To illustrate why Congress must pass the Employment Non Discrimination Act (ENDA), a federal law that would ban discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people in the workplace, we will be posting the firsthand accounts of people from across the nation who have been fired, refused a job, or harassed in the workplace because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. This summer the ACLU put out a call for stories, and these are just a fraction of stories we received.
Jim Nieves and Lisa Panensky of Elmsford, New York, had been planning a costumed Halloween theme wedding at the Old Dutch Church in Sleepy Hollow for over a year. But when they recently contacted the church to request that the organist play music from The Addams Family and The Munsters at the ceremony, the pastor backed out. Saying his church is no place for a “costume party,” he told the couple they couldn’t have their wedding there after all.
To illustrate why Congress must pass the Employment Non Discrimination Act (ENDA), a federal law that would ban discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people in the workplace, we will be posting the firsthand accounts of people from across the nation who have been fired, refused a job, or harassed in the workplace because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. This summer the ACLU put out a call for stories, and these are just a fraction of stories we received.
Laura J. Doty, Boise, Idaho
I was hired in April 1997 as an adult probation officer in Power County, Idaho. I was closeted except for my direct supervisor, who had no problem with my sexuality. It was a professional environment, and my peer reviews indicated I was respected and did a good job. I liked being able to help people overcome difficulties and improve themselves. I had letters of recommendation from the prosecuting attorney, a letter of recommendation from my direct supervisor, and positive reviews from a judge and the public defender.
In September of 1997, I ran into a co-worker from the county building at a store and introduced my partner to her. Two days later, the Power County Commissioners called me in and told me I was unhappy at work and I could quit or be fired. I said they would have to fire me.
As students across America return to classes, we at the ACLU are preparing to help with yet another school year of defending LGBT students from censorship, harassment, attempts to block them from forming Gay-Straight Alliance clubs, and other types of discrimination. While nobody loves doing homework, LGBT students might find it’s pretty useful to do a bit of research about what their legal rights are in school and how they can stand up for themselves. To help with that, we have lots of information available online.
Yesterday morning, a sixth grader in California gave a report in one of her classes. That might not sound like terribly exciting news, except that the report was about Harvey Milk, and the student only got to give her report after the ACLU threatened her school with a lawsuit for censoring it.
Natalie Jones, a sixth grader at Mt. Woodson Elementary School in Ramona, California, had been given a class assignment to write a report on any subject she wanted. Natalie got a score of 49 out of a possible 50 points on her report about the gay civil rights icon. Students were then told to make PowerPoint presentations about their reports, which they would show to other students in the class. Natalie put together a 12-page presentation on Milk that you can view here.
You may recall last month when the ACLU First Amendment Working Group, the ACLU LGBT Project, and the ACLU of Tennessee first started schooling some school districts in Tennessee for using web filtering software that illegally blocked dozens of LGBT rights nonprofits and other informational sites — while so-called "reparative therapy" (pray away the gay!) websites were wide open to student surfing.
Ryan Marlatt, Teddy Eggers, and three other friends had stopped for lunch at a McDonald's restaurant on East Market Street last July while visiting Louisville for the weekend. While they waited for their food to be prepared, an employee behind the counter referred to them as "faggots" to another employee. When Marlatt and Eggers objected to the slur and asked to speak with a manager, the employee who had called them "faggots" started arguing with them, repeatedly calling them "faggots" in front of other customers and calling one of them a "cocksucker" and "bitch." Here's a video of Ryan and Teddy telling the story of what happened to them:
Please note that by playing this clip You Tube and Google will place a long-term cookie on your computer. Please see You Tube's privacy statement on their website and Google's privacy statement on theirs to learn more. To view the ACLU's privacy statement, click here.
Prom season is in full swing, and we at the ACLU are seeing an uptick in calls and emails from students whose schools have either tried to stop them from bringing same-sex dates or tried to enforce rigidly gender-stereotyped dress codes. Both are illegal. As Deb Price of the Detroit News pointed out in her column today, the ACLU affiliates in both Ohio and Mississippi have recently gotten schools to back down from discriminatory prom policies. Now the ACLU LGBT Project has created a new resource to help LGBT students take fight for their legal right to enjoy prom into their own hands.
For those of us who work for equal rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people, it’s been clear for years now that we are slowly but surely getting closer and closer to attaining equality. Thanks to the Lawrence v. Texasdecision five years ago, our intimate relationships can no longer be outlawed. Many state and local governments ban discrimination against LGBT people, hundreds of major corporations offer domestic partner protections to their LGBT employees, and many other advances have been made.
Anti-gay marriage bans have certainly gotten a lot of attention this election cycle, but there's one other state law on the ballot to which LGBT people should be paying attention.
If passed, Initiated Act 1 in Arkansas would ban anyone - gay or straight - who lives with a partner he or she isn't married to from fostering or adopting children. Child welfare professionals agree that blanket bans like this only harm children by reducing the pool of potential homes. The proponents of this ballot question originally presented it to the public as if they were all about protecting children too.
