THE LGBT SOUTH is a weekly email newsletter from the Campaign for Southern Equality that highlights the voices and experiences of LGBT people living in the South. Send feedback and story tips to felicia@southernequality.org.
“There is now widespread concern that online news is pushing people toward adopting more polarized points of view, not to mention indulging acceptance of baseless ideas and conspiracies. Interacting on the internet, it is usually assumed, dehumanizes us all; it can deaden our capacity for understanding other people. Every day brings fresh horrors from our dystopian online life, whether it’s terrorist recruitment efforts, illegal gun sales on Facebook or the special symbol created by neo-Nazis to target Jews for attack. In other words: Yes, the internet on most days feels like a cesspool.”
“But the experiences of transgender people on Facebook suggest that many of these assumptions aren’t so open-and-shut. Scholars who study online interaction say that humans do feel empathy online. We can be moved by what happens on the internet and we carry what happens there to our interactions beyond it.”
“Sometimes, unexpectedly, the internet redeems itself.”
“A carefully watched Virginia case involving transgender bathrooms might be headed to the Supreme Court. The case, which could have an important bearing on North Carolina’s transgender bathroom law and a brewing legal fight between the Obama administration and a handful of other states, concerns Gavin Grimm, a transgender student born as a woman. Grimm requested the right to use the boy’s restroom at school.”
“In April, a three-judge panel of the Fourth Circuit ruled that the Department of Education could consider gender identity covered by Title IX of the Civil Rights Act—in effect ruling that Grimm should be allowed to use the boy’s bathroom, though leaving it to a lower court to make the ruling. In May, the court declined a request from the local school board to hear the case en banc, with all of its judges sitting.”
“Now the school board has requested that the Supreme Court hear the case. The board also wants a stay on the circuit court’s ruling; for now, there’s a temporary stay. Four justices would have to vote to hear the case for the Court to take it up.”
STATE
Lawsuit Filed Over Tennessee ‘Religious Freedom’ Law Allowing Counselors to Refuse LGBT People By David Badash, The New Civil Rights Movement“LGBT activists Bleu Copas and Caleb Laieski have filed a lawsuit against Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam over a bill he signed into law that allows mental health professionals to refuse service to LGBT people based on their religious beliefs or personal principles. The law, the two activists claim, violates the United States and Tennessee Constitutions.”
“‘This kind of discrimination sends a message to an already marginalized group of Tennesseans. Beyond the blatant and subliminal ethic code violations, this type of legislation creates barriers at a time when building trust is paramount,’ Copas, a Tennessee native who holds a Master’s in counseling, said in a statement.”
“The law requires therapists and counselors who refuse service to refer the client to another therapist, but given that one-quarter of Tennessee residents live in rural areas, that could present immediate challenges, especially for LGBTQ youth.”
“The American Counseling Association took a strong stand against the bill, urging the governor to not sign it into law. After he did, they moved their 2017 annual meeting, slated for Nashville, out of state.”
“Lambda Legal filed a brief Thursday in the Georgia Court of Appeals on behalf of a transgender Augusta man whose petition to legally change his name to reflect his gender identity was denied by a trial court because it might offend the ‘sensibilities and mores’ of other Georgia citizens.”
“Rowan Feldhaus, 24, was assigned female at birth but his gender identity is male. He filed a petition for name change in the Superior Court of Columbia County last July and provided all the necessary documentation for the name change at a hearing in February of this year, including an affidavit from his therapist confirming he is transgender and that changing his name would be an important part of his treatment.”
“Superior Court Judge J. David Roper stated that he would deny the requested name unless Feldhaus chose another middle name, because ‘Elijah’ was not gender-neutral and he ‘do[es] not approve of changing names from male to female – male names to obvious female names, and vice versa.’”
“Five years ago, Clara Yoon’s child came to her with an announcement: he was transgender and bisexual. The 15-year-old had identified as female up until that point, so it took her by surprise as can often happen. But for Yoon, the adjustment occurred on a separate level because of her heritage: Yoon is Korean.”
“’There’s still a lot of misinformation out there about being LGBTQ in Asian languages,’ said Glenn Magpantay, executive director of the National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance (NQAPIA). ‘Parents still think that maybe their kids became lesbian because they moved to the U.S. or that they turned gay because they had gay friends who live in the big city, like Atlanta. Being transgender is still being described as a pathology.’”
“That’s why NQAPIA is presenting a national workshop tour that’s coming to Chamblee on June 18 where Magpantay will moderate a discussion with Yoon and two other parents of LGBT children to help shed light on the topic and remove some of the culture barriers in place for both those in the Asian Pacific Islander (API) community who identify as LGBT and their parents.”
“Twenty years ago, when Carl Nipps marched in his first Pride parade in Charleston, the participants just wanted to be seen as people.”
“Marriage equality seemed a distant dream at the time. Fairness West Virginia, the state’s LGBT rights advocacy organization, didn’t exist. The LGBT community in the area wasn’t focused on lobbying for equal rights legislation, according to Nipps. They just wanted people to stop gay-bashing and treating them like second-class citizens.”
“It’s a chance to celebrate marriage equality, the numerous communities in West Virginia that have extended protections to LGBT residents and the defeat of RFRA. But Fairness West Virginia will also be there working to sign up volunteers, as they acknowledge how much farther there is to go.”
“’We defeated RFRA this year,’ [Fairness West Virginia executive director, Andrew] Schneider said. ‘That doesn’t mean it’s not going to come back next year. Maybe it will come back in the form of a bathroom bill. We’ve got to be on high alert, because we know these attacks are not going to go away. We need to make it clear to everyone, whether part of the LGBT community or allies, that the fight for fairness and equality continues forward, and we need everyone involved. This is not a time for people to stand on the sidelines. We need everyone’s help and support.’”
“Saturday, June 11, history will be made in the city of Jackson. It will be the Capital City’s first ever LGBT pride parade.
‘I think a lot of people is afraid to take chances, me, I’m not. I thought about it, contemplated a lot about it and I just said, why not,’ says organizer Temica Morton. State Street in Downtown is expected to be packed with 20 to 30 groups of people participating in the parade. “I’ve had people as far as Alabama contact me to say that they’re coming,” says Morton.”
“So far, the organizers say they’ve gotten nothing but support from the community. If there are those who oppose the parade, Saturday, a plan is in place.”
“At a time when the unemployment rate for trans people in the U.S. is double that of the general population, the San Francisco LGBT Center’s Trans at Work campaign highlights the talents of working trans and gender-nonconforming people. Launched today with photographs by Samantha Cooper along with a video, a website, and the hashtags #TransAtWork and #HireTrans, the campaign is the brainchild of the SF LGBT Center’s Trans Employment Program, the country’s first city-funded employment program specifically for trans and gender-nonconforming people.”
“The Center’s director of economic development, Clair Farley — a trans woman herself — wrote in an email to BuzzFeed News, ‘We hope people can start talking more about the economic impact of discrimination on the transgender community.’ She believes that the Trans at Work campaign can help combat prejudices against trans people so they can be seen as valued candidates by potential employers.”
“Farley also hopes that the campaign will inspire trans people to pursue their ambitions despite the many obstacles they face. ‘It’s my dream to have the images on billboards and buses, and I want to make sure that no trans person ever feels alone or not able to chase their career goals,’ she said.”
“There is now widespread concern that online news is pushing people toward adopting more polarized points of view, not to mention indulging acceptance of baseless ideas and conspiracies. Interacting on the internet, it is usually assumed, dehumanizes us all; it can deaden our capacity for understanding other people. Every day brings fresh horrors from our dystopian online life, whether it’s terrorist recruitment efforts, illegal gun sales on Facebook or the special symbol created by neo-Nazis to target Jews for attack. In other words: Yes, the internet on most days feels like a cesspool.”
