Tag: discrimination

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ANOTHER federal judge finds DOMA unconstitutional

Another federal judge has struck down the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), finding that the law “should not be presumed to be constitutional, and should instead be subject to a heightened form of judicial scrutiny.”

The victory comes in the case of Edie Windsor, who was seeking a refund of the federal estate tax paid by the estate of her late wife. From the ruling:

The Court declares that section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional as applied to the Plaintiff. Plaintiff is awarded judgment in the amount of $353,053.00, plus interest and costs allowed by law.

It’s another loss for Paul Clement and House Speaker John Boehner’s (R-OH) Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group of the House of Representatives (“BLAG”), who had claimed that her homosexuality was a “choice.”

Windsor’s attorneys had argued that “DOMA violates the Equal Protection principles of the U.S. Constitution because it recognizes existing marriages of heterosexual couples, but not of same-sex couples, despite the fact that New York State treats all marriages the same.”
(source)

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29% of Republicans believe school boards should be able to fire teachers for being gay

From The New Civil Rights Movement: 29% of Republicans — almost three out of every ten — believe that school boards should be able to fire teachers simply for being gay. 20% of Independents and 16% of Democrats agree, according to a vast new Pew Research Center Values Study.

Overall, 21% of Americans still believe that school boards should be able to fire teachers simply for being gay.

Other demographic breakdowns:

24% of men and 19% of women believe that school boards should be able to fire teachers simply for being gay.

30% of those 65 and older and 23% of those 50 – 64 believe that school boards should be able to fire teachers simply for being gay.

27% of Hispanics, 24% of Blacks, and 20% of whites believe that school boards should be able to fire teachers simply for being gay.

31% of those with a high school diploma or less believe that school boards should be able to fire teachers simply for being gay.

One the positive side, those numbers are about half of what they were a quarter-century ago.

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ExxonMobil votes down LGBT employment protections

ExxonMobil shareholders have voted down a proposal to add gay and transgender employees to the Irving-based corporation’s nondiscrimination policy.

Meeting at the Meyerson Symphony Center in the Dallas Arts District, the ExxonMobil shareholders voted 80 percent to 20 percent against a resolution asking the corporation to amend “its written equal employment opportunity policy to explicitly prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity and to substantially implement the policy.”

Mobil was one of the first companies in the world to include sexual orientation in its nondiscrimination policy and offer benefits to the same-sex partners of gay employees. But ExxonMobil rescinded those policies after the merger.

ExxonMobil maintains the lowest possible rating on the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index, with a minus-25.
(source)

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Billboard on Sunset Blvd: No kisses for Hershey

Photo: Brian Edwards

The billboard is part of a boycott of Hershey candy to protest the refusal of a boarding school with ties to the company to admit a teenager because he is HIV-positive.

The AIDS Law Project of Pennsylvania sued the school in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia last year, contending that the school violated the Americans with Disabilities Act in denying admission to the boy, whose name has not been made public.

Lawyers for the group say the boy is an honor roll student who controls the HIV with medication and poses no health threat to the other students. A person can have the virus that causes AIDS but not have the disease.

Ronda Goldfein, attorney for the AIDS Law Project, said she is not involved with the boycott effort but the protests have been a morale booster for the boy and his mother.

“For a 14-year-old to hear that he’s danger, he’s a threat, that has really been hard for him,” Goldfein said.

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Obama Administration will not be signing federal contractor nondiscrimination executive order

 

The Obama administration announced today that President Obama will not be signing an executive order banning federal contractors from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity according to the Human Rights Campaign’s Joe Solmonese.

Metro Weekly reports: “Earlier today, we were told that the Administration is not ready to move forward with a federal contractor nondiscrimination executive order at this time,” Solmonese said. “We are extremely disappointed with this decision and will continue to advocate for an executive order from the president. The unfortunate truth is that hard-working Americans can be fired simply for being gay or transgender. Given the number of employees that would be covered by this executive order, it represents a critical step forward.”

The White House has endorsed the Employment Non-Discrimination Act — a bill to prohibit sexual orientation or gender identity-based workplace discrimination for most private employers.

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Omaha mayor signs ordinance banning LGBT employment discrimination

Mayor Jim Suttle on Thursday signed the “Equal Omaha” ordinance, a measure that would prohibit employment discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

Local groups who oppose the new law said they’re not backing down from trying to get it repealed or rescinded.

“To think somehow we don’t care for them or think they should have less rights, that’s not what we’re saying. But at the same time, don’t trample on, don’t walk on our first amendment rights.  By granting special rights to one group, the city is taking rights from another,” said James Patterson, senior pastor at Trinity Hope Foursquare Church.

I can only assume the pastor means his right to discriminate is being taken away.

Proponents of the ordinance are happy the fight is over for now.

“Today, I can say, we are Nebraska, we are Omaha and we are proud to be here,” said Michael Gordon of Equal Omaha.

The Omaha city council approved the controversial ordinance earlier this week — the law is scheduled to take effect on March 28.

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Hospital denies lesbian visit with partner

The chief executive officer of Rolling Hills Hospital in Franklin, TN, plans to apologize to a lesbian woman who was denied visitation rights with her partner.

Val Burke was not allowed to see her partner who is in the psychiatric hospital’s residential unit — a violation of new federal anti-discrimination guidelines.

Under recent federal regulations, patients at most hospitals across the country are allowed to choose who has visitation rights. These rules apply to all hospitals that participate in Medicare and Medicaid.

“It was human error,” said Richard “Rick” Bangert, chief executive officer of Rolling Hills. “They made a mistake. When I learned of it, I immediately met with my staff on Monday. We immediately made the change in terms of making sure that our policy was very clear.”

The Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest civil rights organization for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, called on hospitals to review their visitation policies to prevent similar incidents from occurring.

“Discrimination in a personal medical setting may be one of the worst forms of discrimination LGBT people face,” said HRC President Joe Solmonese. “Federal regulations were put in place for precisely this reason, to stamp discrimination out of the healthcare process and allow all people to be by their loved ones during their most vulnerable moments.”

Read more at the Tennessean

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Arizona appeals to allow state to drop gay partners healthcare

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer said a federal appeals panel “got it wrong” and is again appealing a court ruling that same-sex partners of state government workers are entitled to the same health care benefits provided to opposite-sex couples.

On Sept. 6, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco upheld a temporary block on a controversial 2009 state law that sought to eliminate health coverage for gay and lesbian domestic partners of Arizona state employees.

The three-member appeals panel said such a law would go against the long-standing constitutional right to equal protection, but now Brewer wants the Court to have a larger panel review the issue.

Legal papers submitted on the governor’s behalf contend that a three-judge panel of the same court got it wrong when it concluded that it is illegal discrimination to provide health care and other benefits to the partners of married workers while refusing to do the same for same-sex couples.

More at LGBTQnation.com

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Walmart adds gender identity, expression to non-discrimination policy

Walmart — the world’s biggest retailer and the largest private employer in the U.S. — has added gender identity and expression to its non-discrimination policy.

The company’s “Discrimination and Harassment Prevention Policy” already includes protections based on sexual orientation.

Company spokesperson Phillip Keene did not confirm when the new policy went into effect, only that the change was made “several weeks ago.”.

The Human Rights Campaign praised the news, calling it “good for business.”

“What matters in the workplace is how you do your job, not your gender identity or sexual orientation,” said HRC President Joe Solmonese, in a statement.

“As the nation’s largest private employer, Walmart shows that doing the right thing is also good for business. We urge them to continue to move forward by ensuring all of their LGBT employees receive equal benefits.”

Historically, Walmart has scored poorly on the Human Rights Campaign’s annual Corporate Equality Index, which assesses corporations on more than 30 specific policies and practices covering nearly every aspect of employment for LGBT workers. Last year, Walmart received only 40 out of 100 points, mostly for failing to include gender protections and partner benefits.

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“L Word” actress removed from Southwest Airlines flight

Yesterday much news was made about musician and “L Word” actress Leisha Haley being escorted off of Southwest Airlines for kissing her ‘Uh Huh Her’ bandmate and girlfriend Camila Grey. Hailey and Grey have released a formal statement saying they were told Southwest was a “family airline” when they were escorted off for “one, modest kiss”. They say they will be filing a formal complaint.

Hailey and Grey’s statement:
“We have always promoted tolerance, openness and equality both as a band and as individuals. We both come from loving homes where our parents not only love and accept us, but are also proud of who we are. We believe everyone has the right to live openly in this society as equals. In no way were our actions on Southwest Airlines excessive, inappropriate or vulgar. We want to make it clear we were not making out or creating any kind of spectacle of ourselves, it was one, modest kiss. We are responsible adult women who walk through the world with dignity. We were simply being affectionate like any normal couple. We were on the airplane less than 5 minutes when all was said and done. We take full responsibility for getting verbally upset with the flight attendant after being told it was a “family airline.” We were never told the reason the flight attendant approached us, we were only scolded that we “needed to be aware that Southwest Airlines was a family oriented airline.”

“No matter how quietly homophobia is whispered, it doesn’t make it any less loud. You can’t whisper hate. We ask this airline to teach their employees to not discriminate against any couple, ever, regardless of their own beliefs. We want to live in a society where if your loved one leans over to give you an innocent kiss on an airplane it’s not labeled as “excessive or not family oriented” by a corporation and it’s employees. We find it very disturbing that the same airline who lauds itself as being LGBT friendly has twisted an upsetting incident that happened into our behavior being “too excessive.” The above is not an apology and we are in the process of filing a formal complaint with the airline. We hope that when all is said and done a greater tolerance without prejudice will evolve.”

Southwest released this statement yesterday:
“Initial reports indicate that we received several passenger complaints characterizing the behavior as excessive. Our crew, responsible for the comfort of all Customers on board, approached the passengers based solely on behavior and not gender. The conversation escalated to a level that was better resolved on the ground, as opposed to in flight. We regret any circumstance where a passenger does not have a positive experience on Southwest and we are ready to work directly with the passengers involved to offer our heartfelt apologies for falling short of their expectations.”

Southwest released a new statement late today, following the release of Hailey’s statement:
“Additional reports from our Employees and Customers onboard flight 2274 during a stop in El Paso on Sunday now confirm profane language was being used loudly by two passengers.  At least one family who was offended by the loud profanity moved to another area of the cabin.  Although we have reports of what Customers characterize as an excessive public display of affection, ultimately their aggressive reaction led to their removal from the aircraft.  We do not tolerate discrimination against anyone for any reason.  In this situation, their removal was directly and solely related to the escalated conversation that developed onboard the aircraft.”

“Our tenets of inclusion and celebration of diversity among our Customers and Employees-including those in the LGBT communities-anchor our Culture of mutual respect and following the Golden Rule.   The more than 100 million people who fly Southwest each year reflect the great diversity of our country and our Company – and ALL are valued and welcome.  In fact, we’ve been recognized as a leader in diversity throughout our 40 years of service.”

“Our Customer Advocacy Team reached out to extend goodwill and a full refund for an experience that fell short of the passengers’ expectation.”

Stay tuned for further developments in this “she said/she said” situation…