Blog
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.
U.S. First Circuit Court of Appeals Recognizes Lesbian Firefighter’s Sex Discrimination Claim Under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act
The U.S. First Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday upheld a $700,000 jury award for Lori Franchina, a lesbian firefighter who experienced extensive unchecked harassment from her co-workers at the Providence Fire Department.
In ruling in Ms. Franchina’s favor, in Franchina v. City of Providence, the Court concluded there was more than enough evidence to support her “sex plus” discrimination claim under Title VII of the U.S. Civil Rights Act, where the “plus” in Ms. Franchina’s case is her sexual orientation. The ruling clarifies in the First Circuit that the existence of sexual orientation discrimination does not negate a sex discrimination claim under Title VII.
A moving, powerful opinion by Judge Ojetta Rogeriee Thompson emphatically upheld the verdict and damages awarded Ms. Franchina against the City of Providence, citing the egregious abuse Ms. Franchina endured.
The Court points out that Ms. Franchina’s case did not directly challenge Higgins v. New Balance Athletic Shoe, Inc., which cast doubt on whether sexual orientation discrimination is covered under Title VII and has made it very difficult for lesbian, gay, and bisexual plaintiffs to bring Title VII claims. Yesterday’s ruling nevertheless cleared up much of the confusion caused by Higgins. Alluding to the datedness of Higgins as a “nearly twenty-year old” decision, Judge Thompson also noted the narrow reach of that ruling, stating “we do not believe that Higgins forecloses a plaintiff in our Circuit from bringing sex-plus claims under Title VII where, in addition to the sex-based charge, the ‘plus’ factor is the plaintiff’s status as a gay or lesbian individual.”
GLAD, NCLR, Lambda Legal, the ACLU, and ACLU of Rhode Island submitted a friend-of-the-court brief addressing the problems and confusion created by decisions like Higgins – which this ruling has now gone some considerable way to clear up – and arguing that it is time for all the federal circuits to recognize that under a correct analysis of existing Title VII principles, sexual orientation discrimination is sex discrimination under that law, as the Seventh Circuit held last year in Hively v. Ivy Tech and as the concurring Chief Judge persuasively argued in Christensen v. Omnicom Group in the Second Circuit.
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Through strategic litigation, public policy advocacy, and education, GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders works in New England and nationally to create a just society free of discrimination based on gender identity and expression, HIV status, and sexual orientation. www.GLAD.org
The National Center for Lesbian Rights is a national legal organization committed to advancing the human and civil rights of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community through litigation, public policy advocacy, and public education. www.NCLRights.org
Lambda Legal is a national organization committed to achieving full recognition of the civil rights of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgender people and everyone living with HIV through impact litigation, education and public policy work. www.LambdaLegal.org
For nearly 100 years, the ACLU has worked in courts, legislatures, and communities to protect the constitutional rights of all people. With a nationwide network of offices and millions of members and supporters, we take up the toughest civil liberties fights. Beyond one person, party, or side — we the people dare to create a more perfect union. Learn more at www.ACLU.org
Contacts:
Amanda Johnston, GLAD, 617-417-7769, ajohnston@glad.org
Lauren Gray, NCLR, 215-983-3099, lgray@nclrights.org
Tom Warnke, Lambda Legal, 213-382-7600, twarnke@lambdalegal.org
Steve Smith, ACLU, 212-519-7811; ssmith@aclu.org
Franchina v. Providence Fire Department, et al
Blog
Creating a climate of support and affirmation for LGBTQ youth is critical to ensuring their safety and well-being.
On June 30, 2017, Rhode Island moved closer to creating that climate, by taking decisive action to ban the harmful and discredited practice of conversion therapy on LGBTQ youth.
Thanks to the hard work of supportive legislators, our partners on the Rhode Island Conversion Therapy Ban Committee, and all of you who spoke out across the state, the bill sponsored by Senator Donna Nesselbush and Representative Edith Ajello was passed by the General Assembly, and is now off to the office of Governor Raimondo, who we hope will sign it into law quickly.
This bill will have a tremendously positive impact on youth in Rhode Island. Attempts to change a person’s gender identity or sexual orientation not only do not work, they are harmful, leaving youth especially at increased risk of depression, addiction, and even suicide.
With this law, Rhode Island would join Connecticut, Vermont, New Jersey, New York, California, Oregon, Illinois, New Mexico, Nevada, as well as Washington, D.C. in becoming a safer and more welcoming place for LGBTQ youth.
Thank you for helping to ensure LGBTQ youth know they are beautiful, just as they are.
Strengthening All Families Through Paid Sick Leave in RI
On June 28, 2017, the Rhode Island Senate approved S290, The Healthy and Safe Families and Workplaces Act, which would ensure workers in Rhode Island can take paid sick and safe days.
GLAD is supporting Rhode Island Senate Bill S290 and House Bill H7633 and believes that Rhode Island should join Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to provide additional economic security to workers and their families. This bill is important because it ensures that workers in Rhode Island can take paid sick and safe days. This type of paid leave is particularly important for the LGBTQ community. Research shows that LGBTQ people are more likely to live in poverty than their non-LGBTQ counterparts. And LGBTQ people of color and transgender people are especially vulnerable to poverty.
For these individuals and families, taking time off of work without pay can mean risking their paychecks, their jobs and undermine their economic stability. This bill would promote the economic security and stability of all workers in Rhode Island, including LGBTQ individuals and families.
GLAD also strongly supports the bill’s inclusive definition of “family member,” which is vital to the LGBTQ community. The LGBTQ community and its families have historically lacked legal recognition or formalization under the law. Despite this, LGBTQ family relationships are critical to stability and well-being. In the United States today, family composition is increasingly diverse. Broadening definitions of family allows LGBTQ families “to accurately reflect their household” and to benefit equally from protections such as paid sick and safe leave. Rhode Island is no stranger to recognizing and protecting functional family relationships. And Rhode Island must continue to keep pace with the reality of today’s families.
Blog
There has never been a single way to form families, despite the 1950s image of a married mother and father with two biological children who were born after marriage.
There has never been a single way to form families, despite the 1950s image of a married mother and father with two biological children who were born after marriage. There have always been single parents, adoptive parents, and parents who do not marry, as well as other family formations. But until recently the law has formally recognized as “parents” only those whose bonds to their children were formed by marriage, biology, or adoption. That has left some children without full legal protections and the emotional security that comes with that—especially (but not exclusively) for those with LGBTQ parents. With recent cases in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Vermont, GLAD is ensuring that no children are penalized and all families are recognized no matter how their families were formed. In October 2016, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court issued a decision in GLAD’s case Partanen v. Gallagher, declaring that Karen Partanen, a non-birth mother, can be a full legal “parent” to the two children she raised with her former partner Julie Gallagher. Julie and Karen planned together to start a family. Julie gave birth to both children, who were conceived through assisted reproductive technology (ART) with the consent of both women. They were in Florida for much of their relationship with few protections available, but they raised their children together and presented themselves to teachers, doctors, and family, as parents. They split up after 13 years together, and agreed to co-parent. But soon Julie sought to sever Karen’s relationship with the children because Karen was not related to the children through birth, marriage or adoption. Massachusetts “paternity” law enables children who are born to an unmarried couple to have a determination of who their legal parents are, ensuring that both parents support their children (when able), and that custody and parenting time are based on the children’s best interests. Julie argued that those laws applied only to genetic parents and not to someone like Karen. Although the paternity law uses gendered terms, the SJC ruling unanimously stated that its provisions may be read in a gender-neutral manner, to apply where a child is “born to [two people], is received into their joint home, and is held out by both as their own child.” The Court emphasized that the existing law “appl[ies] to same-sex couples, even though at least one member of the couple may well lack biological ties to the children.” “This decision is a major victory for families, and especially for children, who should not be deprived of a ‘parent’ because the adults did not marry or used assisted reproduction,” says GLAD Civil Rights Project Director Mary Bonauto, who argued the case. Following this landmark ruling for children, achieved with MA family law attorneys Patience Crozier (who has since joined GLAD’s legal staff), Elizabeth Roberts, Teresa Harkins La Vita, and Joyce Kauffman, GLAD is working to adjust court and vital record forms to include all families. Bryce Helie and Cara Millett, a Rhode Island couple, faced a different challenge in establishing their family’s legal status, and their fight has resulted in a breakthrough in Rhode Island law, establishing a path to parenthood that does not rely on biology, marriage or adoption.
Banning So-Called “Conversion Therapy” in RI
The Rhode Island General Assembly voted on June 30, 2017, for passage of the bill to ban conversion therapy on LGBTQ youth. The bill is now on its way to the Governor, where it is expected to be signed into law.
GLAD has been working with partners in Rhode Island this session to pass this bill which would make it impermissible for licensed health professionals working with minors to engage in the harmful and discredited practice of conversion therapy.
Senior Attorney Patience Crozier delivered testimony before the House Health, Education & Welfare Committee on February 15, 2017.
So-called “conversion therapy” is a remnant of our nation’s shameful history of oppression of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.
The term conversion therapy refers to a range of dangerous practices that seek to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity.
More information about the efforts to pass the bill to ban conversion therapy in Rhode Island.
Read the text of the Rhode Island Conversion Therapy Ban Bill.
GLAD Announces New Board Officers
GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD) will kick off 2017 with new leadership on its Board of Directors. At its December meeting the board voted in Richard J. Yurko as the new President, Joyce Kauffman as the Vice President, Darian Butcher as the Clerk, and David Hayter as the Treasurer. Yurko replaces Dianne Phillips, who served as board president for the past five years, and who will remain on the board.
Yurko, who previously served as Vice President, has been on GLAD’s board since 2009. He is the founder and former Managing Shareholder of Yurko, Salvesen & Remz, P.C., a business litigation boutique based in Boston. A graduate of Dartmouth College, he received his J.D. from Harvard Law School, where he was Senior Projects Editor for the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review. Yurko frequently writes and advocates on First Amendment issues. He lives in Brookline, Massachusetts with his partner.
“I’m honored and humbled to become board president at this critical time for our community and for GLAD,” said Yurko. “The priorities laid out by our new strategic plan – racial and economic justice, state level public policy, and access to justice – are particularly apt. Our work is more critical than ever before. Reaching all in our community and joining forces with other progressive movements is essential to defending our rights and making still further advances towards equality.”
Joyce Kauffman is a graduate of Northeastern University School of Law. She is a founding member of the National Family Law Advisory Council, a member of the Family Equality Emeritus Board, and a frequent speaker and writer on LGBTQ family law. Kauffman has received numerous awards, including Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly’s “Lawyer of the Year” in 2009, the Gwen Bloomingdale Pioneer Spirit Award, and the Fisher Davenport Award. Her firm, Kauffman Law & Mediation, focuses in the areas of adoption, assisted reproductive technology, and mediation. Kauffman has been on GLAD’s board since 2012.
Darian M. Butcher is an Associate at Day Pitney LLP. She represents mortgage companies, loan servicers, and other financial institutions in the defense of claims by borrowers. She also represents individual and corporate clients in probate controversies. Butcher earned her J.D. from Boston University School of Law and clerked for Massachusetts Appeals Court Justice Malcolm Graham (ret). She has been on GLAD’s board since 2014.
David Hayter has held executive and finance positions at Liberty Mutual, Hospitals of Ontario Pension Plan, and Manulife/John Hancock. At Liberty Mutual, he was the founding co-executive sponsor of the company’s first LGBT Employee Resource Group. He holds an MBA from Wilfrid Laurier University in Canada, and brings to GLAD knowledge and experience in investments, accounting, and finance. Hayter has served on the boards of Wave Accounting, Community Servings, St. John’s Hospital Foundation, and the Wilfrid Laurier University Board of Governors.
News
Bryce Helie and Cara Millett met in college in 1999 and soon became inseparable. After graduating, they moved to Rhode Island, where Bryce opened up a deli and Cara went to graduate school. “I knew I wanted to have children,” says Cara, but the couple wanted to make sure they did it in a careful, responsible way. Long before same-sex couples could marry in Rhode Island, they researched both the legal and medical issues involved in having children. Bryce and Cara talked with friends who had had children through assisted reproductive technology (ART), and decided to go that route.
Their first daughter, Greyson, was born to Cara in August 2010. Greyson was conceived through artificial insemination. The couple used sperm from an anonymous donor, obtained through a donation center in Fairfax, Virginia. “We were ecstatic when Greyson was born, and so happy to be a family,” says Bryce. The couple established Bryce’s parentage through a second-parent adoption in Rhode Island.
When Cara and Bryce chose to have a second child, they made two important decisions: that this time Bryce would become pregnant and give birth; and that they would use the same anonymous donor as before, so that the two siblings would have that genetic tie. Bryce’s pregnancy was healthy, and in June 2013, she gave birth to their second daughter, Meyer.
This time, however, when they went to family court for a second-parent adoption, the court threw them a curveball. It required the couple to post a newspaper advertisement in Fairfax, Virginia, to alert the sperm donor about the adoption. “At first we couldn’t understand what he was asking,” says Cara. “After all of this time together, after getting married, after having two children, we still had to prove our family’s worth and validity. It made no sense to us.”
Cara and Bryce contacted GLAD, and Jennifer Levi represented them in court, along with Katherine Kohm and Michael Daly of Pierce Atwood. On October 26, 2016, Michael B. Forte, Chief Judge of the Rhode Island Family Court, issued a decision in the women’s favor – a decision that acknowledged Cara as Meyer’s parent, and eliminated the need for an adoption.
“We are thrilled and relieved,” says Bryce. “And we’re happy that other Rhode Island parents and parents-to-be can now take this path to securing their families.”
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