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Ahead of Congressional Forum on Violence Against Transgender People, HRC and TPOCC Release Report

Friday, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Foundation and the Trans People of Color Coalition (TPOCC) released a comprehensive report on the epidemic of violence against transgender people – particularly transgender women of color. The report comes ahead of the first-ever Congressional forum set for next Tuesday on the scourge of violence against transgender people.

The joint report, Addressing Anti-Transgender Violence: Exploring Realities, Challenges and Solutions for Policymakers and Community Advocates, comes in a year when at least 21 transgender people have been killed — the most reported since 2006 when advocates began working to track reported homicides of transgender people across the United States.

“There are now more transgender homicide victims in 2015 than in any other year that advocates have recorded. At least 21 people––nearly all of them transgender women of color––have lost their lives to violence,” said HRC President Chad Griffin. “This kind of violence is often motivated by anti-transgender bias; but that is rarely the only factor. At a time when transgender people are finally gaining visibility and activists are forcing our country to confront systemic violence against people of color, transgender women of color are facing an epidemic of violence that occurs at the intersections of racism, sexism and transphobia––issues that advocates can no longer afford to address separately.”

“The LGBT community has long counted on our non-LGBT allies to stand beside us in the fight for equality; and right now, the transgender community needs allies more than ever as we fight for our very survival,” said Kylar W. Broadus of TPOCC. “We are proud to partner with HRC on this work, and we ask all of our cisgender lesbian, gay, bisexual and straight friends, loved ones and supporters to stand up against the continuing stigma and discrimination that is killing transgender people of color at alarming rates.”

This new HRC & TPOCC report expands on an issue brief that the HRC Foundation released in partnership with TPOCC in January; it tells the stories of victims, and highlights key data, challenges, and case studies of cities working to address violence against transgender people. Stopping violence against transgender people will require action on a number of fronts. Key recommendations made in the report include:

Passing The Equality Act

  • The Equality Act, which was introduced by Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and Representative David Cicilline (D-RI), establishes explicit, permanent protections against discrimination based on an individual’s sexual orientation or gender identity in matters of employment, housing, access to public services and places, federally funded programs, credit, education and jury service. In addition, it would prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex in federal funding and access to public services and places.

  • The Equality Act would give transgender people recourse against discrimination that can lead them to experience homelessness or be refused services from shelters or healthcare providers, which can leave them vulnerable to fatal violence.

Supporting Emergency Housing Initiatives

  • Federal agencies like the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Department of Justice should enforce existing rules that prohibit discrimination against transgender people for all direct service providers, drop-in centers and shelters they fund. These rules must be paired with a broad training program on transgender cultural competency for direct service providers, drop-in centers and shelters.

  • Foundations, state and municipal governments, corporations and leading philanthropists should support local LGBT community centers, drop-in centers and shelters that are already providing critical direct service to the transgender community, such a Casa Ruby in Washington, DC, or Time Out Youth in Charlotte, NC.

  • The Department of Justice should ensure that programs and services that receive federal funding under the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) are equally available to individuals regardless of gender identity. In exceptional cases where a sex-segregated program or sex-segregated facility is essential to the operation of the program, the Department should provide meaningful notice to grantees to ensure that they know that they are required to provide comparable services. These rules should be paired with a broad training program on transgender cultural competency for direct service providers, drop-in centers and shelters.

Expanding Healthcare Coverage for Transgender People

  • States should prohibit transgender-related exclusions in insurance and Medicaid and ensure that public employees can receive transgender-inclusive healthcare.

  • The country’s leading insurance companies should build on the progress of corporate America by ending all exclusions on medically necessary transition-related care. They should also ensure that their medical provider networks are sufficiently broad and have the medical expertise and cultural competency to care for transgender clients.

  • Physicians and other healthcare providers must increase their cultural competency and ability to provide welcoming and sensitive care for transgender patients through trainings and continuing education.

  • Academic medical centers should implement the Association of American Medical Colleges’ (AAMC) curricular and climate change recommendations to address healthcare disparities facing transgender people.

Addressing Unemployment through Public-Private Partnerships and Non-Discrimination Protections

  • Municipalities and corporations should create public-private job training programs specifically aimed at facilitating stable employment opportunities for transgender people. Workplaces should market directly to prospective transgender employees with outreach at conferences and events across the nation.

  • State and municipal governments must pass non-discrimination protections in employment that include both sexual orientation and gender identity.

Improving Educational Environments for Transgender Students

  • The Department of Education should release explicit non-discrimination guidance that Title IX, the federal law that prohibits discrimination in education based on sex, protects transgender and gender-nonconforming students.

  • School district leaders, educators and other youth-serving professionals should create welcoming classrooms for transgender and gender-expansive students and to implement training programs that give teachers the tools they need to do so.

Improving Law Enforcement Training, Response, and Hate Crime Reporting

  • Law enforcement agencies should adopt policies that govern interactions with transgender and gender non-conforming individuals, similar to the District of Columbia’s Metropolitan Police Department’s General Order on Handling Interactions with Transgender Individuals. Law enforcement agencies can also work with advocates through programs like the Department of Justice’s Community Relations Service to institute trainings to ensure compliance.

  • Law enforcement agencies should also educate their police officers on the importance of correctly identifying a bias-motivated crime as one based either on sexual orientation or gender identity, or ones that contain overlapping bias motivations.

  • State attorneys general should ensure the full and swift investigation of all open cases of homicides against transgender victims.

  • The FBI has taken important steps toward improving data collection for bias-motivated crimes based on gender identity and expression, but the most recent data reported (2013) suggests that local jurisdictions fail to report many of these crimes, including homicides, as bias-motivated. Of the 19 murders of transgender people in 2013, not a single one was reported as a hate crime, even though several clearly fall within the federal government’s parameters. Local law enforcement agencies can train officers to thoroughly and consistently report bias-motivated crimes through the FBI’s UCR system. City and county residents can call on local elected officials to ensure that law enforcement prioritizes reporting. Data that better reflects the true scope of anti-transgender violence will help make the case for funding and expanding programs that can prevent violence against transgender people.

  • Law enforcement agencies should redouble their efforts to ensure that all crimes where there is evidence of prejudice are reported to the FBI.

Becoming Allies to Transgender People

  • Advocates, organizations and individual members of the LGBT community can educate themselves about the violence and discrimination that transgender people face and commit to becoming better allies to transgender people in addressing these issues.

  • Lesbian, gay, bisexual and non-LGBT people can use that self-education to call out transphobia when they see it both within and outside of the LGBT community, support transgender leadership and create spaces for transgender voices to be heard and followed.

Read the full report here: http://hrc.org/trans-violence

OUTwatch – Wine Country’s LGBTQI Film Festival Brings the Best of International Queer Cinema to the North Bay

OUTwatch – Wine Country’s LGBTQI Film Festival will happen November 6 – 8, 2015, at the Sebastopol Center for the Arts. This year’s theme is Films For Us. For its second year as one of Wine Country’s fastest-growing film festivals, OUTwatch will showcase six fantastic feature films and two thought-provoking documentaries. Festival sponsors and festival pass holders are invited to attend the VIP Opening Night Party, a catered affair replete with live entertainment and tastings of Orpheus Wines. The Saturday Spotlight Dance Party will be held after the day’s final screening. There will be a live deejay, munchies, and wonderful beer and wine in the Center’s amazing new party space and patio. On Sunday, all ticket holders are invited to the Old-Fashioned Ice Cream Social on Sunday. Iron Horse Vineyards will serve its special Rainbow Cuvee and Moustache Baked Goods will serve sweet treats.

OUTwatch is determined to bring the best of International LGBTQI Cinema to the North Bay. The festival has expanded to three days of screenings. This year, the schedule is: Friday, November 6 – 7:30 p.m. How to Win at Checkers (Every Time), is a Thai film about two young lovers from very different backgrounds as they prepare to face the draft. Saturday, November 7 – Noon From This Day Forward is an honest and thought provoking documentary about a transgender woman whose wife doesn’t divorce her, made by their now adult daughter. 2:15 p.m. The Surface is a though-provoking feature about a young man finding his way in the world that’s reminiscent of the films of the Queer New Wave. 4:30 p.m. Alto is a lesbian mob comedy, in which a surprising attraction, the mob, and family traditions pave the road to hilarity. 8 p.m. All About E is a breath-taking and gorgeous lesbian thriller from Australia. Sunday, November 8 – Noon Two 4 One is a Canadian comedy about a transman and his lesbian ex, which won the audience award for Best Film at Translations: Seattle Transgender Film Festival. 4:30 p.m. Reel in the Closet, LGBTQI home movies are discovered and preserved in the latest call-to-action documentary by North Bay filmmaker Stu Maddox.

If you would like more information about this topic or to schedule an interview with Co-producers Gary Carnivele, Jody Laine and Shad Rheistein or Directors Mikki del Monico or Stu Maddox, please call Gary Carnivele at 707.225.1302 or email garycarnivele@gmail.com.

Festival Passes: $75. Each film: $10. Address: 282 S. High Street, Sebastopol, CA 95472. Phone: 707.829.4797 Web site: www.outwatchfilmfest.org

The Sebastopol Center for the Arts is one of the most vibrant arts organizations in Sonoma County, and in Northern California. The non-profit presents exhibits, performances, classes and events, in the visual, performing, literary and film arts – it means there’s always something happening at SCA. Address: 282 S. High Street, Sebastopol, CA 95472. Phone: 707.829.4797 Web site: www.sebarts.org.

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HRC condemns Ben Carson’s latest attack on transgender people

Today, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) responded to the latest attack on the LGBT community by leading GOP candidate for president Ben Carson. In an interview today with Fusion’s Jorge Ramos, Carson suggested creating transgender bathrooms.

Questioned about Houston voters’ rejection of a law banning LGBT discrimination this week, Carson said: “How about we have a transgender bathroom?”

“It is not fair for them to make everybody else uncomfortable,” Carson said of transgender people. “It’s one of the things that I don’t particularly like about the [LGBT] movement. I think everybody has equal rights, but I’m not sure that anybody should have extra rights – extra rights when it comes to redefining everything for everybody else and imposing your view on everybody else.”

Condemning he comments HRC President Chad Griffin said, “Ben Carson’s hateful comments are out of touch and all candidates should immediately make clear that they disavow his dangerously transphobic views. Ben Carson can’t go a week without invoking reckless and irresponsible stereotypes about the LGBT community, and his suggestion that transgender people be required to use segregated bathrooms echoes an ugly past our country should never revisit.”

 

In that same interview, Carson again showed a fundamental misunderstanding of existing non-discrimination laws, saying he opposed “extra rights” for LGBT people. In reality, there are no explicit federal non-discrimination protections for LGBT people, and a majority of states also lack non-discrimination protections. HRC’s polling this year found that 63 percent of LGBT people have experienced discrimination. The Equality Act would guarantee explicit federal discrimination protections based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

Carson has a long history of anti-LGBT rhetoric. Earlier this year Carson suggested that “prison” proves that being LGBT is a choice. He walked those comments back after HRC demanded he apologize. After that, Carson said he would “no longer” talk about LGBT issues because he was being taken out of context.

Since his self-imposed ban on LGBT issues, Carson has suggested that LGBT families are not of “equal value” and that same-sex marriage would lead to “polygamy.”

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The U.S. Just Quietly Welcomed More LGBT Refugees

 

Last month, the Obama administration quietly made it easier for LGBT people fleeing persecution in their home countries to immigrate to the United States.

In its annual report to Congress, State Department officials expanded the rights generally reserved for the spouses of asylum seekers to include same-sex partners for those fleeing countries where homosexuality is illegal.

The policy shift will apply only those who are fleeing countries the State Department has designated “Process Priorities” countries, or P-3, because of humanitarian crises. There are currently 24 P-3 countries which include Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Syria, Somalia, Sudan, and several Central American countries. Homosexuality is criminalized in many of them and carries steep sentences including death in some instances.

The State Department explained its reason for the policy change by noting that legal marriage “was not an obtainable option due to social and/or legal prohibitions” in their home countries.

Here is the language from the 82-page report:

samesex refugees

“The legal definition of ‘spouse’ remains unchanged,” State Department spokesperson Elizabeth Trudeau said. “However, due to the administration’s recognition that marriage is not a legally viable option in many refugees’ countries of origin, we have granted access to the P-3 refugee family reunification process to the same-sex partners of LGBT individuals who do not have legal access to the institution of marriage in their home countries, provided that the refugee’s partner is otherwise admissible.”

Secretary of State John Kerry said that the United States will increase the number of refugees it accepts from around the world from 70,000 to 100,000 by 2017. The shift is in response to the growing humanitarian crises of displacement.

There are more people forcibly displaced now than at any time since World War II, according to the United Nations. The countries where the majority of refugees come from doesn’t line up with the countries where the majority of LGBT refugees come from. That’s why some policy experts have taken issue with the limitation of the same-sex partners provision to those fleeing only P-3 countries.

“Significantly, the countries that LGBT people appear to flee most often are not accounted for in the P-3 countries list,” Sharita Gruberg, a policy analyst with the Center for American Progress (CAP), said in a statement.

Only about 15 percent of LGBT asylum seekers to the U.S. were from P-3 countries, according to analysis by CAP.

LGBT people face very real threats not only at the hands of ISIS in Iraq and Syria, but even after fleeing to neighboring countries. Still, the majority of LGBT asylum seekers do not line up with the countries that refugees are fleeing en masse. Instead, they come largely from countries like Russia, Jamaica, Uganda, and Nigeria which are not P-3 countries and so will not be included in this new provision.

Another issue is the requirement for LGBT applicants to provide evidence that they were in a relation with someone of the same-sex for a year. Such proof might be hard to provide for those who were forced to hide their sexuality in order to survive in countries with harsh laws or social customs targeting LGBT people.

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Salt Lake City Elects Utah’s First Lesbian Mayor

Salt Lake City voters elected Jackie Biskupski as Utah’s first openly gay mayor and only the second female top executive in the capital city, according to the unofficial election-night count.

Those vote tallies had Biskupski with 52.19 percent to two-term Mayor Ralph Becker’s 47.81 percent — less than a 5 percentage-point spread. No additional results will be released until the Nov. 17 canvass.

Becker did not concede Tuesday night but did compliment Biskupski on a hard-fought campaign.

“I commend her, and really I’ve felt this way, she’s run a very, very strong campaign. And the votes that have been counted so far show her in the lead, and it’s a reflection of the campaign she’s run, and I commend her for that,” the mayor said. “Beyond that, I think we’re going to have to wait and see what the final votes are.”

As of Tuesday evening, the Salt Lake County Clerk’s office had received mail-in ballots from 48.4 percent of registered Salt Lake City voters. That record most likely will go higher, said County Clerk Sherrie Swensen, when all ballots are collected.

“I feel great,” Biskupski said. “We maintained that lead we had, and we’re going to finish strong, I know it.”

Biskupski expects to be victorious, she said, even though the results are preliminary.

“It’s about all these people in this room. Look at the people in this room,” Biskupski said of the crowd of about 200 people gathered at Kimi’s Chop House restaurant in Sugar House. “This is a diverse group of people from all over the city. This is about having a voice again.”

Utah Sen. Jim Dabakis, D-Salt Lake City, also an openly gay politician, said the election was history in the making.

“Generations of LGBT people could’ve only dreamed of this,” he said. “Jackie is now an iconic gay leader. This is a great moment for Salt Lake City — we’re not the stereotype people across the country think we are.”

But Becker’s camp was holding out hope, according to campaign manager Matt Lyon.

“Look, we came from a primary that was really far behind. We’re now within 1,500 votes,” he said, noting that more ballots remain to be counted. “We think it’s going to be a close election.”

Biskupski, a former state legislator, was apparently able to hold on to a lead in the fall campaign despite a vigorous effort by the two-term mayor, who spent more than $863,000 and garnered a passel of endorsements from top Democrats — and Republicans, such as former Gov. Mike Leavitt and former Sen. Bob Bennett — as well as five Salt Lake City Council members. He also used his incumbency to call news conferences celebrating events related to community gardens, the 28th anniversary of the redevelopment agency in Sugar House and other things.

But Biskupski’s grass-roots campaign focused on change at City Hall and kept its momentum by painting her as the people’s candidate who would listen to constituents. In the Aug. 11 primary, Biskupski captured 46 percent to Becker’s 31 percent. Three other candidates garnered a total of 19 percent.

She spent more than $536,000 and had help from a political action committee affiliated with Reagan Outdoor Advertising that put up more than a dozen billboards supporting her candidacy.

Reagan donated its billboards outside campaign contribution caps through a political action committee, and billboards became one of the few issues where Becker got traction against his opponent.

Biskupski, who for the past eight years has been a top adviser for Salt Lake County Sheriff Jim Winder, got the backing of organized labor, including the Salt Lake Police Association.

The most noteworthy event in the campaign came in June, when Becker forced the resignation of popular police Chief Chris Burbank. That action came after three female officers filed notice of claim with Salt Lake City, signaling their intent to sue over sexual harassment from former Deputy Chief Rick Findlay. The allegations were substantiated by January 2014. Burbank put Findlay on administrative leave, and the former deputy chief was allowed to retire with full benefits in June 2014.

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Cruz, Jindal, & Huckabee To Speak At Event Organized By “Death To Gays” Pastor

 

Ted Cruz, Bobby Jindal, and Mike Huckabee are all scheduled to speak at an Iowa event organized by Pastor Kevin Swanson, who regularly calls for a return to the “biblical punishment” for homosexuality. Right Wing Watch points us to the press release:

Over 1,600 Christians around the country are gathering for a National Religious Liberties Conference, Freedom 2015, November 6th-7th at the Iowa Events Center. The conference speakers and attendees will celebrate the freedoms God has bestowed on our country, encourage those who have been persecuted or those who may experience persecution in the future and develop strategies for defending religious liberties for Christian business owners, teachers, evangelists, chaplains, employees and churches. The conference is sponsored by over a dozen evangelical organizations including American Family Association, Liberty Institute, Samaritan Ministries and Generations.

Speakers will include presidential candidates Senator Ted Cruz, Governor Mike Huckabee and Governor Bobby Jindal, persecuted Christians David and Jason Benham, Naghmeh Abedini, Richard & Betty Odgaard, SMSgt Phillip Monk, Aaron & Melissa Klein and Randy Pfaff, and religious freedom advocates Kelly Schackelford, Rafael Cruz, James Lansberry, Brigadier General Douglas Lee, USA (ret), Bob Vander Plaats, Bradley Pierce and Chuck Hurley. The conference will address religious liberty in the military, medical care, parenting, education and the workplace. Conference speakers will also highlight the history of religious liberties and religious persecution.

Right Wing Watch has compiled some of Swanson’s more outrageous statements, some of which have appeared here on JMG.  People For The American Way, the parent of Right Wing Watch, has issued a formal call for GOP candidates to cancel their speeches:

“We already knew that the Republican Party opposed LGBT rights and women’s equality, but this is taking things to a new level,” said People For the American Way President Michael Keegan. “We can respectfully disagree on matters of public policy, but someone who supports gay people being put to death should have no place in our public discourse, much less be sharing the stage with a major party’s presidential candidates.” “If Cruz, Huckabee and Jindal are serious about wanting to hold the nation’s highest office,” Keegan said, “they should back out of this conference and denounce the extremism of its organizer.”

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HRC Foundation and Partnership for Drug-Free Kids Join Forces to Prevent LGBTQ Teen Substance Abuse

Today, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Foundation and Partnership for Drug-Free Kids released Preventing Substance Abuse Among LGBTQ Teens, an issue brief focusing on helping parents, educators and other youth-serving professionals understand the unique challenges – including bullying and family rejection – faced by lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) youth that contribute to their heightened rates of substance abuse.

The publication is the first product of a new collaboration between HRC Foundation, the educational arm of the nation’s largest LGBT advocacy organization, and Partnership for Drug-Free Kids, a national nonprofit working to reduce substance abuse among adolescents. The organizations are working together to develop content and materials for LGBTQ teens, as well as their parents and families. The resources are designed to promote understanding and provide practical guidance on protecting LGBTQ youth, along with reducing their risk of drug and alcohol abuse through better family support, safer schools and more caring adults in communities.

Among the issue brief’s recommendations to reduce the risk of substance abuse by LGBTQ youth:

  • Parents and caregivers are encouraged to discuss their concerns and expectations about substance use with teens, focusing on health risks, and ask teens to share their perspectives;
  • Parents, educators, and youth-serving professionals should actively affirm and support LGBTQ teens’ sexual orientation and gender identity;
  • Educators and youth-serving professionals are urged to confront bias, and create supportive environments for LGBTQ teens;
  • And policymakers should fund research into substance abuse prevention, address LGBTQ youth homelessness and eliminate zero-tolerance policies for drug violations.

Additionally, the Partnership and HRC Foundation will work together to expand the visibility and participation of LGBTQ youth in teen-targeted programming, including Above the Influence, the Partnership’s teen substance abuse prevention campaign that reaches millions nationally through social media, public service announcements and community-based activities. Above the Influence takes an affirming approach, and three separate studies have shown it to be effective in reducing substance use among teens who engage with the program. It will be featured at HRC’s Time to THRIVE annual conference for youth-serving professionals in February.

“We’re excited by this opportunity to reach the parents and families of LGBTQ kids via our online resources, our telephone helpline (855-DRUGFREE) and parent coaching program, and provide them with research-based materials that can help reduce family conflict and rejection, strengthen acceptance and lead to healthier LGBTQ youth,” said Sean Clarkin, EVP Research and External Relations at the Partnership.

“This collaboration strengthens our efforts to ensure that the unique experiences and needs of LGBTQ youth are recognized and addressed, by parents and teachers, as well as professionals who provide substance abuse prevention and treatment services,” said Ellen Kahn, Director of the Children, Youth and Families Program at the HRC Foundation. “It’s critical that higher rates of substance use among LGBTQ youth be understood and addressed in a context of understanding and support.”

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New HRC Ad Stands Up for All Families

 

HRC Stand Against HateThis Sunday, ahead of the anti-LGBT World Congress of Families (WCF) conference in Salt Lake City, Utah, HRC will place a two-page ad in The Salt Lake Tribune, standing in support of all families and against hate, writes Hayley Miller on the HRC Blog.

“As the harmful and divisive World Congress of Families descends upon Salt Lake City, we stand in support of all families,” the ad reads. “ Hate is not an American value, it has no place in Salt Lake City. We fundamentally reject the World Congress of Families and its destructive agenda.”

The ad features the name of 14,000 Americans who added their names to HRC’s action to stand up for all families and against WCF.

Active across five continents, WCF has organized large international “pro-family” conferences that bring together a wide range of vehemently anti-LGBT activists. WCF’s activities range from holding conferences in Nigeria focused on denying rights to LGBT people to working to silence the Russian LGBT community.

In addition to the ad, HRC is sponsoring an Inclusive Families Conference just days before the WCF’s conference begins.

“The best way to combat the hateful messages of rabidly anti-equality groups like the World Congress of Families and their affiliates is to simply let their track record speak for itself,” said HRC President Chad Griffin said earlier this year. “Try as they may to mask their views in sunshine and rainbows, their positions and support for policies that target and marginalize LGBT people and incite animus around the world are undeniable. As many Utahns have come to agree, LGBT people are their friends, family and neighbors and they deserve to be treated with love and respect. As we stand with these Utahns in support of families, the definition of family for WCF and other American extremists is divisive and dangerous, as it actively excludes.”

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Trans Woman Alleges Harassment, Unjust Firing by Walmart

 

A transgender woman in New Jersey has filed suit accusing a Walmart store and one of its managers of firing her due to anti-trans bias, after instances of harassment that saw her called “he/she” and “that fucking tranny.”

The woman, Samantha Azzarano, began working at a Walmart in Deptford, N.J., in September 2012, ThinkProgress reports. The following January, she told a manager that she is transgender, and later that year she began presenting in her female identity at work, and had the name on her ID badge changed to Samantha, replacing her birth name.

According to her suit, filed October 2 in Camden County Superior Court, there were no problems with Azzarano’s job performance, and no coworkers complained about her until manager Sheena Wyckoff joined Azzarano’s team in January 2014. Wyckoff, the suit says, referred to Azzarano as “Samantha, Robert … he/she … whatever” and “that fucking tranny.”

Wyckoff also began unjustly reprimanding Azzarano, yelling at her, and accusing her of undermining Wyckoff’s authority, according to the suit. In a meeting with a team leader, Wyckoff told Azzarano, “We are always walking on eggshells for you,” the filing states.

Wyckoff obviously “had a problem with Samantha being Samantha,” Azzarano’s lawyer, Kevin M. Costello, told ThinkProgress. He noted that the use of the term “tranny” was particularly objectionable. “It’s as unacceptable as a racial epithet to describe a black person,” he said.

Azzarano says she complained to a higher manager, who failed to inform the human resources department about the problems. Azzarano then went to human resources herself, after which Wyckoff warned her not to go to higher management again. In December 2014, Azzarano was fired, “ostensibly, for conduct that she had been performing since July of 2013,” although such conduct was “allowed, and encouraged” in other departments, according to the suit.

“Any proffered reason by the defendants for the termination would be pretext,” the suit says. “The plaintiff was terminated for her transgender status,” in violation of New Jersey’s antidiscrimination law. The suit accuses Walmart of violating this law and Wyckoff of aiding and abetting in the discrimination, and Azzarano seeks “compensatory and punitive damages, interest, attorneys’ fees, enhanced attorneys’ fees, equitable back pay, equitable front pay and equitable reinstatement,” reports legal news website Law360.

At least two other major discrimination suits have been filed against Walmart recently. One alleges denial of benefits to same-sex spouses of employees, while the other claims racial and age-related discrimination.

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New York City to Host WorldPride on 50th Anniversary of Stonewall Riots

 

New York City will host WorldPride in 2019, it has been confirmed – 50 years on from the Stonewall riots.

The city has been chosen as the latest host of the international LGBT Pride event, which celebrates equality in cities around the world.

However, the organisers revealed this week that WorldPride will be heading back to the birthplace of the modern gay rights movement in New York, to mark 50 years since the Stonewall Riots.

The Stonewall riots took place in 1969 to protest police brutality and crackdowns on LGBT people – with some of the first Pride marches beginning on the anniversary in 1970.

David Schneider of NYC Pride said: “The Stonewall Uprising is considered the most significant event that ignited the modern LGBT rights movement, so it makes perfect sense to bring WorldPride to the birthplace of Pride in 2019.

“We are so grateful that our fellow Pride organizers from across the globe have chosen New York City for this momentous occasion.”

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