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On May 24, the Trump Administration announced a new proposed rule that would change the interpretation of the Affordable Care Act’s nondiscrimination provision to no longer include LGBTQ people.

It is alarming that the Trump administration is leveling yet another attack on the rights of LGBTQ people.

But, there are a couple of important things to note:

First, this is only the announcement of a proposed rule change. Nothing is changing right now.

The next step is a required period for public comment, which means we can all weigh in with our concerns about this proposal, and we encourage you to do so. We won’t know for sure what the final rule will look like until that public comment period is over.

If you’d like to take action, visit www.protecttranshealth.org to add your comment on why you oppose this proposed rule.

Second, no matter what the final rule says, the Trump administration cannot change the law on a whim.

Federal law has been interpreted by multiple federal courts to prohibit discrimination against LGBTQ people, in cases that apply in the health care context. Those decisions are controlling; the meaning and scope of federal protections ultimately turns on federal court interpretation, not that of the administration.

We also have strong state laws and regulations across New England that protect you from discrimination and protect your right to access health care. The proposed federal rule change does not alter those state laws. Contact us at www.GLADAnswers.org if you need more information.

The bottom line is that nothing is changing right now, and you still have rights to nondiscriminatory health care – but the Trump administration is working to make it harder for you to enforce those rights.

GLAD will be closely monitoring developments, and if you think you are being treated differently, or are experiencing discrimination, please contact us right away.

Ending “Gay Panic” and “Trans Panic” Defenses in Maine

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On May 13, 2019, GLAD Civil Rights Project Director Mary Bonauto submitted testimony to the Maine Committee on Criminal Justice and Public Safety in support of LD 1632, An Act Regarding Criminal Procedure with Respect to Allowable Offenses – a bill that limits so-called “gay panic” and “trans panic” defenses.

All people, including LGBT people, do not cause or deserve to be attacked simply because of who they are. LGBT people engage in the same human behaviors that non-LGBT people commonly do, such as making romantic or sexual advances to another person, or engaging in dating, romantic or sexual relationships. When violence to an LGBT person follows those advances or relationships, it should not be justified as an appropriate reaction or excused as not morally blameworthy any more than it would be if the overtures or relationships involved a non-LGBT person. Anything else sends the unmistakable message that violence against the LGBT community is justified. GLAD supports this bill’s bright line test to limit certain otherwise available defenses in circumstances where the person who made advances or engaged in a relationship is known or discovered to be an LGBT person.

Pride Portland 2019

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Join us at Pride Portland!

Easing Financial Burdens for Juveniles in the Maine Justice System

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LGBTQ youth are disproportionately likely to become involved in the juvenile justice system due to their increased risk of rejection from their own families, harassment and discrimination in school and elsewhere, and resulting challenges they face, including poorer mental health and increased risk of homelessness. Because of this, GLAD has a particular interest in juvenile justice reform and strongly supports L.D. 1304 – An Act to Ease Financial Burdens for Juveniles Involved in the Justice System.

No one wants a juvenile justice system predicated on anything but fairness. For the system to work, it must be fair to offenders and victims of crimes, as well as to society as a whole. However, one critical way that the Maine Juvenile Code (MJC) falls short of this promise is the disproportionate impact that restitution orders have on poor youth.

Poverty is not a crime and it should not be treated as one. Yet the current MJC permits a judge to factor a child’s ability or agreement to pay restitution into the decision whether to incarcerate them, effectively ensuring that more poor children will end up behind bars. When a child is ordered to pay restitution and is unable to do so, the MJC permits the juvenile court to hold the child in contempt and incarcerate them as a result. No one—least of all a child—should be locked up over their inability to pay.

L.D. 1304 addresses the failures of the Maine Juvenile Code by:

Removing from consideration a child’s ability or agreement to make restitution from the decision to commit them to an institution;
Capping the amount of restitution a child can be ordered to pay at $800 (although GLAD would support a lower cap) and requiring the court to hold a hearing to determine their financial capacity, i.e. ability to pay; and
Removing incarceration from the options available to the ability of a court to incarcerate a child over their inability to pay.

These changes will increase the fairness of the Maine Juvenile Code and bring it more in line with its rehabilitative purpose.

By capping restitution orders and linking them to ability to pay, L.D. 1304 stands for the principle that no child should be locked up because of their inability to pay restitution. GLAD agrees and urges that the Committee on Judiciary to advance this bill and to give consideration the following amendments: (1) lowering the cap; and (2) limiting restitution to payments for individuals rather than to state or local governments.

Mary Bonauto’s entire testimony can be found here.

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Today’s event, Day of Silence, is a student-led action to spread awareness about the impact of bullying on LGBTQ youth. By taking a vow of silence, young people embody the erasure and exclusion that many LGBTQ students experience on a daily basis. LGBTQ students face verbal, physical and sexual harassment in higher rates than the general student population. For so many, school is and feels unsafe.

The Massachusetts LGBTQ Youth Commission just issued its annual report and recommendations and the data are stunning. LGBTQ students face almost two times the risk of bullying at school and face over three times the risk of self-harm and suicide then their non-LGBTQ peers.

We all must act to change our schools and make them more inclusive and supportive.

On this Day of Silence, we can take steps to support our youth and send them a clear message — we see you, we value you, and we will fight with you to make schools safer.

I want to suggest two concrete actions we can all take.

First, advocate for policies in schools and school districts that comprehensively affirm and protect LGBTQ students, particularly transgender students. Throughout New England, where GLAD works closely on school issues, the law is clear that schools cannot discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. But each school district and each school should translate those legal protections into a clear policy that is disseminated throughout the community of students, parents, guardians, faculty, staff and administrators to ensure that those legal protections are understood and implemented in our schools. Policies such as the transgender and gender expansive student policy implemented in Portland, Maine, in late 2017 show how districts can affirm and support students through clear, common-sense policies.

Second, work to change state laws about what our youth learn in schools. Having LGBTQ history and experience incorporated into curricula and ensuring that reproductive and sexual health education are affirming are important to creating inclusive environments for all youth in schools. Now pending in Massachusetts, the Healthy Youth Act (H. 410) would ensure that Massachusetts schools with sexual health education classes include affirmative recognition and support for diverse sexual orientations and gender identities. Incorporating these conversations into classes, affirming queer identities in a positive way, and deconstructing societal and media messages are all effective ways to normalize diversity within sexuality and health.

On this Day of Silence, we can take these steps to support our youth and send them a clear message — we see you, we value you, and we will fight with you to make schools safer.

Enormous Outpouring of Support for Conversion Therapy Ban in Maine

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Young people – LGBTQ themselves and their siblings – kicked off the public hearing in favor of protecting minors from conversion therapy yesterday, joined by medical and legal experts, clergy and advocates, who testified yesterday before the Joint Committee on Health Coverage, Insurance, and Financial Services.

A 12-year-old girl testified how terrible it would be for her transgender brother if he were forced to change, and LGBTQ young people shared their overwhelming dread of conversion therapy even compared to other types of mistreatment.

As with a similar bill last session, several licensed therapists acknowledged the bill would affect their practices.

“I ask you to think about this: If a child or adolescent grows up in a world that devalues their identity, and is exposed to bullying and ostracism, and then is told by a mental health professional that who they are and what they feel is wrong, shameful, and flawed and must be changed — then that young person will be harmed,” said Dr. Judith Glassgold, Director of Professional Affairs for the New Jersey Psychological Association, in her testimony before the joint committee. Dr. Glassgold was a leader in the two landmark assessments of conversion therapy, one from the American Psychological Association in 2009 and another with the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration in 2015.

“The increased rates of serious emotional distress among LGBT youth are not a function of their sexual orientation or gender identity,” Glassgold continued. “Rather, these risks stem from the stresses of prejudice, discrimination, rejection, harassment, and violence. But we can help, at least, by protecting youth from conversion therapy by licensed professionals.”

Dr. Glassgold’s complete testimony can be read here.

Also testifying yesterday was Mary Bonauto, Civil Rights Project Director for GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders and a resident of Portland, Maine, who reminded Committee members of the state’s “established and long-standing authority to regulate the conduct of licensed providers of healthcare and medical treatment, especially with respect to minors.”

“Banning conversion therapy helps steer parents clear of fraudulent practitioners who would harm rather than help their children,” said Bonauto following the hearing. “The state absolutely has the power and in fact, the responsibility, to regulate harmful medical treatment by licensed providers.”

Currently, 16 states ban the discredited practice, including Vermont, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire and, most recently, Massachusetts. Last year, Maine’s lawmakers overwhelmingly supported a ban, but then-Governor Paul LePage vetoed the legislation.

Numerous Maine medical and mental health organizations testified in favor of the bill, including the Maine Medical Association, the Maine Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Association of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, the National Association of Social Workers, the National Institute of Mental Illness, as well as the Maine Psychological Association, the Maine Association of Psychiatric Physicians and the Gender Clinic of Maine Medical Center.

The practice of conversion therapy has been condemned by The American Psychological Association, American Psychiatric Association, American Medical Association, American Academy of Family Physicians, American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, American Counseling Association, American Academy of Pediatrics, American Psychoanalytic Association, Australian Psychological Society, British Psychological Association, Endocrine Society, National Association of Social Workers, Psychological Society of Ireland, Psychological Society of South Africa, and the World Professional Association for Transgender Health.

Paid Sick and Family Leave in Maine

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Passing LD 369, an Earned Paid Sick Days proposal, is the right thing to do for Maine’s families.

42 percent of LGBT people say they’ve needed to take time off work at some point to care for a sick family member. LGBT couples raising children are also twice as likely to have household incomes near the poverty line compared to their non-LGBT peers — and single LGBT people are three times more likely to live near the poverty threshold than their non-LGBT peers. The reality is that these folks simply can’t afford to take unpaid time off work, and this proposal would make a huge difference. Earned paid sick leave would also be significant to members of the transgender community, older Mainers, and folks living with HIV/AIDS.

It’s important that our public policy acknowledges that families in Maine take diverse forms. To that end, we are especially supportive of this proposal’s inclusive definition of family, which recognizes that many Mainers, especially LGBT people, have chosen or extended family whom they care for.

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Response to New York Times Report of Trump Administration’s Latest Move Against Transgender People

Statement of GLAD Transgender Rights Project Director Jennifer Levi

Today’s New York Times report that the Trump Administration is considering a proposal to define the word “sex” for legal purposes in a way that deliberately excludes transgender people is one more example of this administration’s disregard of human rights and its heartless political strategy of attacking the most vulnerable among us.

The reactionary policies of this administration have caused and will cause too many to suffer. But staying focused on the changes that our community, friends, and allies have so bravely brought about through our advocacy, our words, and our deeds, sustains me. It informs my firm belief that the callousness of this administration is an aberration. We will persist, justice will win out, and this challenging moment will not define our country’s future.

This reported move is in conflict with the approach of both federal and state courts and government agencies in interpreting laws prohibiting sex discrimination. Even though the administration is working hard to delegitimize the federal judiciary upon which so many civil rights advancements have depended, we know that justice means justice for all. GLAD will never back down from pursuing protections and challenging unconstitutional laws and policies in the courts.

But just as importantly, the ideology being pushed by this administration is contrary to the beliefs and vision of countless leaders in education, business, medical and scientific communities, and among political leaders who have been willing to work across the aisle when rights and safety have been at stake. It also stands in stark contrast with the lives and experience of transgender people, our families, friends, neighbors and coworkers, all across this great nation.

The bottom line is that this administration has a transparent, callous, political agenda – and it is willing to undermine our most fundamental institutions to pursue it. We have seen this at work everywhere from the military – where Trump continues to pursue his ban on transgender troops despite its proven negative impact on military readiness and vocal opposition from military leaders – to the arenas of education, employment, and healthcare. It is a toxic agenda, dangerous to us all.

This administration continues to act rashly and in mean-spirited ways. But we have the power to counter it. We are strong and resilient. We will not back down and cannot be erased. We will continue telling the truth about our lives, treating one another with compassion, and fighting for justice. It is imperative that we act now, with our collective power, to stand up for what is right. We have an opportunity on November 6 to voice our values, to support candidates who believe in fairness, and reject those who use human beings as political pawns.

In Massachusetts, we face a critical vote – one that offers the chance to affirm the dignity and humanity of transgender people and to uphold the value of treating one another with respect. How Massachusetts votes on Question 3 will impact the direction of our nation. I am hopeful that the people in my home state will vote Yes on 3 to preserve the transgender civil rights law which we fought so long and so hard to pass. I am optimistic that we will demonstrate, once again, that the cruel agenda of a few does not reflect the will of We, the People.

The reactionary policies of this administration have caused and will cause too many to suffer. But staying focused on the changes that our community, friends, and allies have so bravely brought about through our advocacy, our words, and our deeds, sustains me. It informs my firm belief that the callousness of this administration is an aberration. We will persist, justice will win out, and this challenging moment will not define our country’s future.

GLAD at Pride Portland

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GLAD will be tabling at the Pride Portland! 2018 Festival. Stop by and say hello! Details here.

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For the first time in our movement history, a stand-alone transgender non-discrimination bill passed and was signed in a Republican-controlled state. This will serve as a model for the rest of the nation, as we look to the fights ahead to protect and defend fairness and equality.

Last week, Governor Sununu of New Hampshire signed HB 1319, the bill that will protect transgender people across the state from discrimination in employment, housing, and public places. With the governor’s signature, New Hampshire became the sixth and final New England state to ensure transgender people have the security to live and work free from discrimination, just like everyone else. For the first time in our movement history, a stand-alone transgender non-discrimination bill passed and was signed in a Republican-controlled state.

This moment has been ten years in the making in the Granite State, and is a critical milestone in GLAD’s work advancing full equality across the region.

I remember the day NH Representative Ed Butler called me to say he wanted to introduce a bill protecting transgender people from discrimination. It was 2008 and GLAD had been building momentum for LGBTQ equality after securing legislative wins for non-discrimination protections across New England. By then, all six states had already adopted sexual orientation protections, and Rhode Island, Maine and Vermont had added gender identity to state non-discrimination laws. Connecticut would add gender identity to its non-discrimination laws in 2011. Massachusetts passed gender identity non-discrimination protections in employment, credit, and housing that year, and in 2016 passed transgender protections in public accommodations.

Without hesitation, I said, “Let’s do it.”

In 2009 we introduced the first incarnation of the transgender non-discrimination bill to the legislature, where it passed the House by one vote. In those early days of organizing, we worked with a small but passionate group of six people from the transgender community to testify before the Senate committee. The day the bill went to the Senate for a vote, marriage equality was also on the calendar. We won the freedom to marry that day. But the Senate swiftly killed the transgender non-discrimination bill.

That moment was a rallying cry, and the seed of grassroots community organizing was planted.

GLAD worked with Transgender NH, an organization for and by the transgender community, to lay the building blocks for winning statewide gender identity non-discrimination protections. Together, we started building relationships and supporting leaders within the community, like longtime advocate Gerri Cannon. We provided legal expertise and resources to develop a public education campaign and share the experiences of transgender people across the state in storybooks, pictures, and videos.

This was the foundation of GLAD’s strong, sustained investment and relationship-building across New Hampshire, which led to smaller yet impactful victories, including updating the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles policy for gender marker changes on driver’s licenses and ending the discriminatory exclusion from Medicaid coverage of gender transition-related surgeries.

This moment has been ten years in the making in the Granite State, and is a critical milestone in GLAD’s work advancing full equality across the region.

By 2016 New Hampshire was the only New England state without any law explicitly ensuring fair and equal treatment of transgender people. GLAD, along with Freedom for All Americans, helped form the Freedom New Hampshire coalition, a bipartisan coalition dedicated to growing support for HB 1319, the bill to add gender identity to state non-discrimination law, sponsored by Representative Butler.

This new campaign, also comprised of Transgender NH, ACLU of NH, Rights & Democracy, and the Human Rights Campaign, was a shot of adrenaline for our movement, fueled by transgender community members and their families, and led by campaign manager Linds Jakows, a proud nonbinary person. The grassroots public education campaign driven by Freedom New Hampshire garnered an unprecedented groundswell of bipartisan support statewide for transgender equality.

It was during the legislative hearings this year that I realized just how much the momentum for equality had grown. Hundreds of supporters – legislators, local and state officials, and the transgender community, their families, and allies – packed the Statehouse during the House and Senate hearings, and provided over twelve hours of powerful testimony.

Thanks to the strategic, organized, and persistent work of transgender community members, who are the real champions of this victory, a stand-alone transgender non-discrimination bill passed and was signed in a Republican-controlled state – for the first time in our movement history. I know this will serve as a model for the rest of the nation, as we look to the fights ahead to protect and defend fairness and equality, including in Massachusetts, where we’re fighting to uphold basic protections for transgender people at the ballot box this November.

With HB 1319 signed into law, all six New England states now have full nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ people. GLAD is proud to have worked on the ground with communities across the region to advance equality. There is still so much more we can achieve. But our forty-years’ work building the foundation for these victories has prepared us for the fight ahead to protect these rights, and ensure a future of equality and justice for all in New England, and across the country.