Wednesday, in the Court of Appeals of Ohio, Eighth Appellate District, Lambda Legal filed a friend-of-the-court brief in support of the city of Cleveland in a lawsuit brought by an antigay group attempting to strip away the newly enacted domestic partnership registry for same-sex couples and their families.
“To suggest to same-sex couples and their families that a domestic partnership registry somehow resembles marriage is preposterous. The domestic partnership law in Cleveland and the state constitutional amendment barring same-sex couples from marriage are not in conflict with each other,” said Christopher Clark, Senior Staff Attorney in Lambda Legal’s Midwest Regional Office based in Chicago. “We hope this court will rule as other courts across the country have ruled and dismiss this mean-spirited attack on same-sex couples and their families.”
The state passed a constitutional amendment in 2004 that prohibits marriage for same-sex couples in Ohio and bars recognition of any legal status that approximates marriage. Last year, the Cleveland City Council voted to create a registry for same-sex couples. It is believed that many employers use this registry as a basis for determining eligibility for health insurance and other company benefits provided to domestic partners.
Alliance Defense Fund, an antigay legal group, filed a lawsuit against the city arguing that the domestic partnership registry is a violation of the constitutional amendment barring marriage equality. The suit was filed on August 12 on behalf of the antigay group Cleveland Taxpayers for the Ohio Constitution.
Lambda Legal argues in the amicus brief that the Ohio constitution does not prevent the city of Cleveland from having a domestic partnership registry. Although domestic partnership registries are created by cities and other governmental entities to show their commitment to equality for same-sex couples and their families, the registries are by no means a substitute for marriage.
Christopher Clark, Senior Staff Attorney, is handling the case for Lambda Legal. He is joined by Timothy Carraher, Affiliated Attorney.
The case is City of Cleveland ex rel. Cleveland Taxpayers for the Ohio Constitution, et al. v. City of Cleveland .
New York, New York — Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund today filed a Complaint with the Florida Commission on Human Relations against an Orlando McDonald’s restaurant for refusing to hire 17-year-old Zikerria Bellamy because she is transgender.
On July 10, 2009, Ms. Bellamy applied online for a job at a McDonald’s restaurant in Orlando, Florida. On July 28, after managers at McDonald’s learned that Zikerria is transgender, she received a voicemail message from one of the managers telling her, “You will not get hired. We do not hire faggots.” She was never allowed to interview for a job.
“Zikerria should not have been denied a job just because she is transgender. Like everyone else, she deserved to be judged on her ability to do the job and not on who she is,” said TLDEF executive director and attorney Michael Silverman.
“I just wanted to earn to some money and was willing to work hard at this job. In the current economy, jobs are really hard to find. I never expected to be judged on who I am, instead of being judged on whether I can do the job,” said Ms. Bellamy.
Transgender people face tremendous discrimination in the workplace. 47% of transgender people report being fired, or denied a job or promotion, just because of who they are.
Few protections exist for transgender people who experience employment discrimination. In 38 states, there is no law protecting people from being fired because they are transgender. Federal law similarly offers no job protection for transgender people.
In Florida, while no law explicitly addresses discrimination based on gender identity, administrative agencies in Florida have ruled that transgender people are protected by the Florida Civil Rights Act’s prohibitions on sex and disability discrimination. The Competitive Workforce Bill, which would add gender identity and sexual orientation to the Florida Civil Rights Act, was introduced in the Florida legislature on November 20.
At the federal level, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) (S.1584) would address discrimination in the workplace by making it illegal to fire, refuse to hire, or refuse to promote an employee based on the person’s gender identity or sexual orientation.
“Transgender Americans should have the chance to earn a living and provide for their families without being refused a job or fired for reasons that have nothing to do with their ability to do the job,” added Silverman.
(Atlanta, Georgia November 24, 2009) — In the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia today, Lambda Legal and co–counsel filed a lawsuit against the city of Atlanta, the Chief of Police and forty-eight individual officers of the Atlanta Police Department on behalf of nineteen individuals who, on September 10 at the Atlanta Eagle gay bar, were forcibly searched and detained.
“The illegal activity going on in the Atlanta Eagle that night was committed by the APD,” said Greg Nevins, Supervising Senior Staff Attorney in Lambda Legal’s Southern Regional Office based in Atlanta. “If it is APD procedure for elderly men and wounded veterans to be thrown to the floor and harassed simply for being in a bar having a drink after work, then the APD should change its procedures.”
Dan Grossman, co–counsel in the case, has been working with victims of the raid since that night. “I’ve listened to dozens of stories from patrons who were mistreated by police at the Atlanta Eagle that night,” said Grossman. “The Atlanta Police Department is not above the law. They do not get to search and detain people who are not suspected of any crime.”
On September 10, the Atlanta Police Department dispatched about twenty to thirty officers to the Atlanta Eagle, including its “Red Dog Unit” dressed in SWAT team gear, but inside the bar the APD found no public sex, no drugs, or illegal weapons. During the raid, patrons of the bar were forced to lie facedown on the floor while background checks were run on everyone. Eagle bar patrons heard antigay slurs; were forced to lay in spilled beer and broken glass; and one was forced to lie on the floor even though he had injured his back in the Iraq War. Not a single patron was charged with any crime.
“The Atlanta Eagle is one of my favorite bars. I usually go there to drink a beer, unwind, and watch a football game after rehearsing with the Gay Men’s Chorus,” said Mark Danak, a Lambda Legal client named in the case. “But that Thursday night was a very serious experience that I will never forget.”
The lawsuit challenges the APD officers’ actions, claiming violations of the U.S. and Georgia Constitutions and Georgia state law.
Greg Nevins, Supervising Senior Staff Attorney in Lambda Legal’s Southern Regional Office is handling the case for Lambda Legal. He is joined by Dan Grossman, Law Office of Daniel J. Grossman, and Gerry Weber, Senior Staff Counsel at the Southern Center for Human Rights.
President Obama will sign into law Wednesday the Matt Shepard Hate Crime Bill but debate continues from the Right and religious groups over the bill and its necessity and potential consequences.
Even in a state where you might least expect, Wyoming where Matt Shepard lived and died.
In an article at the Wyoming Tribune, Opponents feel it could turn preaching the Bible into “hate speech,” and some fear that pastors could be blamed for a hate crime committed by someone in their congregation.
“I would never speak in a manner that would encourage someone to harm someone who is a homosexual,” the Rev. John Christensen, pastor at Trinity Lutheran Church in Cheyenne, said. “Clearly, no one should engage in an act of violence against a person because of (his or her) sexual orientation.”
Still, the bill steps dangerously close to the line, he added.
“I do have some concerns about it,” he said. “I see it as a backdoor to censoring speech.”
Meanwhile in a press release, Lambda Legal will file a lawsuit against the city of Philadelphia.
Today Lambda Legal will file a complaint with the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations (PCHR) against the City of Philadelphia and the Youth Study Center (YSC) among others on behalf of a 17-year-old transgender girl who was physically attacked by other residents and verbally abused by staff every day for almost a year and a half.
“Youth Study Center violated Philadelphia’s Fair Practices Ordinance when their staff discriminated against our client for being transgender,” said Flor Bermudez, Youth in Out-of-Home Care attorney for Lambda Legal. “This city facility was supposed to protect her but instead Youth Study Center staff failed to respect her gender identity, verbally abused her, let residents physically attack her and forced her to live in fear.”
The girl, who has asked to be unnamed for safety reasons, has been in the foster care system since she was 11.
In February 2008, a Family Court Judge ordered Department of Human Services to provide her with all appropriate medical treatment for Gender Identity Disorder (GID), including hormone therapy and mandated that her female gender identity be respected.
However, YSC staff and administrators failed to treat her in accordance with her female gender identity. They refused to refer to her by her preferred female name and to use female pronouns. YSC staff also refused her access to clothing and grooming options that matched her gender identity and reprimanded her for acting in a feminine manner.
When she asked to be referred to by her preferred female name, YSC staff told her: “You ain’t no fucking female, you are a dude. . . Till you get your dick cut off, I’m not going to call you [by your preferred female name.]”
In addition, YSC staff subjected Lambda Legal’s client to ridicule and cruel and degrading treatment and allowed abuse by residents on a daily basis. She endured verbal harassment, including slurs such as: “You’re a faggot,” “Wanna-be-girl,” “You are not a girl,” and “You will never be a girl.” On several occasions, the verbal harassment escalated to physical attacks.
The complaint filed by Lambda Legal to the PCHR claims that the YSC, operated by DHS, violated the Philadelphia Fair Practices Ordinance because she was harassed and discriminated against on the basis of her actual and/or perceived gender identity, sexual orientation, sex, and disability.
“Even though I asked the administration and staff at the Youth Study Center on multiple occasions to stop the harassment, to call me by the right name, to let me wear clothes that match who I am, and to allow me to sleep in a unit where I would feel safe, I continued to be degraded by staff and residents,” said the 17-year-old girl.
“Nobody, including sexual minorities, should have to experience the physical and emotional abuse that I encountered there.”
The Moscow Times reported today that an Afghan national has been sentenced to prison for the murder of two gay men. The crime yet another example of men meeting men online for which often can be for criminal motives and with fatal consequences. (see related posting)
A Moscow court Monday handed a lengthy prison term to an Afghan national who killed and robbed two gay men whom he met over the Internet.
The Moscow City Court sentenced Umar Turyalai to 22 years in a maximum-security prison for the murder and robbery of the men in November, court spokeswoman Anna Usachyova told RIA-Novosti.
Turyalai met the men after they responded to an Internet ad he had published, which offered paid sexual services to men, Usachyova said.
And finally, CNN is currently running a report about an “ancient custom” in Afganistan called, Bacha Bazi, in which young boys are forced into sex slavery for the pleasure of men.
According to Steve Rothaus’ column at The Miami Herald, Charles Perez the news anchor for TV station WPLG who was fired and is suing the TV station’s owner Post-Newsweek, is moving here to the progressive Nutmeg “we love gays” State and will be marrying his boyfriend Miami accountant Keith Rinehard.
Rothaus writes that Perez and Rinehard are planning to marry here on September 27.
“We just want to be normal people and not work in places where they say `Don’t have kids, don’t get married,’ ” says Perez, 46. “On Friday, the 25th, we’re going to Westport, Conn. Saturday we’re going house shopping. And Sunday we’re getting married on the beach — in linen and flip-flops.”
Rinehard, a partner at Freeman, Dawson, Rosenbaum & Sobel accounting firm in Coconut Grove, plans to commute between Westport and Miami.
When they marry Perez will take Rinehard’s last name.
Charles Perez the TV newscaster at WPLG-TV in Miami who has now been fired from his job, explains in a lengthy blog piece at The Daily Beast why he has quite possibly put an end to his broadcasting career.
I say “possibly”, as those here in Connecticut may remember when Janet Peckinpaugh successfully sued WFSB-TV, Channel 3 in Hartford, also then owned by Post-Newsweek, over discrimination and continued to work in Connecticut broadcasting.
Here’s a snippet from Perez’s writing, worth taking the time to read at The Daily Beast.
I was fired four days after filing a sexual-orientation discrimination claim with Miami-Dade County’s Equal Opportunity Board against my employer, Miami ABC affiliate WPLG, owned by Post-Newsweek Stations.
Bottom line, I believe they sold me out as soon as my being gay became too widely known. It made them uncomfortable and made me, in their eyes, less advertiser-friendly. They’d demoted me two weeks earlier from main weekday anchor to weekend anchor. It was a move I quickly recognized was leading to the door, and I wasn’t prepared to watch my career circle down the drain.
My ex-employer will never admit this, but if the past decades have taught us anything, it is to be much more subtle about our prejudices. Getting rid of “the black guy” or “the woman” or “the gay guy” or “the Jew”—not to mention many other select groups—has given way to “we really should go in a different direction.” Or “we’ve really got to consider what’s the least objectionable choice.”
You can read the original posting here on Focus On The Rainbow about Perez being “demoted” and then fired here.
Charles Perez the former weekend news anchor for ABC affiliate Channel 10 in Miami has filed a discrimination suit against the station and claims in the suit he was dismissed from his job “because I’m too gay”.
Perez, 46, claims station bosses demoted him to weekend anchor/reporter “because of their discomfort over the increasingly high profile of my sexual orientation,” reads the complaint.
The filing summary details Perez’s quick descent at Channel 10, which began weeks after a March 3 performance review, when Perez says that WPLG News Director Bill Pohoveytold him he was “too anchor-like and too ‘Brian Williams’ in my delivery.”
On March 16, a private e-mail from Perez written to a family therapist was forwarded to everyone in the reporter’s online address book. The e-mail said Perez told the therapist he needed to work through his “gender identity issues.”
Three days later, Pohovey called Perez into his office for a “new” performance review, this time saying Perez came across “too soft,” didn’t sound “main anchor-like” and smiled too much with co-anchor Laurie Jennings, ”Like girlfriends.”
Station executives told Miami Herald columnist Joan Fleischman their decision was driven by economics. Perez has asked the station to return him to his weeknight spot — or buy out his contract, up in 2011.
Unfortunately this isn’t the first time a member of the news media has been let go or “under utilized” with the presumed excuse they are too gay/lesbian, or because management is “uncomfortable” with having an OUT “high-profile” on-air person, and most likely this won’t be the last time this occurs.
Which is why Rachel Maddow deserves many kudos for what she is doing and placing her sexual identity secondary, as well as MSNBC for keeping her on the air, also realizing there is more to Rachel Maddow than being a lesbian.
And why many among the rumored gay and lesbian members of the media (Anderson Cooper for one example) keep their private life just that, as private as possible given the “we have a right to know” attitude of gossip mongers and the holier-than-thou of the LGBT community.
Meanwhile there is Dick Quest of CNN, who not only is openly gay, but when he gets busted in NYC for using meth, keeps his job.
WPLG-ABC 10 has fired anchor Charles Perez, days after he filed a discrimination complaint against the station, his attorney has confirmed.
“His employment has been terminated,” business attorney Melanie E. Damian told The Miami Herald Thursday afternoon. “We filed a charge of discrimination last week. We will now amend that to include his termination as part of his claims.”
Perez also confirmed that he is not longer employed by WPLG, but said he couldn’t discuss the case until after he speaks with his agent.
“WPLG is disappointed that the actions of Charles Perez left us no real choice other than to terminate his employment contract,” WPLG Vice President and General Manager Dave Boylan said in a statement to The Herald. “WPLG emphatically denies Perez’s claim of discrimination. The document he is circulating is filled with misstatements and untruths.”
