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LGBTQ Organizations Call for Transformational Change in Policing

The letter can be found below, and a PDF version is available here.

Black people have been killed, Black people are dying at the hands of police, our country is in crisis, and we all need to take action. We cannot sit on the sidelines, we cannot acquiesce, and we cannot assign responsibility to others. We, as leaders in the LGBTQ movement, must rise up and call for structural change, for divestment of police resources and reinvestment in communities, and for long-term transformational change. Now is the time to take action, and this letter amplifies our strong calls for urgent and immediate action to be taken.

Ongoing police brutality and systemic racism has plagued this nation for generations and has been captured on video and laid bare to the public in the United States and around the world. In 2019, more than 1,000 people were killed at the hands of the police. We mourn the unacceptable and untimely deaths of Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, Sandra Bland, Philando Castile, Eric Garner, Stephon Clark, Freddie Gray, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Mya Hall, Tony McDade, Rayshard Brooks and many more who were gone too soon.

We have seen with increased frequency the shocking video footage of police brutality. Officers have been recorded instigating violence, screaming obscenities, dragging individuals out of cars, using unnecessary force, holding individuals at gunpoint, and kneeling on peoples’ necks to the desperate plea of “I can’t breathe.” These occurrences are stark reminders of a police system that needs structural changes, deconstruction, and transformation. No one should fear for their lives when they are pulled over by the police. Parents should not have to “have a talk” about how to engage with the police to their children. We as a nation are bleeding, and it is now, once again, time to call for change at every level of government.

The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, along with more than 400 other civil rights organizations including LGBTQ organizations, outlined critical steps ranging from demilitarizing law enforcement to ending qualified immunity that must be taken at the federal level to end police brutality and create accountability. In response to the continued violence, Representative Karen Bass (D-CA), working closely with the Congressional Black Caucus and other leaders in Congress, introduced the Justice in Policing Act of 2020 that reflects those core priorities which we support.

We also call for a divestment of public funding from police and a reinvestment in communities. Specifically, both the power and scope of police responsibilities should be significantly curtailed, by shifting certain responsibilities — such as mental health crisis response — from armed police officers to the professionals who are properly trained and better equipped to manage those responsibilities. True change must include the following principles.

Divesting of Public Funding From Police and Investing in Our Communities

Public funding should be shifted from police to reinvesting in our communities. Crime is often a symptom of scarcity and our frayed social safety net is sorely underfunded. The United States spends twice as much on policing, prisons, and courts as it does on direct welfare programs such as Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF), Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), and supplemental social security. Congress, states, and local governments can reduce incidents of crime and create healthy communities by investing in direct assistance programs, affordable housing, education, mental health services, substance abuse treatment, and early intervention programs (including violence interruption programs).

Shifting Most First Responder Responsibilities Away From Police

Our current crisis-response system should place healthcare workers, like social workers and psychiatrists, at the frontline of immediate health crisis events, not police officers. Inadequate healthcare and a lack of social safety nets have led to increased police interaction with individuals experiencing mental health crises. As a result, police officers are often called to assist in mental health emergencies, despite having little or no relevant training. This should change.

End Predictive Policing

We must address and stop the current use of predictive policing techniques that disproportionately affect minority communities. Predictive policing forecasts crime using algorithmic techniques, based on historical crime data, to determine where to deploy police and who is most likely to commit a crime. Not only does this dangerously reinforce discriminatory biases in the criminal justice system, resulting in over-policing of vulnerable communities, such as people of color and those from the LGBTQ community, but there is a lack of transparency from agencies that employ this method. Law enforcement agencies are often not required to share how or what data is being analyzed. Furthermore, these predictive technologies serve to escalate the level of enforcement and increase police presence in communities that are already over-surveilled. All law enforcement strategies must take into account the privacy concerns of the communities being policed, as well as the impact of over-policing on vulnerable communities. The use of predictive policing algorithms disregards both.

Police Union Contracts Should Be Made Public and Officers Held Liable

Currently, police union contracts make it nearly impossible for civilians to view information about officers, including incidents of prior misconduct. In doing so, police officers are shielded from accountability for their actions. The disciplinary history of a police officer whose personnel records are riddled with instances of misconduct and bad behavior should not be protected from public scrutiny. Making these contracts public and removing barriers that restrict access to records of police misconduct would allow for greater transparency and oversight and are necessary for public safety. Police union contracts must also hold police officers financially liable for killings and excessive use of force, including ending paid administrative leave and eligibility to be rehired by police departments.

As we consider these proposals, we should also evaluate how we reduce our over-reliance on policing to secure public safety.

We, the undersigned, call out for change and call out for change now. There is no state, no municipal jurisdiction, and no law enforcement agency where transformational changes are not necessary and urgent. When celebrating Pride Month this June, we must remember that the protests and riots from Compton’s Cafeteria to Stonewall were sparked by Black and Latinx transgender women calling for police reform due to harassment and mistreatment of LGBTQ people. We commemorate the history of the LGBTQ Movement, namely our resistance to police harassment and brutality across the nation, when such violence was common and expected. We remember this time as transformative, where we overcame our pain and fear to push for the ability to live a more authentic and free life. Today, we join together again to say that enough is enough. The time for structural change and transformation is now.

Signers

  • African American Office of Gay Concerns
  • African Human Rights Coalition (AHRC)
  • AMAAD Institute
  • American Civil Liberties Union
  • American Protestant Union
  • Annapolis Pride
  • APAIT
  • APLA Health
  • Aqua Foundation for Women
  • Arianna’s Center
  • Asexual Outreach
  • Asexual Visibility and Education Network (AVEN)
  • AsylumConnect
  • Autistic Women and Nonbinary Network
  • AVOL Kentucky
  • Riley Sober House
  • Basic Rights Oregon
  • Baton Rouge Pride
  • Bayard Rustin Center for Social Justice
  • Being Alive/People with AIDS Action Coalition, Inc.
  • Bet Mishpachah
  • BHT Foundation
  • Bi Women Quarterly
  • BiLaw
  • Billy DeFrank LGBTQ+ Community Center
  • BiPOL
  • Bisexual Organizing Project (BOP)
  • Bisexual Resource Center
  • BJF Interiors
  • Black Trans Advocacy Coalition
  • Black Trans Women Inc
  • Blue Ridge Pride Center, Inc.
  • Boston Gay Men’s Chorus
  • Boston Pride
  • Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Community Center
  • Brooklyn Community Pride Center
  • Campaign for Southern Equality
  • Campus Pride
  • CANDLE
  • Care Resource Community Health Centers, Inc.
  • Cascade AIDS Project
  • CenterLink: The Community of LGBT Centers
  • Central Outreach Wellness
  • Cincinnati Men’s Chorus
  • Coastal Bend PRIDE Center
  • Colors+
  • Community Education Group
  • Compass LGBTQ Community Center
  • Contigo Fund
  • Cornell Center on the Death Penalty Worldwide
  • Dallas Voice/Voice Publishing Co.
  • Deaf Queer Resource Center
  • Desert AIDS Project
  • Diocese of Southern Ohio
  • Disciples LGBTQ+ Alliance – AllianceQ
  • Dolphin Democrats
  • Drag Story Hour- Arizona
  • East Bay Getting to Zero
  • EduTechnologic
  • End Hep C SF
  • Equal Rights Washington
  • Equality Arizona
  • Equality Business Alliance
  • Equality California
  • Equality Delaware Foundation
  • Equality Florida
  • Equality Michigan
  • Equality Nevada
  • Equality New York
  • Equality North Carolina
  • Equality Ohio
  • Equality Prince William
  • Equality Texas
  • Equality Utah
  • EqualityMaine
  • Equitas Health
  • Equitas Health Institute
  • Family Equality
  • Fijate Bien Program/MPact Global Action for Gay Men’s Health and Rights
  • FL NOW (National Organization for Women)
  • Florida LGBTQ+ Democratic Caucus
  • Florida Trans Proud Inc
  • FORGE, Inc.
  • Four Corners Rainbow Youth Center
  • Frank Harr Foundation
  • Freedom for All Americans
  • Freedom Through Healing
  • FreeState Justice – Maryland’s LGBTQ+ Advocates
  • Friendly House Inc/SAGE Metro Portland
  • GAPIMNY—Empowering Queer & Trans Asian Pacific Islanders
  • Gay City: Seattle’s LGBTQ Center
  • Gay Freedom Band of Los Angeles (GFBLA)
  • Gender Equality New York
  • Georgia Equality
  • Get Out And Trek (GOAT)
  • GLAAD
  • GLBT Alliance of Santa Cruz
  • GLBT Historical Society
  • GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD)
  • GLMA: Health Professionals Advancing LGBTQ Equality
  • GLSEN
  • GLSEN Southern Nevada
  • GMHC
  • Harvey Milk Festival, Inc
  • Harvey Milk Foundation
  • Have A Gay Day
  • Hawai’i Institute for Human Rights
  • Hearts on a Wire
  • Henderson Equality Center
  • Hester Street Fair, LLC
  • Hetrick-Martin Institute: New Jersey
  • Holyoke Pride
  • Hope & Help, Inc.
  • Horizons Foundation
  • Houston GLBT Political Caucus
  • Howard Brown Health
  • Hudson Pride Center
  • Hugh Lane Wellness Foundation
  • Human Rights Alliance Santa Fe
  • Human Rights Campaign
  • Identity, Inc.
  • Immigration Equality
  • Inside Out Youth Services
  • Institute for LGBT Health and Wellbeing
  • International Association of Providers of AIDS Care
  • InterPride
  • Jackson Pride Center
  • JustUs Health
  • KatKeo Properties LLC
  • Keshet
  • Lakeside Pride Music Ensembles
  • Lambda Legal
  • Latino LinQ
  • Lesbians of Color Symposium (LOCS) Collective, Inc.
  • Lesbians Who Tech & Allies
  • Leslie Lohman Museum of Art
  • LGBT Caucus of the California Democratic Party
  • LGBT Community Center of Greater Cleveland
  • LGBT Life Center
  • LGBTQ Allyship
  • LGBTQ Center OC
  • LGBTQ Center of Bay County
  • LGBTQ Community Center of Southern Nevada
  • LGBTQ Community Center of the Desert
  • LGBTQ Northwest Indiana / Northwest Indiana Pride
  • LGBTQ+Allies Lake County
  • Liberty City LGBTQ Democratic Club
  • Long Island Gay and Lesbian Youth (LIGALY)
  • Long Island LGBT Community Center
  • Lorain County LGBTQ+ & Allies Task Force
  • Los Angeles Bi Task Force
  • Los Angeles LGBT Center
  • Mass Equality
  • Math4cure
  • Mazzoni Center
  • Media for the Public Good, Inc. / OutCasting Media
  • Meroe & Wellness, LLC
  • Methodist Federation for Social Action
  • Movement Advancement Project
  • Nashville LGBT Chamber
  • Nashville Pride
  • National Black Justice Coalition
  • National Center for Lesbian Rights
  • National Center for Transgender Equality
  • National Coalition for LGBT Health
  • National Equality Action Team (NEAT)
  • National LGBT Cancer Network
  • National LGBT Chamber of Commerce (NGLCC)
  • National LGBTQ Task Force
  • National Organization of Gay and Lesbian Scientists and Technical Professionals, Inc.
  • National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance (NQAPIA)
  • National Queer Theater
  • National Trans Visibility March
  • National Working Positive Coalition
  • New England Aces
  • New York City AIDS Memorial
  • New York City Gay Men’s Chorus
  • New York LGBT Network
  • North Carolina AIDS Action Network
  • North Shore Alliance of LGBTQ Youth
  • Oakland LGBTQ Community Center
  • Oasis Legal Services
  • Oklahomans for Equality
  • ONE Archives Foundation
  • One Colorado
  • One Orlando Alliance
  • one-n-ten
  • Openhouse
  • ORAM – Organization for Refuge, Asylum and Migration
  • oSTEM
  • Our Family Coalition
  • Out & Equal
  • Out Boulder County
  • OUT Georgia Business Alliance
  • Out in Tech
  • Out in the Open
  • Out In The Vineyard
  • Out Leadership
  • Out on Film
  • OutCenter of Southwest Michigan
  • Outfest
  • OutNebraska
  • OutRight Action International
  • OUTspoken Leaders
  • Palm Beach County Human Rights Council
  • Pan Eros Foundation
  • Partnership Project
  • Peer Support Space, Inc.
  • Peoria Proud
  • PFLAG Cape Cod
  • PFLAG Crown Point (Northwest Indiana)
  • PFLAG National
  • PFLAG NYC
  • PFLAG Olympia
  • PFLAG Orlando, Inc.
  • PFLAG South Miami
  • PFLAG Spartanburg
  • PFLAG Washington State Council
  • PFund Foundation
  • Philadelphia Family Pride
  • Phoenix Gay Men’s Chorus
  • Phoenix Pride
  • Planned Parenthood Keystone
  • Planned Parenthood Keystone’s Youth Programs (Rainbow Room, The Spectrum, The Curve)
  • Plexus LGBT Chamber of Commerce
  • Point Foundation
  • PRC
  • Pride Arts (Pride Films and Plays)
  • Pride at Work
  • Pride Center of the Capital Region
  • Pride Center West Texas
  • Pride Community Center, Inc (Brazos Valley, Texas)
  • Pride Community Services Organization
  • Pride Films and Plays/Pride Arts
  • Pride Fund 1
  • Pride Law Fund
  • Project MORE Foundation
  • Project No Labels
  • PROMO
  • Proud Haven Inc
  • Q Christian Fellowship
  • QLatinx
  • QLaw Foundation of Washington
  • Queens LGBT Center (Q-Center)
  • Queer Connect, Inc.
  • Queer Kid Stuff
  • Queerocracy
  • Rainbow Elder Care of Greater Dayton
  • Rainbow Pride Youth Alliance
  • Rebellious PR & Consulting
  • Reconciling Ministries Network
  • Resource Center
  • Rhode Island Pride
  • Ring of Keys
  • Rockland County Pride Center
  • RUSA LGBT – Russian-speaking American Association
  • Sacramento LGBT Community Center
  • Safe Schools Action Network
  • SAGE — Advocacy and Services for LGBT Elders
  • SAGE Metro Detroit
  • SAGE Upstate
  • San Diego LGBT Visitors Center
  • San Diego Pride
  • San Francisco AIDS Foundation
  • San Francisco Community Health Center
  • San Francisco Dykes on Bikes® Womens Motorcycle Contingent
  • Sandhills PRIDE
  • Sarwood Inc.
  • SAVE – Safeguarding American Values for Everyone
  • Seattle Aces and Aros
  • Seattle Choruses: SMC/SWC
  • Sero Project
  • SF LGBT Center
  • Side by Side VA
  • Silver State Equality-Nevada
  • SOJOURN
  • Southern Arizona Gender Alliance
  • SpeakOUT Boston
  • Spectrum Spokane
  • Stanislaus LGBTQ+ Collaborative for Well-Being
  • StartOut
  • Still Bisexual
  • Stonewall Columbus
  • Stonewall Democratic Club
  • Stonewall Democrats of Central Ohio
  • Stonewall National Museum & Archives
  • Stonewall Sports – Richmond
  • SunServe
  • TBuddy
  • Tennessee Equality Project
  • Texas Pride Impact Funds
  • The Affirmative Couch, LLC
  • The Bearded Ladies Cabaret
  • The Box Gallery
  • The Bros in Convo Initiative
  • The Chroma Museum
  • The Cubbyhole Bar
  • The DC Center for the LGBT Community
  • The Diversity Center
  • The Fund for Community Reparations for Autistic People of Color’s Interdependence, Survival, and
  • Empowerment
  • The Great Griffon
  • The Hetrick-Martin Institute
  • The Human Rights Alliance Santa Fe
  • The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center
  • The LGBT Asylum Project
  • The LGBT Center of Greater Reading
  • The LGBT Pink Panthers Movement
  • The LGBTQ Center Long Beach
  • The LOFT LGBT Community Services Center
  • The OUT Foundation
  • The Pride Center at Equality Park
  • The Pride Center of Maryland
  • The Rainbow Times
  • The San Diego LGBT Community Center
  • The Source LGBT+ Center
  • The Spahr Center
  • The Stonewall Inn Gives Back Initiative
  • The Transgender Training Institute
  • The TransLatin@ Coalition
  • The Trevor Project
  • Three Dollar Bill Cinema (Seattle Queer Film Festival)
  • TPAN
  • Trans In Color
  • TransFamily Support Services
  • Transgender Assistance Program Virginia
  • Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund
  • Transgender Michigan
  • transnewyork
  • TransOhio
  • True Colors United
  • True Colors, Inc.
  • Truth Wins Out
  • TurnOut
  • Under The Arc
  • UNITY COALITION|COALICION UNIDA
  • Uplift Outreach Center
  • Uptown Gay & Lesbian Alliance (UGLA)
  • Valley AIDS Council
  • Valley Community Healthcare
  • Virtual Arizona Pride
  • Watermark
  • Waves Ahead Corp & SAGE Puerto Rico
  • WayOUT
  • Wenatchee Pride
  • White Mountains Pride
  • Whitman-Walker Institute
  • William Way LGBT Community Center
  • Woodhull Freedom Foundation
  • Yakima Pride
  • Yale GALA: Yale’s LGBT Alumni
  • Young Democrats of Georgia LGBTQ+ Caucus
  • Youth Outlook
  • Youth Pride, Inc.
  • Zebra Coalition

Click here for a PDF version of the letter.

Blog

Five years ago on June 26, the White House (and everyone’s social media feeds) were lit up in rainbows to celebrate the historic Obergefell ruling that brought marriage equality to the entire U.S. How are we doing five years later? What’s changed since 2015? And what lies ahead? Find out from Mary L. Bonauto – the attorney who argued the landmark case before the Supreme Court – in this unique opportunity to go behind the scenes for the questions and even some answers.

Watch the June 18 Justice HangOUT with Mary L. Bonauto below, and sign up to attend upcoming HangOUTs!

YouTube video

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We apologize, this video is not available at the moment.

Please contact gladlaw@glad.org for more information.

Thank you.

Victory! Supreme Court ruling affirms legal protections for LGBTQ workers nationwide

Washington, D.C. (June 15, 2020) – Today, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a watershed ruling affirming that federal law protects LGBTQ workers from job discrimination. In response, GLAD Civil Rights Project Director Mary L. Bonauto issued the following statement:

Today’s historic ruling affirms critical legal protections for LGBTQ people across the country. The Supreme Court has settled the question of whether federal employment nondiscrimination law protects transgender, lesbian, gay, and bisexual people. The answer is a definitive “yes.”

The 6-3 ruling authored by Justice Gorsuch recognizes that existing federal sex discrimination protections for workers apply to LGBTQ people based on well-established precedent and because a person’s sexual orientation or transgender status can only be understood in relationship to their sex. This conclusion “has been standing before us all along,” the majority opinion states. Further, prohibiting employment discrimination is a “major piece of civil rights legislation” written in “starkly broad terms.” As a result, the Court holds employers are liable for discrimination when an individual’s “sex is a but-for cause” of harm to an employee.

Today’s decision joins other foundational sex discrimination opinions about sexual harassment (1986), sex stereotyping (1989) and same-sex sexual harassment (1998), all of which the Supreme Court has found to be within the broad scope of what Congress wrote into federal Title VII law.

Our civil rights laws are intended to help our country live up to its promises of equality, and today’s decision from the Supreme Court brings us another step closer to that promise.

And as right and welcome as this ruling is, our work is not done. Our federal and many state laws still leave too many LGBTQ people and others unprotected in critical areas of life including access to public places like stores or public transportation, or in federally funded vital social services. Today’s ruling also arrives against the backdrop of pervasive systemic racism and racist violence, that imposes incalculable and intolerable costs on Black Americans and all people of color, including those who are LGBTQ.

The fight for LGBTQ justice is inseparable from the fight for racial justice. As we celebrate today’s decision, we must continue working with Congress, state and local officials, and all institutions and all people in this nation to ensure discrimination is off limits in every arena. We must strive to ensure that the words of our statutes have meaning and real-world impacts for all Americans.

Blog

Today marks the fourth anniversary of the mass shooting at Pulse Nightclub. 49 lives were taken by violence during Latin night at a club that was a gathering place for many young LGBTQ people of color.

Each year on the anniversary of Pulse we #HonorThemWithAction. I urge you to visit www.HonorThemWithAction.org to mark this day and commit to action.

This painful anniversary corresponds with Pride month, and this year comes at a time when so much collective grief and anger over persistent, systemic racism and violence, including police violence, is culminating in nationwide, even worldwide, protest. We know from the memory of the first Pride the power to make change that can come when we collectively demand it loudly and do not stop until we are heard.

This season of remembrance, protest, and Pride throws starkly into relief how much of the advances and casualties for our LGBTQ community are borne by BIPOC queer and transgender people. From one of the first bricks thrown at Stonewall, to Tony McDade and other Black transgender victims of police violence, to the ongoing epidemic of violence against transgender women of color — we mourn too many beautiful lives lost even as we honor the courage of those who have fought again and again to have basic rights recognized.

As we move further into Pride season, we are deepening our commitment to our interconnected fights for racial justice and LGBTQ justice. I invite you to visit our racial justice resources page, and to share with us how you are showing up in this fight. It will take all of us.

In Massachusetts we are also supporting the Trans Resistance Vigil and March and the Transgender Emergency Fund.

Trans Resistance Vigil and March
Saturday, June 13, 2020 3pm-5pm
Playstead Field at Franklin Park

Join us at the march button

We have said it before but it bears repeating. Black lives matter. Black queer and trans lives matter. The LGBTQ equality movement has taken steps forward through the courage and tenacity of Black trans people like Marsha B. Johnson and so many others. During Pride month and every month we must show up for and with those in our community who are the most vulnerable to violence and erasure.

GLAD Lawsuit Tests Trump’s Reversal of Healthcare Protections for Trans People Under ACA

“The Trump administration’s new interpretation of Section 1557 contradicts the Affordable Care Act, is dangerous to transgender people, and won’t survive federal challenge,” said GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders. GLAD is currently in federal court challenging the denial of healthcare to a transgender man under the ACA’s non-discrimination statute referred to as Section 1557.

Pangborn v. Ascend, a federal lawsuit brought by GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD) on behalf of a transgender man denied coverage for gender affirming care, will test the legitimacy of the Trump administration’s reversal of an HHS rule that had previously made clear that transgender people are covered under the ACA’s non-discrimination provision known as Section 1557. The case alleges, among other claims, that Alexander Pangborn’s employer violated the ACA by categorically excluding insurance coverage for transgender people’s medical needs relating to gender transition.

Section 1557 of the ACA bars discrimination in healthcare access and insurance on the basis of sex as well as race, color, national origin, age, and disability. The Department of Health and Human Services published a final rule today formalizing the Trump administration’s claim that Section 1557 does not protect transgender people from discrimination in health care, reversing HHS’s prior interpretation of the law.

“The Trump administration’s new 1557 rule contradicts the statute. It’s contrary to established case law, dangerous to transgender people, and can’t survive legal challenge,” said Jennifer Levi, GLAD Transgender Rights Project Director. “Unfortunately, the new rule is likely to confuse healthcare practitioners, insurers, and employers, and invites providers to turn away transgender people when seeking basic medical care. This is yet another callous policy coming from an administration intent on appeasing the far right and ignoring sound legal and medical policies.”

“Alexander Pangborn is a hospice nurse who provides compassionate care every day to his patients and their families, yet he was denied access to the health care he himself needs,” said Chris Erchull, GLAD Staff Attorney representing Pangborn. “The purpose of the ACA is to ensure Americans have access to healthcare. The purpose and the legal meaning of the nondiscrimination protections in Section 1557 are to ensure that individuals like Alexander are not denied care because of anti-transgender prejudice or other bias. The Trump administration’s repudiation of those protections is both cruel and unjust. It will not hold up in court.”

Read GLAD’s comment submitted in opposition to this rule.

Advocacy Groups Urge NCAA to Remove Events from Idaho

June 10, 2020: GLAD and other advocacy groups signed onto a letter calling for the NCAA to remove events in Idaho in response to new anti-trans legislation. The letter can be found below, and the fully annotated version is available in PDF here.

Click here for sample social media posts to share, encouraging the NCAA to relocate their championship events from Idaho.

Dear NCAA Bid Selection Committees,

We are writing to request you relocate all NCAA events, including the 2021 NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship games, from Idaho due to the state’s recent passage of dangerous anti-transgender legislation that prohibits certain groups of student athletes from participating in school sports.

Given Idaho’s adoption of a discriminatory law that directly impacts college athletics, violates NCAA values, and undermines the dignity and well-being of NCAA athletes, Idaho schools no longer qualify to host NCAA events.

On March 30, 2020, Idaho enacted House Bill 500 (HB500), a law that bans transgender girls from competing on college teams, including at Idaho’s NCAA member schools. This law also forces women and girls to be subject to invasive medical procedures simply because they are, or are suspected to be, transgender. Idaho is the only state in the country with such an extreme, harmful, and discriminatory blanket ban on the participation of transgender women and girls in sports. This law is in direct conflict with NCAA Championship policies. In fact, Idaho’s law is so extreme that it prompted the NCAA to speak out against its passage.

Idaho’s law blatantly targets an already-marginalized community in athletics and decreases their participation in sports. Transgender students already participate at significantly lower rates and feel unsafe in athletic spaces. Further, while the harm of this law explicitly falls on transgender girls, the impact extends even further. Idaho’s new law is the first in the country to categorically ban transgender girls from sports statewide, but past research has found that when states adopt policies that create new barriers for transgender athletes to participate in sports, the number of participants in sports among all LGBTQ youth drops. This harms the NCAA’s goals of protecting athlete wellbeing and promoting diversity and inclusion in athletics.

As a law that expressly violates the NCAA’s values, HB500 disqualifies Idaho schools from hosting the seminal NCAA event. According to the NCAA’s anti-discrimination policy, the NCAA “must and shall operate [their] championships and events in alignment with [their] values as [they] strive to promote an inclusive atmosphere in which student-athletes participate…”. This includes NCAA Championship sessions, series, and final events. When North Carolina passed HB2 in 2016, the most extreme anti-LGBTQ law in the country at the time, the NCAA recognized that a law targeting transgender people’s access to restrooms went against their values, and subsequently relocated championship games from North Carolina.  Like HB2, HB500 strikes directly at the core of the NCAA’s values, going even further in excluding students from college athletics. All NCAA sponsored events therefore should be removed from Idaho immediately.

Further, Idaho should not be permitted to host an NCAA event while HB500 is in effect. With this sweeping discriminatory law in place, they simply cannot reflect NCAA values and treat all athletes with the dignity and respect expected of NCAA membership schools.

We appreciate the NCAA’s commitment to inclusion and anti-discrimination. In keeping with these values, we encourage you to take immediate action to ensure the integrity of NCAA events and the wellbeing of all athletes.

Sincerely,

  • National Center for Transgender Equality
  • American Civil Liberties Union
  • Leadership Conference on Civil and
  • National Women’s Law Center
  • American Association of University Women
  • Athlete Ally
  • Atlanta Pride Committee
  • Billie Jean King Leadership Initiative
  • Center for American Progress
  • Center for Disability Rights
  • CenterLink: The Community of LGBT Centers
  • Clearinghouse on Women’s Issues
  • Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund
  • Equality California
  • Equality Federation
  • Equality North Carolina
  • Equality Texas
  • Family Equality
  • Feminist Majority Foundation
  • Fenway Health
  • FORGE, Inc.
  • Freedom for All Americans
  • GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD)
  • GLMA: Health Professionals Advancing LGBTQ Equality
  • Human Rights Campaign
  • Inclusion Playbook
  • Japanese American Citizens League
  • JustUs Health
  • Lambda Legal
  • Legal Voice
  • LGBTQ Allyship
  • Lou Weaver Consulting
  • Mazzoni Center
  • Minority Veterans of America
  • Modern Military Association of America
  • National Black Justice Coalition
  • National Center for Lesbian Rights
  • National Coalition for LGBT Health
  • National Education Association
  • National Equality Action Team
  • National LGBTQ Task Force
  • National Partnership for Women & Families
  • Oasis Legal Services
  • OCA-Asian Pacific American Advocates
  • One Colorado
  • OutNebraska
  • PFLAG National
  • Planned Parenthood Federation of America
  • SAGE: Advocacy and Services for LGBT Elders
  • Silver State Equality-Nevada
  • SPLC Action Fund
  • The Trevor Project
  • The Volunteer Lawyers Project of Onondaga County, Inc.
  • Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund
  • Transgender Resource Center of New Mexico
  • True Colors United
  • Whitman-Walker Health and Whitman-Walker Institute
  • Women’s Sports Foundation

 

The accompanying letter from student athletes is here: https://www.athleteally.org/student-athletes-ncaa-idaho
The accompanying letter from professional athletes is here: https://www.athleteally.org/athletes-ncaa-idaho

 

Take action by showing your support on social media!

Here are some sample social media posts for you to share:

Twitter:

I urge the @NCAA to relocate their championship events from Idaho, where lawmakers passed a bill banning transgender youth from playing high school sports. ALL young athletes should be able to play the sport they love and be part of a team. #SupportTransAthletes

Transgender student athletes simply want to play the sport they love and be a part of a team, just like any other student. That’s why I urge @NCAA to move their events from Idaho, which passed #HB500, banning trans youth from participating in high school athletics.

Facebook:

I’m standing up for ALL youth athletes—including those who are transgender, and simply want to play they love and be part of a team. Our laws should protect trans youth, not encourage discrimination against them. That’s why I’m urging the NCAA to relocate their championship events from Idaho, where lawmakers passed a bill banning trans youth from participating in high school athletics. I hope the NCAA continues to demonstrate their commitment to inclusion by taking swift action.

 

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Work for LGBTQ+ equality is inextricably linked to work for racial justice, and it is critical for white LGBTQ+ people to be engaged in anti-racist work.

On June 9, white people working in the LGBTQ+ movement, in partnership with the LGBTQ #BlackLivesMatter Town Hall hosted by Equality Florida, held a live conversation focusing on the responsibility and opportunities white people have to challenge systemic racism and white supremacy and to hold systems of power accountable.

YouTube video

SPEAKERS:

  • Shannon Minter, He/him, National Center for Lesbian Rights
  • Rea Carey, she/they, National LGBTQ Task Force
  • Mary Bonauto, she/her GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD)
  • Monica Meyer, she or any, OutFront Minnesota
  • Ian Palmquist, he/him, Equality Federation

Click here for more resources

This event was co-hosted by GLAD, GLSEN, National Center for Lesbian Rights, National LGBTQ Task Force, OutFront Minnesota, and Equality Federation.

LGBTQ+ Community Dismantling White Supremacy: White People Engaging White People

Work for LGBTQ+ equality is inextricably linked to work for racial justice.

That work could not be more urgent.

GLAD invites you to attend a virtual town hall discussion on how white people can work for racial justice in and beyond the LGBTQ community.

RSVP and more info below

Fill out my online form.

LGBTQ Organizations Unite to Combat Racial Violence

“If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.” Those words, written over 30 years ago by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, remind us that indifference can never bridge the divide of hate. And, today, they should serve as a call to action to all of us, and to the Movement for LGBTQ equality.

This spring has been a stark and stinging reminder that racism, and its strategic objective, white supremacy, is as defining a characteristic of the American experience as those ideals upon which we claim to hold our democracy — justice, equality, liberty.

  • We listened to the haunting pleas of George Floyd for the most basic of human needs — simply, breath — as a Minneapolis police officer kneeled with cruel indifference on his neck.
  • We felt the pain of Breonna Taylor’s boyfriend as he called 9-1-1 after plainclothes Louisville police kicked down the door of their home and shot her eight times as she slept in her bed.
  • We watched the shooting death of Ahmaud Arbery by white vigilantes in Brunswick, GA, aware that they evaded the consequence of their actions until the video surfaced and sparked national outrage.
  • We saw the weaponizing of race by a white woman who pantomimed fear in calling the police on Christian Cooper, a Black gay man bird-watching in Central Park.
  • We have heard and read about the killings of transgender people — Black transgender women in particular — with such regularity, it is no exaggeration to describe it as a epidemic of violence. This year alone, we have lost at least 12 members of our community: Dustin Parker, Neulisa Luciano Ruiz, Yampi Méndez Arocho, Monika Diamond, Lexi, Johanna Metzger, Serena Angelique Velázquez Ramos, Layla Pelaez Sánchez, Penélope Díaz Ramírez, Nina Pop, Helle Jae O’Regan, and Tony McDade.

All of these incidents are stark reminders of why we must speak out when hate, violence, and systemic racism claim — too often with impunity — Black Lives.

The LGBTQ Movement’s work has earned significant victories in expanding the civil rights of LGBTQ people. But what good are civil rights without the freedom to enjoy them?

Many of our organizations have made progress in adopting intersectionality as a core value and have committed to be more diverse, equitable, and inclusive. But this moment requires that we go further — that we make explicit commitments to embrace anti-racism and end white supremacy, not as necessary corollaries to our mission, but as integral to the objective of full equality for LGBTQ people.

We, the undersigned, recognize we cannot remain neutral, nor will awareness substitute for action. The LGBTQ community knows about the work of resisting police brutality and violence. We celebrate June as Pride Month, because it commemorates, in part, our resisting police harassment and brutality at Stonewall in New York City, and earlier in California, when such violence was common and expected. We remember it as a breakthrough moment when we refused to accept humiliation and fear as the price of living fully, freely, and authentically.

We understand what it means to rise up and push back against a culture that tells us we are less than, that our lives don’t matter. Today, we join together again to say #BlackLivesMatter and commit ourselves to the action those words require.

SIGNED:

Affirmations, Dave Garcia, Executive Director

AIDS Foundation of Chicago, Aisha N. Davis, Director of Policy

American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Anthony D. Romero, Executive Director

Arkansas Transgender Equity Collaborative, Tonya Estell, Board of Directors

Campaign for Southern Equality, Rev. Jasmine Beach-Ferrara, Executive Director

Cathedral Of Hope UCC, Rev. Dr. Neil G Thomas, Senior Pastor

Center on Halsted, Modesto Valle, CEO

Equality Arizona, Michael Soto, Executive Director

Equality California, Rick Chavez Zbur, Executive Director

Equality Delaware, Mark Purpura and Lisa Goodman, Board Chairs

Equality Federation, Rebecca Isaacs, Executive Director

Equality Florida, Nadine Smith, Executive Director

Equality Illinois, Brian Johnson, CEO

Equality New Mexico, Adrian N. Carver, Executive Director

Equality New York, Amanda Babine, Executive Director

Equality North Carolina, Kendra R Johnson, Executive Director

Equality Ohio, Grant Stancliff, Communications Director

Equality Texas, Ricardo Martinez, CEO

Fair Wisconsin, Megin McDonell, Executive Director

Fairness Campaign, Tamara Russell, Board Member

Family Equality, Denise Brogan-Kator, Chief Policy Officer

Freedom for All Americans, Kasey Suffredini, CEO & National Campaign Director

FreeState Justice, Mark Procopio, Executive Director

Gay City: Seattle’s LGBTQ Center, Fred Swanson, Executive Director

Gay Men’s Health Crisis (GMHC), Kelsey Louie, CEO

Georgia Equality, Jeff Graham, Executive Director

GLAAD, Sarah Kate Ellis, President and CEO

GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD), Janson Wu, Executive Director

GLMA: Health Professionals Advancing LGBTQ Equality, Hector Vargas, Executive Director

GLSEN, Eliza Byard, Executive Director

GSAFE, Brian Juchems, Co-Director

Human Rights Campaign, Alphonso David, President

Immigration Equality, Aaron C. Morris, Executive Director

Ingersoll Gender Center, Karter Booher, Executive Director

Lambda Legal, Kevin Jennings, CEO

LGBT Community Center of the Desert, Mike Thompson, CEO

LGBT Life Center, Stacie Walls, CEO

Louisiana Trans Advocates, Peyton Rose Michelle, Director of Operations

Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition, Tre’Andre Valentine, Executive Director

MassEquality, Tanya V. Neslusan, Executive Director

Movement Advancement Project, Ineke Mushovic, Executive Director

National Black Justice Coalition, David Johns, Executive Director

National Center for Lesbian Rights, Imani Rupert-Gordon, Executive Director

National Center for Transgender Equality, Mara Keisling, Executive Director

National LGBTQ Task Force, Rea Carey, Executive Director

NMAC, Paul Kawata, Executive Director

Oakland LGBTQ Community Center, Joe Hawkins, CEO

Out & Equal Workplace Advocates, Erin Uritus, CEO

One Colorado, Daniel Ramos, Executive Director

One Iowa, Courtney Reyes, Executive Director

OutFront Minnesota, Monica Meyer, Executive Director

OutNebraska, Abbi Swatsworth, Executive Director

Pacific Center for Human Growth, Michelle Gonzalez, Executive Director

PFLAG National, Brian K. Bond, Executive Director

PRC, Brett Andrews, CEO

Rainbow Community Center of Contra Costa County, Kiku Johnson, Executive Director

Resource Center, Cece Cox, CEO

Sacramento LGBT Community Center, David Heitstuman, CEO

San Francisco Community Health Center, Lance Toma, CEO

SF LGBT Center, Rebecca Rolfe, Executive Director

SAGE, Michael Adams, CEO

San Diego LGBT Community Center, Cara Dessert, CEO

Silver State Equality, André C. Wade, State Director

Tennessee Equality Project, Chris Sanders, Executive Director

The Diversity Center, Sharon E Papo, Executive Director

The Gala Pride and Diversity Center, Michelle Call, Executive Director

The Lesbian, Gay Bisexual and Transgender Community Center, Glennda Testone, Executive Director

The LGBTQ Center, Long Beach, Porter Gilberg, Executive Director

The LGBTQ Center, NYC, Reg Calcagno, Senior Director of Government Affairs

The Trevor Project, Amit Paley, CEO

Transgender Education Network of Texas (TENT), Emmett Schelling, Executive Director

Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund (TLDEF), Andy Marra, Executive Director

TransOhio, James Knapp, Chair & Executive Director

Uptown Gay & Lesbian Alliance (UGLA), Carl Matthes, President

Wyoming Equality, Sara Burlingame, Executive Director

 

Click here to view this letter as a PDF.

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