“It’s about whether queer people can participate in public life. Can we go out in public at all? Can we go to the movie theater? Can we go to the shopping mall? Because our opponents would like to make anyone who is too queer or gender nonconforming uncomfortable — they would like us to just stay home.”
– Rachel Tiven, Executive Director of Lambda Legal, on so-called “bathroom bills”
Here’s your breakdown of what’s happening this week in the #LGBTsouth:
AT A CROSSROADS
As anti-LGBT legislation continues to be proposed and passed around the country, top LGBT organizations remain divided on how to fight it – particularly the increasingly common “bathroom bills”, which require people to use the restroom aligned with their assigned sex at birth. Some groups are suggesting a compromise through bills that ban discrimination in areas such as employment and housing, but drop public accommodations, the main area of attack for bathroom bills. Some organization see this as a copout that could result in long-term losses for the movement, by lowering the standards for what advocates will accept.
The compromise would also disproportionately affect trans and gender nonconforming people, who have been targeted and scapegoated by public accommodations legislation. The difficulty in balancing policy and advocacy is at the forefront of this divide, in that some groups see a better use of resources in promoting legislation that is more likely to get passed, even if it is limited, while others see an all-or-nothing approach as the most effective way to secure rights for all LGBTQ people. The divide could have an impact on movement funding and partnerships, but how either strategy will play out remains to be seen.
MEDICAL MISSTEPS
After decades of widespread belief that the spread of HIV to the U.S. was caused by one man, dubbed “Patient Zero”, scientists have now proven that to be false. Gay French-Canadian flight attendant Gaétan Dugas has long been accused of bringing the virus to North America, and though he died in 1984, he has remained a symbol of American anxieties about HIV and a scapegoat for painting gay men as promiscuous and dangerous. However, a new study published this week shows that HIV made it’s way to New York City from the Caribbean around 1971, though exactly how it happened remains unclear.
A nationwide shortage of injectable estrogen has left many trans women without access to the hormone, which aids in medical transition. The shortage is being blamed on the FDA, which is responsible for approving medications and making sure they are safe for people to use. The manufacturer of the hormone has contracted with a new supplier and is waiting for FDA approval, and while there are other forms of estrogen available, they can be less effective or more expensive.
Campaign for Southern Equality (CSE) Executive Director, Jasmine Beach-Ferarra with early voters!
WNCCHS and CSE have previously worked together to promote WNCCHS’ Transgender Health Program, a groundbreaking model of delivering culturally-competent integrated medical care to transgender individuals across Western North Carolina. CSE donated $10,000 to help fund WNCCHS Transgender Health Program, which was launched in 2007 and currently provides health care services to more than 200 transgender individuals.
“We had tremendous support from volunteers who have been registering voters at WNCCHS since August. The natural followup to registering so many voters is to make it easy for them to get to the polls for early voting,” said Scott Parker, Director of Development and Collaboration at WNCCHS. “Many of our patients work multiple jobs, have transportation issues, or are disengaged from the political process. Community Health Centers have a history of empowering patients and addressing issues around social justice, including voter registration and engagement. We see it as a natural complement to accessing affordable health care.”
And as a reminder, our current round of Southern Equality Fund (SEF) grants – #QueerTheVote – is open until Monday, October 31. If you are a grassroots group or leader doing work to register and turn out LGBTQ voters in the South, we encourage you to apply! Read more about SEF here and click here to apply online.
We’ve also got a few events coming up over the next few weeks, and we hope some of you will be around to join us!
For any NC attorneys, we’ll be doing a video replay of the CLE sessions from our LGBT* in the South conference back in March. There will be 19.5 hours of credits spread over three days (November 3-5), and you can get more details on the replay here.
On Sunday, November 6, we will be screening our documentary Love Won in Raleigh, NC. This documentary tells the story of our marriage advocacy work through the WE DO campaign. The screening is free, refreshments will be provided, and there will be a panel featuring couples who took part in the actions.That’s all for The LGBT South this week! Thanks for tuning in, and we’ll see you next week.
