HRC report on anti-LGBT religious exemptions under Title IX ignores most obvious solution

Jon Green | America Blog | January 21, 2016

The Obama administration and the courts have recently expanded Title IX’s non-discrimination protections to include sexual orientation, gender identity and gender nonconformity. In response, a slew of religious colleges and universities have filed for religious exemptions under Title IX — exemptions that were originally included to allow religious institutions to discriminate against women — in order to save their federal funding while continuing to discriminate.

Earlier this week, the Human Rights Campaign came out with a report on this recent wave of Title IX exemptions. The report does a fantastic job of diagnosing the problem and pointing out the holes in accountability and oversight, but comes up painfully short in the policy recommendations it offers as a solution.

First, the good:

As the report notes, religious institutions of higher education began applying for Title IX exemptions in earnest following a settlement that the Arcadia Unified School District agreed to with a transgender student who had been prohibited from using restrooms and locker rooms consistent with his gender identity. The settlement did not require the school district to admit fault, but it did require the district to “implement school-and district-wide measures to prevent gender-based discrimination based on an individual’s gender identity.” The district was also required to updated its non-discrimination policies and procedures to include gender identity and nonconformity.

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Big Wins, Bigotry And Backlash: The Queer Political Stories Of 2015

Michelangelo Signorile | Huffington Post | December 27, 2015

2015 was a historic year with marriage equality coming to every state in the nation and transgender visibility surging. But the backlash to queer rights also surged.

Though it may not appear in full focus now, we’ll almost certainly look back at 2015 as the year the enemies of LGBT equality doubled-down, became reinvigorated in their fight and determined to do what they could to take away the hard-fought rights that have been won — as well as keep us from going further. All you have to do is review the year to see that every major win had an equal and opposite reaction, and that achieving full equality will mean simply demanding it — full stop — and not settling for half-measures.

Here are a few of the most illustrative queer political stories of 2015.

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Caitlyn Jenner Prays With Antigay Preacher Because God Is Good, But TV Ratings Are Better

Caitlyn Jenner is under fire… again. This time, she’s being criticized for hanging out with an antigay pastor who led the successful fight against Houston’s Equal Rights Ordinance (HERO) earlier this year.

 

Graham Gremore | Queerty | December 21, 2015

Pastor Ed Young of Houston’s Second Baptist Church was one of the driving forces behind the repeal of HERO, which would have offered basic protections to LGBTQ workers from discrimination on the grounds of sexuality or gender identity.

Related: Bette Midler’s Twitter Shade Campaign Continues With Caitlyn Jenner Dig

In October, he called the law “godless” and “a very serious moral issue.”

“Those of us who believe men should use men’s facilities and women should use women’s facilities, we will be discriminated against,” he preached. “It is totally deceptive and it is deadly–and I trust that you will vote no! No! NO!”

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I Am a Burnt saplings. I Was 14, When I was Sent to Prison for Being Gay.

IRQR | December 14, 2015

How would you like to introduce yourself?

I’m Arash. I’m 40. I live in Kayseri (Turkey) now.

What’s your sexual orientation and how would you describe it?

From the time I recognized myself, I was attracted to my same sex. But to be more specific, I would say my attraction and feelings were always feminine. I always saw myself as a girl, never as a boy. Not physically, but what was always in my mind and my heart was that I was a girl.

What are your earliest memories related to this?

I was 5 and I wore my sister’s clothes. I felt more comfortable. In games I always liked to play the role of a girl, not a boy. My haircut, my movements were more delicate, even the way I walked. Everything was girlish.

How did your family respond? Were they aware of this? Did you have any difficulties with them?

I believe all parents know their kids, they can sense these things in regards to their own child, but because of the cultural environment of my family and society at large it was never discussed. There was no space, no bravery or audacity to ever address it or mention it. So I didn’t bring it up, and neither did my parents.

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Is It Now Harder To Come Out As Gay… Or Evangelical?

 

Cavan Sieczkowski | Huffington Post | December 17, 2015

A conservative researcher thinks it is harder to come out as a Christian in the United States nowadays than it is to come out as gay.

Ryan Anderson, a senior research fellow with The Heritage Foundation, sat down with The Atlantic for the LGBT Summit in Washington D.C. last week to talk about civil rights and his opposition to the Equality Act, which he thinks is a detriment to those who follow Abrahamic religions.

“Part of freedom is going to have to be the right to disagree about the truth,” he said. “Gays and lesbians need to be free to live and love how they want to, but other people need to be free to live, and to work, and to run schools and charities in accordance with their beliefs. It needs to be a two-way street.”

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Family of former Victoria Police officer says homophobia contributed to suicide

Tammy Mills | The Age | December 9, 2015

• Compensation pledged for victims of harassment and assault in the force

Michael Maynes had not yet graduated from the police academy when he said the first homophobic slur was made against him.

“You’re gay, you’ve got AIDS, you’re going to die alone.”

Michael Maynes, pictured with his father Robert Maynes, on his graduation day from Victoria Police.

It was the start of a long list of instances of homophobia and harassment he allegedly experienced in his short time in the police force. His family says the way he was treated was the catalyst for damage to his mental health and contributed to his eventual suicide.

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Ben Carson Calls Transgender Military Members A Distraction

Samantha-Jo Roth | Huffington Post | December 7, 2015

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — Ben Carson told veterans at an event in Waterloo, Iowa, on Saturday that the military is not the place to deal witTransh the “transgender thing.”

“I do not appreciate using our military as a laboratory for a social experiment,” Carson said at a town hall hosted by Concerned Veterans for America. “You know, we have too many important things to do.”

The retired neurosurgeon and Republican presidential hopeful questioned allowing people who identify as transgender to serve in the military. His comments come as Pentagon officials prepare the logistics of integrating transgender troops into the armed forces next year.

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A ‘gay boy living opposite a mosque’ in London tells it like it is

Megan Specia | Mashable | Yahoo News | December 8, 2015 ‘

Thomas Mauchline wanted to do his part to dispel anti-Muslim sentiment in London.

Like many in England’s multi-cultural capital, the 25-year-old Brit was inspired by a bystander’s reaction to Saturday’s tube stabbing, who yelled, “You ain’t no Muslim bruv!” at the masked man who police say committed an act of terror.

See also: This couple duped an anti-gay pizzeria and then made out

So Mauchline, who is gay and lives across the street from a mosque, penned a blog post about his experiences with Muslims in South London that has since gone viral.

The post, titled, “15 things I learnt about Islam and British values being a gay boy living opposite a mosque,” has been shared widely on Facebook and Twitter and hailed by UK politicians for helping to dismantle the stereotype of Muslims as extremists.

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The TPP: A Time Bomb That Could Blow Up a Free Internet

(Marcelo Graciolli / CC BY 2.0)

Truthdig | November 9, 2015

The copyright provisions in the Trans-Pacific Partnership could curtail Internet users’ basic access to information and right of self-expression on the Web, criminalizing common online activities and enforcing widespread Internet censorship, writes digital rights campaigner Evan Greer at The Guardian.

Greer continues:

To fully grasp the impending trainwreck here, it’s important to understand that copyright laws have a profound effect on what internet users can see and do online. The US regime of copyright enforcement has been repeatedly co-opted by special interests to censor legitimate content from the web. Copyright laws have been used to attack LGBTQ websites, censor investigative journalism and scrub homemade videos from the net just because of the music in the background.

Many of the scariest scenes in the TPP script take place in the intellectual property chapter. This section exports the most draconian aspects of the United States’ broken copyright system and forces them onto the rest of the world, without requiring “fair use” provisions that are necessary to protect free speech.

One provision demands that TPP member countries enforce copyright terms 70 years after the death of the creator. This will keep an immeasurable amount of information, art and creativity locked away from the public domain for decades longer than necessary, and allow for governments and corporations to abuse copyright laws and censor content at will, since so much of what’s online will be subject to copyright for decades.

TPP even prescribes a mechanism for that censorship to occur. A section that can best be described as “Zombie-Sopa”, due to its similarity to the failed Stop Online Piracy Act, would require internet service providers (ISPs) to play “copyright cops” and create systems for hastily taking down internet content upon a copyright holder’s request, even without a court order.

Read more here.

—Posted by Alexander Reed Kelly.

 

 

 

Thousands march in Glasgow’s 20th pride parade

 20th Glasgow pride parade Photo via Facebook/ Pride Glasgow (Hooch Dady)

 

Sylvia Tan | Gay Star News | August 23, 2015

Thousands turned out for Scotland’s biggest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) parade through Glasgow’s city center on Saturday.

For the first time in the event’s history, the celebrations will take place over two days with a rally before the march, performances, a funfair, and information and community stalls.

The parade started out from Glasgow Green before going down Greendyke St, Saltmarket, Trongate, Albion St, Ingram St, South Frederick St, George Sq South Aspect, St Vincent Pl, St Vincent St, Renfield St, Union St, Jamaica St, Clyde St, Bridgegate, Steel St, Turnbull St, Greendyke St and then back to Glasgow Green.

Alastair Smith, Chief Executive of Pride Glasgow, was quoted as saying by the BBC: ‘This year marks 20 years of Pride events in Scotland and we have come along way since the first; Pride is a chance for the LGBTI community and their friends, family and supporters to come together and celebrate the achievements of the community and to stand together as one and raise awareness of the issues that we still face.’

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