Tag Archives: Discrimination

Ex-employee of San Antonio Federal Credit Union starts petition, alleges gays can’t use restrooms

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A former employee of San Antonio Federal Credit Union started an online petition Tuesday that alleges the company prohibits its gay employees from using the unisex bathrooms. Instead, the petition states gay employees must use the restrooms in the lobby.

The petition on Change.org entitled “Stop the discriminatory treatment of gay employees at San Antonio Federal Credit Union,” also states that gay employees are not allowed to discuss their families, as their straight co-workers can.

SACU was started in 1935 and was federally charted in 1989, according to the website. About 700 employees work at 18 branches in San Antonio and one branch in Houston.

SACU spokeswoman Paige Ramsey-Palmer told Instant Tea on Wednesday that the company doesn’t discriminate based on sexual orientation.

“We totally disagree and we respectfully disagree with the allegations,” she said. “We are an equal opportunity and affirmative action employer and because of this we take these allegations very seriously.”

Continue reading “Ex-employee of San Antonio Federal Credit Union starts petition, alleges gays can’t use restrooms” »

—  Anna Waugh

Beaumont theater professor sues for religious discrimination after refusing to attend gay event

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Theater professor Linda Ozmun is suing Beaumont’s Lamar University for religious discrimination after she was reprimanded for refusing to attend an event by a gay performer.

Ozmun was in her fourth year of teaching on a tenure track in the school’s department of theater and dance, according to the lawsuit. In the fall of 2010, the department booked artist Tim Miller for a performance.

Calling Miller an “openly homosexual man who advocates for normalizing homosexuality,” Ozmun declined to attend based on her religious views because Miller uses “obscene language and sexual gestures” in his show about his “homosexual lifestyle.”

Miller, an internationally acclaimed performer is known for his humor. His work “explores the artistic, spiritual and political topography of his identity as a gay man,” according to his website.

A review from The New York Times is quoted on his website applauding him as a “charming and wildly energetic storyteller! Funny, forceful and full of vigorous gay pride!”

After complaints from the community, the show was canceled, but students created a “Coming Out Collective” show in response. Ozmun did not attend, stating her religious beliefs when she was later asked about her absence by department chair Judith Sebesta.

In her annual performance review in March 2011, Sebesta gave Ozmon an “unacceptable” rating because of her failure to attend the event. Ozmun filed a grievance with the university for the review, but it was ignored, the suit states.

Miller was later booked for a show in the fall of 2011. Ozmun requested permission to not attend because of her beliefs, but the dean of the College of Fine Arts and Communication allegedly threatened her with disciplinary action if she did not attend.

After not attending the event, her lawsuit said she was “disciplined for her religious beliefs.” She no longer works at the university.

Ozmun is suing the university and Sebesta for religious discrimination. She is seeking lost wages, actual and punitive damages and to be reinstated with her negative record expunged.

A spokesman with the university declined to comment on the case because it is in litigation. He also was unsure if LGBT organizations were on campus.

The university has two LGBT organizations, Lamar Allies that the website states is for gay and straight students supporting gay rights and a support group called the LU Purple Rhino Project.

However, the two groups have no upcoming events posted on the student organization calendar, but the 24 religious groups on campus sure have a lot planned and advertised. So I’m guessing the campus of roughly 14,000 mostly share Ozmun’s religious views. And Beaumont is so well known for religious intolerance anyway.

Perhaps the theater department was simply trying to follow its mission stated on the website of trying to “encourage interdisciplinary collaboration, foster professionalism and artistic integrity, and embrace and cultivate diversity.”

Mission accomplished.

—  Anna Waugh

Ex-TCC professor’s anti-gay bias suit advances

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Jacqueline “Jackie” Gill

Jacqueline “Jackie” Gill

FORT WORTH – In a preliminary victory for a lesbian former professor, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas denied a motion Monday by Tarrant County College administrators to dismiss her lawsuit alleging she was prevented from interviewing for a permanent teaching position based on her sexual orientation.

Jacqueline “Jackie” Gill filed a complaint in September 2011 stating she was unable to interview for a permanent position in the English department after her yearlong temporary position had expired.

The co-defendants, English Department Chair Eric Devlin and Dean of Humanities Antonia Howell, sought qualified immunity, which guards state officials from liability unless there is an established law. However, discrimination by public employees based on sexual orientation violates the U.S. Constitution, said Ken Upton, a senior staff attorney for Lambda Legal who is presenting Gill.

“The Supreme Court of the United States has said that that’s not a valid basis for discriminating,” Upton said. “What we wanted to show is that it is clearly established that you don’t get to judge someone’s job performance based on sexual orientation. … (The court) ruled that it was clearly established when they treated Jackie differently presumably based on the fact that they thought she’s a lesbian.”

Continue reading “Ex-TCC professor’s anti-gay bias suit advances” »

—  Anna Waugh

Measure would ban anti-LGBT discrimination in Houston

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Charter amendment could also allow DP benefits for city workers

DANIEL WILLIAMS  |  Contributing Writer

HOUSTON — Long-brewing plans to place a city-wide non-discrimination policy before Houston voters became public this week.

Since December a coalition of organizations and leaders have been working to draft a city charter amendment that would make it illegal to discriminate in housing, employment or public accommodations on the basis of  “age, race, color, creed, religion, national origin, ancestry, disability, marital status, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, or physical characteristic.”

The amendment would also remove anti-LGBT language added to the Houston city charter in 1985 and 2001 — which could allow the City Council to vote to offer health benefits to the domestic partners of municipal employees.

Houston Mayor Annise Parker, who famously became the only out LGBT person elected mayor of a major American city in 2009, has declined to comment on the proposed charter amendment until the language is finalized. She told the Houston Chronicle: “I believe it’s important for the city of Houston to send a signal to the world that we welcome everybody and that we treat everybody equally, and depending on the elements of what was actually in it, I might or might not support it,”

According to Equality Texas Executive Director Dennis Coleman, the prospect of Houston voters approving the non-discrimination amendment has ramifications for efforts to pass similar measures in the state Legislature.

“Nondiscrimination in Houston builds a better case for us when we go for nondiscrimination in Austin,” said Coleman. “To be able to tell representatives that they represent areas that already support these efforts is very helpful.”

The cities of Austin, Dallas and Fort Worth all already have similar nondiscrimination ordinances and offer DP benefits to employees.

But Houston’s form of governance makes this effort unique. While the City Council is empowered to pass city ordinances covering issues of discrimination, they can be overturned by popular vote if those opposing the ordinance collect 20,000 signatures to place the issue on the ballot.

That was the case in 1985 after Houston Mayor Kathy Whitmire pushed through the council the city’s first protections for gay and lesbian Houstonians (no protections were provided for the bisexual or transgender communities).

A coalition of right-wing voters led by Louie Welch, then president of the Houston Chamber of Commerce, was able to place the issue on a city-wide ballot, claiming the policy “promoted the homosexual lifestyle.” The group also recruited a “straight slate” of candidates to run against City Council members who had favored the protections, with Welch running against Whitmire.

The public vote on nondiscrimination was held in June 1985 and Welch’s forces prevailed, but the city’s temperament had changed by the time of the City Council and mayoral races in November. A comment of Welch’s that the solution to the AIDS crisis was to “shoot the queers” was aired on local TV and few in Houston wished to be associated with him after that. The “straight slate” failed to capture a single City Council seat and Whitmire remained mayor, but the defeat of the city’s nondiscrimination policy remained.

By 1998 Houston had changed: Annise Parker was serving as the city’s first out lesbian city council member and Houston boasted the state’s first out gay judge, John Paul Barnich. Mayor Lee Brown, sensing the change, issued an executive order protecting LGBT city employees from employment discrimination. But the city had not changed that much. Councilman Rob Todd led efforts to fight the order in court, arguing that since voters rejected city-wide protections from discrimination in 1985, it was inappropriate for the mayor to institute them without voter approval. The city spent the next three years defending the policy in court, finally emerging victorious.

The joy of that 2001 victory would be shortlived, however. That year Houston’s voters approved another amendment to the city charter, this time prohibiting the city from providing domestic partner benefits for city employees. In a narrow defeat, just over 51 percent of voters decided that the city should not offer competitive benefits.

The current proposed non-discrimination amendment would remove the language added in 1985 and 2001. While it would provide non-discrimination protections it would not require the city to offer benefits of any kind to the spouses of LGBT city employees, leaving that question back in the hands of the City Council.

The organizers of the current effort are confident that this year is the year for victory.

Noel Freeman, the president of the Houston GLBT Political Caucus, which is spearheading the effort, explains that the previous votes occurred in “non-presidential years,”when voter turnout in general is low, and conservative voters make up a larger percentage of the electorate.

Additionally, polling by Equality Texas in 2010 showed that 80 percent of Houstonians support employment protections for gay and lesbian people.

In order to place the non-discrimination amendment on the November ballot the coalition supporting it will need to collect 20,000 signatures of registered Houston voters and submit them to the city clerk. Freeman says that the final charter amendment language is still under consideration and that once it is finalized the group will begin collecting signatures.

Even former Councilman Todd, who once fought the city’s policy of non-discrimination for LGBT employees, supports the current effort.

This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition February 17, 2012.

—  Michael Stephens

WATCH: GLSEN student ambassadors, executive director on Great Day Houston

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Dr. Eliza Byard

Dr. Eliza Byard

The Gay Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) executive director Dr. Eliza Byard and GLSEN Student Ambassadors Tommy Surratt and Gabe Maffuz stopped by Great Day Houston last week to talk about the organiation’s efforts. Surratt, who is straight, was joined by his father Jim Surratt who talked briefly about the discrimination that the children of same-sex couples face in schools.

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Texas A&M to end employment discrimination on the basis of gender identity or expression

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R Bowen Loftin

Dr. R Bowen Loftin

Texas A&M University President Dr. R. Bowen Loftin issued a memo January 20th, re-affirming the University’s commitment to non-discrimination in employment. Historically this memo is issued annually and has in recent years included sexual orientation among a list of attributes that have been the historical basis of discrimination and which the university vows not to use to discriminate in employment. This year’s memo is a little special, however. For the first time in the school’s 141 year history, Texas A&M has committed to employment nondiscrimination on the basis of gender identity or expression. From the memo:

“… the university has developed an Affirmative Action Program that documents the policies, practices and procedures to support equal treatment for all applicants and employees and assure, in good faith, equal access and affirmative action for women, minorities, individuals with disabilities and veterans at all levels of its workforce. It is our policy to not discriminate in employment opportunities or practices on the basis of race, sex, color, national orgin, religion, age, disability, veteran status, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by law. Furthermore, we will maintain a work environment free from discrimination of the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression.”

The memo applies only to the employment practices of A&M’s main campus in College Station, not to students or employees at any of the other A&M system campuses. Last month the Texas A&M Student Senate passed a resolution encouraging the university system to adopt a system-wide non-discrimination policy for students, staff and faculty that included sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression. Student Senator Andrew Jancaric, the driving force behind that resolution, greeted the news of Loftin’s memo excitedly. “President Loftin has shown a great deal of leadership, particurally given the proximidy of this realease to the legislation passed by the Student Senate. Because of that leadership it will make changing that policy at the student level much more easy,” said Jancaric, adding “It’s a really important statement coming from the president of our university, which I believe will have great weight with the system’s board of regents.”

 

—  admin

“Gen Silent” explores challenges facing the elderly LGBT community

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Gen Silent PosterThere are almost 38 million LGBT Americans over the age of 65. This number is expected to double by 2030. Yet in a Fenway Institute study fifty percent of nursing home workers said that their co-workers are intolerant of LGBT people. That collision of a rapidly aging queer population and a nursing home system ill-prepared to serve them is explored in Gen Silent, a documentary showing at the GLBT Cultural Center (401 Branard) on Thursday, January 26, at 6:30 pm.

Gen Silent, from award-winning director and documentary filmmaker Stu Maddux, follows six LGBT seniors as they struggle to make decisions about their twilight years. These seniors put a face on what experts in the film call an epidemic: gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender seniors so afraid of discrimination in long-term health care that many go back into the closet.

Gen Silent startlingly discovers how oppression in the years before Stonewall now leaves many elders not just afraid but dangerously isolated and at risk on not receiving medical care. The film shows the wide range in quality of paid caregivers –from those who are specifically trained to make LGBT seniors feel safe, to the other end of the spectrum, where LGBT elders face discrimination, neglect or abuse, including shocking bed-side attempts by staff to persuade seniors to give up their “sinful” lifestyles.

This free screening will be followed by a call-to-action and panel discussion with some of Houston’s GLBT senior leaders.

View the trailer for Gen Silent after the break.

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Al Franken asks public for help passing Student Non-Discrimination Act

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Sen. Al Franken

Sen. Al Franken

Sen. Al Franken, D – Minnesota, is asking the public for help passing S. 555, The Student Non-Discrimination Act, a bill that would prohibit discrimination against public school students on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. Under the provisions of S. 555 students who experienced discrimination because of their real or perceived sexual orientation or because of their association with LGBT people could bring a civil suit against the school officials or districts responsible for the discrimination. The bill currently has 34 co-sponsors (none from Texas) and its House companion (H.R. 998 by Rep. Jared Polis, D – Colorado) has 150 (with 7 Texan co-sponsors including Houston’s own Sheila Jackson Lee and Al Green) . Both bills have been referred to committee but neither has received a hearing, a crucial step towards becoming law.

In the video requesting the public call their Senators (after the break) Franken points out that federal law already provides protection for school children harassed because of race, color, sex, religion, disability, and national origin, but that no protection exists for sexual orientation or gender identity.

The inclusion of “association” in S. 555 is particularly well thought out. According to the Williams Institute nearly 1 in 5 same-sex couples in the United States is raising children, in Harris County 18% of same-sex couples are.  As these children enter school it’s important that they be able to receive an education without harassment or bullying due to who their parents are.

Franken is asking people to call the Senate switchboard at 202-224-3121 and encourage their Senator’s to support the bill.

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U.S. Supreme Court: Religious groups exempt from employment discrimination laws

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U.S. Supreme Court Building

The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday, Jan. 11, issued a ruling exempting religious groups from nondiscrimination in hiring laws when it comes to ministers and those who teach religious subjects, according to this report in The New York Times.

“The interest of society in the enforcement of employment discrimination statutes is undoubtedly important,” Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. wrote. “But so, too, is the interest of religious groups in choosing who will preach their beliefs, teach their faith and carry out their mission.”

The ruling came in the case Hosanna-Tabor Church v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, in which former teacher Cheryl Perich claimed she was fired from her job at a Lutheran School in Redford, Mich., because she pursued a discrimination complaint based on a disability (Perich suffers from narcolepsy).

School officials said Perich — who was called a teacher that had completed religious training and who taught mostly secular classes but did also teach a religion class and attend chapel with her class — was fired because she violated church doctrine by pursuing litigation rather than trying to resolve the dispute within the church.

The Rev. Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said he fears the court’s decision this week will make it harder to combat the “social evil” of “blatant discrimination,” and suggested the ruling could prevent pastors who are sexually harassed from filing suit against their harassers.

But Bishop William E. Lori, chair of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops‘ ad hoc committee for religious liberty, told the Times the ruling was “a great day for the First Amendment.” The Catholic Church has in some cases shut down programs to avoid having to abide by state and federal nondiscrimination laws protecting LGBT people, including the decision in December by bishops in Illinois to close most of their church’s adoption and foster care services rather than allow same-sex couples to adopt or foster children, as per new state requirements for agencies that receive state funds. Catholic Church officials in Washington, D.C., and Massachussets had made similar decisions previously.

Although this particular case had nothing at all to do with issues of sexual orientation or gender identity, it’s not hard to imagine how easily it can be used against the LGBT community. As Florida Courier columnist Charles W. Cherry II writes: “Can predominately white churches and religious schools now fire black ‘ministers’ (who are also teachers) because of their race and be legally protected from a race discrimination lawsuit? Sounds like it to me — and the court ruled unanimously. Could this case be interpreted to mean that black churches can now legally fire effeminate (or openly gay) ‘ministers’ of music without worrying about a lawsuit in places where sexual orientation is legally protected?”

—  admin

Victory in HCC trans discrimination case (sort of)

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As previously reported by our friends over at the Dallas Voice, in September a Houston Community College teacher, Donny Leveston, led an in-class conversation about “Taboo: Incest and Homoeroticism” in which transgender people were referred to as “freaks” and “weirdos.” In an official response from the HCC Office of Institutional Equality the school admitted that the instructor acted insensitively and failed to show proper concern for a transgender student in the class who later withdrew from the school over the incident. Despite this, HCC found that Leveston did not violate the school’s policy against Discrimination and Harassment and will not be disciplined or required to attend training on transgender issues.

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