds, minutes and hours explaining transgender issues to other people like me. I was also struck by how effortlessly and sincerely they supported and understood LGB issues, even though they had so much transgender- specific work to lead.

I’m not sure exactly when it happened, but at some point in doing this research, I finally understood what it meant to be an ally.

I could suddenly see the common connections among the LGB and the T, as well as appreciate the stark differences and the many gradations in between. I also naturally felt a responsibility to treat transgender issues with as much — actually, probably more — passion as I did LGB issues.

Which is not to say that I’m an expert on all things transgender, or that I can ever really understand what it means to move through our culture as a transgender person.

But I do know that almost every transgender person has to fight to be seen for who they continued on p. 29

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c e l e b r at i n g 2 5 y e a r s o f

comfort for all

800.789.5401

mgbwhome.com

Photo: Jessie Sheffield

Exporting Hate cont’d from p. 11 Organization for Marriage’s Brian Brown, who traveled to Russia twice in 2013. President Putin signed a law banning adoption of Russian children by gay couples or single people from countries where same-sex marriage is legal just days after Brown flew to Moscow to advocate for its passage.

While in Russia, Brown and the others meet with members of the parliament and appear on Russian television advocating for anti-LGBT laws. One activist, Larry Jacobs of the World Congress of Families, even said that the Russians might be “saviors to the world” for their “pro-family” policies.

While American anti-LGBT activists meet with Kremlin leaders, the situation on the ground is increasingly dire for LGBT Russians. Violent attacks against LGBT citizens are on the rise and police often look the other way when they are assaulted. Activists and media outlets risk being fined for any display of support for equality. Immigration and requests

BRIAN BROWN, the president of the National Organization for Marriage, traveled to Russia twice last year. Brown also traveled to Trinidad and Tobago and France in 2013 to advocate for anti-LGBT policies.

for asylum from LGBT Russians have spiked since the passage of the anti-propaganda law last year.

Later this year, the anti-LGBT community will host a major international gathering in Moscow. The conference, known as the World Congress of Families, is expected to draw thousands of activists, policymakers and academics from around the world to discuss the next moves in their intolerant playbook. Moreover, the event includes a session at the Kremlin led

by Yelena Mizulina, the author of the Russian anti-propaganda bill.

“The exporters of hate will continue racking up the frequent flier miles unless HRC and others call them out,” says HRC’s Griffin. “The HRC Foundation is investing resources in its Global Engagement Program to do just that, by investigating and publicizing the activities of American anti-LGBT extremists overseas.”

SCOTT LIVELY has traveled around the world to promote homophobia. From Africa to Eastern Europe, everywhere he goes, intolerant legislation seems to follow. Lively takes credit for the idea to pass a ban on gay “propaganda” in Russia and he’s currently the subject of a civil trial for crimes against humanity for his support of the “kill the gays” bill in Uganda.

LARRY JACOBS is the managing director of the World Congress of Families, an umbrella organization that convenes meetings of “pro-family” activists from around the world.

The group’s next meeting will be in the Kremlin in Moscow in the fall.

Parks is the associate director of global engagement at the HRC Foundation. If you have any tips about the exporters of hate, email global@hrc.org.

The Human Rights Campaign and other ally groups organized a protest in front of the Ugandan embassy in Washington, D.C., to protest the country’s policies regarding LGBT citizens.

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Equality, always.

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Sen. Kirk cont’d from p. 23

we know them in the workplace and church … and the thought of discriminating against them officially is an anomaly because of the personal relationship. It just doesn’t feel American.

With Tammy Baldwin in the Senate, and ranks growing in the House, I think more and more people are seeing the same thing. You just did an amazing job of helping produce a bipartisan vote on ENDA out of the Senate. Why do you think ENDA is important?

The United States is weaker if we don’t unlock the potential of every American. If ENDA is not the law of the land, then we have discrimination against LGBT folks in the workplace. …The example that I most would cite — but for a gay Briton, we probably would have lost World War II. His name is Alan Turing. He invented the modern computer that cracked the Nazi code and was later prosecuted for being a homosexual — ironic for Britain to prosecute the very man who would probably [be] responsible for their own liberty. A terrible law. It shows the price of discrimination, that we know too little about the opportunity cost, what happens when we force gay Americans out of the workplace.

You have mentioned Peoria as one of the compasses for how Illinois — and, really, the entire country — goes. How does ENDA play in Peoria?

Inside Illinois, polling shows people feel a measure like ENDA is actually already in place. Our job is to represent the people, and the people are already there on this issue. So if we represent them, we reflect their views and put this through and make this the law of the land.

about schoolyard bullying and efforts to ensure that schools are safe for all?

Kids of the 21st century have to go through a unique gauntlet of pain, anger and humiliation. One of the sad things about the Internet is its anonymity that is quite nasty and personal; that young people can see terrible things that they realize their entire school has read. …I think there’s a role for the federal government to move the whole culture to be more accepting. As a former educator, I would say that no one can be crueler than 13-year-olds.

I think that it’s clear that the Republican Party is becoming far more supportive on LGBT issues. Do you see changes in your colleagues’ attitudes?

I do, quite a bit. For ENDA, I think the heart and soul of the Republican Party is economic freedom. It is to make sure that you live up to your full potential of the workplace that you get to work for and buy from whomever you want as an American. With our Republican members, when I’m making the case, I would say that the heart and soul of our party is economic freedom and equal opportunity, to make sure people rise to their full potential as Americans.

Congratulations on doing so well in rehab, and being back on Capitol Hill.

I would say a lot of my views on these issues reflect my stroke. I sat for a long time, way too long in a hospital bed, thinking about the country and what it means, what it is to be a senator. And that has informed my work a lot to make me much more empathetic and thinking about others.

Mings is director of HRC’s political action committee.

You’re a co-sponsor of the Safe Schools Improvement Act. Do you have any thoughts

Today, a mainstream national reporter wouldn’t think to ask my husband and me, “Who’s the wife?” But a network can still call Mock a boy without blinking an eye.

Transgender cont’d from p. 25

truly are. And that transgender people — especially transgender women, and even more so, transgender women of color — face harassment and violence in living authentically.

So back to that line of questioning.

When CNN chose to label Mock “a boy for 18 years,” the network was complicit in denying Mock’s own truth — that she never identified as a boy. When Morgan dwelled on her disclosure to her boyfriend — without addressing the fact that many transgender women have a

legitimate fear they’ll be beaten or killed at the point of disclosure — they perpetuated the transphobia that fuels this violence.

Today, a mainstream national reporter wouldn’t think to ask my husband and me, “Who’s the wife?” But a network can still continue calling Mock a boy without blinking an eye.

I was an advocate for legal rights long before I was an ally. And being an ally is a continual process. As the conversations between Piers Morgan and Janet Mock were endlessly debated on Twitter, it struck me that self-proclaimed transgender allies — which

Morgan consistently asserted he is — need to step back and make sure they’ve done their homework.

Doing so takes time and it doesn’t make for great ratings. But it’s the kind of work that creates change and — ultimately — liberation for all.

Want to become a better ally to the transgender community? Check out HRC’s FAQ, the National Center for Transgender Equality, the Transgender Law Center and the Trans People of Color Coalition.

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Once upon a time++... there was a little girl who read lots of books.

She quickly noticed that every book recited the same story about a princess meeting her prince and living happily ever after.

Sometimes there was a frog, sometimes not, but they always ended with the princess marrying the very brave prince.

As the little girl grew, she read more stories about romance and weddings. Although the chapters got longer and the words were bigger, the characters were the same. This greatly confused her with the feelings she had always known in her own heart.

Could she truly not be a princess unless she found a prince?

It was all so scary, yet she looked around her world and just could not ignore what she felt to be true love.

Today as a big girl‌ Barbara, and her wife Collette, have been living their own storybook romance for ten years.

Write your own story.

Let us provide the fairytale wedding.

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WHAT WILL YOUR

LEGACY BE? A commitment to HRC through your estate can be part of your enduring legacy. Request our free legacy planning publication to find out how easy it can be. Please visit www.hrc.org/planning.

WE’RE HERE TO HELP. For assistance in creating your legacy of equality, contact:

Adam Swaim, Director of Estate Planning 866-772-9499 | adam.swaim@hrc.org

EQUALITY CIRCLE ENSURING THE FUTURE FOR LGBT EQUAL ITY

CURRENT AS OF MARCH 1, 2014

WWW.HRC.ORG

LATE WINTER 2014

31

LAST LOOK

I

n its latest report on youth, the Human Rights Campaign Foundation gives an in-depth look at the lives of “gender- expansive” youth, aged 13-17 years old, culled from the data from HRC’s survey of 10,030 LGBT youth nationwide.

When asked to identify their gender, these youth did not check the “male” or “female” box and checked instead “transgender” or wrote in their response. They make up nearly 10 percent of the survey respondents (a total of 925). Unfortunately, results show that gender-expansive youth face rejection, harassment and bullying at levels well beyond their peers.

HOME & FAMILY ACCEPTANCE

EXCLUSION & HARASSMENT

of gender-expansive youth surveyed said that their families are very accepting of LGBT people.

of gender-expansive youth are “frequently or often” called names involving anti-gay slurs.

27% 42%

ON HAPPINESS Only 4 percent of the gender- expansive youth reported being “very happy.” Further, 9 percent of gender-expansive youth said that they were “very unhappy.”

ACCEPTANCE BY YOUTH’S PLACE OF WORSHIP

8%

4+ 96 9+91 4%

GENDER-EXPANSIVE YOUTH

SENSE OF BELONGING

DEFINITELY FITS IN

VERY ACCEPTING

22%

9%

GENDER-EXPANSIVE YOUTH

NOT AT ALL ACCEPTING

MORE HONEST ONLINE

58% 25% of the gender-expansive youth “strongly agreed” they were more honest about who they are online than in the real world.

of the gender-expansive youth say they are verbally harassed online “frequently or often.”

DEFINITELY DOES NOT FIT IN

Gender-expansive youth are much less likely to report “definitely fitting in” in their community. Only 5 percent of gender-expansive youth reported “definitely fitting in” while 30 percent reported “definitely not fitting in.” This is in stark contrast to their peers.

32

EQUALITY

LATE WINTER 2014

WHAT WE ALL CAN DO

Educate yourself about gender’s complexity, and advocate for more gender-inclusive environments in your local schools, religious institutions, medical facilities, youth centers and elsewhere.

See www.hrc.org/youth-gender for a full copy of the new report, Supporting and Caring for Our Gender-Expansive Youth — Lessons from the Human Rights Campaign Youth Survey.

The LGBT community is part of ours.

Citi is proud to support the Human Rights Campaign. We commend their efforts and thank them for making the world a better place.

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