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Freedom to Work sues ExxonMobil for anti-LGBT discrimination

Posted on 22 May 2013 at 1:32pm
Almeida.Tico

Tico Almeida

Freedom to Work, a national workplace discrimination organization, filed a complaint against Irving-based ExxonMobil today charging it with violating Illinois’ ban on anti-LGBT workplace discrimination.

The lawsuit comes one week ahead of ExxonMobil’s annual meeting in Dallas, where shareholders will again consider a resolution to add LGBT employees to the company’s nondiscrimination policy.

Two test resumes were submitted for a position with the company, according to the complaint. One was an LGBT applicant who was highly qualified for the position. Another was a less-qualified straight woman.

Exxon responded by treating the better-qualified LGBT applicant far worse than the less qualified non-LGBT applicant, the suit alleges. On three occasions, Exxon contacted the non-LGBT and less-qualified candidate for an interview, and Exxon even suggested that it would hold open the job for the non-LGBT applicant.

The better qualified LGBT candidate was never contacted by Exxon about the position.

“Exxon broke the law, defies industry standards and continues to betray the American people’s sense of fairness,” said Tico Almeida, president of Freedom to Work in a press release. “This case is one more reminder that Exxon stands virtually alone in the Fortune 100 in denying qualified gay and transgender Americans a fair shot to get a job based on their talents and hard work. Exxon must obey the Golden Rule and do onto others as they would want others to do onto them.”

ExxonMobil shareholder resolutions to add LGBT protections have been voted down every year since 1999. ExxonMobil is the only company that has ever received a negative score on the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index. The company rescinded domestic partner benefits and discrimination protections for gay employees after Exxon and Mobil merged.

More coverage of the meeting in Friday’s Dallas Voice. Freedom to Work’s full press release is below.

Continue reading “Freedom to Work sues ExxonMobil for anti-LGBT discrimination” »

— David Taffet

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Jo Hudson sends farewell letter to Cathedral of Hope congregation

Posted on 22 May 2013 at 10:46am
the Rev. Jo Hudson

The Rev. Jo Hudson

On her last day affiliated with Cathedral of Hope, the Rev. Jo Hudson sent a letter to the congregation saying goodbye.

Hudson resigned as senior pastor at the 11 a.m. service on April 21. Her resignation took effect Sunday, May 19.

In her letter, Hudson wrote that she is bound by the United Church of Christ’s Code of Ministerial Conduct to stop participating in the congregation, and she cannot perform any ceremonies.

While leaving members with her email address to stay in contact, Hudson said she cannot discuss the church.

The church plans to hire an interim pastor with a specialty in problem solving, healing and day-to-day church management. Once that person is in place, a search and call committee will be formed to find a permanent senior pastor.

At an April 29 board meeting, plans were announced to have an interim pastor in place by May 19, but that person has not been chosen.

The letter from Hudson to the congregation follows:

Continue reading “Jo Hudson sends farewell letter to Cathedral of Hope congregation” »

— David Taffet

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Stay tuned to Instant Tea for coverage of Boy Scouts meeting in Grapevine

Posted on 22 May 2013 at 10:07am

scouts

Supporters of lifting the ban on gay youth in the Boy Scouts will convene today for the first day of a three-day Equal Scouting Summit in Grapevine.

At noon, Eagle Scout Dave McGrath and his son will arrive at the Great Wolf Lodge, 100 Great Wolf Drive, completing their 1,800 mile Bike for Equality campaign that began when they left Idaho Falls on May 3.

McGrath, Scouts for Equality founder Zach Wahls and Inclusive Scouting Network founder Mark Noel will address the audience.

Gay Scouts and leaders will then speak, including former Ohio den mother Jennifer Tyrrell, gay Eagle Scout Will Oliver, Greg Bourke, a gay dad removed from his position as Scoutmaster with his son’s troop, and Pascal Tessier, a gay Boy Scout who was told he would not be eligible to earn the Eagle award his older brother received.

Events for the summit will take place today at the Great Wolf Lodge in Fallen Timber A Meeting Room. They are expected to conclude around 2 p.m.

Across the street at the Gaylord Texan, where the roughly 1,400 members of the BSA’s National Council will vote on the resolution tomorrow, opponents of allowing gays Scouts will protest at Texas Values’ Save Our Scouts rally from noon to 4 p.m.

Dallas Voice will be in Grapevine to capture all the excitement and will be tweeting live from the press conferences and rally. Follow us on Twitter here.

Yesterday 20 members of Congress signed a letter supporting the resolution to welcome gay youth into the BSA. Among them was Rep. Marc Veasey, D-Fort Worth.

“As part of its mission, the BSA seeks to instill traditionally American values of tolerance, acceptance and inclusion of others in youth scouts in preparation for the responsibilities of citizenship,” the letter reads in part. “Today, BSA has a policy that excludes gay Scouts and Scout leaders from participating. This is counter to BSA’s mission to teach our youth to combat discrimination. We are pleased to learn that the National Council will soon take up a resolution at the May 22nd meeting to update its membership standards policy. We strongly urge the BSA to pass the proposed resolution to end discrimination against gay youth.”

Read the full letter here.

— Anna Waugh

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Anti-trans marriage license bill dies, but Krause amendment remains

Posted on 21 May 2013 at 11:28am
State Sen. Donna Campbell

State Sen. Donna Campbell

Republican state Sen. Donna Campbell’s anti-transgender marriage license bill is officially dead.

SB 1218 passed the Senate last week, but failed to make it out of a House committee and onto the calendar for a vote this week. The bill would have prohibited anyone from obtaining a marriage license with a document that lacks a photo, including an affidavit of sex change.

Daniel Williams, field organizer with Equality Texas, said the organization worked with transgender activists to slow the bill’s progress throughout the session.

“That is absolutely a victory,” he said.

This is the third and last anti-gay bill that’s died this session. However, Fort Worth Republican Matt Krause turned his failed HB 360 into an amendment and tacked it onto a bill last week that passed. The amendment would allow student organizations at state-funded colleges to discriminate against people for membership.

Williams said the bill’s final version will come for a vote this week and the group will work to kill the amendment if it makes it into the bill.

— Anna Waugh

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UPDATE: Lesbian couple to comply with judge’s order enforcing ‘morality clause’

Posted on 20 May 2013 at 5:39pm
Roach.John

Judge John Roach Jr.

A lesbian mom plans to comply with a Collin County judge’s order saying her partner must move out under a “morality clause” that was included in a divorce settlement with her ex-husband, according to a statement from her attorneys.

The statement released Monday afternoon also indicates that Carolyn Compton’s ex-husband unsuccessfully sought to have her jailed for violating the morality clause by living with her lesbian partner.

Compton has custody of two children from her marriage to Joshua Compton, and she shares a home with her partner of three years, Page Price.

The morality clause says Compton cannot have anyone in her home between 9 p.m. and 7 a.m. if it is “an intimate dating relationship” but they are not married. Under Texas law, Compton cannot marry Price.

Joshua Compton reportedly went to court to enforce the morality clause after hiring a private investigator to spy on his ex-wife.

Republican Collin County Judge John Roach Jr. issued an order May 7 giving Price 30 days to move out. Roach reportedly rejected Joshua Compton’s attempt to have his ex-wife held in contempt, fined and jailed for each of the 181 alleged violations of the morality clause. Nevertheless, the judge’s order has prompted an outcry against him since Dallas Voice broke the story on Friday.

Attorneys for Compton and Price issued a statement Monday saying the couple plans to comply with the order even though it is an unconstitutional violation of their right to privacy under case law including Lawrence v. Texas. The attorneys also requested that unlike Roach, the press respect the couple’s privacy since the case involves children. Their full statement is below.

Continue reading “UPDATE: Lesbian couple to comply with judge’s order enforcing ‘morality clause’” »

— John Wright

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Kessler Park UMC backs Boy Scouts’ proposal to allow gay youth

Posted on 20 May 2013 at 4:47pm

KesslerPark

 

Kessler Park United Methodist Church has made its stance on inclusion in the Boy Scouts clear to its members today.

The church posted on its Facebook that it hoped the National Council votes this week to “adopt the resolution eliminating heterosexuality as a requirement for a youth’s participation in scouting.”

Troop 5 is charted by the church and is one of the oldest troops in Dallas. Methodist churches are the second-largest sponsors of troops nationwide.

“Our church, we would assert, has long experience attempting to reconcile diversity, security, and godliness,” the post reads. “We believe that Christ’s teachings, as well as the Scout Oath and Law which flow from Christ’s words, call us to welcome all persons of good will in the training of children to become wholesome adults.”

The BSA National Council will vote on the resolution to only admit gay youth at its meeting later this week.

Read Kessler Park UMC’s full statement below.

Continue reading “Kessler Park UMC backs Boy Scouts’ proposal to allow gay youth” »

— Anna Waugh

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Meet our shamelessly self-promoting summer intern, Dakota Shain Byrd

Posted on 20 May 2013 at 2:04pm

Dakota_ByrdHey y’all!

I’m thrilled to be here and be a part of the Dallas Voice team. I’ve written a few articles for the Voice before and am looking forward to working for them this summer.

So some info about me. Despite how young I look, I’m actually 22. Yes, I know I’ll be thanking divinity for my great genes later on. Haha!

I’m a creative writing major at the University of North Texas and am seeking a minor in social sciences with a concentration in anthropology. I’m from a military family so I was always studying people and culture in order to learn how to best try and fit in.

Additionally, just last week I was accepted to the Lambda Literary Writers Retreat for Emerging LBGT Voices. It’s a huge opportunity and is from July 28-Aug. 4, the week after my internship is finished. I’ll need some help getting there, though.

If you can make a donation, it’s 100 percent tax-deductible and every dollar helps! Even if all you can donate is a dollar, it helps. I only have to raise $300. I’m an aspiring author and my manuscript, The Black Night Rave, is under consideration at Razorbill (an imprint of Penguin Group) and has been requested by a few agents. If I get to the Lambda Literary Retreat, this will definitely be a huge plus and garner some notice for my work. So, please help me? In turn, my work would help bring us closer to total inclusion and acceptance into society.

I look forward to hearing from and connecting y’all!

Follow me on Twitter, add me on Facebook, and check out my blog as well! I am launching my blog tomorrow and will update it on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Make sure you bookmark the page to keep up with all the zany, fun, hilarious and outright amazing things that happen on my road to getting published, and for tips on how to break into various forms of publishing and tricks of the trade.

— Dakota Byrd

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TX-based Millions of Moms for Love counters One Million Moms’ hate

Posted on 20 May 2013 at 1:22pm

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAFor more than 20 years, gays have gathered in Orlando the first week of June for Gay Days at Walt Disney World, where folks and their friends and families can experience the Magic Kingdom and all its camp appeal. Over the decades, it has grown to a weeklong event, covering all the Disney parks (as well as Universal) and attracting hundreds of thousands of out-and-proud people, looking to enjoy the amusements.

And for almost as long, it has been a lightning rod for hate groups.

Disney does not officially sponsor Gay Days (though, as a regular attendee for many years, I can tell you they don’t oppose it), but that hasn’t stopped homophobic groups like the American Family Association and spinoff One Million Moms from accusing the House of Mouse and gays of “expos[ing] and desensitiz[ing] children to this lifestyle by same-sex couples holding hands, hugging and kissing.” Let’s ignore for a minute that “holding hands, hugging and kissing” is also what parents do with the kids, and couples of all ages do in public on a daily basis without causing a stir. Still, OMM is urging its supporters to email Disney and demand they not “go along” with Gay Days.

Of course, I don’t know how Disney could stop it: You show up with money and a ticket, they let you in — they are a business. But that doesn’t stop OMM.

It has, however, spurred a straight Texas mother, Darcy Christ, to act. (Don’t you just love her last name? Christ is on our side!) Earlier this month, Christ started a Facebook fan page to get folks who believe in love to oppose OMM and their rants against gays. She’s also teamed with Outloud Enterprises, which has established a page where you can sign a letter to Disney voicing your support for inclusion.

And, of course, you can show your support simply by attending Gay Days and spending money. For some reason, that seems to work.

— Arnold Wayne Jones

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Man appeals dismissal of suit alleging Texas AG fired him for being gay

Posted on 20 May 2013 at 9:33am
Jason_Smith

Jason Smith

The case of a gay Tyler man who sued the Texas Attorney General’s office for employment discrimination comes before the Court of Appeals in Austin this week.

Vic A. Gardner worked for the AG’s child support division for about three years. He received excellent performance reviews until an office Halloween costume party, the suit alleges. When he attended dressed as a geisha girl, his supervisor determined he was gay.

Once his sexual orientation was assumed by the supervisor, he was repeatedly disciplined until he resigned in February, according to his attorney, Jason Smith of Fort Worth.

In a sworn affidavit, the supervisor admitted he had a religious objection to Gardner being gay.

“You are who you are, but try not to be so out,” Smith said his client was told.

Knowing Gardner’s father was a Baptist minister, the supervisor asked Gardner at one point how he could do that to his father.

In October 2010, a lower court judge ruled the AG had immunity from prosecution and dismissed the case. Gardner appealed in November 2010 but withdrew his appeal in January 2011.

Gardner’s new appeal is asking the court to order a jury trial. The AG contends all Gardner can do is ask for reinstatement. Smith said his client is entitled to lost wages and more.

Continue reading “Man appeals dismissal of suit alleging Texas AG fired him for being gay” »

— David Taffet

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Activists plan 2nd annual Dallas Harvey Milk celebration May 26

Posted on 17 May 2013 at 2:42pm
Participants hold candles as they listen to speakers Tuesday, May 22, during Dallas’ first-ever Harvey Milk Day celebration at the Legacy of Love Monument. (John Wright/Dallas Voice)

Participants hold candles as they listen to speakers May 22, 2012, during Dallas’ first-ever Harvey Milk Day celebration at the Legacy of Love Monument. (John Wright/Dallas Voice)

Dallas activists are having a Harvey Milk celebration again this year.

The event will include speakers, music and a staged reading of “Dear Harvey” by Patricia Loughrey, which will be the first time the play has been staged in Dallas in any form.

GetEQUAL TX regional coordinator Daniel Cates, who is directing it, said he hopes to mount a full production later in the year.

“This is a beautiful piece and one that I am excited to bring to Dallas,” he said in a statement. “Harvey’s message of hope is one that all people, LGBT and not, should hear. This will be an inspiring evening.”

“Dear Harvey” is an ensemble piece created though interviews with people who actually knew Milk, his personal and political writings, newspaper stories and letters written to him from across the nation.

The cast includes the the Rev. Carol West of Celebration Community Church in Fort Worth, Lynn Walters, executive director of Hope for Peace and Justice, Jeffrey Harper, Mark Calloway, Todd Whitley and Alan Dudley of the Cathedral of Hope Theatre Ministry, and local activist Natalie Johnson.

The 2nd annual event planned by GetEQUAL TX and Hope for Peace and Justice will be 7 p.m. Sunday, May 26, at Cathedral of Hope’s Interfaith Peace Chapel.

“It is important for us to celebrate and remember our history as LGBT people. No one is going to tell our story for us, we have to do it ourselves. We owe it to younger generations to let them know where they come from and how far they can go,” Cates said.

Tickets to the Dallas Harvey Milk Celebration are available here for a suggested $15 All proceeds benefit programs of Hope for Peace and Justice and GetEQUAL TX.

— Anna Waugh

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