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QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“Our success comes from anticipating his next moves and then preparing to counter and challenge those moves. The reality is that we have at least three more years of 45 and there may come a time when we won’t have support other than from within our community. Our number one priority is to funnel as many resources through our community now because nobody prepares to fail, we fail to prepare.”
– Que Bell, Community Organizer from Montgomery, AL
Here’s your breakdown of what’s happening this week in the #LGBTsouth:
THE FIRST 100 DAYS
Last Saturday marked the 100th day of the Trump administration, and we have already seen a whirlwind of discriminatory bills crop up at the state level, a number of individuals with anti-LGBTQ records appointed to office, and a sentiment of uneasiness spreading through our communities. This week, CSE staff will tell their stories of what these first 100 days have been like on the ground and what they are hopeful about moving forward. Hear from some of our team below, and read the full comments here on our blog.
Britney Nesbit, Hometown Organizing Project Coordinator
As the current Tzedek Fellow and Coordinator of the Hometown Organizing Project, I have been able to support the leadership of Southern grassroots organizers regionally through the Southern Equality Fund and locally in our home base of Asheville, NC. The Center for Participatory Change, Compañeros Inmigrantes en las Montañas en Acción (CIMA), and myself representing the Campaign for Southern Equality worked together to facilitate an intersectional, community organizing collective; the 100 Days Coalition. Our goal for this coalition is to answer this call to action by organizing and working together with foundation of equity and inclusivity.
With the time, energy and donations of our community members and my team, we were able to fund a community forum on alternatives to policing, advocate for non-compliance with ICE in health facilities, create, print and distribute know your rights materials and so much more! A president’s first 100 days in office may seem like a meaningless benchmark to some but here in Asheville, NC we know something else to be true.
Craig White, Community Organizer
For the last couple weeks I’ve been walking around furious at North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper, and the Democrats in the General Assembly, for their so-called ‘repeal’ of HB2. They took a bad bill, which discriminated against trans people in public restrooms, and turned it into a worse bill, which authorizes discrimination against all LGBTQ people in all forms of public accommodation. How is that a repeal? But Cooper was able to sell it. He ended one of the most effective national pro-equality boycotts we’ve ever seen. We were just weeks away from a federal court hearing, which could have overturned not just HB2 but also the copycat ‘bathroom bills’ around the country, and he killed that too. These Democrats have no idea what it’s like to live in this climate of constant anti-LGBTQ hostility and violence. We got thrown under the bus for a basketball tournament.
Crystal Richardson, Legal Director
During the First 100 Days of the new Administration I have seen and heard a number of individuals talk about the fear, pain, and suffering that they are living in. For people of color, transgender, and immigrant communities this is some of the worst times. So far, the 45th President has issued 34 executive orders and he’s just getting started. With each stroke of his pen across a new executive order, our communities become more and more anxious about what could happen next.
The First 100 days of the new Administration have solidified a lot of my fears during the election period; black and brown people are under a political microscope and are being persecuted for their skin color, gender, and sexual orientation. The laws and policies that the 45th President is shaping are becoming my worst nightmare. It is causing public policy to shift in ways that disfavor people of color and create hyper-minority stress among these communities.
Que Bell, Community Organizer
We’ve been gearing up for 45’s administration since election night. Like most others we felt our worst nightmare had just become reality when he took his oath on Jan 20th. It was heartbreaking that 45 actually made it into office, but what hurt us the most was accepting that so many of us had gotten comfortable with President Obama’s administration and we were not prepared for change.
As expected, 45 launched into action proposing all types of “anti” whatever legislation, as we all knew he would. Like chess, 45 is the king, and he doesn’t have a ton of power. I’ve personally been focusing on his queen (Mike Pence), his rooks and bishops (his cabinet and judges), and who/what he offers up as pawns. Our success comes from anticipating his next moves and then preparing to counter and challenge those moves. Our focus has mainly been around direct support and empowering people to advocate for themselves. We are preparing/teaching people to how to sustain without help. The reality is that we have at least three more years of 45 and there may come a time when we won’t have support other than from within our community. Our number one priority is to funnel as many resources through our community now because nobody prepares to fail, we fail to prepare.
Aaron Sarver, Communications Director
Across the South LGBTQ folks are more visible than ever. This continues to be the case during the Trump administration despite the anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and voting record among a growing number of individuals in this administration.
Zora Neale Hurston said, “If you are silent about your pain, they’ll kill you and say you enjoyed it.” Against the backdrop of our racist Attorney General Jeff Sessions, a rise in hate crimes and anti-semitism, I’m heartened to see that a growing number of organizers continue to stand up and speak out for LGBTQ rights, but also make the connection between the othering of undocumented immigrants, Muslims or any group of people.
LICENSE TO DISCRIMINATE
A long-rumored executive order legalizing discrimination against the LGBTQ community was narrowly avoided again this week. Ultimately, the new order avoided any explicit mention of LGBTQ issues, and is fairly vague, but it aims to allow more political involvement by churches and religious organizations and to provide employers the ability to object to certain ACA requirements (something that may not even be necessary after today’s movement to repeal and replace the ACA). Still, language stating that the administration will “protect and vigorously promote religious liberty” leaves the order open for broad interpretation, and Trump has already made moves to roll back LGBTQ protections, rescinding guidelines meant to protect trans youth and appointing a number of anti-LGBTQ officials to the highest ranks.
Even before this order, the religious freedom debate showed no signs of slowing down, and it will likely remain a top tactic for LGBTQ discrimination. Last week, Mitchell Nance, a family court judge in Kentucky, announced that he would not grant adoptions to same-sex couples due to religious objections and would recuse himself from these cases, and just yesterday Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey signed into law the bill that will allow religiously affiliated adoption agencies to turn away LGBTQ couples.
However, Democrats in Congress are reintroducing the Equality Act in an attempt to finally gain federal protections against discrimination for the LGBTQ community. While they likely face a tough battle in the Republican-controlled Congress, this version of the bill has received unprecedented support; attempts to pass this type of legislation have been in the works since the ’70s. Rhode Island Rep. David Cicilline, the bill’s lead sponsor, said, “I have every confidence that if the bill came to the floor it would pass because I think most members of Congress recognize voting to continue practices of discrimination against individuals is un-American, and we would be successful in passing it.”
WHAT ELSE?
Lambda Legal has announced a lawsuit against a Mississippi funeral home that refused to provide services for 82-year-old Jack Zawadski when his husband, Robert Huskey, passed away last year.
The University of Kentucky Office of LGBTQ* Resources provided research grants to students for projects including a “Needs Assessment of Kentucky’s Older LGBTQ* Population” and project concerning “Queer Hatian Women in the Rural South”.
A non-binary parent tells about how they explain their identity – and gender itself – to their children.
A team of physicians at Atlanta’s Emory University are setting a new standard for making primary health care more trans-affirming.
A federal appeals court has decided that same-sex couples can sue Kim Davis for harm caused by her refusal to issue marriage licenses back in 2015.
Chokwe Antar Lumumba, a community activist and mayoral candidate in Jackson, Mississippi, won the primary election this week and is now expected to become the city’s next mayor.
WHAT THE CAMPAIGN FOR SOUTHERN EQUALITY IS UP TO
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The webinar will provide grassroots leaders with an overview of who LGBTQ Southerners are, the issues they face, and how to find specific data about their local communities using the Williams Institute online resources. CSE’s Communications Director, Aaron Sarver, will also present on how to effectively use data in your communications strategy, and Ivy Gibson-Hill and Fletcher Page with the GenderBenders in Greenville, SC will share new ways they are using data to tell the story of their work to funders and supporters.
We are excited to host a series of FREE “Protect Yourself” Clinic that centers the trans experience.
Led by and for trans folks, these clinics will cover a range of safety issues including: trainings in self defense and pepper spray, writing a safety plan, and using safety apps on your phone. Free and confidential HIV testing and counseling will also be available.
Clinics are coming up in Columbia, SC on May 9; Nashville, TN on May 24; Memphis, TN on May 25; and Charleston, SC on June 4. Thanks to Harriet Hancock LGBT Center, The Change Project, OUT Memphis, and We Are Family for co-hosting!
