Tag Archives: anti-LGBT

Is Your State Pro-LGBT?

2016 was both the best and the worst year for LGBT rights. On one hand, the country elected Donald Trump, who’s been installing an anti-LGBT cabinet. On the other hand, more than 500 pro-LGBT bills were introduced to Congress.

Let’s take a look at the good and the bad with help from Mother Jones.

The Good

Massachusetts strengthened their nondiscrimination laws in order to allow transgender people to use the bathrooms and locker rooms corresponding to their gender identity.

Governors in four states – Montana, Louisiana, New Hampshire and Pennsylvania – signed executive orders in order to protect LGBT state employees.

In the wake of the Pulse Nightclub Shooting, twice as many hate crime laws were proposed in 2016 as in 2015.

In Hawaii, Delaware, Maryland, Michigan and Pennsylvania, it is now illegal for healthcare insurers to refuse to insure transgender patients.

Six states passed bills to prevent suicide, especially in children and teenagers, and to prevent harassment in schools.

Vermont and New York joined the small but growing list of states that outlaw conversion therapy.

The Bad

North Carolina, North Carolina, North Carolina. The House Bill 2 (HB-2) struck down antidiscrimination protections for LGBT employees and, most infamously, demanded that transgender people use the bathrooms that correspond to their biological sex.

Despite the public opposition to the bill and the fact that the governor who pushed the bill through has been swiftly booted out of office, 14 other states have propped up their own bathroom bills. The list includes even blue states such as New York and Washington. Track the progress of those bills here.

252 anti-LGBT laws were proposed in 2016. Thankfully, only 8 of them passed.

What’s Left to Be Done?

In eight states, teachers aren’t allowed to mention anything related to LGBT issues.

In nineteen states, transgender people are ineligible for Medicaid.

In more than two dozen states, LGBT people are not protected by antidiscrimination legislation in housing, employment, education and public accommodation.

To learn more, read the Human Rights Campaign’s review of state LGBT legislation.

Google Speaks Out Against Discriminatory Anti-LGBT Legislation Sweeping the USA

Today, in an exclusive statement to HRC, Google spoke out against the host of anti-LGBT bills pending or signed in to law in states around the country.

The statement reads:

“We oppose all laws that enable or encourage discrimination and are pleased that there are now concrete moves to clarify the intent of these laws in various U.S. States. We’ve been steadfast in our efforts to eliminate discrimination against the LGBT community – including through our vocal opposition to Prop 8, our filing of legal briefs in opposition to the Defense of Marriage Act, the benefits we provide same-sex couples at Google, and by drawing attention to the issue globally through various international campaigns, the homepage doodle for the Sochi Olympics, and supporting the “It Gets Better” project.”

Yesterday, a number of industry leaders signed an unprecedented joint statement supporting the addition of non-discrimination protections for LGBT people to civil rights laws.

Other major organisations, including Wal-Mart and Apple, have similarly opposed the anti-LGBT legislation sweeping the USA. Raising their concerns that these bills undermine existing civil rights law and deeply harm the business climate of the states in which they are passed.

Currently, there are more than 85 anti-LGBT bills in 28 state legislatures. To learn more about the rising tide of anti-LGBT legislation swelling across the country, click here.

Punished For A Kiss | Russian Police Raid Lesbian Nightclub Owned By The Woman Who Kissed Her Girlfriend In Selfie

Being a lesbian is dangerous business in Russia, but it’s especially risky when you do it in front of the country’s leading opponent of LGBT rights.

This week, the lesbian nightclub Infinity was raided by Russian police, for illegally allowing under-age people to enter, and allowing the sale of illegal drugs.

More: Isabella Moore Documents Russia’s War On Homosexuality

On February 1, club owner Kseniya Infinity, and several of her friends were flying from Moscow to St. Petersburg, when they spotted Vitaly Milonov, a lawmaker famous for initiating Russia’s crackdown on LGBT rights. In protest, the women photographed themselves kissing one another in front of Milonov, and later posted the images online, where they became a viral sensation.

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After the picture went viral, Senator Milanov said:

“This shows that these people are not of a normal sexual orientation, but that their sexual deviance shows in all aspects of their lives. I didn’t understand what they are doing but they have a nice sense of humour.

I also have a good sense of humour. I will perhaps continue this joke by closing their gay club in St. Petersburg, or ban them from having meetings in public places, that’s also a funny step.”

An anti-gay online community based in Moscow and St. Petersburg published a call to get Infinity closed down. The group posted instructions and a scripted complaint to be sent to the district attorney, demanding that police shut down the lesbian nightclub.

Community members were also encouraged to appeal to Roskomnadzor, Russia’s state-run media watchdog, and federal anti-drug agents, based on claims that Infinity opens its doors to minors and operates as a center for illegal drug use.

Those who wanted the nightclub shut down were instructed to convey their concerns to police. “I have every reason to believe,” the scripted complaint reads, “that the promotional activities carried out at the lesbian club Infinity pose a serious threat to the physical and mental health of minors who manage to enter the establishment.”

The anti-gay group makes no secret of why it targeted club Infinity, citing the kissing selfies incident with Milonov on the airplane.

The Lesbian Kissing Protest Against Russia’s Anti Gay Lawmaker Goes Viral

A lesbian couple who found themselves seated on a domestic flight from Moscow to St Petersburg, near the Russian anti-LGBT politician, Vitaly Milonov, staged a fantastic loving protest in front of him.

The pair posed for a selfie while kissing in front of the extremely homophobic Senator, who was seated on the row behind them. The photos were then uploaded to social media site, and have since gone viral in Russia and started to spread around the globe

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Milonov confirmed the authenticity of the photo, telling FlashNord:

“These crazy idiots were so brave that after taking the photo they ran to the end of the plane, sat there and didn’t even stick their necks out until the end of the flight.”

Vitaly Milonov

The loving protest has infuriated the St. Petersburg city councilman, who later called the women ‘animals’ and threatened to ‘call the Cossacks’ on them.

Vitaly Milonov is well-known for his discriminating anti-LGBT stance. In December last year he staged a raid on a St Petersburg gay club where he entered the venue with riot police and arrested anyone under 18.

Following last year’s Eurovision Song Contest, which he branded a ‘Europe-wide gay parade’, Milonov tweeted that Russia should boycott the ‘Sodom show’.

Milonov co-sponsored Russia’s controversial ‘gay propaganda’ law bans displays of ‘non-traditional sexual behaviour’ in public or in front of under-18s, which was signed in to law the same year by President Vladimir Putin. The law allows the government to detain ‘homosexual or sympathetic foreigners’ for up to 14 days, after which they could face expulsion from the country.

He is also currently bringing forward legislation that would close a ‘loophole’ in the country’s laws which allowed a lesbian couple to marry.

In 2013, Milanov said that gay people were not “normal” and compared being gay to living “with a dog, with a horse, with a sheep, whatever.”.

‘God vs. Gay’ in Mainstream Media – HRC and GLAAD Unveil Groundbreaking Resource to Challenge Anti-LGBT Views

GLAAD and HRC Foundation, the educational arm of the nation’s largest advocacy group for LGBT rights, today unveiled ‘In Focus: Faith, LGBT People, & the Midterm Elections’ a groundbreaking resource guide that empowers journalists to challenge anti-LGBT talking heads who mask bias as a ‘tenet of faith.’

“It’s time the media gets it right. More and more churches, faith leaders, and religious Americans are speaking out in support of equality, but their voices remain missing in mainstream media. It’s time to close the gap on misrepresentation and challenge the tired idea that equality is not a religious value.”

Sarah Kate Ellis, GLAAD President & CEO

Back in 2012, GLAAD released “GLAAD’s Missing Voices: A study of religious voices in mainstream media reports about LGBT equality.” The report found that three out of four religious messages came from spokespeople whose religions have formal policies or culture opposing LGBT equality, despite the fact that acceptance of LGBT people is growing across faith traditions. Additionally, mainstream media outlets use far fewer religious sources from Mainline Protestant, Jewish, or other denominations whose messages were predominantly positive and accepting of LGBT people. Far too often, outlets frame stories as “God vs. Gay,” inaccurately representing the current climate of acceptance across faith communities today. The newly released guide seeks to correct these disparities in reporting.

“It’s long past time that anti-LGBT activists who claim to be people of faith had to answer a few simple questions about what the Bible and other holy books actually say. I grew up in a Southern Baptist congregation, going to church Sunday morning, Sunday night and, if my Mom got her way, Wednesday night too. The message I learned sitting in those church pews was that we are all God’s children, and you’ve got to love your neighbor as yourself.”

Chad Griffin, HRC President Chad Griffin

Visit www.glaad.org/faith to learn more about GLAAD’s Religion, Faith & Values program, and www.hrc.org/religion for resources and to learn more about HRC’s work with religious communities.

When Will the Republican Party Move Out of the Stone Age?

In the US, while more and more Republicans declare their support for same-sex marriage, the party remains officially opposed to gay unions. Its National Platform calls for a ban on such measures, going as far as to amend the Constitution to put a stop to sexual equality.

A recent Huffington Post survey showed that 42 state branches of the Republican Party (out of a possible 50) have totally ignored same-sex marriage in their respective platforms. In Texas, for example, Grand Old Party members believe that “the practice of homosexuality tears at the fabric of society and contributes to the breakdown of the family unit.”

But nationally there are reasons to be cheerful. Dissidence is growing within the ranks and LGBT-tolerant Republicans are pressing for a total rewrite of the National Platform in 2016. Over the last year or so there have been valiant attempts in Indiana and Nevada to do away with opposition to gay marriage, but Republican activists were defeated.

Pressure groups such as the Young Conservatives for the Freedom to Marry is spending over $1 million to re-write the National Platform. Leader Tyler Deaton is devoted to abolishing anti-LGBT rhetoric within the GOP.

Freedom to Marry, the organisation that Deaton’s group is affiliated to, successfully campaigned to persuade the Democrat Party to include support for same-sex unions in its National Platform. Freedom to Marry’s national director Marc Solomon isn’t optimistic about pulling off the same coup in the GOP.

‘We’re not doing what we did with the Democratic platform,’ he said. ‘In that, we called for freedom-to-marry language, because that’s where the party was. And it was still a heavy lift and a push because the president wasn’t there yet. In this platform, what we’re saying is…

“Look, we recognize there is a mix of opinions on this issue and that people’s opinions are changing quickly on it.”‘

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