Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand says that she supports extending civil rights to all LGBT Americans, and we have to make sure that Sen. Gillibrand makes good on her support by filing legislation, which would add "sexual orientation" and "gender identity" to the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Call : 1 (212) 688-6262.
Showing posts with label de jure discrimination. Show all posts
Showing posts with label de jure discrimination. Show all posts
QUEENS (WABC) -- Meet Marla Krolikowski. She no longer has any reason to hide. For 32 years, Krolikowski lived a dual life, teaching at St. Francis Prep School in Queens as a man, Mark, who professionally dressed in a suit and tie.
"I valued the job so much that I was willing to internalize everything, because the job met so much to me," said Krolikowski.
Krolikowski says she did start to add more feminine touches over the years, but claims no one seemed to mind. There are plenty of yearbook photos of her like that.
"I noticed it was a bit more feminine, but I mean, I didn't think it was anything to write home about," said former student Christina Guarino, "so it didn't matter, no."
Apparently, a parent did care. Krolikowski says in October of 2011 that school officials brought her in and confronted her.
"They said, 'are you a drag performer, are you a female impersonator?'" Krolikowski said, "they gave me all these different things, so finally I said 'I'm transgendered and I identify as a woman. Then everybody's jaw dropped, and then, I said, 'Oh God, what did I do?'"
Krolikowski said that someone told her "it sounds like you're worse than gay", and it took all her strength not to cry.
Krolikowski claims she was told to tone down her appearance, and did, but was fired anyway.
When September came, she was not going back to school for the first time in 32 years.
In a statement denying the allegations, St. Francis said: "Mr. Krolikowski's employment was terminated for entirely appropriate and professional reasons, and in no way discriminatory."
"All he wanted to do was to be judged by who he is and not what he is, and it's a horror that in this day an age, the school has chosen to judge him by what he is and not who he is," said Krolikowski's attorney, Andrew Kimler.
"My time is running out. I'm 59 years old and I want to live the way I was intended to be," adds Krowlikowski, "which is as a woman."
Krowlikowski has had breast implants, has started hormone treatments, and plans to have more surgery. She says she doesn't want people to look at her as a freak, because she didn't get to do all the things that girls got to do.
Krowikowski says she has been overwhelmed by support from thousands of current and former students who have signed an on-line petition on change.org. She doesn't have long-term plans but does have an immediate goal - to attend Lady Gaga's Born Brave bus tour that is coming to New York later this month.
Confronting the President of Magical Thinking : A Vocation of Agony
Barack Obama and his family, the vice president and his family, other government officials, and their supporters celebrated the president's second inauguration today, which coïncided with the federal holiday commemorating the life and accomplishments of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
LGBT Americans were jubilant, because the president said some aspirational words in the second half of his inaugural address.
"Our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law, for if we are truly created equal, then surely the love we commit to one another must be equal, as well."
Immediately, the president's supporters acted in lock-step to express support for this expression of a longing for equality.
Corey Johnson is an up-and-coming LGBT politician, who is patterning himself after New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn's doctrine of putting politically-expedient identity politics before having to deliver any government reforms. Note how the president failed to say the words lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered in "LGBT," but already the president's supporters were having to say the words that the president found unspeakable.
It appears that Mr. Johnson's excitement could be being based not so much on the president's promise of legal reforms that would result in LGBT equality, but, rather, on political party discipline that calls for a self-motivated unity in messaging to sway Progressive voters into believing that the Democratic Party was on their side.
But for the incomplete messaging that the president's words offer, there is no plan attached to how the president plans to "complete" our "journey."
On Facebook, some LGBT activists picked up on the incomplete messaging in the president's rhetoric, because they had noticed a pattern in his prior speeches.
Some LGBT activists were already picking up how President Obama was unable to utter the words lesbian, bisexual, and transgender.
To the president's army of speech writers, did those words lack any dignity and respect, and, therefore, did not need to be mentioned ?
In his speech during his second inaugural ceremonies, President Obama seemed to be channeling the "great communicator," who, we may all remember, was notable for his failure to uttered the word "AIDS" until after thousands of people had died.
Many of the president's supporters have made a choice to be excited for the president's re-election. But ...
"By the time President Reagan had delivered his first speech on the epidemic, of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, 36,058 Americans had been diagnosed with the disease; 20,849 had died," Randy Shilts once wrote. Along a similar vein, when will President Obama say all the words in LGBT ?
So many people want to believe in the hope, change, and love that the president so skillfully articulates in his scripted speeches. We are supposed to want to believe in the magical thinking that the president really is on our side, because doesn't he, after all, say so many nice things that he knows that we want to hear ?
While President Obama's lack of clear communication during this inaugural address may not lead to the deaths of tens of thousands of our "gay brothers and sisters," he nonetheless sets the tone for that which the American people become familiar : either feelings of shame and embarrassment that prevent a president from mentioning lesbians, bisexuals, and transgendered Americans, or feelings of equality and respect by dignifying and acknowledging the journeys still being made by lesbians, bisexuals, and transgendered Americans.
Some activists on Facebook took a more diplomatic, but forward-looking approach to the editing of the president's words : by using the occasion of the president's rhetoric to build forward momentum on the social movement for LGBT equality in the United States.
The hopes and actions of LGBT Americans and their allies are to fulfill on our shared dream for equality.
But LGBT activists and allies already exchange amongst ourselves the vision and prayers for equality.
For all the president's rhetoric, we already seem to have, at first blush, the president's love and affinity for our community, at least that which could be expressed in his own way. What we need now is action.
The longer LGBT Americans have to wait for full federal recognition of their equal rights, the more that members of our community remain fully exposed to legally-permitted forms of discrimination in broad areas of their life, including in the workplace.
The skepticism within the LGBT community about President Obama's commitment to true LGBT equality stems from some major examples of actions that the president refuses to take, which contradicts his rhetoric.
For example, the president refuses to sign the Federal Contractor's Employment Protections Executive Order. National LGBT civil rights groups, such as GetEQUAL, have been mounting a multi-prong campaign to pressure the president to sign the executive order, but the president refuses.
President Obama embarrassed both his administration and the Democratic Party by once having said that while he was nominally committed to the idea that all Americans shared the same civil rights, he still had to "evolve" on marriage equality. It was as if President Obama was admitting that his thoughts on civil rights resembled that of someone a little bit ignorant and a little bit intolerant, like former commissioner Bull Connor, who once, among other depraved acts of discrimination, ordered the opening up of firehoses on African American civil rights activists.
Surely, President Obama was not seriously putting himself into the same league as Bull Connor, but why was the president torturing hisself by proclaiming in speech his support for LGBT equality that could not be matched by his actions ?
And lest we neglect to mention how so many people conveniently seem to forget to remember how it took a national campaign of civil disobedience, among other actions, for national Democratic Party legislators to repeal the military's discriminatory policy known as Don't Ask, Don't Tell. The president's political operatives love to mention how the president "repealed" DADT, but they overlook what it took to get a bill introduced in and voted by Congress.
And if the constant push and pull amongst LGBT activists and civil rights groups to define a winning national strategy to deliver a full federal equality bill through Congress wasn't enough, activists must contend with the political trappings of trying to challenge a president who says all the right things and knows how to manipulate support for his administration. And then there are the other unknown, but nonetheless predictable, obstacles for LGBT activists as they set out to challenge power holders, who fail to act to end de jure and de fact discrimination.
While community organising and activism has evolved since the 1960's with the advent of online tools and other empowering platforms of the Internet like Facebook, YouTube, and blogging, every now and then activists must overcome the occasional opening up of digital firehoses.
Letter from US General Accounting Office (GAO) to Sen. Bill Frist (R), the Senate Majority Leader, about the 1,138 marriage rights denied to LGBT committed couples, who cannot be legally married under the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). The GOA described these as : "1,138 federal statutory provisions classified to the United States Code in which marital status is a factor in determining or receiving benefits, rights, and privileges."
"The criminalization of HIV continues throughout the U.S. and the world, though many organizations and advocates are fighting these laws, which are murky at best and whose application precariously pivots on proving such things as intent, maliciousness, and so-called recklessness," wrote Housing Works. Even though the New York State Court of Appeals ruled that body parts cannot be considered to be deadly weapons, a social construction continues to be perpetrated against people, who are HIV-positive. After years of fighting the legal system, David Plunkett is finally a free man, and advocates on behalf of HIV/AIDS patients are trying to organise the repeal of HIV discrimination laws.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer bill of rights - resolution submitted On July 2, 2012, by Ricardo Lara (D-Bell Gardens). Assemblyman Lara introduced a measure in the California State Assembly to urge the federal government to include the rights of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) community in federal anti-discrimination laws that have evolved to protect discrimination based on race and sex, among other traits. 2012 07 02 Ricardo Lara CA Assembly LGBT Bill of Rights Resolution
Facebook LGBT Reaction To President Barack Obama's Marriage Equality ''Evolution''
Following is the Facebook ''status update'' posted by LGBT civil rights activist Tiffani Equality Bishop, which deftly addresses the commonly-shared disappointment in President Obama's recently announced support for marriage equality :
Am I appreciative of Obama's partial evolution on marriage equality? YES
Am I also incredibly disgusted that he went to NC on April 24 and took millions of LGBT dollars without even mentioning Amendment 1 once? YES
Am I also incredibly disgusted that the DNC and OFA did not send one email, one volunteer, or even one penny to help defeat Amendment 1 in NC all while taking millions of dollars from our community? YES
Am I frustrated that he still thinks it is a states rights issue and not a human rights issue? YES
Am I frustrated that he still believes only section 3 of DOMA and not all of DOMA should be repealed? YES
So has he really evolved like people say? I see this as a partial "evolution"...he still has some "evolving" to do.
So please excuse me for feeling a little slapped in the face when our POTUS chooses to evolve on marriage (partially anyway) the day after the harshest anti-LGBT marriage amendment passed in NC while he and his administration did absolutely NOTHING to help defeat it...not even a pretty speech. Am I glad he came out, yes. But his timing was disrespectful and severely lacked any tact.
What I have a hard time understanding though, is the reaction from our community. He still hasn't completely evolved, and his partial evolution does not make us any more equal. I have a hard time understanding why people were crying and celebrating and throwing money at him over this. Words may make us feel good for a minute, but at the end of the day we're still unequal and his actions aren't backing up his words.
If he means it, he'll put his money where his mouth is. He'll sign the ENDA Executive Order on his desk, and he'll stop the deportations of same-sex binational partners...and he'll do it BEFORE the election.
If his actions don't back it up, then it really doesn't mean anything. It just means he is pandering to our community, throwing us crumbs, and using us as election tokens.
This internal memorandum from the U.S. Department of Justice shows the "the huge scope of Title VI's protections and enforcement afforded 'race, color, and national origin' in a coordinated government effort to root out discrimination in America," as one activist put it. Why can't these same civil rights be afforded to LGBT Americans ? 2010-08-19 DOJ Civil Rights Act Title VI Enforcement - LGBT Civil Rights
LGBT civil rights activist Richard Noble approached the City of West Hollywood for a resolution in support of amending the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to add "sexual orientation" and "gender identity" to the landmark federal law. In response, the City of West Hollywood adopted a resolution in support of such amendment. 2011-03-07 City West Hollywood Resolution Agenda (LGBT Civil Rights - American Equality Bill)
Washington — The Departments of Justice and Education reached a settlement agreement with the Tehachapi Unified School District in Tehachapi, Calif., to resolve an investigation into the harassment of a middle school student based on his nonconformity with gender stereotypes. Title IV of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 each prohibit harassment based on sex, including harassment based on nonconformity with gender stereotypes and sexual harassment.
In September 2010, Jacobsen Middle School student Seth Walsh committed suicide at the age of 13. In October 2010, the Department of Education received a complaint alleging that Walsh had been the victim of severe and persistent peer-on-peer sex-based harassment while he was a student at Jacobsen. After receiving the complaint, the Department of Education initiated an extensive investigation into the circumstances leading to Walsh's death and, together with the Department of Justice, worked collaboratively with the school district to resolve the violations.
The investigation found that Walsh suffered sexual and gender-based harassment by his peers. The investigation also found that Walsh was targeted for harassment for more than two school years because of his nonconformity with gender stereotypes, including his predominantly female friendships and stereotypically feminine mannerisms, speech and clothing. The departments determined that the harassment, which included ongoing and escalating verbal, physical and sexual harassment by other students at school, was sufficiently severe, pervasive and persistent to interfere with his educational opportunities. Despite having notice of the harassment, the district did not adequately investigate or otherwise respond to it. Based on the evidence gathered in the investigation, the departments concluded that the school district violated Title IX and Title IV.
Under the terms of the resolution agreement, the district will take a variety of steps to prevent sexual and gender-based harassment at all of its schools, to respond appropriately to harassment that occurs and to eliminate the hostile environment resulting from harassment. The district has agreed to revise its policies and regulations related to sexual and gender-based harassment and to retain a consultant to provide mandatory trainings on sexual and gender-based harassment for all students, administrators, teachers, counselors and other staff who interact with students. In addition, the district will assess the presence of sexual and gender-based harassment in its schools through school climate surveys, adopt appropriate actions to address issues identified by those surveys and form an advisory committee of administrators, students and parents to advise the district on school climate issues related to sex-based harassment.
"All students have the right to go to school without fearing harassment on the basis of their sex, including because they do not conform to gender stereotypes. Seth's story and others like it sadly demonstrate that a school's failure to address and prevent harassment can have tragic consequences," said Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division. "We commend the school district for working with the departments to address this matter effectively and encourage other school districts to take affirmative steps to ensure that all students can go to school without facing discrimination and harassment."
"We know that if students aren't safe, then students aren't learning," said Assistant Secretary of Education for Civil Rights Russlynn Ali. "Bullying, sexual harassment and gender stereotyping—of any student, including LBGT students—have no place in our nation's schools. We must work to stop those abusive behaviors when they take place, repair their harmful effects, and prevent them from happening in the future. Today's announcement is an important step in that direction."
The enforcement of Title IV and Title IX are top priorities of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division. Additional information about the Civil Rights Division is available on its website at www.justice.gov/crt. Enforcement of Title IX is also a top priority of Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights. Additional information about the Office for Civil Rights is available on its website at www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/index.html.
"An unannounced inspection that several agencies carried out at a gay bar in Manhattan on Friday night occurred at nearly the same time that patrons were celebrating the passage of legislation in Albany legalizing same-sex marriage," reported The New York Times.
Why can Manhattan Borough President Scott M. Stringer question the actions of NYPD, but not openly lesbian City Council Speaker Christine Quinn ?
"Police officials said on Saturday that the inspection was part of a routine operation planned long ago. But Scott M. Stringer, the Manhattan borough president, said that he was troubled by descriptions of what took place at the Eagle bar, on West 28th Street off 11th Avenue, and that the actions amounted to a raid," the Times report added.
"According to those present, about 100 people were mingling at the Eagle, when representatives from the New York Police Department and three other city agencies, as well as from the State Liquor Authority, showed up, at nearly the same time as a vote by the State Senate to legalize same-sex marriage and as the thrill of victory was swirling through the place."
... Daniel P. Dromm, a city councilman from Queens who is gay, expressed concern on Saturday over reports over the years of officers entering bars on the Friday night before Gay Pride weekend.
“There needs to be some sensitivity to the importance of gay marriage being legalized in New York State, which means this vote for marriage is going to have national reverberations,” he said. “Not a good time for cops to be going into a gay bar for no urgent reason.”
... Some reacted angrily. Allen Roskoff, 61, a veteran gay-rights activist who was not at the Eagle, said, “In typical New York City Police Department fashion, the N.Y.P.D. demonstrated its disrespect for the gay community by raiding the Eagle mere moments after the passage of most important piece of gay rights legislation in history.” ...
During his Into The Light Walk across America, Alan Bounville held a vigil in near Tokeland, Washington, for Joseph Michael Harris (September 1, 1987 - May 30, 2011), who took his own life on May 30.
Mr. Bounville reported that Mr. Harris was a victim of much harassment while he was growing up in the area around Tokeland.
At the vigil, Mr. Bounville was joined by Mike Harris and Sabina Harris, the younger Mr. Harris' parents. Mrs. Harris said about her son's death : the world is a lot less fabulous with the younger Mr. Harris in it.
During his walk across America, Mr. Bounville is holding numerous candlelight vigils at the specific places where people have been murdered or have taken their own lives due to gender expression/identity discrimination or bias.
OP-ED : My prediction for how history will judge the New York State politicians, who are blocking marriage equality :
''You should not be inbetween on equality,'' to quote Iana Equality Di Bona.
THE CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1964 *
NEW YORK MARRIAGE EQUALITY **
The bill came before the full Senate for debate on March 30, 1964 and the "Southern Bloc" of 18 southern Democratic Senators and one Republican Senator led by Richard Russell (D-GA) launched a filibuster to prevent its passage. Said Russell : "We will resist to the bitter end any measure or any movement which would have a tendency to bring about social equality and intermingling and amalgamation of the races in our (Southern) states."
The bill has yet to come before the full Senate for debate and already the notorious hate group National Organization for Marriage (NOM) has forged an alliance with Senator Ruben Diaz, Sr. (D-Bronx), to prevent its passage. Diaz and NOM sponsored a hate rally in the Bronx on the same day as AIDS Walk New York. Said Diaz : "We're sending a message to the governor that the Hispanic community is against gay marriage."
The most fervent opposition to the bill came from Senator Strom Thurmond (D-SC) : "This so-called Civil Rights Proposals, which the President has sent to Capitol Hill for enactment into law, are unconstitutional, unnecessary, unwise and extend beyond the realm of reason. This is the worst civil-rights package ever presented to the Congress and is reminiscent of the Reconstruction proposals and actions of the radical Republican Congress."
The most fervent opposition to the bill came from Senator Martin Golden (R-Staten Island), who introduced a hostile "defense of marriage" bill that would declare same-sex marriages entered into outside of New York void under New York law : "I am sending the message that there is some normalcy in this great state when it comes to the principled idea that marriage is between a man and a woman."
Michael Rubens Bloomberg attended Johns Hopkins University, where he joined Phi Kappa Psi, and graduated in 1964 with a Bachelor of Science (B.S.) degree in electrical engineering.
Carl Kruger was a teenager when the Civil Rights Act was passed into law.
Sen. Carl Kruger (D-Brooklyn) voted against marriage equality in 2009, even though Sen. Kruger has recently been outed as being gay. Yet, he still has the gall to yet say whether he will support marriage equality in 2011 for other LGBTQ New Yorkers.
President Lyndon B. Johnson, who wanted the bill passed as soon as possible, ensured that the bill would be quickly considered by the Senate. Normally, the bill would have been referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee, chaired by Senator James O. Eastland, Democrat from Mississippi. Given Eastland's firm opposition, it seemed impossible that the bill would reach the Senate floor. Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield took a novel approach to prevent the bill from being relegated to Judiciary Committee limbo. Having initially waived a second reading of the bill, which would have led to it being immediately referred to Judiciary, Mansfield gave the bill a second reading on February 26, 1964, and then proposed, in the absence of precedent for instances when a second reading did not immediately follow the first, that the bill bypass the Judiciary Committee and immediately be sent to the Senate floor for debate.
Governor Andrew Cuomo, who wanted the bill passed as soon as possible, has not yet ensured that the bill would be quickly considered by the Senate. Normally, the bill would have been referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee, chaired by Senator John J. Bonacic, Republican from Mount Hope, New York. Given Bonacic's firm opposition to marriage equality, it would seem impossible that the bill would ever reach the Senate floor. Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos (R-Long Island) has backed away from initially signaling that senators should "vote with their conscience" on the bill and has now, instead, threatened to not allow a vote on marriage equality. Thus far, excepting for intense lobbying and some major political demonstrations, the bill has not progressed within the state legislature after having been first introduced in the Assembly on May 10, 2011, by Assemblyman Daniel O'Donnell.
Shirley Huntley participated in the civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery.
* Quoted entirely from Wikipedia, excepting for the references to Speaker Quinn's birth, Sen. Addabbo's birth, Sen. Kruger's age, and Sen. Huntley's march in Selma.
5 Activists Arrested Today For Blocking Traffic In Front Of Gov. Andrew Cuomo's Office In Political Demonstration To Support Marriage Equality
NEW YORK - In a bid to raise political pressure on the passage of a marriage equality law in the state of New York, members of the LGBTQ activist organization Queer Rising held a series of coördinated protests in New York City, culminating in the arrest of 5 of the group's members.
In one phase of the protests, balloons were released inside Grand Central Station and floated up to the iconic ceiling. The balloons were attached to a large sign, which called on New Yorkers to put pressure on their government to demand marriage equality, according to a press release issued by Queer Rising.
In another phase of the protests, several activists blocked traffic near the intersection of East 41st Street and Third Avenue during rush hour ; the location was just outside Gov. Andrew Cuomo's office. Once they blocked traffic, the activists unfurled a huge 75-foot banner that read, ''Marriage Equality NOW ! Call Cuomo : "518-474-8390 !!!'' Five members then handcuffed and chained themselves in the middle of the street. The activists, who were arrested, were identified to be : Natasha Dillon (26, lesbian activist); Kevin Donohue (51, gay Jewish activist); Melissa Kleckner (31, straight ally); Ali Lozano (20, lesbian student activist); and Robert Moore (30, gay Mormon activist).
In still yet another phase of today's protests, approximately 10 drag queens from a separate group calling itself Drag Queen Weddings for Equality organised a ''drag wedding'' at Grand Central to publicise the need for marriage equality in New York State. The drag queens then invited commuters to march in solidarity to Gov. Cuomo's office.
''Unwilling to wait any longer for equal rights and protection from the state of New York, Queer Rising is calling on all the New Yorkers to call the governor’s office and voice their support for marriage equality,'' the press release stated.
Iana Di Bona records herself on camera as she calls Senator Gillibrand's office on Nov. 9, 2010
On Day 8 of Alan Bounville's fast for LGBT Civil Rights, Iana Di Bona calls Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand's offices in New York and Washington, D.C. Please record yourself placing your own call to Sen. Gillibrand's office's.
Call her at : 1-212-688-6262. Ask her to file the American Equality Bill. Then, post your video on YouTube.
End Homophobia and LGBT Dislocation Message to Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand - QueerSOS Vigil Day 33
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand is asked to do her part to end each of homophobia, de jure discrimination (which means discrimination that is legalised and written into law), the geographical dislocation of LGBT Americans. In rural and small towns, and in Red states, LGBT Americans feel unwanted, unwelcome, and unsafe.
Sen. Gillibrand, file the American Equality Bill today, so that all LGBT Americans can have the same civil rights. We all deserve to enjoy the amasing beauty of this country ; LGBT Americans shouldn't have to run away from beautiful states like Indiana or Kentucky.
If Sen. Gillibrand makes no public statement before November 2 (''Election Day'') about her plans to file the American Equality Bill, then Alan Bounville has said that he will begin a water-only fast, to pressure the Honourable Senator to file the American Equality Bill.
This video was made on Day 33 of the QueerSOS! vigil outside of Sen. Gillibrand's New York City campaign office. It was about 50° outside on a windy Friday night when this video was made.
