#lgbtq+ discrimination

[kp777]

By Julia Conley

Common Dreams

Aug. 13, 2024

"When targeting LGBTQ people is a priority for our enemies, it's all the more critical that defending LGBTQ people remain a priority for our friends," said one ACLU official.

The American Civil Liberties Union released a detailed policy memo Tuesday outlining how Vice President Kamala Harris can and should work to protect LGBTQ+ people should she win the presidency in November.

The ACLU noted that Harris' record serving in the Biden-Harris administration provides the organization with "a strong basis for optimism that a Harris administration would continue to fight for LGBTQ people," but said it was driven to release the memo because of attacks on the community in recent years by Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and lawmakers at the local, state, and federal level.

"When targeting LGBTQ people is a priority for our enemies, it's all the more critical that defending LGBTQ people remain a priority for our friends," said Mike Zamore, national director for policy and government affairs at the ACLU.

"The Biden-Harris administration has worked hard to earn the trust of LGBTQ people and our families through concerted efforts to protect transgender kids in our schools, defend the right to marriage equality, and ensure medical decisions stay between trans people and their doctors," added Zamore. "We're hopeful a Harris-Walz administration would build on this legacy, and we will bring all of our resources to bear to help them do so."

In the memo, titled Harris on LGBTQ Rights: Building on a Legacy of Undoing Harm, Expanding Protections, and Serving as a Bulwark Against State Attacks, the ACLU said one key action would be to issue an executive order directing federal agencies to examine how they can enhance access to gender-affirming healthcare in federally funded programs.

"This would send a powerful message about how a future-President Harris is prioritizing the healthcare needs of trans people, and it would strengthen coverage and access to gender-affirming care under federal policies and programs," reads the memo, which said protections could include mandatory coverage determinations and increased clarity for patients and providers.

"The Biden-Harris administration has worked hard to earn the trust of LGBTQ people and our families... We're hopeful a Harris-Walz administration would build on this legacy, and we will bring all of our resources to bear to help them do so."

The memo was released as the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to hear a challenge brought by the federal government and families in Tennessee against a state law banning gender-affirming care for transgender youths. Tennessee is one of 24 states that ban medication and surgical care for transgender youths—care that is supported by the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Medical Association, and other health authorities. Six states have passed laws making it a felony to provide certain kinds of gender-affirming care.

In addition to appealing a lower court's decision to uphold Tennessee's ban, the Biden-Harris administration has sued several other state's over similar laws; ordered federal agencies to protect LGBTQ+ people from discrimination in employment, housing, healthcare, and credit lending; reversed a ban on transgender service members in the military; and expanded access to gender-affirming care in government healthcare programs, including in prisons.

The ACLU also wants passage of the Equality Act—a bill introduced in 2019 that would amend the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. The group says it is "prepared to harness the public pressure necessary to push the Senate to restore its ability to deliver full equality under the law for LGBTQ individuals."

The ACLU—which also plans to publish memos this month outlining steps Harris should take to promote abortion rights, voting rights, immigrants, and other issues—also outlined how federal agencies can strengthen protections for LGBTQ people under a Harris administration.

The Department of Education should unveil "more robust enforcement of nondiscrimination rules and more vigorous investigation and resolutions of Education Office of Civil Rights complaints based on sex discrimination," reads the memo. "It is worth noting that the most recent department regulations clarifying how Title IX can be used to protect LGBTQ students are enjoined in certain states, so the administration must continue to fight in the courts to lift that injunction."

The ACLU also called on the Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Civil Rights to provide more robust enforcement of nondiscrimination rules, proactively ensuring public and private insurance policies don't exclude case for transgender patients and "rigorously investigating all complaints of discrimination."

A potential Harris administration, said the group, could work with states to ensure they have the resources needed to expand pro-equality protections, as nearly half of U.S. states work to erode LGBTQ+ rights.

"State employees and state-funded programs should be fully trained on LGBTQ competency, and state budgets must provide dedicated funding streams for LGBTQ-specific programs," reads the memo. "State medical facilities and insurance programs can ensure trans and gender-expansive people have access to the care that is medically necessary to live their lives. State housing programs must have policies in place to ensure they are affirming and accessible to LGBTQ people."

In the face of attacks from GOP-controlled state legislatures and with "a landmark Supreme Court case on the horizon," said James Esseks, co-director of the ACLU's LGBTQ & HIV Project, the ACLU recognizes the Biden-Harris administration's "strong record of protecting and expanding the freedom of LGBTQ people."

"We would encourage a Harris-Walz administration to continue this commitment and do everything in its power to protect our rights, our healthcare," said Esseks, "and our freedom to be ourselves without fear."

[profeminist]

"The Don't Say Gay Law has been cut down to size in more ways than this.

- LGBTQ+ students and staff may now be protected by anti-bullying and anti-discrimination measures

- Libraries are free to restock LGBTQ+ books

- LGBTQ+ topics may be discussed freely

GO CRY IN A CORNER RON

Florida teachers can discuss sexual orientation and gender ID under ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill settlement

[jackoshadows]

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[thewoodbine]

PSA: There is no such thing as a "white Jew"

There are Jews who have European backgrounds and *some* of them have benefited from eurocentrism or being white passing, but in moments of crisis or need the social tides that create white privilege have never seen Jewish people as part of that group. Whiteness is a social category which has changed with time and attitudes and, at least for now, it has never and still doesn't include Jewish people.

Continuing to use the term "white Jews" is ignorant at best and harmful at worst. Even converts once converted are othered and can no longer rely on any previous white background to save them if they are identified as Jewish.

[ Non-jews please reblog]

[codthefishgod]

To all the people who think aspec people aren't LGBTQIA+ because we aren't "discriminated against enough", here's a lovely list of reasons why you need to educate yourself:

- We suffer from dehumanisation, people actively devaluing or even erasing our humanity because of our identities (The voidpunk community is heavily supported by aspec people because of this)

- We suffer from self hatred due to feeling as if and being told we are broken, that no one can be happy unless they're in a romantic/sexual relationship, because of allonormativity and amatonormativity that actively damages our mental health

- Amatonormativity shapes laws that put us at an active disadvantage, such as giving married people financial and legal benefits

- Aspec people have been victims of conversion therapy, correctional rape, a lower quality of life, and other effects of being a marginalised and oppressed group

- We suffer from our identities being pathologised and deal with medical stigma because of this, causing many of us to feel unwelcome in and even avoid health care settings

- We suffer from our identities being erased, which can range from people completely denying our existence and people equating it to celibacy, to an almost complete absence of aspec representation in the media (It's been getting better lately, especially for alloaces and aroaces, but I have yet to ever see a canon aroallo character, and representation for those on the spectrum rather than in the extremes is often ignored)

- YOU are creating a hateful, exclusionary space in a community meant to be about inclusion. The same thing that happens to us happens to bisexual people, to polyamorous people, and other identities that are "disputed." In a community meant to be about rejecting the norm, YOU are shoving us out because we don't fit the norm of being LGBTQIA+. Because we're not enough like you.

These are only a few examples of aphobia that people like me deal with. Discrimination and oppression against aspec people stretches far beyond this.

But even if it didn't, it is disrespectful and harmful to everyone involved to gatekeep membership in the community based on oppression and discrimination.

We aren't LGBTQIA+ because we experience oppression. We are LGBTQIA+ because our existence alone goes against heteronormativity and other societal norms forced upon us.

[kainekillinggod]

ok but racism and fatphobia in the queer community is crazy btw. Like sometime you gotta ask,

Are they butch/masc or are they a poc? Are they fem or are they white? Are they androgynous or are they skinny? Is their hair style choice non conforming or is it just not straight/fluffy? Honestly sometimes I see some strange things being said up in here, and irl too. I just. Idk mann

[allthegeopolitics]

Home-improvement business Lowe’s has joined a growing list of companies to retreat from commitments on equality, diversity and inclusion (DEI), as a right-wing activist’s campaign continues. In recent months, conservative activist Robby Starbuck has drummed up outrage over large US corporations’ commitments to so-called woke policies. Several big-name businesses, including Harley-Davidson, Jack Daniels and John Deere, have already caved into pressure from the campaign. Now, an internal memo, being widely shared in the media, shows retail chain Lowe’s appears to be the latest brand to back down by announcing an end to its participation in surveys for the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), as well as by combining employee groups into one umbrella organisation and ending support for “festivals, parades and fairs” – arguably meaning Pride events.

Continue Reading

[commiepinkofag]

Teachers with Pride Still Have to Hide

Gay schoolteachers wearing masks at parade, June 28, 1986

In this image, Seattle schoolteachers participating in the Gay Freedom Day parade through the Capitol Hill neighborhood hold a banner reading "Teachers with Pride Still Have to Hide," and wear masks to protest the discrimination they have felt. An estimated 10,000 people participated in the event, which is part of Seattle's annual Gay Pride Week.

[ 📷 Jennifer Werner-Jones / Seattle Post-Intelligencer ]

oh, how times have changed!

[kiruliom]

can we stop the belief that terfs hate transfems exclusively or like more than they hate cisgender men or transmascs and pretending it's just the trans women's battle against them and you're allies for them or whatever. this literally undermines how much harm theyre doing both to the trans community as a whole and even to the people (cis women) they claim to be protecting. terfs hate trans men just as much as trans women, transmascs arent safe because terfs view them as "uwu confused girlies trying to escape oppression", that is a very narrow worldview and inherently transphobic itself (it excludes butches, transmascs who's medically transitioned, intersex people, etc. etc.) transfems arent more oppressed by terfs than any other people theyre oppressing, please understand this. Im so sick and tired of people undermining my transmasc siblings when it comes to harassment from terfs because "well you arent a target to them", why are they harassing them then????

I just geniuenly dont like how the queer community can claim to be transmasc friendly and then view transmascs the same way transphobes view them (again, uwu girlies who are tricked into ruining their feminine beauty, they dont know anything and how lucky they are). feels both andromisic and misogynistic at the same time on top of transmisic idk how the fuck you manage to fuck up that badly

tldr: stop pretending transmascs arent affected by terfs nearly as much as transfems

anyone can reblog, except terfs of course they can fuck off

transfem is used as a way to refer to "TMA"/"AMAB" trans people transmasc is used as a way to refer to "TME"/"AFAB" trans people I know the definition is a bit more fluid now so I just wanted to note that

[politijohn]

Source

Maybe it was never about the children…

[queerism1969]

[ashleyfableblack]

4 black cats or 4 changeling drones, good to always remember to check those race-based unhealthy assumptions. Big props to the original kitties of inspiration and to everyone putting in the self-awareness to help us all change for the better.

[nightecho50]

People on TikTok think mpreg is funny and unbelievable and weird like "imagine if men gave birth!" and "OMG MPREG REFERENCE???" it's like

BRO. THERE ALREADY ARE. IT'S NOT A CUTE YAOI/BL OMEGA VERSE MANGA, PREGNANT TRANS MEN EXIST??? THERE ARE MEN WHO CARRY? SEAHORSE DADS ARE REAL

[thewoodbine]

PSA: The vast majority of queer Jews report feeling extremely safe, welcomed, and celebrated in their Jewish communities and have historically had a much better time being accepted there than secular groups or ones of other religions. Currently queer Jews generally express feeling extremely unsafe in explicitly queer spaces due to assumptions about the war.

People gotta stop making these sweeping generalizations about all religions and queerness. (Ex. "religion doesn't belong at pride" ) Say what you mean. Say what religion has hurt you because- it probably ain't Judaism.

And right now, take a moment to think if you're now the one making queer spaces unsafe.

[lgbtawarenessproject]

THE HUMAN RIGHTS CAMPAIGN HAS DECLARED A STATE OF EMERGENCY FOR LGBT PEOPLE IN THE USA

Please watch this video by Rudy Riggs explaining it!

Took uh, a lot longer to add this ID than I intended

Picture ID: A person with a black t-shirt, layered silver necklaces, several piercings, a hat, and red hair dye except for the middle section which is brown. Their hair is very short, and they are very expressive with their hands and head movement. Their visible hand has several rings, one of which is very large.

The background is of a beige room with a sign light on the left, a picture or painting on the right, and plant in the corner.

There are captions above their head and a title in front of their throat which only stays for a few seconds.

End Picture ID

Captions(slashes are used to signify the end of a caption):

okay so a national state of emergency has been declared in America/

for LGBTQ+ people by the Human Rights Commission/

but what does that even mean/

I hear you ask/

look it up for yourself/

but I'm going to tell you the top line facts/

firstly they have released a statement of emergency/

which basically just states what the emergency is about/

and why they have decided to declare one/

they've also released what they're calling a handbook/

which has a bunch of resources/

like different laws in different states of America/

as well as rights for LGBTQ+ people in different states of America/

as well how to determine access for healthcare/

how to finance yourself a move to a safer state or place and finding employment/

information for filing complaints against civil rights laws/

as well as a bunch of other stuff about how to identify rhetoric/

and how to oppose anti LGBTQ/

plus situations on school boards or in other areas of your life/

and then finally/

the Human Rights Commission have also released information for travelers/

coming to the United States of America/

which is pretty terrifying/

that is just the overview of a very in depth document/

so please go and look at it yourself/

this is supposed to be Pride Month/

and it's really hard to feel pride/

when human rights are being violated across the entire globe/

End Caption ID

Rudy makes a note in the video description that they misspoke in the video and that it was the Human Rights Campaign, not Commission.

Find the Human Rights Campaign Here

Please note that HRC is a recognized non-profit based in Washington DC. It is also one of the largest LGBT+ organizations in the United States.

[pannaginip]

DZRH News on Twitter @dzrhnews:

JUST IN: Drag artist na si Amadeus Fernando Pagente o mas kilala bilang Pura Luka Vega, muling inaresto ng MPD

RH29 @/boy_gonzales

2024 Feb. 29

Bahaghari on Facebook: Pura Luka Vega's rearrest highlights LGBTQI's non-enjoyment of freedom of expression and artistic freedom

After months of being released on bail, drag artist Pura Luka Vega has been arrested again, this time by a different court but with the same complaint.

Bahaghari once again condemns the weaponization of the law against Pura and their right to freely express their relationship with faith through art. Evangelical groups have allotted resources to further marginalize an LGBTQI+ person in the court of law. Similarly, many city councils across the Philippines have declared them "persona non grata," following a viral video where they, dressed as Jesus Christ, performed Ama Namin remix in a bar.

It has not gone unnoticed to Bahaghari the double standards at play in this case. Pastor Apollo Quiboloy of the mega-church Kingdom of Jesus Christ was indicted by FBI for alleged crimes against women and children but none of the city councils who have declared Pura "persona non grata" are mum on this issue. Until now, Quiboloy is in hiding even with summons from the Senate in their investigation on the abuse allegations against him. Furthermore, the complainants for the case are all affiliated with the Philippines for Jesus Movement (PJM) founded by Eddie Villanueva, the father of Senator Joel Villanueva, whose office has deployed disgusting tactics to delay the SOGIESC Equality Bill.

The art of drag and other similar acts of expression by LGBTQI+ people are under attack around the world. In the United States, legislations have been passed to criminalize people based on gender identity and expression. In the Philippines where a national anti-discrimination law is absent, LGBTQI+ individuals are subject to gender-based violence.

Pura Luka Vega's case is an attack on LGBTQI+ people's expression on their relationship with faith and religion and the expression of their artistic freedom. LGBTQI+ individuals have different expressions on their faith. Many are still practicing their religion. Some have abandoned it altogether due to the trauma and marginalization they felt in the presence of their religious leaders.

#DragIsNotACrime #FreePuraLukaVega

2024 Mar. 1