Smith Debnam D&I Newsletter - June 2022

June: Pride Month LGBTQIA+ Awareness Month

lgbtqia+ icons

ALAN TURING

was a mathematician who is credited with creating the foundation of artificial intelligence and computer science. He played a major role in World War II, breaking several German codes.

Memorial Day has come and gone signaling the beginning of summer. For many of us, that means vacation season! Perhaps your ideal vacation this year is a lazy weekend at the beach or maybe a short road trip across the state. Given our collective staycationing the past couple of summers, maybe your plans are a little more bold.

Whatever your plans are for this summer, June is a month for us to recognize the LGBTQIA+ community and the pride we share all around us.

Why June, you might ask? Pride month in the United States started to commemorate the Stonewall riots, which occurred at the end of June in 1969. As a result, pride events are held throughout the month across the U.S. and around the world to recognize the impact LGBTQIA+ people have on the world around us.

HARVEY MILK

was one of the first openly gay politicians to ever be elected in California. While on San Francisco's Board of Supervisors, Milk made a name for himself as a prominent, outspoken, LGBTQ activist.

With that in mind, I invite you to join us this month and discover the meaning of the colors of the rainbow flag, learn some of the history and milestones that have impacted the LGBTQIA+ community. We have also provided some resources that might even help you become an ally to this diverse and inclusive community.

– Shane DeLorme

JAMES BARRY

born Margaret Bulkley, was a military surgeon in the British Army. He is famous for performing the first successful C-Section birth.

He was outted as a transgender man after his death.

CELEBRATING 10 YEARS!

June 25, 2022 11am-6pm Fayetteville Street, Downtown Raleigh, NC Out! Raleigh Pride is returning in person on June 25, 2022 for its official 10 year anniversary! Located on Fayetteville Street in downtown Raleigh, you're welcome to join an inclusive and family-friendly, actionpacked event, with activities for all ages. Running from 11:00am to 6:00pm, the event offers live entertainment, local vendors and artists, great food, a KidsZone, and a beer garden! Admission is free.

This event is an important way to raise the necessary funds to support the LGBT Center of Raleigh and all of its 20+ amazing community programs. The last in-person event brought thousands of people onto Raleigh’s Fayetteville Street to celebrate the LGBTQIA+ community, its friends, and families.

In the last ten years, the event has become an integral part of Raleigh’s downtown culture, promoting diversity, awareness, and a sense of inclusiveness for the LGBTQIA+ community. Each year has been more successful than the last, and this year will be no exception!

BAYARD RUSTIN worked closely with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., before turning to LGBTQ activism.

Although most people associate the March on Washington with MLK, Rustin is the person who actually organized the massive event.

He was openly gay and shifted his focus from civil rights to LGBTQ activism in the 1980s.

MAKIN G S E N S E O F T H E

ALPHABET SOUP What do all these letters mean?

When June rolls around every year, it seems to be referred to as an ever growing string of random letters. Maybe you've even wondered what these letters mean. It's important to know that this bowl of 'alphabet soup is a welcoming community and as people explorer their own unique identities, it's often necessary to adapt and add on a few letters. It may seem like a lot to keep up with, but this guide will help make it a little easier to understand what all these letters mean.

BILLIE JEAN KING

is one of the most famous names in professional tennis.

She earned 39 Grand Slam titles from 1966 to 1975. She also beat Bobby Riggs in the famous "Battle of the Sexes" match. In 1981, King was outed as a lesbian and her publicists told her to deny the claim. Instead, she confirmed that she was a lesbian and became the first openly gay athlete.

BARBARA GITTING

was on the frontlines as an activist even before the Stonewall riots. She focuses on lesbian rights and began editing The Ladder, a magazine for lesbian women. She also fought for reversal of APA's belief that homosexuality was a mental illness.

L

LESBIAN

G

GAY

B

BISEXUAL

T

TRANSGENDER

A woman who is primarily attracted to women.

A man who is primarily attracted to men sometimes a broad term for individuals primarily attracted to the same sex.

An individual attracted to people of their own and opposite gender.

Also known as just TRANS, is a person whose gender identity differs from their assigned sex at birth.

MTF

MALE TO FEMALE

FTM

FEMALE TO MALE

A transgender individual who was assigned male at birth, but identifies as female.

A transgender individual who was assigned female at birth, but identifies as male.

TRANSEXUAL

An outdated term that originated in the medical and psychological communities for people who have permanently changed their gender identity through surgery and hormones.

CISGENDER

Or 'cis', denotes a person whose sense of personal identity and gender corresponds with their birth sex. ie. Cis-female is a person who was born female and identifies as female.

Q

QUEER

Originally a derogatory slur, queer is a term that has been "reclaimed" by the community and used as an umbrella term to for the many identities and variations that make up the LGBTQIA+ community.

QUESTIONING The process of exploring and discovering one's own

sexual orientation, gender identity, and/or gender expression.

LARRY KRAMER

I

INTERSEX

A

ASEXUAL

P

PANSEXUAL

+

PLUS

An individual whose sexual anatomy or chromosomes do not fit with the traditional markers of "female" and "male."

An individual who generally does not feel sexual desire or attration to any group of people. It is not the same as celibacy and has many subgroups.

A person who experiences sexual, romantic, physical, and/or spiritual attraction to members of all genders and gender identities, not just people who fit into the standard gender binary.

While variations such as LGBT, LGBTQ, LGBTQIA are often used, the addition of “plus” should not be overlooked. The purpose of the acronym is to represent the tremendous diversity of people who are same/similar gender attracted and transgender. The addition of the plus is to fully capture that diversity better.

I T IS AB O U T

I D E N T I T Y ...

I D E NTI T Y I S

COMPLEX

I D E NTI T Y I S

PERSONAL I D E NTI T Y I S

DYNAMIC

was on the frontlines of the AIDS crisis trying to bring attention to the disease gay men were facing around the country. In 1981, he created the Gay Men's Health Crisis organization, which was the only group devoted to helping those affected by HIV/AIDS. He later created 'Act Up' (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power), which was an organization that held high-profile demonstrations.

In the 1980s, he wrote the play "The Normal Heart," which chronicled his experience in AIDS activism.

In 2011, the play finally made it to Broadway and then was turned into an HBO movie in 2014.

t a h W does

PRIDE

mean to you?

RUPAUL CHARLES

is a drag queen who has brought the niche art of drag into the mainstream.

In 2009, he started a drag queen competition TV series, "RuPaul's Drag Race." It quickly became a hit among the LGBTQIA+ community and has gained popularity with mainstream audiences earning 19 Emmy awards thus far.

LAVERNE COX

became the first openly trans person to be nominated for an Emmy Award.

Her role as Sophia Burset on the Netflix TV series "Orange Is The New Black," earned her three Emmy Award nominations.

"Pride means to me [that you have] the comfort, freedom and ability to be unequivocally who you are without fear of explicit or implicit discrimination."

– Lynn Wilson McNally "It's a celebration of love and acceptance regardless of one's preferences. I went to a PRIDE Parade in Boston many years ago and it was such a peaceful and loving event with people from all walks of life and backgrounds."

– Dana Sherman "Pride creates a safe space for people to reflect on their identity, to educate themselves on the life experiences of others, and to experience the joy of being your most authentic self. To celebrate Pride is to celebrate the idea that you can be accepted as you are in totality."

– Brittney Sutton "To me, it means being comfortable in your skin. Accepting and loving every part of you, unapologetically."

– Brittany Sanders "It means being comfortable in your skin and in your soul. It means accepting yourself even if others do not. It is acknowledging your possible struggles, but relishing in the freedom to choose every day to be you and love yourself unconditionally."

– Kimberly Fields "Pride is letting only kind and loving thoughts leave your mouth when someone you’ve known for 30 years trusts you enough to let you know they’ve left their husband to be with the woman of their dreams. Having pride means silencing your confusing thoughts, embracing the new member of the tribe and their family, enjoy watching your family grow (in expected and unexpected ways), and learning that love always wins when you let it."

– Tenisha Hilsman

"PRIDE and the LGBTQIA community is something that is really important to me. I met my best friend, McCae, in a Political Science class at North Carolina State University. At the time, he had a girlfriend and had been in a relationship most of college. I was the person he first came out to and seeing him begin to be able to be his authentic self was awesome. He was very lucky in his experience because his family and friends were more than accepting and loving. He had his first outward run-in with discrimination when he and his, now, husband were looking for wedding venues in North Carolina. A wedding venue in Raleigh declined to allow them to visit the site or get married at the venue due to their sexuality. The LGBTQIA community really rallied together to show their outrage and the story got picked up by many news stations. It is so important to remember that, even if members of the LGBTQIA community are accepted and loved in our small communities and families, there is still discrimination that has to be addressed.

EDITH WIDSOR

was the lead plaintiff in the Supreme Court case that declared the Defense of Marrige Act unconstitutional In 2009, her wife Thea Spyer died igniting a court battle that would change LGBTQIA+ rights forever.

McCae and his husband, Ike, were married in April of this year in Raleigh at a beautiful wedding surrounded by people who love and support them. The world is a better place when everyone is able to love who they want and I believe that it is so important to be an ally to the LGBTQIA community to work towards a state and a country with less discrimination."

– Rachel Rogers "I am thankful that there is time during the year when we can bring awareness to others about LGBTQIA. I hope having a month to celebrate LGBTQIA will continue to bring awareness and educate others, including myself!"

– Christina McAlpin Taylor

MICHAEL SAM

"Pride is a word of honor and I think we use it in this way for people to have a sense of comfort in their own skin, safety in their environment, acceptance in their world, and love for themselves and by their God."

In 2014, he came out as gay in an interview with ESPN and made history that same year when he was drafted by the St. Louis Rams.

is the first openly gay man to be drafted into the NFL.

-Ralph Lazaro "As an ally, Pride means doing my part to help create a more inclusive society where everyone can live proudly as themselves. It means listening, educating, and speaking out against hate. To me, Pride Month is both a party and a protest! Beginning with the Stonewall Uprising in June 1969, Pride Month commemorates LGBTQIA+ activism through the years. It means celebrating progress while recognizing that there’s more to be done."

– Anonymous

Read more about these LGBTQ icons and many others at insider.com

BY CONNIE CARRIGAN

Data compiled in a 2021 Human Rights Campaign Foundation (HRCF) report analyzing recent results from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey indicates that more than 2 million Americans identify as transgender, a term denoting or relating to a person whose sense of personal identity and gender does not correspond with their birth sex. March 31, 2022 is officially recognized as the Transgender Day of Visibility, an annual celebration of the resilience and achievements of transgender people in the United States and around the world. Sadly, however, far too many transgender, gender nonconforming, nonbinary and intersex (transgender and gender diverse) people in the United States and around the world face significant levels of violence, systemic barriers, and discrimination.

In 2021 our nation reached a grim milestone, recording the highest number of violent killings of transgender and gender diverse people on record. The HRCF released a report in November of 2021 reflecting that at least 46 transgender and gender diverse people lost their lives to violence in America last year and hundreds more died around the world. The statistics are sobering: Of those 46 victims, 29 were Black and eight were Latinx.

Since January 2013, the Human Rights Campaign has documented more than 250 transgender and gender nonconforming people who were victims of fatal violence.

Two-thirds of these known victims were Black women and nearly 60% of known fatalities involved a firearm.

This violent trend occurs nationwide, with advocates tracking cases across 113 cities and towns in 33 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.

Over 3,600 transgender people are known to have been killed in the last decade in dozens of countries. The most common means by which they are killed are by being shot, stabbed, beaten, strangled, and stoned, in that order.

Systemic limitations in the collection of hate crimes data and persistent misgendering after death of transgender people lost to violence contribute to undercounts of acts of anti-transgender violence. The HRCF reports that at least 3 in 4 of the known victims of transgender or gender non-conforming violence are misgendered in initial police or media reports surrounding their deaths.

Unfortunately, the trend continues. 2022 has already witnessed at least 16 transgender people fatally shot or killed by other violent means. Many factors lead to this violence.

Anti-transgender stigma can lead to the denial of opportunities in society, such as employment discrimination and exclusion from health care, as well as to increased risk factors such as poverty and homelessness.

The HRCF reports that 27% of transgender employees report having been fired, denied a promotion, or experiencing another form of mistreatment in the workplace due to their gender identity or expression, that the unemployment

unemployment rate among transgender people is three times higher than that of the general population. Nearly one in three transgender people say a health care provider has refused to provide care for them because of their actual or perceived gender identity and 40% of homeless youth are LGBTQIA+. The combination of these factors, which are often exacerbated by racism and sexism, leads to an increased risk of fatal violence.

Dehumanizing rhetoric has real-life consequences for the transgender community, particularly Black transgender women. There has been a resurgence of stigmatizing and demeaning rhetoric from cultural, social and political figures, both domestically and internationally. Recent data shows that public opinion and attitudes about transgender and gender nonconforming people have direct impacts on rates of violence against these communities.

[See, e.g., Dismantling a Culture of Violence, Human Rights Campaign Foundation, 7 January 2021]. An unprecedented number of bills have recently been introduced and passed in state legislatures around the country, attacking transgender people’s right to health care and right to live openly.

Although there are some existing legal protections for transgender and gender nonconforming people, such as the Violence Against Women Act, the Matthew Shepard & James Byrd Jr.

James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, and various state and local laws, our nation still lacks explicit federal protections against discrimination and violence against the LGBTQIA+ community.

Anti-transgender violence is not a new phenomenon. We know that it disproportionately impacts young transgender women of color and we can identify common risk factors shared among many of its victims. However, in order for us to end this crisis, we must identify new approaches and engage wider audiences to address the root causes that lead to a higher risk of violence for the transgender community with the goal of ending the crisis of anti-transgender violence and advancing equality for gender diverse communities.

Listen Nancy Food 4 Thot A Gay and a Nongay Dumb, Gay Politics Homo Sapiens One From the Vaults Queersplaning Hoodrat to Headwrap Throwing Shade Dead for Filth

Watch The Normal Heart Paris is Burning Noah's Arc Moonlight The Sound of Identity Brokeback Mountain Philadelphia I Carry You With Me

Read

PRIDE FLAGS AND WHAT THEY STAND FOR June is probably the most colorful month of the year and while you may recognize the RAINBOW flag, as it is used widely among the LGBT community, it is not the only flag that people connect with. There are more than 20 different Pride Flags? Here are some of the more common ones and what they stand for.

Everyone has their personal story and reason for using a pride flag. For some it gives a feeling of belonging, for others it might be a way of coming out, and for someone else it is a way to show their support for the LGBTQ+ community. It all started in 1977…

Gilbert Pride Flag, the flag that started it all…

It was created in 1977 by Gilbert Baker, an artist, activist, and openly gay military veteran. Tasked by Harvey Milk, a historic figure in the fight for LGBTQ rights, to create a flag for the queer community, Baker created a rainbow flag with eight different colors.

Inspired by the classic song "Over the Rainbow" from the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz, Baker created a rainbow flag to represent LGBTQ folks. Each color in the flag also had a specific meaning.

Pink symbolizes sex Red equals life Orange symbolizes healing Yellow stands for sunlight Green represents nature Turquoise equals magic & art Indigo stands for serenity Violet represents the spirit of LGBTQ people

The 6-Color Pride Flag is one of the most wellknown and used LGBT flags throughout history. This flag includes the colors red, orange, yellow, green, indigo, and violet.

Hot pink wasn´t included in the fabrication of these flags because the fabric was hard to find as the demand for the flag started to rise after the assassination of gay Francisco City assassination of San Francisco City Supervisor Harvey MilkSan on November 27, Supervis 1978.

In 1979, the flag was modified again. Aiming to decorate the streetlamps along the parade route with hundreds of rainbow banners, Gilbert Baker decided to split the motif in two with an even number of stripes flanking each lamp pole. To achieve this effect, he dropped the turquoise stripe that had been used in the seven-stripe flag. The result was the sixstripe version of the flag that would become the standard.

The Philadelphia Pride Flag came out in response to the demand of more inclusivity across the LGBTQ+ community. The flag launches in 2017 as part of the "More Color, More Pride" campaign in Philadelphia and was designed by a small Philly-based PR agency.

The addition of black and brown stripes to the traditional pride flag symbolized people of color, who historically were not always included in aspects of the mainstream gay rights movement.

Lena Waithe, an American actress, wore the Philadelphia Pride Flag as a cape at the 2018 Met Gala. She is a powerful advocate for black people within the entertainment industry and this flag spiked in popularity after she elevated its visibility.

The Transgender Flag was first created in 1999 by Monica Helms, a transgender woman. Light blue and pink are featured because they’re the traditional colors associated with baby boys and girls, respectively. The white stands for those who are intersex, transitioning or those who don´t feel identified with any gender.

Transgender people have a gender identity or gender expression that differs from the sex that they were assigned at birth. According to Amnesty International, 1.4 million transgender people live in the United States.

Violence against the queer community affects trans people of color the most. Therefore, the Transgender Flag is so important. The trans community needs representation and resources to be visible without fear.

The Progress Pride Flag was created given the evolving nature of the LGBTQIA+ community and society at large. It integrates many of the flags into one. It has been designed to place a greater emphasis on “inclusion and progression.” The LGBTIA+ community is such a huge umbrella of different kinds of special and unique people.

The modern pride flag now includes the colors of the trans flag, as well as black and brown stripes harkening back to the 2017 Philadelphia Pride Flag, which sought to further represent the queer and trans identities of people of color, as well as people who identify as transgender, gender nonconforming (GNC) and/or undefined. Additionally, these two stripes also represent those living with HIV/AIDS, people who have passed from the virus, and the overall stigma surrounding HIV/AIDS that remains today.

This flag went through a variety of iterations before the current Intersex Flag emerged. Previous versions embraced the rainbow that is often associated with queer pride, while others used colors like blue and pink, which are found on the transgender flag.

In 2013, Morgan Carpenter chose the colors yellow and purple for for the theintersex intersexflag. flag.Morgan Morganmoved movedaway away from the rainbow symbolism and r\fom the these rainbow symbolism andneither selectedis these selected colors because associated with the social constructs of the gender binary.

The circle, perfect and unbroken, represents the wholeness of intersex people. It is a reminder that intersex people are perfect the way they are or choose to be.

The Flag for the Asexual Community was created in 2010 by the Asexual Visibility and Education Network.

Asexual is the lack of sexual attraction to others, or a low interest in sexual activity, but asexuality can mean different things to different people. It is best to ask each individual what it means to them. For some people, it may mean that they rely on other types of attraction instead of or in place of sexual attraction. attraction instead of or in place of sexual attraction.

Asexual can be an umbrella term and each color in this flag also represents something unique. Black stands for asexuality. Gray represents demisexuality, for those who develop sexual attraction to someone only after forming a deep, emotional bond with them. White stands for the allies of the community. Purple represents the entire community of asexual folks.

The Bisexual Pride Flag was created in 1998 by Michael Page. His idea for the flag represents pink and blue blending to make purple. The way that bisexual people can blend into the straight community and the gay community.

The colors of the flag also represent attraction to different genders. The pink symbolizes attraction to the sameattraction gender, while blue represents attraction the same gender, while the blue represents to athe different gender. The purple represents attraction to two or more genders, the definition of bisexuality.

The Pansexual Flag was created in 2010.

Pansexuality represents those people who feel attracted to a person without thinking about gender.

Pansexual people may refer to themselves as genderblind, asserting that gender and sex are not determining factors in their romantic or sexual attraction to others. This means that they can feel attraction to those who identify as women, men, both or neither.

The pink on the flag represents attraction to women, blue represents attraction to men, and yellow stands for attraction to those who don’t identify with either gender.

Pansexuality may be considered a sexual orientation or a branch of bisexuality, to indicate an alternative sexual identity. Because pansexual people are open to relationships with people who do not identify as strictly men or women, and pansexuality therefore rejects the gender binary, it is often considered a more inclusive term than bisexual.

The Lesbian Flag is one of the flags fewer people know about. This flag features different shades of pink and sometimes comes with a red kiss on it to represent more feminine lesbians.

This flag was created by Natalie McCray in 2010.

Some lesbians oppose this flag because of its exclusion of more masculine lesbians, but no other flag has as much popularity as this one.

Darkest Orange Gender non-conformity Middle Orange Independence Lightest Orange Community White Unique relationships to womanhood Lightest Pink Serenity and peace Middle Pink Love and sex Darkest Pink Femininity

Celebrating

50 YEARS of

TIMELINE OF LGBTQIA+ ACCOMPLISHMENTS

By Kimberly Fields

December 10, 1924 The Society for Human Rights is founded

by Henry Gerber in Chicago, IL. It is the first Gay Rights organization as well as the oldest document in America.

September 21, 1955 Founded in San Francisco,CA, the Daughters of Bilitis becomes the first Lesbian Rights organization in the United States.

January 13, 1958 In the landmark case One, Inc. v. Olesen, the United States Supreme Court rules in favor of the First Amendment rights of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) magazine One: The Homosexual Magazine. The suit was filed after the U.S. Postal Service and FBI declared the magazine obscene material. This decision marks the first time the United States Supreme Court rules in favor of homosexuals.

November 11, 1950 Gay rights Activist Harry Hay founded America’s first sustained National gay Rights Organization in Los Angeles, CA called The Mattachine Society.

August 30, 1956 American psychologist Evelyn Hooker shares her paper The Adjustment of the Male Overt Homosexual at the American Psychological Association Convention in Chicago. Her research concludes homosexuality is not a clinical entity and that heterosexuals and homosexuals do not differ significantly. Making her experiment very influential, changing clinical perceptions of homosexuality.

January 1, 1962 Illinois repeals its sodomy laws, becoming the first U.S. state to decriminalize homosexuality.

July 4, 1965 At Independence Hall in Philadelphia, the first Reminder Day takes place calling public attention to the lack of civil rights for LGBT people. The gatherings will continue annually for five years.

April 21, 1966 Members of the Mattachine Society stage a "sip-in" at the Julius Bar in Greenwich Village, where the New York Liquor Authority prohibits serving gay patrons in bars on the basis that homosexuals are "disorderly.” Following the sip-in, The Mattachine Society will sue the New York Liquor Authority. Although no laws are overturned, the New York City Commission on Human Rights declares that homosexuals have the right to be served.

August, 1966 After a riot at a 24-hour San Francisco cafeteria, activists established the National Transsexual Counseling Unit, the first peerrun support and advocacy organization in the world.

June 28, 1970 Christopher St. Liberation Day commemorates the one-year anniversary of the Stonewall riots. Following the event, thousands of members of the LGBT community march through New York into Central Park, in what will be considered America's first gay pride parade. In the coming decades, the annual gay pride parade will spread to dozens of countries around the world.

November 8, 1977

Harvey Milk wins a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and is responsible for introducing a gay rights ordinance protecting gays and lesbians from being fired from their jobs. Milk also leads a successful campaign against Proposition 6, an initiative forbidding homosexual teachers.

July 8, 1980 The Democratic Rules Committee states that it will not discriminate against homosexuals. At their National Convention on August 11-14th, the Democrats become the first major political party to endorse a homosexual rights platform.

June 28, 1969 Patrons of the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village, located in New York City, riot when police officers attempt to raid the popular gay bar, something police have done frequently. The event will be credited with igniting the fire behind America's modern LGBT rights movement.

December 15, 1973 The board of the American Psychiatric Association votes to remove homosexuality from its list of mental illnesses after being added April 1952.

October 14, 1979 An estimated 75,000 people participate in the National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights. LGBT people and straight allies demand equal civil rights and urge for the passage of protective civil rights legislature.

March 2, 1982

Wisconsin becomes the first U.S. state to outlaw discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

December 21, 1993 May 20, 1996 In the case of Romer v. Evans, the United States Supreme Court decides that Colorado's 2nd amendment, denying gays and lesbians protections against discrimination, is unconstitutional, calling them "special rights."

April 26, 2000 Vermont becomes the first state in the U.S. to legalize Civil Unions and registered partnerships between same-sex couples.

The Department of Defense issues a directive prohibiting the U.S. Military from barring applicants from service based on their sexual orientation.

"Applicants... shall not be asked or required to reveal whether they are homosexual," states the new policy, which still forbids applicants from engaging in homosexual acts or making a statement that he or she is homosexual. This policy is known as "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

June 26, 2003 May 18, 2004 Massachusetts becomes the first state to legalize gay marriage. In the following six years, New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut, Iowa and Washington D.C. will follow suit.

October 28, 2009 The Matthew Shepard Act is passed by Congress and signed into law by President Obama on October 28th. The measure expands the 1969 U.S. Federal Hate Crime Law to include crimes motivated by a victim's actual or perceived gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability. Matthew Shepard was tortured and murdered near Laramie, Wyoming on October 7, 1998 because of his sexual orientation.

December 18, 2010 The U.S. Senate votes 65-31 to repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly in the U.S. Military without prohibition of sexual acts or expressing their sexual orientation.

In Lawrence v. Texas, the U.S. Supreme Court rules that sodomy laws in the U.S. are unconstitutional.

June 17, 2009 President Obama signs a Presidential Memorandum allowing same-sex partners of federal employees to receive certain benefits.

The memorandum does not cover full health coverage.

August 4, 2010

8

A federal judge in San Francisco decides that gays and lesbians have the constitutional right to marry and that Prop 8, which makes same-sex marriages illegal, is unconstitutional.

Lawyers will challenge the finding.

February 23, 2011 President Obama states his administration will no longer defend the Defense of Marriage Act, an act put in place by the Clinton Administration that bans the recognition of same-sex marriage.

June 24, 2011 New York State passes the Marriage Equilty Act, becoming the largest state thus far to legalize gay marriage.

January 20, 2015 For the first time in U.S. history, the words “lesbian,” “bisexual,” and “transgender,” were used in the president’s State of the Union address, when President Obama mentions that, as Americans, we “respect human dignity” and condemn the persecution of minority groups.

June 2015 June 26, 2015 With a 5-4 decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, the U.S. Supreme Court declares same-sex marriage legal in all 50 states.

Though “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” was repealed in 2011, sexual orientation was still not a protected class (unlike race, religion, sex, age, and national origin) under the Military Equal Opportunity Policy — until June 2015, when the U.S. Defense Secretary, Ashton Carter, announces that it would officially be adding it to the anti-discrimination policy.

July 2015 The military allows transgender Americans to serve openly in the military. * This ban was lifted, but put back in place in April 2019.

July 23, 2015 Senators Jeff Merkley, Tammy Baldwin, and Cory Booker, as well as Representative David Cicilline formerly introduce The Equality Act, which will make LGBTQ individuals a protected class and grant them basic legal protections in areas of life including education, housing, employment, credit, and more.

June 24, 2016 The Stonewall Inn becomes a national monument, the first-ever national monument dedicated to gay rights.

May 2016 In the midst of anti-transgender movements throughout the country, President Obama and his administration issue a directive to all public schools that transgender students should be allowed to use the restrooms that reflect their gender identity. *In 2017, this order was reversed after Obama’s presidency ended.

November 2018 More than 150 LGBTQ candidates were elected into office in the 2018 midterm elections, putting a historic number of queer or transgender politicians in positions of power within various sectors of political offices.

May 2019 New York City honors LGBTQ activists Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera with monuments in Greenwich village. They are activists who played critical roles in both the Stonewall riots and the NYC queer scene in general. The two started Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (S.T.A.R.) in 1970, an organization dedicated to helping LGBTQ people who are experiencing homelessness. The monument commemorates the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots.

August 10, 2021 Charlotte, NC becomes the largest city in NC to unanimously pass an LGBTQ-inclusive nondiscrimination ordinance, five years after House Bill 2 (HB2). They are now the tenth community in NC to pass a non-discrimination ordinance, joining Apex, Asheville, Buncombe County, Carrboro, Chapel Hill, Durham, Greensboro, Hillsborough and Orange County. This particular ordinance establishes clear protections from discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity, natural hairstyle, and more in key areas of life, including public spaces and private employment.

June 16, 2022 President Biden signs a new Executive Order that will further extend LGBTQ+ protections and expand affirming policies across the country.

May 10, 2021 The Biden Administration announces that they will interpret and enforce federal policy to protect LGBTQ people from discrimination in health care based on gender identity and sexual orientation.

June 10, 2022 US District Judge Loretta Biggs rules in favor of transgender people and their families when deciding that denial of coverage by the State of North Carolina for state employees and their dependents who are or want to undergo gender affirming treatment is a violation of the equal protection clause of the Constitution and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act on the basis of sex. The NC state health plan must offer and cover medically necessary treatments related to gender affirming care.

The fight for LGBTQIA+ Rights continues to help ensure, from the moment of birth, an equitable quality of life is guaranteed for all.

EUROPEAN HERITAGE MONTH

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REPRESENTATION MATTERS LGBTQIA+ PUBLIC SERVANTS

Kathy Kozachenko The first openly gay American elected to public office when she won a seat on the Ann Arbor, Michigan City Council.

Gerry Studds A former Representative of Massachusetts, the first gay member of congress exposed while being censured by the House for having had an affair ten years earlier.

Barney Frank A former Representative of Massachusetts, became second openly gay member of Congress, but the first who voluntarily provided his sexual orientation.

Rep. Ritchie Torres A Representative of New York, Torres became the first openly gay Afro-Latino elected to Congress.

Rep. Stephanie Byers As a Kansas State Rep, Byers became the first transgender legislature member and first Native American trans person to be elected to any state legislature.

Kim Jackson Georgia State Senator Kim Jackson became Georgia’s first openly LGBTQIA+ state senator.

Rep. Mondaire Jones A Representative of New York, Jones became the first openly Black gay candidate elected to Congress.

Lawana Mayfield Mayfield became the first openly gay member of Charlotte, NC City Council.

This has been a publication of the Smith Debnam Diversity & Inclusion Committee ©2022, Smith Debnam Narron Drake Saintsing & Myers, LLP, Raleigh, North Carolina. All rights reserved except where noted.