SGN August 16, 2019 - Section 1

Celebrating 45 Years!

Issue 33 Volume 47

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Seattle Gay News S E AT T L E ’ S L G B T Q N E W S & E N T E R TA I N M E N T W E E K LY

Discrimination is just fine with us, Trump administration tells federal contractors Expansion of religious exemption threatens LGBT workers, among others

Early project rendering – Image courtesy of Environmental Works

Photo by Carlo Allegri / Reuters

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer The Trump administration released new rules on August 14 that will allow federal contractors to evade nondiscrimination protections for their workers, as long as the

employer claims a religious motive.

Federal contractors – companies that do business with the federal government – include most of the country’s largest companies.

see EXEMPTION page 11

DOJ tries to strong-arm EEOC on protections for LGBT+ workers

Photo by David Zalubowski / AP

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer Donald Trump’s Department of Justice (DOJ) is putting political pressure on the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to get the federal civil rights

Capitol Hill Housing unveils plans for eight-story “LGBTQ-Affirming Affordable Senior Housing” development on Broadway

by Jake Goldstein-Street Capitol Hill Seattle Blog capitolhillseattle.com Architects and Capitol Hill Housing (CHH) representatives have showcased plans for an eight-story affordable housing project

specifically for LGBTQ+ elders on Broadway between Pike and Pine that will include at least 100 units at a mix of income levels rising above the preserved facade of an auto row-era Seattle landmark.

see SENIOR HOUSING page 6

Elizabeth Warren: Affordable, gender-affirming health care for all

U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren – Photo by Drew Angerer / Getty Images

agency to reverse its position on legal protections for LGBT+ workers.

The EEOC is the federal agency charged with enforcing civil rights laws in the workplace. It does not make law, but it

see EEOC page 12

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer Democratic senator and presidential hopeful Elizabeth Warren says that all Transgender Americans should be able to access affordable, gender-affirming health care.

In an August 13 tweet, Warren said that “the Trump administration is trying to roll back important protections for trans Americans” and “Everyone should be able to access high-quality, affordable, gender-affirming

see WARREN page 13

2 Seattle Gay News

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Celebrating 45 Years!

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by Jesse Monteagudo SGN Contributing Writer The 50th Anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising inspired the book business, like other industries, to celebrate and exploit this momentous event. Bookstores like Barnes & Noble set up displays that featured recent LGBT titles in their inventory.

Publishers reached back to their corporate past and issued new editions of their best queer titles, like The Gay Metropolis by Charles Kaiser or Stonewall by Martin Duberman. New titles, fiction or non-fiction, were also given the Stonewall 50 treatment. Most notable are a series of histories, from scholarly monographs to coffee table photo books, that showcase our LGBT past, both before and after Stonewall.

Jason Baumann is Assistant Director for Collection Development at the New York Public Library. Baumann organized the Library’s magnificent exhibit, “Love & Resistance – Stonewall 50,” which I enjoyed during my recent trip to New York.

The Stonewall Reader (Penguin Books), edited by Baumann, draws from the Library’s archives to present a collection of first-person accounts, articles and essays by and about LGBT community members before, during and after Stonewall. The pieces in this book, many of which are long

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Image courtesy of G&LR Books

Image courtesy of Abrams

out of print, are of great historical value; and I predict that they will be used as text in future LGBT courses. At the same time, they are short enough to read on the train, which is what I did on my way to New York.

The 50th Anniversary of Stonewall is also the 25th Anniversary of The Gay & Lesbian Review, one of the best (and last) LGBT journals around today. To celebrate, G&LR founder and editor-in-chief Richard Schneider Jr. published In Search of Stonewall: The Riots at 50 The Gay & Lesbian Review at 25 Best Essays, 19942018 (G&LR Books). Like The Stonewall Reader, In Search of Stonewall collects important essays, from the Review’s first quarter century, about the Riots, the years before and the years after. In addition, In Search of Stonewall concludes with a vital section about “Stonewall’s Legacy.”

Besides giving us more stuff to read on the train, In Search of Stonewall is a good introduction to G&LR. One thing that hasn’t changed in the halfcentury since Stonewall is the fact that our LGBT community is basically an urban product. Some of the best histories that I have had the pleasure to read recently deal with the queer history of cities where our people gathered and created communities, in spite of all opposition. The Boys of Fairy Town: Sodomites, Female Impersonators,

Third-Sexers, Pansies, Queers, and Sex Morons in Chicago’s First Century (Chicago Review Press) is Jim Elledge’s good gay history of Chicago as told through the lives of the men who left a record of their activities in the Second City. (It is also the first time that I encountered the term “sex moron;” in a book or in life.) When Brooklyn Was Queer by Hugh Ryan (St. Martin’s Press), tells the tale of LGBT life in “Brooklyn the Great, second city of the Empire,” from the 1855 publication of Leaves of Grass

by Brooklyn’s own Walt Whitman to the 1966 closing of the Brooklyn Navy Yard. In Queer City: Gay London from the Romans to the Present Day (Abrams Press) popular historian Peter Ackroyd, author of several books about London, gives his beloved city the queer treatment that it and we deserve.

David Bowie Made Me Gay? Such is the title of Darryl W. Bullock’s history of “100 Years of LGBT Music,” also published

by Abrams Press. Except for some gossipy books by Boze Hadleigh, there hasn’t been much written about queer contributions to pop music, and Bullock does his best to fill in the gap. Though Bullock’s study is not complete – there is nothing here about classical music – David Bowie Made Me Gay is well-worth reading, even by those who know a thing or two about LGBT music makers.

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Seattle Quake Rugby and The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, The Abbey of St. Joan presented

Jockstraps and Glitter at Bobby Morris Play Field in Cal Anderson Park Aug. 10

Photos courtesy of Seattle Quake Rugby

4 Seattle Gay News

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Celebrating 45 Years!

Joe Torres’ annual Leo Party raises $26,607.01

by MK Scott SGN Contributing Writer Last Sunday, August 11, was the 16th Annual LEO party at Neighbours Nightclub in Capitol Hill. Joe Torres’ annual birthday event and fundraiser for the Leo Foundation brought in $26,607.01 for Seattle Counseling Service, Entre Hermanos and SOMOS Seattle.

The evening started at 6pm with go-go dancers most of whom came to the event from out of state and included Carlos Castro, Curtis Goodman, Eric Michael Morgan, Jackson Salinas, Urtreen White, and Nathanael Nussa.

Hosted by Aleksa Manila, the event then featured performances by Atasha Manila, Carlos, Milla Sky, Kylie Archer, and Isaac Scott. Special guest Derrick Barry from “RuPaul’s Drag Race” made her Seattle debut as Mariah Carey and then went back to being Britney later in the evening.

For more information about this event and to make a financial contribution in support of these important community service organizations, please visit www.LEOFoundation.us

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USCIS offers adult citizenship educators a free training session SEATTLE. Wash. – U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Seattle District Office will present a full day of training to those who’d like to share ideas and learn some great techniques toward helping people become U.S. citizens. Attendance is free, and the deadline for enrollment is Sept. 18.

In this workshop, participants will learn how to develop adult citizenship curricu-

lum. They’ll talk about student-centered activities and thematic teaching. They’ll go over professional development opportunities and resources for those who teach immigrants how to obtain U.S. citizenship. Participants will share their own great ideas and practices, and they’ll brainstorm as they make connections with USCIS representatives and those in local community-

based organizations.

To register, go to uscis.gov/teachertraining. Space is limited.

For more information on USCIS, including filing online, please visit our website at uscis.gov or follow us on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook and LinkedIn.

WHO: USCIS presents a free workshop for citizenship trainers WHEN: Sept. 25, 9am to 4pm WHERE: Federal Center South, 4735 East Marginal Way S, Seattle, WA Courtesy of USCIS

Early project rendering – Image courtesy of Environmental Works

SENIOR HOUSING continued from cover

The project was originally planned to be located on their property at 14th and Union, but the location was shifted to Broadway partly due to influence from the city, according to Chris Persons, CEO of Capitol Hill Housing, the nonprofit developer at the center of the effort. He says the new spot is “much more in the center of the LGBTQ+ community on Capitol Hill.”

“This building is going to really make a mark,” Freya Johnson, project architect at Environmental Works, said Wednesday night [August 7, 2019] during a community meeting at The Summit on Pike. “It’ll be a symbol that we belong here, that this is our Hill.”

One attendee said later: “In my lifetime, I didn’t think I’d see this.”

Envisioned as a building to make more than a hundred new homes available especially for LGBTQ seniors, The Eldridge affordable housing project could be developed as one of the first “community preference” developments in Seattle – a new program that encourages nonprofit developers receiving city money to offer a portion of their affordable units to communities with ties to the neighborhood, particularly those with a high risk of displacement.”

The planned building will take up two parcels: the now vacant Atlas Clothing location and the landmarked auto row-era Eldridge Tire Company building which currently houses Tacos Guaymas and Follicle Hair Design. Because of the landmark designation, the new building will keep the old Mission Revival-styled structure’s facade while preservation incentives could help boost the project’s size.

Current targets for the building include between 100 and 122 units of housing, according to Mason Cavell of CHH. Those units will be at a range of affordability

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levels and about 80% of them are set to be studios and the rest would be one-bedroom apartments. For example, the rent for a studio apartment for someone at 30% area median income would be $581, says Cavell.

CHH is working to secure set-aside units with rental assistance, as well.

Studios would be about 350 square feet and the one bedroom apartments would be approximately 550 square feet, according to Johnson.

These goals, however, remain in the early stages, with a fully constructed building still at least three years away. The organizations involved will submit a funding application to the city this fall. By spring 2020, they hope to get a green light from the city and finalize the building design.

That autumn, they would close on financing and begin building with a target completion date two years later.

They hope to achieve full occupancy by the winter of 2022.

This project, led by CHH and Generations Aging with Pride (GenPRIDE), will be worked on in conjunction with a community advisory team of more than a half dozen LGBTQ+ organizations: Ingersoll Gender Center, Seattle Counseling Service, UW Aging with Pride, Gay City, GSBA, LGBTQ Allyship, POCAAN, and County Doctor Community Clinic.

Gay City, for example, would look to bring sexual health services, such as tests for sexually transmitted infections, to the new building along with possible book groups reading from the organization’s large LGBT lending library, according to its executive director, Fred Swanson.

Current plans include rooms on the first floor for Seattle Counseling Service, which aims to advance the health and wellness of the LGBTQ+ community.

GenPride, a nonprofit “focused on empowering older LGBTQ+ adults to live with pride and dignity,” has also signed

August 16, 2019

on to be the “ground floor tenant” of the Broadway project. GenPRIDE “promotes, connects, and develops innovative programs and services that enhance belonging and support, eliminate discrimination, and honor the lives of older members of the LGBTQ+ community,” CHH said.

Capitol Hill Seattle reported in July on the [location] shift from 14th and Union to the Broadway property for Capitol Hill’s LGBTQ senior-focused project.

The Eldridge project will neighbor Capitol Hill Housing’s Broadway Crossing affordable housing development [at Broadway and Pine]. CHS wrote about the community push that helped create that development here last year.

Meanwhile, Capitol Hill Housing says it is also pushing ahead with a plan for a homeless youth center and housing project at Broadway at Pine.

The Eldridge’s block also includes the home to longtime gay dance club Neighbours – a venue that has been around long enough that more than a few senior residents will have fond memories of the dance joint. The club’s future might be a bigger question as the property hit the real estate market to start the year.

A focal point of Wednesday’s session was safety for the senior occupants of the building. Attendees suggested, among other things, security cameras in common areas, secure access to the building, a concierge, and a buddy system for both companionship and safety.

A report from last year commissioned by the city’s Office of Housing found that there are several key challenges facing seniors in Seattle’s LGBTQ+ community, including inadequate services, lack of stable affordable housing, and high rates of discrimination and bias in housing, as CHS reported in October.

The study said that Seattle “is falling behind other major metropolitan areas in

addressing LGBTQ+ housing and senior needs.” Meanwhile, cities like San Francisco, California have invested millions of dollars to address the needs of LGBTQ+ older adults.

According to the report, among LGBTQ+ older adults who moved within the previous year, 48.5% experienced homelessness, one-third dealt with an eviction, and 15.2% saw their housing foreclosed upon within the past five years.

The study also found that housing issues are only heightened for LGBTQ+ older adults. For example, whereas 58% of King County renters over the age of 60 were housing cost burdened, 87% of LGBTQ+ older adults dealt with that burden. Nearly 40% of LGBTQ+ older adults surveyed also wanted to move, which is much higher than older adults that are not a sexual or gender minority. Furthermore, LGBTQ+ older adults in King County have higher rates of renting generally.

Issues of housing and access to services were even worse for racial or ethnic minority LGBTQ+ older adults, as well, according to the study.

“Not only do we have a crisis, a public health crisis, in housing, we also have a public health crisis of social isolation” for LGBTQ+ elders, said Karen Fredriksen Goldsen, a professor in the University of Washington’s School of Social Work who spearheaded the report.

She added: “We have the history and years of experience, but our talents are being wasted. It’s our turn. Count us in.”

You can learn more about “LGBTQAffirming Affordable Senior Housing” at capitolhillhousing.org.

Courtesy of Capitol Hill Seattle Blog.

Reprinted with permission.

Celebrating 45 Years!

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Celebrating 45 Years!

ACLU comment on District Court ruling in favor of Gavin Grimm Statement from Gavin Grimm: “It is such a relief to achieve this closure and vindication from the court after four years of fighting not just for myself, but for trans youth across America. I promise to continue to advocate for as long as it takes for everyone to be able to live their authentic lives freely, in public, and without harassment and discrimination.”

This statement is available online here: https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/aclucomment-district-court-ruling-favor-gavingrimm More information on the case is available here: https://www.aclu.org/cases/ grimm-v-gloucester-county-school-board Gavin Grimm – Photo by Scout Tufankjian / ACLU

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – The U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Virginia has ruled in favor of ACLU client Gavin

Grimm, in his request for summary judgment in a sex discrimination lawsuit against the Gloucester County School Board.

BACKGROUND: In 2015, when Gavin was a 15-year-old sophomore at Gloucester High School, the school board adopted a policy preventing

him from using bathroom facilities consistent with his gender identity. The ACLU and the ACLU of Virginia subsequently sued on his behalf.

The judge heard arguments relating to the ACLU’s motion for summary judgment on July 23. In the ruling issued today [August 9], Judge Arenda L. Wright Allen declared that the school board’s policy violated Mr. Grimm’s rights under the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 from the time it was adopted, through his graduation.

She also issued a permanent injunction requiring the board to update Mr. Grimm’s high school transcripts to reflect a male gender marker and provide copies to him within 10 days.

Courtesy of ACLU

HRC responds to victory for Gavin Grimm in Federal Court Decision WASHINGTON, DC – Today [August 9, 2019], the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) civil rights organization, responded to a ruling by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia in favor of transgender student Gavin Grimm (now a graduate of that school), reaffirming that both the 14th Amendment of the United States Constitution and Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 protect transgender students from discrimination, including being forced to use separate bathroom facilities, and that the school’s refusal to give Gavin a diploma reflecting his name is discrimination as well.

“Every student should feel safe at school, regardless of gender identity. Transgender students are covered by Title IX and the

United States Constitution and are entitled to the same rights and protections as every other student,” said Cathryn Oakley, State Legislative Director and Senior Counsel.

“With the Trump-Pence administration’s barrage of attacks on LGBTQ people in this country, including against students, we are pleased that yet another federal court decision has reaffirmed legal rights and dignity of transgender people. Congratulations to Gavin Grimm and the American Civil Liberties Union on this milestone victory.”

In 2014, the Gloucester County School Board in Virginia voted 6-1 to institute a discriminatory bathroom policy that segregates transgender students from their peers after Gavin Grimm, with permission of school officials, began using the restroom that corresponded with his gender identity.

In 2017, the Supreme Court sent the Grimm case back to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals following the Trump Administration’s decision to rescind protective school guidance for transgender students. Because the Fourth Circuit’s original ruling was heavily based on the Obama Administration’s guidance, the Supreme Court asked the lower court to revisit the case and rule on the underlying statutory question regarding the scope of Title IX. Many federal courts, including the court today, have affirmed that Title IX and other federal nondiscrimination laws prohibit discrimination against transgender people, including with respect to restroom access.

Today’s decision echoes a 2016 ruling by the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Whitaker v. Kenosha Unified School Dis-

trict that held “a policy that requires an individual to use a bathroom that does not conform with his or her gender identity punishes that individual for his or her gender non-conformance, which in turn violates Title IX.” The Human Rights Campaign is America’s largest civil rights organization working to achieve equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people.

HRC envisions a world where LGBTQ people are embraced as full members of society at home, at work, and in every community.

Courtesy of HRC

Lambda Legal: Proposed new rule for federal contractors another invitation to discriminate WASHINGTON, DC – This morning [August 14, 2019] the U.S Department of Labor announced a proposed new rule for federal contractors through its Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP). The proposed new rule would greatly expand the ability of employers receiving federal contracts to avoid current employment nondiscrimination requirements for religious reasons. The new rule will be published officially in the Federal Register tomorrow, which will begin a 30-day period for submission of public comments on the proposed rule. Jennifer C. Pizer, Director of Law and Policy at Lambda Legal, issued the following statement: “The Trump-Pence administration is tripping over itself to greenlight discrimination in the name of religion. Not even 24 hours have passed since last night’s end

of the public comment period about its proposal to allow discrimination against patients, specifically including LGBTQ patients. And this morning, they have announced yet another proposal to invite discrimination – this time against workers on publicly funded contracts in the name of religious liberty. Given the conservative religious affiliations of many large institutional employers that seek federal contracts, we know the most vulnerable workers will be LGBTQ people, as well as Muslims, Jews and other religious minorities. For more than half a century, the federal purse has been a transformative driver of equal workplace opportunity in this country. And once again, appallingly, this administration is betraying our nation’s core commitment to liberty and justice for all – in service of an extreme, discriminatory religious agenda.”

Lambda Legal has filed comments opposing the proposed new health care rule (see https://www.lambdalegal.org/incourt/legal-docs/20190813_hhs-1557-comments), and will file comments addressing the proposed new contracting rule as well.

Lambda Legal also is in litigation currently against the Trump-Pence administration for approving religion-based discrimination in publicly funded child welfare services in South Carolina and Texas, and in health care services nationally. Lambda Legal also continues its challenge to the administration’s baseless and discriminatory ban on open military service by transgender people.

For Lambda Legal’s work against religion-based discrimination in child welfare services, see here: https://www.lambdalegal.org/in-court/cases/rogers-v-us-depart-

ment-health-human-services, and here: https://www.lambdalegal.org/in-court/ cases/marouf-v-azar. For Lambda Legal’s work in health care services, see here: https://www.lambdalegal.org/in-court/ cases/county-of-santa-clara-v-hhs. For our challenge to the ban on open military service by transgender people, see here: https://www.lambdalegal.org/in-court/ cases/karnoski-v-trump

EXEMPTION

documents, but that is not the only type of evidence that can be used,” the draft continues.

The new rule would not repeal existing nondiscrimination rules, but it would drastically expand exemptions to them.

The Labor Department said in an August 14 press release that the new rules “would clarify that religious organizations may make employment decisions consistent with their sincerely held religious tenets and beliefs without fear of sanction by the federal government.”

The proposal could apply to up to 420,000 contractors, according to the notice to be published in the Federal Register.

“While only a subset of contractors and would-be contractors may wish to seek this exemption, the Supreme Court, Congress,

and the President have each affirmed the importance of protecting religious liberty for those organizations who wish to exercise it,” the notice reads.

The draft rules refer to the US Supreme Court’s decisions in Hobby Lobby and Masterpiece Cakeshop, which affirmed religious exemptions to federal and state laws, respectively.

It also cited the case of Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia, a church that successfully argued for a government grant to refurbish its playground.

While the Labor Department said that the new proposal “reaffirms employers’ obligations not to discriminate on the basis of race, sex, or other protected bases and does not exempt or excuse a contrac-

tor from complying with any other requirements,” the National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE) took a different view.

The NCTE said in a statement the rule could allow “firing or refusing to hire someone because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. It could also lead to federal contractors refusing to hire women or unmarried workers who are pregnant or parents, or even discrimination on the basis of race.”

Labor Department spokesperson Megan Sweeney confirmed to BuzzFeed News that the rule could protect for-profit corporations with federal contracts if they discriminate, if they make a religious claim.

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The 46-page draft document would allow religious objections to be offered as a valid reason to discriminate against employees on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, sex, LGBTQ status, and other characteristics.

“The contractor must be organized for a religious purpose, meaning that it was conceived with a self-identified religious purpose. This need not be the contractor’s only purpose,” the proposed rule says, granting employers wide latitude for discrimination.

“A religious purpose can be shown by articles of incorporation or other founding

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Lambda Legal is a national organization committed to achieving full recognition of the civil rights of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgender people and everyone living with HIV through impact litigation, education and policy work.

Courtesy of Lambda Legal

HRC President Alphonso David kicks off tenure with national tour of critical states LGBTQ people at school, work, and in every community.

The HRC has played a pivotal role in sweeping progress for LGBTQ people over the last several decades, from winning marriage equality and passing federal hate crimes legislation to advancing comprehensive LGBTQ nondiscrimination legislation through Congress, working with thousands of companies to expand workplace protections, repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” and banning so-called “conversion therapy” in a growing number of states.

HRC President Alphonso David – Photo courtesy of HRC

WASHINGTON, DC (August 14, 2019) – Today, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) civil rights organization, announced that on Thursday, HRC President Alphonso David will embark on a national tour of seven key cities to meet with and rally HRC members, advocates, voters, and pro-equality candidates ahead of the 2019 and 2020 elections.

David officially began his tenure at the HRC on August 7. His appointment was previously announced in late June. An accomplished and nationally recognized LGBTQ civil rights lawyer and advocate, David is the first civil rights lawyer and the first person of color to serve as president of the HRC in the organization’s nearly 40-year history.

The #WeAreHRC tour marks David’s first official act as the head of the nation’s largest LGBTQ civil rights group and will highlight his priorities for the coming years, including passing the Equality Act, stopping the disturbing trend of anti-trans violence, expanding access to inclusive health care, ending the HIV and AIDS epidemic, and electing proequality candidates up and down the ballot.

“Our vibrant, diverse community is the fuel that drives our movement and our progress,” said David. “From ending violence against transgender women of color to electing more pro-equality champions at every level of government, many of our biggest battles remain ahead of us. Our work and priorities must always be informed by those who are living these issues and challenges every day, which is why I’m proud to begin my tenure by traveling the country to hear

from many of the advocates and activists doing lifesaving work around the country.”

Over the next two weeks, David will travel to Richmond, Virginia; Columbus and Cleveland, Ohio; Dallas, Texas; Los Angeles; Las Vegas, Nevada; and Wilmington, Delaware. In coming months, David will also travel to additional destinations to meet with other HRC members and supporters, activists and elected officials.

David most recently made history as the first openly gay Counsel to the Governor of the State of New York and before that served as the first Deputy Secretary and Counsel for Civil Rights in New York. In these roles, he played an integral role in securing marriage equality in New York in 2011, banning the abusive practice of so-called “conversion therapy” on minors, establishing nondiscrimination protections for transgender New Yorkers, expanding Medicaid coverage to cover transition-related care, making it easier to amend gender markers on birth certificates, and enacting policies and regulations to support people living with HIV and drive new diagnoses to an all-time low statewide.

He has also helped lead efforts to expand access to reproductive health care, restore voting rights to New Yorkers, advance workplace protections for disadvantaged communities, and require access to free translation services in essential state services. Prior to his work for New York State, David served as a staff attorney at Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund.

With more than three million members, the Human Rights Campaign is the largest LGBTQ civil rights organization in the US

EEOC

that Congress didn’t have lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender workers in mind when it passed a federal workplace discrimination law more than five decades ago,” Bloomberg Law reported.

The government has until Friday to decide how it will proceed – united or not.

The specific case involves a Trans woman in Michigan who worked as a funeral home director until she informed her employer that she was transitioning.

She was then fired.

She complained to the EEOC, which ruled in her favor and successfully sued the employer on her behalf. The employer appealed to the Supreme Court, arguing that the EEOC overstepped the bounds of existing law by interpreting “sex” discrimination as including gender identity.

While the Obama administration supported the EEOC ruling, Trump’s DOJ wants the finding reversed by the high court.

Bloomberg says it’s “unlikely” the EEOC will reverse course, but it also reports that the DOJ could just “roll over” the EEOC.

continued from cover has authority to make administrative rulings that have the force of law, and its findings are influential with judges who ultimately decide discrimination complaints.

Since 2011 the EEOC has stated that stereotyping of Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual workers is sex discrimination and therefore illegal. The following year, the EEOC ruled that discrimination against Transgender workers is also sex discrimination.

In 2015 the EEOC ruled that discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in the workplace is already illegal under existing federal law.

Now, according to Bloomberg Law, the DOJ is “urging” the EEOC to “flip” its position and tell the US Supreme Court that discriminating against LGBT+ workers is not a form of sex bias and therefore is totally legal.

“Political leadership in the Solicitor General’s office wants the EEOC on board to show the high court that the Trump administration is now unified in the belief

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and around the globe. Founded in 1980, the HRC has grown into one of the most effective advocacy organizations in America, leading the way to expand LGBTQ protections at every level of government, elect proequality lawmakers, defend the fundamental civil rights of LGBTQ people, and work through groundbreaking Foundation programs to enhance the lived experiences of

David is the seventh president of the Human Rights Campaign, succeeding Chad Griffin, who had served since 2012.

To learn more about HRC President Alphonso David, [visit https://www.hrc.org/ blog/we-will-win-get-to-know-new-hrcpresident-alphonso-david].

The Human Rights Campaign is America’s largest civil rights organization working to achieve equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people. The HRC envisions a world where LGBTQ people are embraced as full members of society at home, at work, and in every community.

Courtesy of HRC

HRC on arrest of neo-Nazi, anti-LGBTQ extremist Conor Climo for planning attack on LGBTQ and Jewish people WASHINGTON, DC (August 10, 2019) – Today, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) civil rights organization, responded to news of Conor Climo’s arrest. Climo was allegedly discovered to have been planning to attack a synagogue and LGBTQ bar in Las Vegas, NV. After Climo’s arrest, FBI agents found components to build a bomb, an AR-15 rifle, a bolt-action rifle, and detailed sketched images of his planned attack at an LGBTQ bar. Climo even engaged a homeless person to conduct “pre-attack surveillance” of a synagogue on his behalf. Climo was connected to other white supremacists through encrypted online conversations.

“We are extremely alarmed to hear that Conor Climo, who was arrested last night in Las Vegas, was allegedly planning to attack a synagogue and LGBTQ bar,” said JoDee Winterhof, senior vice president of policy and political affairs at the Human Rights Campaign. “While Climo’s actions are concerning, they are not in a vacuum.

Dangerous and hateful rhetoric start at the top levels of government and heavily influence the rest of American society. Each and every day, the Trump-Pence administration has sought to dehumanize LGBTQ people, undermine our rights, and treat us like second-class citizens. The LGBTQ community is under attack, and the Trump-Pence administration is fueling the flames.”

This comes more than three years since 49 lives – most of them Latinx – were taken in a mass shooting at Pulse nightclub in Orlando. This also comes less than two years after the deadliest mass shooting in American history in Las Vegas.

The HRC supports commonsense gun violence–prevention policy measures and policies aimed at addressing the epidemic of hate that has fueled anti-LGBTQ-motivated murder, assault, and discrimination.

For decades, LGBTQ people have been a target for bias-motivated violence, and easy access to deadly weapons has compounded this threat. Commonsense gun violence prevention measures endorsed by the HRC include banning access to assault-style rifles, expanding background checks, and limiting the ability for suspected terrorists and those with a history of domestic abuse to access guns.

According to Everytown for Gun Safety, more than 33,000 gun deaths happen every year.

The Human Rights Campaign is America’s largest civil rights organization working to achieve equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people.

The HRC envisions a world where LGBTQ people are embraced as full members of society at home, at work, and in every community.

Courtesy of HRC

Celebrating 45 Years!

Lambda Legal to HHS: health care discrimination against LGBT people is illegal WASHINGTON, DC (August 14, 2019) – Yesterday, Lambda Legal submitted comments to the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) objecting to a proposed rule change that seeks to roll back the protections under the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) nondiscrimination provision (also known as Section 1557) that prohibit discrimination in health care on the basis of sex. The proposed rule seeks to carve out LGBT people from the ACA’s nondiscrimination protections, inviting health care workers, doctors, hospitals, and health insurance companies that receive federal funding to refuse to provide or cover health care services critical to the health and well-being of LGBT people and people living with HIV. But this attempt to roll back protections through an agency rule change cannot change the law itself.

“The ACA is a law that prohibits health care and insurance providers from discriminating based on sex, which means LGBTQ patients are protected,” said Senior and Transgender Rights Project Attorney for Lambda Legal Sasha Buchert. “This is an especially appalling attempt by the Trump administration to harm LGBTQ people because health care is so important, and because discrimination against transgender patients in particular is both rampant and devastating. The administration knows full well that court after court has held that the ACA protects transgender people.

The proposed rule, if it went into effect, would only sow confusion in the health care industry, encourage more insurers to discriminate, and lead to more lawsuits to protect patients. Our communities need to know that, despite the Trump administration’s mean-spirited agency attacks, they continue to have rights under the law and

WARREN

continued from cover health care.”

Warren also linked to a website called Protect Trans Health, run by the National Center for Transgender Equality and the Transgender Law Center.

In July, Warren added her pronoun preferences to her Twitter and campaign bios in a show of solidarity with the Trans community.

Warren’s reference is to Trump administration actions is about the Health and Human Services (HHS) proposal to revise Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act

Photo courtesy of Lambda Legal

Lambda Legal stands ready to fight this. If you experience discrimination when seeking health care because of your sexual orientation, gender identity, or HIV status, you should contact us immediately.”

Lambda Legal’s docket has multiple examples of LGBT people confronting discrimination and bias in accessing health care, including a lesbian couple denied infertility treatment at a women’s health clinic, a gay man whose doctor refused to write him a medical prescription, and a transgender man whose hospital refused to allow his surgeon to perform a routine hysterectomy. Lambda Legal has documented hundreds of other instances of discrimination, included many described in the comments on the proposed rule Lambda Legal submitted to HHS. From the comments submitted by Lambda Legal: “Although the [notice of proposed rulemaking] cannot change the law, as interpreted by multiple courts already, it improperly signals to those who wish to

discriminate that they are free to do so, promising direct harm to LGBTQ people, and especially transgender people. This lawless proposed rule will only spur both mistreatment of patients and resulting lawsuits, placing health care providers in legal jeopardy by falsely signaling to them that it is perfectly fine to discriminate contrary to established federal law. Similarly, all the proposed rule will do concerning insurers is to create confusion, foster discrimination against LGBTQ patients, and pointlessly expose insurers to costly lawsuits.”

The public comment period for the proposed rule change ended yesterday. Advocates have collected more than 132,400 comments opposing the Trump administration’s attack on health care nondiscrimination rights and delivered them directly to HHS. Next, HHS will publish a final rule along with an effective date.

Lambda Legal is a member of the Health Care Rights Law Coalition, which also includes the ACLU, the Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum,

(ACA) to remove gender identity as one of the protected characteristics in the ACA’s anti-discrimination rules.

The regulations proposed by Trump’s HHS would reverse policies adopted by the Obama administration in 2016 interpreting the ACA’s prohibitions against discrimination “on the basis of sex” as including gender identity.

Under the new rules, the term “sex” would be open to interpretation by providers, thus removing specific protections for Trans patients. It would mean health care providers could legally refuse genderaffirming health care to Trans Americans.

In June Warren reintroduced a bill that would allow same-sex couples to file

amended tax returns for the years between the date of their legal marriage and 2013, the date of the US Supreme Court’s Windsor decision striking down DOMA. If passed, Warren’s bill would enable same-sex couples to recover some $57 million worth of refunds in federal income taxes they lost because the US government did not recognize their marriages until the Windsor decision.

Also in June, Warren was one of eighteen senators to sign a letter to US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo demanding an explanation of why the State Department did not issue an official recognition of Pride Month for 2019.

The senators also questioned why the

the Center for American Progress, the Center for Constitutional Rights, the Center for Reproductive Rights, CenterLink, the Equality Federation, FORGE, In Our Own Voice: National Black Women’s Reproductive Justice Agenda, NARAL Pro-Choice America, the National Center for Transgender Equality, the National Council of Jewish Women, the National Health Law Program, the National LGBTQ Task Force, the National Partnership for Women & Families, the National Women’s Law Center, PFLAG National, the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Raising Women’s Voices for the Health Care We Need, the Leadership Conference Education Fund, TransChance Health, the Transgender Law Center, the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund, and WHARR. See Lambda Legal’s Know Your Rights: Health Provider Discrimination, a resource for transgender and gender nonconforming people by visiting www.lambdalegal.org/ know-your-rights/article/trans-health-carediscrimination.

Find additional materials about your right to access health care and be treated fairly at www.lambdalegal.org/issues/ health-care-fairness.

If you experience discrimination in a health care setting, let us know via our Health Care Tracker by visiting www. lambdalegal.org/healthcarehelp.

Lambda Legal is a national organization committed to achieving full recognition of the civil rights of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgender people, and everyone living with HIV through impact litigation, education, and public policy work.

Courtesy of Lambda Legal State Department’s LGBTI Special Envoy position had remained vacant and asserted that “preventing the official flying of rainbow flags and limiting public messages celebrating Pride Month signals to the international community that the United States is abandoning the advancement of LGBTI rights as a foreign policy priority.”

Warren is one of the Senate co-sponsors of the Equality Act, which would add sexual orientation and gender identity to protected classes under federal civil rights laws.

HRC and coalition partners submit over 130,000 public comments on Trump’s proposed attack on Transgender health care WASHINGTON, DC (August 14, 2019) – Today, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) civil rights organization, announced that it – along with a dozen coalition partners – submitted over 130,000 public comments against the Trump-Pence administration’s proposed regulation to strip out protections for transgender patients and other marginalized communities in the Affordable Car Act, commonly known as Section 1557.

“Everyone deserves access to care, and no one should be turned away because of who they are or whom they love,” said HRC President Alphonso David. “The TrumpPence administration’s proposal undermines crucial nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ people provided by the Affordable Care Act and puts LGBTQ people at greater risk of being denied health

care solely based on their sexual orientation or gender identity. We oppose this proposal in the strongest terms.”

Fear of discrimination causes many LGBTQ people to avoid seeking health care, and when they do enter care, studies [https://www.lambdalegal.org/sites/default/ files/publications/downloads/whcicreport_when-health-care-isnt-caring.pdf] indicate that LGBTQ people are not consistently treated with the respect that all patients deserve. Studies show that 56% of LGB people and 70% of transgender and gender-nonconforming people reported experiencing discrimination by health care providers – including refusal of care, harsh language, and physical roughness – because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.

According to a report [https://transequality.org/sites/default/files/docs/usts/

Visit us online www.sgn.org

USTS-Full-Report-Dec17.pdf], 23% of transgender respondents did not see a doctor when they needed to because of fear of being mistreated as a transgender person, and a startling 55% of transgender respondents who sought coverage for transitionrelated surgery were denied. Delay and avoidance of care due to fear of discrimination compounds the significant health disparities experienced by LGBTQ people.

The HRC joined a broad coalition of organizations, including the National Center for Transgender Equality, the Transgender Law Center, and the Center for American Progress in a campaign to collect comments from members of the public rejecting the proposed regulation. Through a robust digital and organizing strategy, the HRC significantly contributed to the final coalition total with 23,850 comments.

Last month, the HRC released a video

urging the public to submit comments and partnered with former Office of Personnel Management Director Katherine Archuleta and Dr. Jennifer Gunter on national op-eds.

The HRC also organized a briefing by the NYU Policy Institute for key congressional staff regarding the administrative procedural flaws around the 1557 regulations.

August 16, 2019

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The Human Rights Campaign is America’s largest civil rights organization working to achieve equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people.

The HRC envisions a world where LGBTQ people are embraced as full members of society at home, at work, and in every community.

Courtesy of HRC

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