A suicide prevention bill that includes LGBT-specific training for helpline workers has become the first ever LGBT-inclusive legislation to pass through the US House of Representatives without a single vote against it.
The house passed the National Suicide Hotline Designation Act, which will allow Americans to dial 988 to reach the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, by unanimous consent on Monday (September 21), sending the bill to the president’s desk.
LGBT+ suicide prevention charity The Trevor Project notes that the bill “is the first that is specifically LGBTQ-inclusive to pass Congress unanimously in history”, with not a single lawmaker casting a vote against it.
In addition to the creation of the 988 number, The Trevor Project notes that the bill “contains several key LGBTQ-inclusive provisions”, including a requirement for Lifeline counsellors to undergo LGBT+ cultural competency training.
The 988 lifeline, which has already been approved by the FCC, would also include an integrated voice response option to help LGBT+ youth and other high-risk populations to access specialised services.
The bill notes that “youth who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer are more than four times more likely to contemplate suicide than their peers, with one in five LGBTQ youth and more than one in three transgender youth reporting attempting suicide”.
The National Suicide Hotline Designation Act will now head to the desk of the president, having been passed through the Senate in May.
The passage of the legislation comes despite major hurdles for other laws relating to LGBT+ people, not least the Equality Act, a non-discrimination bill which continues to be blocked by the Republican leadership in the Senate. Usually the mere mention of LGBT+ issues is enough to give rise to some votes against proposals.
The 988 National Suicide Prevention Lifeline ‘will undoubtedly save countless lives’.
The National LGBTQ Anti-Poverty Action Network (the Network) launched a new campaign that urges presidential candidates to address issues of LGBTQ+ poverty in the United States. The National Center for Lesbian Rights and Justice Work at The Vaid Group co-coordinate the Network with over 100 member organizations and advocates.
As part of the bold new initiative, the Network released a two page “LGBTQ+ Priorities for the Next Presidential Term” memo highlighting concrete steps the White House can take to dismantle barriers to social and economic justice for LGBTQ+ people. The recommendations include investing in LGBTQ+ communities, strengthening anti-poverty programs, and fighting discrimination.
Tyrone Hanley, NCLR Senior Policy Counsel and Network Co-Coordinator said, “It’s time for politicians to understand that being an LGBTQ+ ally means fighting for the poor,” Hanley continues, “Far too often, politicians ignore the challenges faced by LGBTQ people and families struggling to make ends meet. Today’s campaign launch emphasizes the need for elected officials – including the president – to understand and prioritize the needs of low-income LGBTQ+ folks. As proven to us by Marsha P. Johnson, Sylvia Rivera, Barbara Smith, and Queers for Economic Justice, fighting for LGBTQ+ liberation means fighting for economic justice.”
The National LGBTQ Anti-Poverty Action Network (the Network) is a member-based coalition of over 100 national, state, and local organizations working in the LGBTQ+, anti-poverty, and anti-hunger movements to increase awareness about and action on LGBTQ+ poverty. As we approach the next presidential term, the Network is championing priorities across federal departments and agencies.
LGBTQ+ people and families are more likely to be living in poverty and participate in federal anti-poverty programs than the general population. Additionally, LGBTQ+ people also face compounded discrimination based on intersecting identities due to systemic racism, xenophobia, sexism, and ableism. The Network encourages the White House to prioritize addressing LGBTQ+ poverty during the next presidential term.
Parents of LGBT+ teens are less accepting of their children than 20 years ago, an alarming study has found.
Research published in theJournal of Child and Family Studies found that parental behaviours toward LGBT+ youth have steadily worsened for nearly two decades, a result which “surprised” the report’s top researchers considering the overall rise of acceptance towards queer people in recent years.
“This increasing societal acceptance really doesn’t filter down to youth who are still in school, who are still being discriminated against or victimised by their classmates,” the report’s co-author Hilary Rose, an associate professor in the Department of Applied Human Sciences at Concordia, in Canada, said.
“And it doesn’t trickle down to parent-child relations. Frankly, we were surprised by that.”
LGB young people say they feel ‘disconnected’ from their parents.
The study found that parents of LBG teens in particular were less supportive of their children than those from 20 years ago, compared to parents of heterosexual teens, whose support has increased.
Researchers looked at data from the McCreary Centre Society, a non-profit youth health organisation which conducts anonymous surveys of high school students in British Columbia every five years.
The authors of the study wrote that while “heterosexual boys and girls reported more family connectedness and mother/father support across all four survey years in general… there were many instances where bisexual, gay and lesbian youth reported lower levels of family connectedness and mother/father support”.
Co-author Rose suggested that because social norms surrounding sexual minorities have eased, youths are finding it easier to come out at younger ages – sometimes even before young people go through puberty.
Explaining her findings further, Rose suggested parents’ decreasing acceptance might be a symptom of a wider backlash to social norms easing around sexual minorities. In recent political debates, Rose said, marriage equality and LGBT+ issues have been discussed, thereby exposing LGBT+ issues in households.
Pete Buttigieg, the first openly gay presidential candidate for a major party, has one message for LGBT+ youth in the run up to the US election: Vote.
Buttigieg, the gay mayor from Indiana who was the surprise break-out star of the Democratic race earlier this year, has thrown his weight behind Joe Biden’s bid to get Donald Trump out of the White House.
And in an interview with The Guardian, the 38-year-old has spoken out about how this year’s US election is both political and deeply personal.
“When you see your own rights come up for debate, when you know something as intimate and central to your life as the existence of your family is something that is not supported by your president, and certainly your vice-president, it’s painful,” Pete Buttigieg said.
“It creates a sense of urgency that I hope will motivate many people – including a lot of LGBTQ younger people who maybe weren’t deciding so much how to vote as they were whether to vote – to see now is the time to vote like your life depends on it.”ADVERTISING
Buttigieg’s history-making run to be the first openly gay US president endedin March, after his campaign suffered heavy losses in South Carolina during the primary. He’s since been tapped to serve in a key role on the presidential transition team of his former rival Joe Biden.
Despite Trump’s claims to support LGBT+ rights, Buttigieg said he’s very aware of how fragile the rights he and his husband, Chasten, enjoy are, saying he’s “mindful every day” that their marriage was possible “by the grace of one vote on our Supreme Court”.
Pete Buttigieg continued: “[Trump has] rarely missed an opportunity to attack the community, especially trans people, whether we’re talking about the ban on military service or issues around healthcare.
“But even for same-sex international adoption, this administration has taken us in the wrong direction and four more years would be a tremendous setback.
“Also around the world, we’re seeing, for example in eastern Europe, really disturbing setbacks in LGBTQ rights and equality without a strong United States leading the way in human rights, which requires leadership and credibility and also that we’re doing the right thing here at home.
Allison Jones Rushing, one of Donald Trump’s top picks to replace Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the US Supreme Court, has worrying links to an anti-LGBT+ hate group.
Rushing is one of the 20 potential conservative nominees Trump listed earlier this month, just weeks before before Ginsburg passed away and left a vacancy on the US Supreme Court.
Trump plans to replace RBG, as she was affectionately known, imminently, and has vowed to announce a woman as his nominee this week.
Rushing is one of the most prominent female potential nominees on Trump’s list, and has a concerning anti-LGBT+ history. According to CNN’s Daniel Dale, Trump boasted that one of his shortlisted candidates ‘”is 38 years old and could serve on the court for 50 years”, which Dale says is “almost certainly”
The judge was confirmed to the fourth US Circuit Court of Appeals in March 2019, but many LGBT+ organisations expressed alarm over the judge’s decade-long association with well-known anti-LGBT+ hate group Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF).
ADF is an anti-LGBT+ legal group, which has been classified by the Southern Poverty Law Center as an anti-LGBT+ hate group. The organisation has supported criminalising gay sex in America and abroad, fought for the state-enforced sterilisation of trans people, and has linked being gay to paedophilia.
According to NBC News, Rushing was an intern for ADF as a law student in 2005. She authored amicus briefs for clients in support of the ADF’s conservative views, and co-authored a legal brief on “religious liberty”. Between 2012 and 2017, Rushing spoke at ADF events at least once a year.
Allison Rushing has supported and closely associated herself with one of the most extreme anti-LGBT organisations operating in this country today.
Ian Wilhite, a spokesperson for Lambda Legal, said in a statement at the time of Rushing’s senate confirmation: “Throughout her brief legal career, Allison Rushing has supported and closely associated herself with one of the most extreme anti-LGBT organisations operating in this country today, the Alliance Defending Freedom.”
Vanita Gupta, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, also told CNN in a statement at the time: “Her record clearly shows she will not be a fair and independent judge — a reality with dire consequences for Fourth Circuit cases and the American people.”
Ruth Bader Ginsburg died at her home on Friday evening (September 18) from complications of metastatic cancer of the pancreas, prompting an outpouring of love and praise for the equal rights champion and feminist icon and an immediate political firestorm.
Democrats have called for a delay in replacing Ginsburg, following a precedent set during the final year of Barack Obama’s presidency, when Republicans senate majority leader Mitch McConnell declared a replacement would not be approved, and that the next president would instead choose his or her pick following the election.
However Friday (September 18), McConnell was adamant that a vote would be held on Trump’s nominee. Ted Cruz has argued that there is a different precedent for times when the White House and Senate are controlled by the same party, which wasn’t the case under Obama.
Until Ginsburg’s death, the supreme court had a 5 to 4 Republican majority. Should Trump’s nominee be appointed, this would shift to a stronger 6 to 3 conservative majority which could remain in place for decades, shaping major legal decision in the US for years to come.
Trans Democrat Sarah McBride is set to make history as the first out transgender state senator ever elected in the United States, after winning the state legislative primary in Delaware.
McBride, a trailblazing trans activist, national press secretary for Human Rights Campaign (HRC) and author of the book Tomorrow Will Be Different: Love, Loss, and the Fight for Trans Equality, already became the first trans person to speak at a major party convention when in 2016 she addressed the Democrat National Convention.Read More
But now she is set to make history again.
Only four openly trans people have ever been elected to state legislature in the US, but McBride is set to become the first openly trans person to be elected state senator in the nation’s history.
McBride triumphed spectacularly over her opponent Joseph McCole in Tuesday’s primary (15 September), with 91 per cent of the votes.
Steve Washington was unopposed for the Republican nomination and McBride will face him in November’s election, but as the state and district are strongly Democratic it is almost certain that she will win.
As the results came in, McBride wrote on Twitter: “Tonight sends a powerful signal that candidates like me can win.
“Everyone deserves to see themselves in government, to follow their dreams, and to be accepted by their community.
“I will never take for granted the honuor of carrying that mantle.”
Mayor Annise Parker, president and CEO of the LGBTQ Victory Fund, which backed McBride’s campaign, said in a statement: “Sarah’s primary win shatters another lavender ceiling in our movement to build LGBT+ political power and her victory will inspire more transgender people to run for elected office.
“At a time when the Trump administration, cynical politicians and too many state legislatures are attempting to use trans people as political weapons, Sarah’s win is a powerful reminder that voters are increasingly rejecting the politics of bigotry in favour of candidates who stand for equality.
“Three years ago there were zero out trans state legislators anywhere in the country, but each win reinvigorates a virtuous cycle that familiarises voters with trans people and encourages more trans people to run.
“We are optimistic we can double the number of trans state legislators in 2020 – from four to at least eight – and their impact will be felt well-beyond the boundaries of their districts.”
HRC president Alphonso David celebrated her win, saying: “Sarah McBride is one of the most impressive people I have had the privilege to meet.
“From her brilliant policy expertise to her ability to inspire and empathise, Sarah is the epitome of what can make an elected official great… Sarah is no stranger to making history.
“As the first transgender speaker at a national party convention, Sarah spoke for a community long ignored and pushed to the sidelines… Next year, as the first transgender state senator in our nation, Sarah will show that any child can achieve their dream, no matter their gender identity or sexual orientation.
“While we will be sad to lose her as a staff member at the Human Rights Campaign, we are overjoyed to have been a piece of her story. Congratulations Sarah.”
U.S. Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who joined major decisions for LGBTQ rights on the bench and was known as the “Notorious RBG” in progressive circles, has died at age 87, the Washington Blade has confirmed.
“Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died this evening surrounded by her family at her home in Washington, D.C., due to complications of metastatic pancreas cancer,” a Supreme Court spokesperson said in a statement Friday evening.
Rea Carey, executive director of the National LGBTQ Task Force, said in a statement upon Ginsburg’s passing she was “a giant of justice, a champion for equality and progress.”
“Justice Ginsburg was an American hero and pioneer, a voice for so many marginalized people, leaving behind a legacy of courage, tenacity and historic impact in creating a better country and a better world for all of us,” Carey said. “We are all so grateful for all Justice Ginsburg has done for LGBTQ people, for women, for our ability to control our own bodies, for all that seek to move freedom forward in this country.”
Ginsburg’s death will light a bonfire in an already tumultuous political season, as emotions are heated and civil unrest — even violence — has gripped the country ahead of the 2020 presidential election. The fate of Ginsburg’s seat, who was strong proponent of abortion rights, will be seen as key to deciding whether or not abortion will remain legal in the United States.
With a seat vacant on the Supreme Court, the responsibility falls to the president of the United States to appoint a replacement who will be subject to Senate confirmation. For the time being that is Trump, who would have a Republican-controlled Senate to evaluate his pick before the election.
Senate Majority Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), flip-flopping from rules he set in 2016 when he refused to allow a vote on the confirmation of Merrick Garland, said in a statement late Friday the situation is different from 2020 and Trump’s pick will get a vote..
“Americans reelected our majority in 2016 and expanded it in 2018 because we pledged to work with President Trump and support his agenda, particularly his outstanding appointments to the federal judiciary,” McConnell said. “Once again, we will keep our promise. President Trump’s nominee will receive a vote on the floor of the United States Senate.”
When conservative justice Antonin Scalia died in 2016, McConnell struck a different tune, saying he’d let the people speak their voice in the presidential election rather allow consideration of President Obama’s nominee Merrick Garland.
“This vacancy should not be filled,” McConnell said at the time. “The American people should have their say on this issue, so let’s give them a voice. Let’s let the American people decide.”
Trump has recently updated his list of potential Supreme Court picks, which include anti-LGBTQ choices such as U.S. Circuit Judge Kyle Duncan and James Ho of the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, as well as Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) and Josh Hawley (R-Mo.).
‘A force for good’
Appointed by former President Bill Clinton and confirmed in 1993, Ginsburg joined the majority for every decision for LGBTQ right from the Supreme Court.
Alphonso David, president of Human Rights Campaign, said in a statement Ginsburg was “a force for good — a force for bringing this country closer to delivering on its promise of equality for all.”
“Her decades of work helped create many of the foundational arguments for gender equality in the United States, and her decisions from the bench demonstrated her commitment to full LGBTQ equality,” David said. “She was and will remain an inspiration to young people everywhere, a pop culture icon as the Notorious RBG and a giant in the fight for a more just nation for all. We extend our deepest condolences to her family and loved ones.”
Among the rulings she joined was Romer v. Evans in 1996, which struck down Colorado’s anti-gay Amendment 2, Lawrence v. Texas in 2003, which struck down state laws criminalizing sodomy. Both decisions were early indications the nation was beginning to head into a different direction to accept.
Ginsburg also joined rulings that advanced same-sex marriage, including Windsor v. United States in 2013, which struck down the anti-gay Defense of Marriage Act; Hollingsworth v. Perry in 2013, which restored marriage equality to California after Proposition 8; and Obergefell v. Hodges, which struck down state bans on same-sex marriage and extended full marriage equality throughout the country.
For each of these rulings on marriage, justices were split 5-4, so Ginsburg weren’t on the court, the decisions may not have come out in favor of the LGBTQ community.
More recently, Ginsburg joined the decision in Bostock v. Clayton County, which found anti-LGBTQ discrimination is a form of sex discrimination, thus illegal under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. The broad ruling grants protections to LGBTQ people wherever there are laws against sex discrimination, including employment, housing, health care and education.
Shannon Minter, legal director for the National Center for Lesbian Rights, said although former U.S. Associate Anthony Kennedy and U.S. Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch were the authors of major LGBTQ rights from the Supreme Court, Ginsburg was “the most important voice for LGBT people.”
“As a civil rights advocate, she litigated and won the groundbreaking cases that established strong constitutional protections for women,” Minter said. “As a Supreme Court justice, she authored key sex discrimination decisions that paved the way for the Court’s embrace of equality for same-sex couples in Obergefell and for LGBT workers in Bostock. She was our champion and the architect of an expansive vision of gender equality that was broad and capacious enough to include LGBT people. Without her influence and legacy, none of those landmark decisions would have been possible.”
Ginsburg herself became the first Supreme Court justice to conduct a same-sex wedding, marrying Kennedy Center President Michael Kaiser and economist John Roberts in 2013.
Kevin Jennings, CEO of Lambda Legal, said in a statement Ginsburg was an “irreplaceable giant” on the Supreme Court.
“Throughout her entire legal career, including her 27 years on the Supreme Court, Justice Ginsburg fought for the rights of those on the margins,” Jennings said. “From her time as a lawyer with the ACLU Women’s Rights Project to her years on the Supreme Court, Justice Ginsburg spoke with a clear and strong voice against inequality and gender discrimination. A long-standing ally of the LGBTQ community, her unwavering support, both on and off the bench, was a testament to her commitment to equality for all people.”
Jamie R. Grosshans, the last-minute choice of Gov. Ron DeSantis to the Florida Supreme Court, is an anti-abortion defender who has been active in a number of Christian legal groups, including a powerful national organization whose mission is to “spread the Gospel by transforming the legal system.”
Grosshans, from the Orlando suburb of Winter Garden, was named Florida’s seventh justice Monday, filling the vacancy created last year when President Trump named two of DeSantis’ previous appointees, Barbara Lagoa and Robert Luck, to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit.
She left out some details on her application: specifically her membership in the Alliance Defending Freedom and her 2011 work with Orlando attorney John Stemberger to prevent a young woman from having an abortion.
Stemberger, you may recall, once declared that he would be willing to die to stop same-sex marriage. Hit the link for much more.
A lesbian elected official in North Dakota delivered an impassioned speech in defense of her municipality’s decision to fly a rainbow flag outside City Hall. Her heated remarks followed several bigoted comments from townspeople angered over the LGBTQ pride symbol’s public display.
“I am proudly the first openly elected lesbian in North Dakota, so that is why I’m not paying any heed to your crap,” Evans said Sept. 8 at a City Council meeting in Minot, which went viral after it was posted online. “I live in Minot. I am a taxpayer. I am a person. I get to see myself represented on that flagpole.
“This city is big enough for all of us. Me having a flag flying doesn’t take away anything from your rights and freedoms,” Evans continued. “I’m sorry it doesn’t make you feel comfortable, but we’re here, we’re queer, and we’re not going away.”
The flag — which was approved by the mayor after a local LGBTQ group, Magic City Equality, asked for it be flown — was intended to debut during LGBTQ Pride Month in June, but it was delayed until Sept. 2 because of the coronavirus pandemic, according to local news reports. The controversy surrounding the flag resulted in extra security at last week’s council meeting, according to NBC affiliate KFYR.
A video of the full council meeting that was shared on the city’s YouTube page shows several residents making homophobic and bigoted remarks.
One man claimed that the “LGBT flag represents the genitals of certain Americans,” while another said he’d be “embarrassed” to explain the flag’s meaning to children. Another resident said flying the flag could lead to pedophiles’ being “glorified,” while a woman said it’s the kind of thing that leads to “looting, riots and destruction.” Another woman said it was “a dishonest move” for Evans, who was elected this year, not to have explicitly made it known that she was a lesbian during her campaign.
Evans, who grew up in Minot, told KXMB-TV in June that she left the city three decades ago because she didn’t feel welcome because of her sexual orientation. She said she returned in 2017 and finds Minot, a town of less than 50,000 people, to be much more accepting now.
After she was elected, Evans said she planned to advocate for a municipal ordinance forbidding LGBTQ discrimination in public accommodations. She also said she wanted to make the city more accessible for people with disabilities, as she herself has multiple sclerosis.
In 2019, there were slightly fewer than 1 million same-sex couple households in the U.S., and a majority of those couples were married, according to new figures the U.S. Census Bureau released Thursday.
Of the 980,000 same-sex couple households, 58% were married couples and 42% were unmarried partners, according to the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey.
There were slightly more female couple households than male couple households.
The U.S. had 122 million households in 2019. The number of gays and lesbian households in the U.S. is greater than 980,000 since that figure only reflected same-sex couples living together.
The 2019 American Community Survey for the first time included updated relationship categories that better captured the characteristics and number of same-sex households in the U.S. than in years past.
Since 2014, the year before the U.S. Supreme Court legalized same sex marriage across the U.S., the number of married same-sex households has increased by almost 70%, rising to 568,110 couples.
According to the survey, same-sex married households were more likely to be in the workforce than opposite-sex married households, 84.6% compared to 80.4%.
However, there was a difference between gay and lesbian couples. Married women in same-sex households were much more likely to be working than married women in opposite-sex households, but the reverse was true for married men in same-sex households. They were less likely to be working than married men in opposite-sex households, according to the Census Bureau.
The District of Columbia had the greatest concentration of same-sex households, at 2.4% of households, followed by Delaware (1.3%), Oregon (1.2%), Massachusetts (1.2%) and Washington State (1.1%).
In the survey, the average age of a respondent in a same-sex marriage was 48, and the average age of the spouse was 47. Of those who responded to the survey as being in a same-sex married household, 82% identified as white, almost 7% identified themselves as Black and almost 4% were Asian. More than 13% were Hispanic.
More than 16% of same-sex married households were interracial couples, double the rate for opposite-sex married couples.
Same-sex married couples had a higher median income than opposite-sex married couples, $107,210 compared to $96,932. In same-sex marriages, male couples earned more than female couples, $123,646 versus $87,690.