The parents of murdered gay man Matthew Shepard snubbed a Trump administration ceremony in his honour, accusing the GOP-led Department of Justice of exploiting his memory.
A ceremony was held at the Department of Justice on Thursday to mark ten years since the passage of the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, a law signed by president Obama that extended federal hate crime laws to cover LGBT+ people.
The law is partly named in memory of Matthew Shepard, who was murdered in Wyoming in 1998 in a homophobic attack that saw his killers escape hate crime charges.
Shepard’s parents, Judy and Dennis Shepard, skipped the ceremony, and angrily denounced the Trump administration’s attempt to take advantage of their son’s memory while fighting at the Supreme Court against protectionsfor LGBT+ employees.
Parents of Matthew Shepard blast ‘hypocritical’ attorney general William Barr.
In a letter, the couple denounced attorney general William Barr, writing: “We find it interesting and hypocritical that he would invite us to this event commemorating a hate crime law named after our son and Mr Byrd, while, at the same time, asking the Supreme Court to allow the legalised firing of transgender employees.”
“If you believe that employers should have the right to terminate transgender employees, just because they are transgender, then you believe they are lesser than and not worthy of protection.”
“If so, you need not invite us to future events at the Department of Justice that are billed as celebrating the law that protects these same individuals from hate crimes. Either you believe in equality for all or you don’t.
“We do not honour our son by kowtowing to hypocrisy.”
Attorney general Barr also did not attend the event at the Department of Justice.
Judy and Dennis Shepard thanks federal employees for fighting ‘uphill battle’ against Trump administration.
The Shepards paid tribute to employees within the Department of Justice who “truly believe in protecting all Americans from injustice”, adding: “We understand how frustrating and thankless it is when you are fighting an uphill battle under today’s political climate and with little or no support or assistance from the administration.”
The couple added: “We don’t want to see another incident or life lost as we lost Matt. Any loss of life, any loss of a job, any loss of desire to work towards fulfilling a person’s dreams and goals because of hate related words or actions is a loss to the local community where that person lives, a loss to the state where that person lives, and a loss to this country.
“We look forward to a re-focus on the causes of hate crimes and the reduction of hate crime incidents as America changes direction and moves forward towards a more equal and just country.”
Shortly after Rutgers University student Tyler Clementi died by suicide in 2010, Canadian teen Brittany McMillan decided to do something about it: She created a Facebook event calling on people to wear purple — the “spirit” color of the rainbow pride flag — on the third Thursday of October to show that they stand against anti-LGBTQ bullying.
By the time the first Spirit Day took place on Oct. 20, 2010, it was already a worldwide phenomenon.
“Since then, it has evolved into more than just wearing purple, but ‘going purple,’ which is really quite amazing,” McMillan told NBC News in 2016.
Sarah Kate Ellis, president and CEO of GLAAD, the LGBTQ media advocacy organization, said Spirit Day had become “a megaphone for allies to send a unified message of acceptance and support to LGBTQ youth each year.”
“In today’s divisive culture and political climate,” she said, “LGBTQ people and allies need to be louder than ever to outshine bullies and tell young people that they will always be supported just as they are.”
As in past years, celebrities across the U.S. and beyond — from movie stars to sports teams — have shared messages of hope and empowerment with LGBTQ youth on Thursday, Spirit Day 2019.
And as a sign of how far Brittany McMillan’s dream has come, this year, several 2020 presidential candidates also shared their messages to LGBTQ youth.
“You’re incredible, you’re as good and better than anybody else, and don’t let people try to tell you you’re not,” former Vice President Joe Biden said. “Remember that, you’re special.”
In his Spirit Day video, Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Indiana, noted that when he was in high school, “there was literally not one out person that I knew of.”
“When you do speak up, when you are willing to be yourself — which is not an easy thing — know that you are having an impact on other people that are looking to you who you might not even realize,” Buttigieg continued. “Be strong, be yourself, and know that it gets better.”
Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., told LGBTQ youth, “You have friends and you have people that have your back.”
Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., let LGBTQ youth know they’re “not alone.”
“So do not ever silently suffer and know that you are deserving of respect and dignity and safety, and we will always fight for that,” Harris said in her video.
This year, the 10th annual Spirit Day, the event is more widely observed than ever, even as bullying remains a stubbornly common experience for LGBTQ youth. GLSEN’s 2017 National School Climate Survey found that 70 percent of LGBTQ students say they have been verbally harassed, and over half didn’t report it because they doubted adults in charge would intervene. In that same survey, 60 percent of those who did report bullying say that school staff either did nothing or told the reporting student to “ignore it.”
As awareness of the impact of bullying has spread, thanks in part to groups like the Tyler Clementi Foundation, several cases of LGBTQ suicides have made national headlines as examples of the dangerous consequences of bullying, which increasingly takes place online.
There was 9-year-old Jamel Myles from Denver who died by suicideafter classmates bullied him for being gay. He had come out to his mother the summer before fourth grade and wore false fingernails on the first days of school.
And then there was Nigel Shelby, an Alabama high school freshman who died by suicide after facing bullying from classmates and unsympathetic school administrators who allegedly told him being gay was “a choice.” His mother, Camika Shelby, said administrators knew her son was having suicidal thoughts and did not tell her. Just last month, Tennessee teen Channing Smith died by suicide after sexually explicit texts he had sent to another boy were shared on social media.
Facing growing awareness that bullying increasingly takes place in cyberspace, Instagram took a stab at reducing it on the platform with a new set of features that would use artificial intelligence to tell commenters their posts are abusive, and also allow users to discreetly mute abusers.
Uganda will not impose the death penalty for gay sex, a presidential spokesman said today, after major aid donors said they were monitoring a plan by the African nation to reintroduce a bill colloquially known as “Kill the Gays”. Uganda’s Ethics and Integrity Minister Simon Lokodo last Thursday said the government planned to re-introduce an anti-homosexuality bill in parliament within weeks to curb the spread of homosexuality in the east African nation.
Lokodo’s statement was widely reported across the world and international donors such as the European Union, World Bank, the United States and the Global Fund said they were monitoring the situation closely and stood by the rights of LGBT+ people. A spokesperson for President Yoweri Museveni on Monday said the government has no plans to introduce the legislation that would impose the death penalty for gay sex.
Around 85% of Ugandans are Christians. Ethics Minister Simon Lokodo is a former Catholic priest and local media continues to refer to him as “Father Lokodo.”
RELATED: As most of you surely recall, the first attempt to pass the “Kill The Gays” bill came after pressure from Christian activist Scott Lively, who was later unsuccessfully sued in the United States for crimes against humanity. Lively has since made two failed runs for governor of Massachusetts.
Many local organizations have worked with us over the years to improve their understanding of LGBTQ identities and their commitment to competently serve LGBTQ people. Have you thought about how to do that in Spanish? Of course, many concepts apply across languages, but if we don’t consider the unique context of language and culture, we’re missing out.
LGBTQ Connection is proud to offer this unique, free, upcoming, LGBTQ training for professionals that serve Latino and Spanish-speaking youth and families (other interested community members are welcome, too) on the morning of October 29 in Napa. Space is limited, so please register soon. This training will be conducted primarily in Spanish. Please also share this invitation with your colleagues and networks that would find the information and resources useful.
Full details are below. Feel free to reach out with any questions.————–
LGBTQ Connection está organizando un nuevo taller en Napa, “LGBTQ En Español: Una Capacitación Para Profesionales Que Apoyan a Jóvenes y Sus Familias”, y ¡usted está invitada/o/x! Con su base en las capacitaciones muy solicitadas de LGBTQ Connection, esta capacitación está diseñada para aumentar las habilidades de profesionales que sirven a jóvenes y a familias. La capacitación destaca maneras de apoyar las identidades de jóvenes latinas/os/xs que también son lesbianas, gay, bisexuales, transgénero, queer, o explorando su identidad. Y también explora como mejor entender y discutir estas identidades.
Los detalles:
Hora: 8:30a – 12:30p Día: 29 de octubre de 2019 Ubicación: Queen of the Valley Community Outreach, 3448 Villa Ln, Suite 102, Napa, CA 94558
Están invitadas/os/xs las/los/lxs profesionales de habla hispana quienes atienden a jóvenes y sus familias. Esta capacitación educacional, interactiva, y divertida es especialmente para las/los/lxs profesionales quienes quieren aumentar su competencia para servir a gente LGBTQ. Hay cupo limitado, por lo tanto reserve su espacio lo más pronto posible.
Participantes saldrán con:
Una mejor comprensión de las identidades LGBTQ.
Más compasión por las personas LGBTQ y sus experiencias.
Concientización de los problemas específicos que afectan la salud mental de las/los/lxs jóvenes LGBTQ y personas mayores LGBTQ.
Más confianza en su capacidad para apoyar a las personas LGBTQ.
Conocimiento de recursos e información de referencia para personas LGBTQ.
Capacidad de identificar recursos específicos de salud mental accesibles para personas LGBTQ.
Favor de compartir esta invitación con tus redes y colegas. Para más información, comuníquese con fernando@lgbtqconnection.org o llame al 707-251-9432. Se servirán bocadillos.
Some 21% of LGBTQ adults aren’t registered to vote, according to a study released this week by the University of California, Los Angeles’ Williams Institute. That’s compared to an estimated 17% of non-LGBTQ adults.
The finding, part of a larger poll of 2,237 people that measured LGBTQ voters’ demographic characteristics and political attitudes, came as LGBTQ rights have taken center stage in the national conversation. Meanwhile, Friday marked National Coming Out Day.
Some LGBTQ voters already face an uphill battle making their voices heard at the ballot box.
“Voter suppression has primarily targeted voters of color, who also happen to include LGBTQ Americans, who far too often face disproportionate barriers in accessing their right to vote,” Human Rights Campaign president Alphonso David told the Washington Post after HRC, a nonprofit that advocates for LGBTQ rights, backed a voting-rights initiative led by former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams.
For instance, David said, voter-ID laws in some states requiring that a person’s documentation match their birth-assigned gender could preclude a transgender person from casting a ballot. While about 137,000 transgender people who had transitioned in the U.S. were eligible to vote ahead of the 2018 midterm elections, more than half might not have had documentation or ID that correctly reflected their gender, the Williams Institute found in August 2018.
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Half of the LGBTQ adults registered to vote next November said they were Democrats, 22% were independents and 15% were Republicans.
With that said, almost 9 million LGBTQ adults are eligible and registered to vote next November, according to the most recent poll, which was conducted by Ipsos in collaboration with the Williams Institute and Thomson Reuters. Half said they were Democrats, while 22% were independents and 15% were Republicans.
The sample included 136 registered LGBTQ voters and 1,836 registered non-LGBTQ voters.
LGBTQ rights feature in the 2020 presidential race
The analysis by the Williams Institute, a UCLA Law think tank that researches sexual orientation, gender identity and public policy, comes ahead of a high-stakes election in which civil-rights protections for LGBTQ people could hang in the balance.
The Equality Act, a bill that would shield LGBTQ individuals from discrimination in credit, housing, employment and a range of other areas, passed earlier this year in the Democrat-led House. Activists believe that turning the Republican-led Senate blue in 2020 would boost the bill’s chances of being signed into law.
Many leading Democrats vying for the 2020 nomination — including former Vice President Joe Biden and South Bend mayor Pete Buttigieg, the only openly gay candidate running — have thrown their support behind the Equality Act. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) has also proposed abolishing the filibuster to clear a path for the Equality Act’s passage, should Senate Republicans block it.
‘LGBT voters differ from non-LGBT voters in several ways. For example, they are more likely to be young, male, and live in urban areas.’ —Study author Christy Mallory, the Williams Institute’s state and local policy director
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has not brought the bill to the floor, and President Trump’s administration has claimed that the bill in its current form “is filled with poison pills that threaten to undermine parental and conscience rights.”
“I’m just going to be blunt: We’ve got to have some more Democrats in the Senate,” Warren said during CNN’s Equality Town Hall on Thursday, responding to a question about how to ensure that the Equality Act passed the Senate. “I’m willing to continue to push Mitch McConnell right now, but my No. 1 goal is to make sure he is not the majority leader come January 2021.”
The Supreme Court will make critical decisions for LGBTQ protections
Separately, the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments on Tuesday to determine whether Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which prohibits sex discrimination, also protects LGBTQ people from discrimination in the workplace on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation.
LGBTQ people were more likely than their non-LGBTQ counterparts (51% to 40%) to support “a career politician who knows his or her way around the political process,” the Williams Institute study found. LGBTQ voters and non-LGBTQ voters alike showed greater support for younger candidates, and both groups signaled that the race of a candidate wouldn’t impact how they voted — though LGBTQ voters were more likely than non-LGBTQ voters to back a candidate because that person was black or Latino.
Majorities of both groups said it wouldn’t matter to their vote if a candidate were gay or lesbian, but far more LGBTQ voters than non-LGBTQ voters said they were “more likely to support a gay candidate” (41% to 10%) or “more likely to support a lesbian candidate (34% to 11%). LGBTQ voters also showed greater support for hypothetical candidates who were transgender or gender-nonbinary.
“LGBT voters differ from non-LGBT voters in several ways. For example, they are more likely to be young, male, and live in urban areas,” study author Christy Mallory, the Williams Institute’s state and local policy director, added in a statement. “LGBT voters are also more likely to identify with the Democratic Party. Over four million LGBT Democrats are eligible to vote in the primaries next year.”
Rainbow Rebellion, the LGBT+ branch of Extinction Rebellion, is trying to show that during an ecological crisis, it’s marginalised communities who will be hit first.
Extinction Rebellion has organised a fortnight of international action, which began on October 7, in cities around the world, calling for governments to take immediate action to address climate change.
He said: “We are a diverse network hailing from all walks of life, united in the belief that climate breakdown and ecological crisis is not only a crisis of the planet, not only a crisis of migrants, but is a crisis of the LGBT+ community as well. There’s no Pride in ecocide.
“LGBT+ people, particularly migrants, disabled people, trans folk and people of colour, are facing disaster on multiple fronts.
“Austerity is killing us off in vast numbers, hate crimes against us have risen exponentially since the financial crash in 2008, and more recently risen since the EU referendum.
“Homelessness is rising, with 24 percent of homeless youth identifying as LGBT+.”
He continued: “As climate breakdown and ecological crisis accelerates, it is the minority communities and the marginalised who will be hit first. And we refuse to let that happen. We are here as part of a nationwide fortnight of action by Extinction Rebellion.
“The queer community are seasoned protesters. We have fought for our survival before, and we will do it again… This is everyone’s fight.”
Extinction Rebellion posted on Twitter: “ExtinctionRebellion has its first marriage. In love, and in rage, they stand on Westminster Bridge to be married. #RebelForLife
“We rebel for their future. They rebel for yours. We all encourage each other.”
A Syrian father of a gay man says he hopes his son will burn in hell. A woman says her once-loving father now wants her dead. And the day one young Syrian told his parents he was gay was the last time he spoke to anyone in his family.
Like countless fellow countrymen and women fleeing the civil war, many LGBTQ Syrians have lost their homeland, livelihoods and often hope itself. But many of them have also lost the little they had left over — their families and communities, who are unable to accept them.
The mentality they’re up against is uncompromising. One conservative Syrian imam confidently told NBC News that there are no homosexual Muslims and that the act was punishable by death.
Fuad al-Essa came out as gay after he fled war-ravaged Syria and settled down in Turkey in 2017.
“I was living a nightmare,” al-Essa told NBC News, sitting in a cafe in the Turkish city of Gaziantep, just 80 miles north of his native Aleppo in Syria. “It broke my heart that I was scared to death to talk to my parents about my identity. It broke my heart that my parents were the ones I was most afraid of.”
“They believe I have a devil inside of me.”
He says he eventually worked up the courage to call his parents who stayed in Syria from Turkey — where it is relatively safer to be openly gay — and “face them with the truth.”
“I told my father that I will always love him and the family, but this is my life and I will not hide myself anymore,” al-Essa, 27, said. “That was the last time I talked to him.”
According to the United Nations Refugee Agency, more than 5.6 million people have fled Syria since 2011 to escape the bloody civil war.
There are no exact figures on how many Syrian refugees who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer or questioning (LGBTQ) have left the country devastated by years of war.
Their numbers are not widely documented as even human rights organizations, such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, have told NBC News they had been unable to do much work on LGBTQ issues in Syria due to limited resources on the ground.
OutRight Action International, a U.S.-based nonprofit that works to defend human rights for LGBTQ people around the world, said they have found that Syria is one of 30 countries in the world where no LGBTQ organizations could be found, whether registered or unregistered — meaning there is no concerted advocacy for change.
It said it also means LGBTQ Syrians don’t have any groups to turn to for advice, knowledge, information or support, making their lives that much more challenging.
Amira al-Tabbaa has been an LGBTQ activist since 2004.
The 35-year-old English literature graduate from Damascus who fled to neighboring Lebanon in 2014 said Syrian families typically do not even talk about LGBTQ issues.
“They will say — don’t talk about it, you are fine. Just don’t talk about it,” she said on the phone from Lebanon.
Women who reveal their nontraditional sexual orientation to their families often get beaten for “bringing shame on the family,” she added. Some are kept at home and not allowed to communicate with anyone, so their actions can be controlled.
“Some will be taken to a psychologist to fix them,” al-Tabbaa said, adding that while all LGBTQ individuals face discrimination in Syria, the social stigma is worse for women, because they symbolize “dignity of the home.”
She said fleeing Syria is dangerous in general, but escaping as a LGBTQ individual can be especially perilous.
“I am hearing from men and women who are really suffocating in Syria and they really need to get out, but there is no way out,” she said.
‘No homosexual Muslims’
Syria is majority Muslim, a religion that prohibits same-sex relations.
According to Abo Abdulrahman al-Ansari, a conservative imam and member of the Shariah council in the northwestern Syrian city of Idlib, homosexuality is strictly forbidden.
“I can assure you that there are no homosexual Muslims,” he said. “Its punishment according to Islam is death.”
The religious and societal stigma surrounding homosexuality in Syria means that for many families, having a son or daughter who comes out after escaping the country can bring enormous shame.
Ahmad Hassan’s son Ammar came out as gay after he fled to Germany in 2015.
The 59-year-old broke down in tears talking about his son on the phone from Idlib in Syria, where he lives with his wife and other children.
“My son didn’t just break my heart, he broke my back,” Hassan said. “I’m no longer respected by the others. I can see that in their eyes. I feel their hatred and revulsion towards me.”
He said he hoped his son would burn in hell for what he did to the family.
“I feel stupid when I think about how much and how long we all cried when he decided to flee to Europe,” he said. “If only he sank in Mediterranean before he reached Europe, I would have cried, but he would have died as an honest, respectful man.”
But for at least some who flee, the pain of losing family is at least party outweighed by the newfound freedom they find in their new homes.
“I used to fight against who I am,” Anas Qartoumeh told NBC News. Courtesy of Anas Qartoumeh
Anas Qartoumeh, who left Syria and settled in Canada at the height of the refugee crisis in 2015, has found a community that accepts him for who he is.
On the phone from Kelowna, a small west coast community where he was the grand marshal at a pride march last year, Qartoumeh, 35, said he had to overcome an internal struggle.
“I used to fight against who I am, I tried to ignore who I was,” he said.
Originally from Damascus, Qartoumeh said he came out when he reached Canada.
And while he enjoys his new home and ability to be himself, he said he misses his family in Syria.
“My door is always open for them if they still want me and accept who I am,” he said. “I don’t think they are ready, not now and not in the future, because they’re very religious. They believe I have a devil inside of me.”
‘I broke her heart’
Sporting short black hair, no makeup and a white T-shirt with the words “live your life” written on it, Hiba said she always had an especially close relationship with her father.
That connection has now turned poisonous.
“The person who was once the closest to me wants to kill me,” said Hiba, 22, fighting back tears at a coffee shop in the southern Turkish port city of Mersin.
Hiba, who spoke on condition that only her first name be used out of fear for her safety, tells her story of love and heartbreak.
After the war broke out, her family left Aleppo due to airstrikes and moved to Atmeh, a small village on the border with Turkey.
In 2014, she met a girl named Aysha, whose family lived in a nearby tent. Hiba says the two decided to run away to “fight for their love.”
They made it as far as Turkey, but their parents soon started looking for them, eventually forcing them to return to Syria.
Hiba, who hasn’t seen Aysha since, says she was not allowed to leave home for weeks and her parents didn’t speak with her.
In March last year, she was forced to get engaged to a man. Days before the wedding, Hiba decided to escape again, making it to Mersin, a community on Turkey’s Mediterranean coast, 140 miles northwest of her native Aleppo.
“I talked to my family and asked for their forgiveness,” she said. “But nothing had changed — my father threatened me on the phone. My mother told me that I’m dead for her and that I broke her heart.”
Hiba has lost more than one love — not only Aysha, but her family who cannot accept who she is. And now she is alone.
A year to the day after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border in May 2018, Luis Rodriguez, 20, writhed on a gurney in a Los Angeles emergency room with a kidney and bladder infection.
He wasn’t just in pain – he was worried. His asylum claim had not yet been approved. He had no work permit, though he’d been working seven days a week anyway. Now he was seriously ill, and bills were mounting.
When Rodriguez arrived in the United States, he had planned to finish his final year of high school, earn a university degree and then become a systems engineer. He’d always been studious and driven in El Salvador, the kid teachers commended. But here in the hospital, his goals seemed out of reach.
He felt alone in this country – but, he told Reuters, he hadn’t had much choice in leaving his own.
Rodriguez is gay. He and his first love, Bryan Claros, were high school classmates, meeting secretly when they could on an isolated stretch of beach outside their hometown of La Libertad. One March night, four gang members surrounded them there, beat up Claros and threatened Rodriguez, both men told Reuters.
“Never show your faces here again,” Rodriguez recalled them saying.
A police detective’s report on the incident, reviewed by Reuters, confirmed the outlines of their account, saying Rodriguez was the victim of “aggravated threats” by terrorist groups or gangs and that “it was recommended that he emigrate … because these individuals who threaten people always act out the threats they make.”
The couple left town within the week, along with Rodriguez’s father, Andres Rodriguez, 52. He told Reuters he accepted his son’s relationship and refused to let the pair risk the journey alone. “He’s my son, and I will always support him,” he said.
They joined a gathering caravan in spring 2018 in southern Mexico. To anyone who asked, the young men said they were cousins.
Just shy of the U.S. border in Tijuana, Mexico, Andres Rodriguez decided not to cross with the younger men, convinced that his case for asylum was not as strong. He waited long enough to ensure his son made it out of detention, then headed home.
Luis Rodriguez and Claros were sent to the Otay Mesa Detention Center in San Diego to await immigration court hearings. There, Rodriguez – schooled by caravan members on the language of human rights – wrote a letter on behalf of 36 other detainees to protest the living conditions.
“In this country,” he wrote, “the First Amendment protects the rights of all human beings no matter their race, religion, nationality, social group, sexual orientation or political opinion. For that reason we urge CCA” – a private company, now called CoreCivic, that runs Otay Mesa – “to treat us like the humans we are.”
The May 2018 letter, reviewed by Reuters, alleged the detained migrants were forced to work six hours a day for $1.50 per hour.
“When we ask for medical attention they do not treat us, and many of us have wounds and pains,” the letter said.
In a statement to Reuters, CoreCivic representative Amanda Gilchrist said work programs were “completely voluntary.” In a separate statement to Reuters, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, which oversees the center, also said work was voluntary and that all detainees were screened for health issues and provided treatment as needed.
Conditions at the center briefly improved and Rodriguez said he suffered no punishment for taking a stand – a result that impressed him.
Rodriguez and Claros were released on immigration parole after four months, each moving in with their respective relatives in Los Angeles.
The young men said the addresses on their court papers were not updated. Receiving word of his San Diego hearing a day in advance, Claros said he rushed more than 100 miles to make it in time. He was granted asylum on October 18, according to his court papers. He then moved in with relatives in Texas.
Rodriguez got notice of his hearing on the day it was to be held and missed it, he said. His next court date is later this year.
After his relative learned he was gay, Rodriguez said, tension mounted in the household and he moved out. He found a job, was fired for being undocumented, then found another as a metal worker. Every day, he worked nine to 12 hours. His relationship with Claros became strained by distance and the pressures in their lives, he said. They broke up.
One afternoon in early May 2019, he was hospitalized in unbearable pain. After 15 days’ absence from work, his boss fired him, he said. Rent was due. His hospital bill climbed to $1,155.
After he was discharged, however, his luck began to turn. His work permit landed and he began applying for jobs the next day. Soon he started as a half-time cashier at McDonald’s, making $14.50 an hour, and took a second job as a house painter.
A friend agreed to help him find a center where he could earn his general education diploma.
Making his way in the United States is still difficult, he said, but things are starting to work out for him.
“To be able to go to school in a few years, I see that as a lot better – because then I won’t have been defeated.”
We at the Sacramento LGBT Community Center, join our fellow LGBTQ+ Centers to ask for fair and affirming care of asylum-seekers.
Across the United States, people of all backgrounds are reacting with outrage in light of the Administration’s announcement that people who attempt to seek asylum outside of ports of entry will be denied the right to this protection.
On Sunday, November 11th, an estimated 78 LGBTQ asylum seekers reached the United States border in hopes of escaping persecution in Central America. Originally traveling with a larger group from Honduras, they left the caravan after experiencing discrimination and threats from others. Many LGBTQ migrants were denied food and access to showers by caravan members or local groups providing aid. “There was no physical abuse but there was plenty of verbal abuse,” a transgender woman told reporters, although she added it was nothing compared to the reality of living as a transgender woman in her home country of Honduras.
As they await the opportunity to begin the asylum process in Tijuana, the group continues to be targeted simply for being part of the LGBTQ community. They were met with anger from locals, who said they should have been warned by authorities that LGBTQ people would be staying in their neighborhood.
Members of the group originate from Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua, and El Salvador, and include a handful of children. Most plan to use their status as members of a persecuted class to request asylum in the U.S. as early as Thursday.
Unfortunately, the government reacts to their plight with armed forces and threats of denying entry to begin the asylum process, essentially signing their death orders. LGBTQ people flee to the U.S. because they cannot live safely in their home countries. They are in danger of persecution, prosecution, imprisonment, blackmail, discrimination, torture, sexual assault and in some cases, death based on their actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity.
If LGBTQ asylum seekers are granted the opportunity to have their case heard, they can be detained until trial, which may take months. In detention centers, transgender women are often housed with men or placed in solitary confinement. LGBTQ immigrants report high rates of sexual assault and abuse during their time in detention, and proper medical care is often denied.
These asylum seekers have faced challenges and painful barriers in receiving equal treatment during every step of their journey. The undersigned LGBTQ Community Centers strongly support them in their quest for a better life and demand that they be treated fairly and equitably as they seek their legal right to asylum.
October is LGBTQ History Month and National Bullying Prevention month and we’ve got two great easy opportunities for you to show support for LGBTQ youth:
Wednesday, Oct 16 is #PronounsDay, an international day of recognition that seeks to make respecting, sharing, and educating about personal pronouns commonplace. Referring to people by the pronouns they determine for themselves is basic to human dignity.
Thursday, Oct 17 is #SpiritDay, a special international tradition that was started in Oct 2011 after a number of LGBTQ young people were lost to bullying & suicide. In order to visibly let our LGBTQ youth know they are loved & supported by a community that cares, we wear purple (the color for Spirit on the rainbow flag) and, since 2012 we have been making a big, beautiful, community collage!Here are a few ways you can get involved this year and show support for LGBTQ youth:Learn about pronouns and share your pronouns! Add them to your email signature, or bring them up when you introduce yourself (name tags, too!).
Click the image for more info, or check out this link: https://www.mypronouns.org/“Go purple” for #SpiritDay, Thursday, October 17! Wear purple, turn your social media profile pic(s) purple, etc. Send us your pics of you (even better if you include your coworkers or classmates) or tag us on social media and we’ll add you to our collage for 2019!
Octubre es el Mes de la Historia LGBTQ y el Mes Nacional de la Prevención del Acoso. Te tenemos dos oportunidades que son perfectos y fáciles para mostrar tu apoyo para jóvenes LGBTQ:El día miércoles 16 de octubre es #DíaDePronombres, un nuevo día festivo nacional que abarca hacer que el respeto, el intercambio y la educación sobre los pronombres personales sean comunes. Referirse a las personas por los pronombres que determinan por sí mismos es básico para la dignidad humana.El día jueves 17 de octubre es el #DíaDeEspíritu (#SpiritDay), una tradición internacional que comenzó en octubre del 2011 cuando fallecieron varios jóvenes LGBTQ debido al acoso y al suicidio. Para proclamar visiblemente a nuestxs jóvenes LGBTQ que son amadxs y apoyadxs por una comunidad a quien si le importan, nos vestimos de morado (el color de espíritu de la bandera del arco iris) y, cada año desde 2012, ¡creamos una gran y hermosa colección de fotos comunitarias!Aquí hay varias formas en que puedes participar este año para mostrar su apoyo a los jóvenes LGBTQ:¡Aprenda acerca de los pronombres personales y comparte los tuyos! Agrégalos a tu firma de email, o inclúyelos cuando te presentas (en las calcomanías de nombre, también!). Él, ella, elle, ellxs, etc.”¡Vístete de morado” para #SpiritDay, jueves 18 de octubre! Lleva ropa de color morado, cambia tus fotos de perfil al color morado en las redes sociales, etc. Envíanos tus fotos (puntos extras si incluye a tus compañerxs de trabajo o compañerxs de clase) o etiquétanos en las redes sociales y ¡las agregaremos a nuestra colección de fotos para 2019! Mándanos un email a ian@lgbtqconnection.org o a jessie@lgbtqconnection.org para nuestra colección de fotos.https://www.lgbtqconnection.org/donate¡Haga una donación para ayudarnos a enfrentar el acoso escolar y apoyar a más jóvenes LGBTQ en los condados de Napa y Sonoma! Háblanos con cualquier pregunta! Esperamos contar con tu apoyo.
