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Nghỉ ốm và nghỉ phép gia đình có lương ở Maine

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.

Tin tức

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 Thời báo New York 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, với 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 của our nation. I am hopeful that the people in my home state will vote Yes on 3 ĐẾN 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

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

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Lần đầu tiên trong lịch sử phong trào của chúng ta, một dự luật chống phân biệt đối xử với người chuyển giới độc lập đã được thông qua và ký kết tại một tiểu bang do Đảng Cộng hòa kiểm soát. Điều này sẽ là hình mẫu cho phần còn lại của đất nước, khi chúng ta hướng tới những cuộc chiến phía trước để bảo vệ và gìn giữ sự công bằng và bình đẳng.

Tuần trước, Thống đốc Sununu của New Hampshire đã ký HB 1319, dự luật bảo vệ người chuyển giới trên toàn tiểu bang khỏi nạn phân biệt đối xử trong việc làm, nhà ở và nơi công cộng. Với chữ ký của thống đốc, New Hampshire đã trở thành tiểu bang thứ sáu và cũng là tiểu bang cuối cùng thuộc vùng New England đảm bảo người chuyển giới được sống và làm việc mà không bị phân biệt đối xử, giống như mọi người khác. Lần đầu tiên trong lịch sử phong trào của chúng ta, một dự luật chống phân biệt đối xử với người chuyển giới độc lập đã được thông qua và ký kết tại một tiểu bang do Đảng Cộng hòa kiểm soát.

Khoảnh khắc này đã được tạo ra trong mười năm tại Granite State và là một cột mốc quan trọng trong công việc của GLAD nhằm thúc đẩy bình đẳng hoàn toàn trên toàn khu vực.

Tôi nhớ ngày Dân biểu Ed Butler của NH gọi điện cho tôi để nói rằng ông ấy muốn trình dự luật bảo vệ người chuyển giới khỏi sự phân biệt đối xử. Đó là năm 2008 và GLAD đã tạo đà cho sự bình đẳng LGBTQ sau khi giành được chiến thắng lập pháp cho các biện pháp bảo vệ chống phân biệt đối xử trên khắp New England. Vào thời điểm đó, cả sáu tiểu bang đã thông qua các biện pháp bảo vệ khuynh hướng tình dục, và Rhode Island, Maine và Vermont đã bổ sung bản dạng giới vào luật chống phân biệt đối xử của tiểu bang. Connecticut sẽ bổ sung bản dạng giới vào luật chống phân biệt đối xử của mình vào năm 2011. Massachusetts đã thông qua các biện pháp bảo vệ chống phân biệt đối xử chống phân biệt đối xử dựa trên bản dạng giới trong việc làm, tín dụng và nhà ở cùng năm đó, và vào năm 2016 đã thông qua các biện pháp bảo vệ người chuyển giới tại các cơ sở công cộng.

Không chút do dự, tôi nói: "Hãy làm thôi."

Năm 2009, chúng tôi đã trình dự luật chống phân biệt đối xử với người chuyển giới lên cơ quan lập pháp, và dự luật đã được Hạ viện thông qua với chỉ một phiếu. Trong những ngày đầu thành lập, chúng tôi đã làm việc với một nhóm nhỏ nhưng đầy nhiệt huyết gồm sáu người thuộc cộng đồng người chuyển giới để làm chứng trước ủy ban Thượng viện. Vào ngày dự luật được chuyển lên Thượng viện để bỏ phiếu, vấn đề bình đẳng hôn nhân cũng được đưa vào lịch trình. Chúng tôi đã giành được quyền tự do kết hôn vào ngày hôm đó. Nhưng Thượng viện đã nhanh chóng bác bỏ dự luật chống phân biệt đối xử với người chuyển giới.

Khoảnh khắc đó chính là lời kêu gọi đoàn kết và hạt giống cho hoạt động tổ chức cộng đồng cơ sở đã được gieo trồng.

GLAD đã hợp tác với Transgender NH, một tổ chức vì và do cộng đồng người chuyển giới thực hiện, để đặt nền móng cho việc đạt được các biện pháp bảo vệ chống phân biệt đối xử dựa trên bản dạng giới trên toàn tiểu bang. Cùng nhau, chúng tôi đã bắt đầu xây dựng mối quan hệ và hỗ trợ các nhà lãnh đạo trong cộng đồng, chẳng hạn như luật sư lâu năm Gerri Cannon. Chúng tôi đã cung cấp chuyên môn pháp lý và nguồn lực để phát triển một chiến dịch giáo dục công chúng và chia sẻ những trải nghiệm của người chuyển giới trên khắp tiểu bang trong các cuốn truyện, hình ảnh và video.

Đây là nền tảng cho sự đầu tư bền vững và xây dựng mối quan hệ mạnh mẽ của GLAD trên khắp New Hampshire, dẫn đến những chiến thắng nhỏ hơn nhưng có tác động lớn, bao gồm cập nhật chính sách của Sở Giao thông Vận tải tiểu bang đối với việc thay đổi dấu hiệu giới tính trên giấy phép lái xe và chấm dứt việc loại trừ phân biệt đối xử khỏi phạm vi bảo hiểm Medicaid của các ca phẫu thuật liên quan đến chuyển đổi giới tính.

Khoảnh khắc này đã được chuẩn bị trong mười năm tại Granite State và là cột mốc quan trọng trong nỗ lực của GLAD nhằm thúc đẩy bình đẳng hoàn toàn trên toàn khu vực.

Đến năm 2016, New Hampshire là tiểu bang duy nhất tại New England không có luật nào đảm bảo rõ ràng việc đối xử công bằng và bình đẳng với người chuyển giới. GLAD, cùng với Freedom for All Americans, đã hỗ trợ thành lập liên minh Freedom New Hampshire, một liên minh lưỡng đảng chuyên vận động tăng cường sự ủng hộ cho HB 1319, dự luật bổ sung bản dạng giới vào luật chống phân biệt đối xử của tiểu bang, do Dân biểu Butler bảo trợ.

Chiến dịch mới này, cũng bao gồm Transgender NH, ACLU của NH, Rights & Democracy, và Human Rights Campaign, đã tiếp thêm sức mạnh cho phong trào của chúng tôi, được tiếp sức bởi các thành viên cộng đồng chuyển giới và gia đình của họ, và được dẫn dắt bởi Linds Jakows, một người phi nhị nguyên đầy tự hào, người quản lý chiến dịch. Chiến dịch giáo dục cộng đồng cơ sở do Freedom New Hampshire khởi xướng đã thu hút được sự ủng hộ chưa từng có từ cả hai đảng trên toàn tiểu bang cho quyền bình đẳng của người chuyển giới.

Chính trong các phiên điều trần lập pháp năm nay, tôi mới nhận ra động lực cho bình đẳng đã lớn mạnh đến mức nào. Hàng trăm người ủng hộ – các nhà lập pháp, quan chức địa phương và tiểu bang, cùng cộng đồng người chuyển giới, gia đình và đồng minh của họ – đã chật kín Tòa nhà Quốc hội trong các phiên điều trần của Hạ viện và Thượng viện, và đã có hơn mười hai giờ làm chứng hùng hồn.

Nhờ sự nỗ lực chiến lược, có tổ chức và bền bỉ của các thành viên cộng đồng người chuyển giới, những người thực sự là những người bảo vệ chiến thắng này, một dự luật chống phân biệt đối xử với người chuyển giới độc lập đã được thông qua và ký kết tại một tiểu bang do Đảng Cộng hòa kiểm soát - lần đầu tiên trong lịch sử phong trào của chúng ta. Tôi biết điều này sẽ là hình mẫu cho phần còn lại của đất nước, khi chúng ta hướng tới những cuộc chiến phía trước để bảo vệ và gìn giữ công bằng và bình đẳng. bao gồm cả ở Massachusetts, nơi chúng tôi đang đấu tranh để duy trì các biện pháp bảo vệ cơ bản cho người chuyển giới tại hòm phiếu vào tháng 11 này.

Với việc Dự luật HB 1319 được ký thành luật, cả sáu tiểu bang New England hiện đã có các biện pháp bảo vệ chống phân biệt đối xử toàn diện dành cho người LGBTQ. GLAD tự hào đã đồng hành cùng các cộng đồng trên khắp khu vực để thúc đẩy bình đẳng. Vẫn còn rất nhiều điều chúng ta có thể đạt được. Nhưng bốn mươi năm xây dựng nền tảng cho những chiến thắng này đã chuẩn bị cho chúng ta cho cuộc chiến phía trước để bảo vệ những quyền này, và đảm bảo một tương lai bình đẳng và công lý cho tất cả mọi người ở New England và trên khắp đất nước.

Maine BMV to Allow for Non-Binary State IDs

LGBTQ, civil rights organizations celebrate agreement with Maine BMV that allows non-binary gender designation on driver’s licenses, ID cards

PORTLAND — EqualityMaine, GLAD, MaineTransNet, and the ACLU of Maine joined together today to celebrate an agreement with the Maine Bureau of Motor Vehicles, which will begin offering the option of a non-binary gender designation on driver’s licenses and identification cards. The agreement is the result of a complaint filed with the Maine Human Rights Commission by Portland attorney and EqualityMaine’s board president, Zack Paakkonen, on behalf of his client, Ian-Meredythe Dehne Lindsey. In June of 2017, Dehne Lindsey, a resident of South Portland, requested a driver’s license with a non-binary gender marker at the Presumpscot Street BMV branch office in Portland, but was denied as a result of current computer system limitations. After receiving the complaint, the Maine Human Rights Commission invited the parties to participate in mediation; this agreement is the result of the mediation process. At this time, the face of existing credentials show an “M” for male or “F” for female. Upon receipt of a completed Gender Designation Form, the BMV will issue a sticker for the license or ID that will read: “Gender has been changed to X — Non-binary.” In conjunction with a system upgrade and new design for licenses and IDs, which will be completed no later than July 2019, the gender information on the front of the card will be displayed as “M”, “F” or “X” and the sticker will be phased out. By making this change, Maine becomes the first state in New England to adopt non-binary gender designations on driver’s licenses and ID cards. Maine is the third state in the country to adopt this policy; Washington, DC and Oregon have already begun offering a non-binary gender designation on their driver’s licenses, and California will implement the change in January 2019. The following quotes can be attributed as noted: Ian-Meredythe Dehne Lindsey, the client in the case: “Words cannot adequately express the relief I feel, and how happy I am, that my ID will now reflect such an integral part of my identity and who I am.” Zack Paakkonen, the attorney who represented Dehne Lindsey and Board President of EqualityMaine: “It’s exciting to see Maine’s Bureau of Motor Vehicles adopt this change. We know gender is a spectrum and some people don’t identify as male or female. It’s important that driver’s licenses and other forms of IDs recognize people who are non-binary. Removing barriers for people is critical to helping all of us live healthy, productive lives.” Quinn Gormley, Executive Director, MaineTransNet: “This change represents the next major step towards full legal recognition of the lives of transgender Mainers. Affirming and accurate ID’s help to break down significant barriers to housing, employment, and education faced by many transgender people. We’re celebrating this progress, and the visibility it brings to beloved non-binary members of our community. ” Mary Bonauto, Civil Rights Project Director, GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD): “Identity documents play a substantial role in how we all navigate the world. Without an ID that matches who you are, trouble is sure to follow. All people deserve to be treated with dignity and respect, and this simple change makes that possible for more Mainers today.” Oamshri Amarasingham, Advocacy Director, ACLU of Maine: “We are thrilled by this important move by the BMV. Transgender and gender nonconforming people, like all people, deserve to live their lives without the government compromising their privacy, safety, autonomy, dignity, or equality.” Founded in 1984, EqualityMaine is dedicated to achieving full equality under the law for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Mainers, and currently has more than 76,000 members statewide. MaineTransNet is a community-based organization that supports and empowers transgender people across Maine to create a world where they can thrive through peer-based support groups, community organizing, education, and advocacy. Through strategic litigation, public policy advocacy, and education, GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD) 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. The ACLU of Maine is the state’s guardian of liberty, working in the courts, the legislature and the public sphere to defend the Constitution and the Bill of Rights for all Mainers. # # #

Tin tức

On June 5, 2018, the Kittery, Maine School Committee unanimously passed a policy protecting transgender and gender expansive students – a critical step forward for making schools safe and affirming for all youth. GLAD staff attorney Patience Crozier submitted a letter of support of this important policy. Read it here.

Kittery joins Portland and South Portland in passing transgender and gender expansive school policies. Portland School District adopted its Policy on November 28th, 2017.

Read Kittery’s adopted Policy here.

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Earlier this month, Mary Bonauto and I were invited to speak on a panel about LGBTQ youth at a Maine Judicial Conference in Lewiston, for all persons involved in “child protection” cases. Over 400 judges, lawyers, GALs (guardians appointed by the court to represent the child’s interest) and child protection workers gathered for two days of trainings on best practices in child protection.

What is “child protection” and how does it connect to LGBTQ youth?

The “child protection” or child welfare system is intended to protect youth from abuse and neglect. LGBTQ youth are disproportionately represented in that system. Some youth enter the child welfare system due to rejection from their families of origin; others have supportive families of origin and are in the system due to other challenges facing their caregivers. LGBTQ adults are also clients of this system – as parents and caregivers dealing with allegations of abuse or neglect, or as adults serving as foster or pre-adoptive parents. The child welfare system touches so many LGBTQ lives and communities.

At GLAD we are concerned with ensuring both the wellbeing of LGBTQ youth within the system, and fair treatment of LGBTQ parents as well as parents who support their LGBTQ children and whose fitness is challenged on that basis.

Our panel, LGBTQ Considerations in Child Protection Law, was moderated by the Honorable Ellen Gorman of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, and joining us on the panel was a youth from the Maine Youth Leadership Advisory Team (YLAT), parent attorney and GAL Zachary Paakkonen, and Assistant Attorney General Lise Wagner. Mary and I talked about LGBTQ youth 101, with terms, highlights of youth legal rights in Maine, and realities and risk factors for LGBTQ youth in child welfare systems.

What were some of the key take aways from our presentation for professionals serving LGBTQ youth in the child welfare system in Maine?

  • From the Maine Human Rights Act to the Maine Anti-Bullying Law to Federal and State constitutional protections, advocates should stand up for the youth in their care and access the robust laws protecting LGBTQ youth in Maine.
  • Every professional working with youth – judges, court staff, lawyers, guardians ad litem and social workers – have ethical obligations to work with youth in an unbiased and nondiscriminatory manner.
  • LGBTQ youth are everywhere in Maine – according to the 2017 Maine Integrated Youth Health Survey, 10.8% of high school youth in Maine identify as LGB and 1.5% identify as transgender.
  • LGBTQ youth in Maine are vulnerable to bias, discrimination, bullying, and family rejection.  According to the 2015 GLSEN Maine School Climate Snapshot, 66% of LGBTQ students in Maine reported being harassed or assaulted because of their sexual orientation. And, according to the 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey results from Maine, 80% of transgender youth in Maine schools experienced mistreatment. These unique risk factors for LGBTQ youth lead to their over-representation in the child welfare system.

Adults serving LGBTQ youth have the unique opportunity to have a concrete, positive impact on the lives of LGBTQ youth by:

  • Recognizing that every youth has a sexual orientation and a gender identity
  • Understanding that being LGBTQ isn’t a choice or something that youth can change
  • Acknowledging that any youth they serve may be LGBTQ
  • Educating themselves on LGBTQ issues and resources, including the unique harms LGBTQ youth face
  • Communicating to all youth that they are an LGBTQ ally
  • Using open and inclusive language
  • Learning and using chosen names and pronouns
  • Respecting privacy and confidentiality
  • Listening to youth and advocating for their individual needs

As the YLAT youth so eloquently said at the event, adults need to listen, be themselves, find common ground with youth and build relationships.

Below are resources in Maine and nationally for LGBTQ youth and supportive adults. If you require legal assistance or information, we’re here for you. Contact us at GLAD Answers, our legal information line, at 800-455-GLAD or visit www.GLADAnswers.org.

MAINE LGBTQ RESOURCES

Bình đẳng Maine

GLSEN Southern Maine

Portland Outright

American Civil Liberties Union of Maine

NATIONAL LGBTQ RESOURCES

PFLAG (National)

Gender Spectrum

Dự án Trevor

Thăm nom Resources for Youth in Maine for a full list of resources both in Maine and nationally.

Banning So-Called “Conversion Therapy” in ME

Update May 29, 2019, Governor Janet Mills signs bill, making Maine the 17th state in the U.S. to ban the practice of conversion therapy on LGBTQ youth.

April 10, 2019, the Maine Joint Standing Committee on Health Coverage, Insurance, and Financial Services held a public hearing on LD 1025, An Act To Prohibit the Provision of Conversion Therapy to Minors by Certain Licensed Professionals. Dr. Judith Glassgold, of the New Jersey Psychological Association, submitted testimony in support of this bill. Read it here.

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GLAD is engaged in advocacy work across New England to help create safe and affirming communities for LGBTQ young people, and that includes the juvenile justice system. Together with our local partners, we are working hard to reform a system that disproportionately harms LGBTQ youth.

LGBTQ youth, particularly LGBTQ youth of color, are overrepresented in the juvenile justice system due to stereotypes, pervasive stigma, bias, and structural factors. Family rejection, unsupportive schools and discriminatory policing practices contribute to increased interactions between LGBTQ youth and the juvenile and criminal justice systems.

Recent research by the Movement Advancement Project (MAP) reveals that 20 percent of the youth in seven juvenile detention centers and correctional facilities across the U.S. identify as LGBTQ or gender non-conforming, which is almost three times their estimated number in the general population. And LGBTQ youth of color are disproportionately more likely to be targeted by the juvenile justice system, with Black youth four times as likely as white youth to be incarcerated, and Latinx youth nearly twice as likely as white youth to be incarcerated.

MAP’s research on the experience of LGBTQ youth once they are in the system found that many are placed in prisons without respect for their gender identity or expression. Additionally, youth prisons are often ill equipped to meet the needs of LGBTQ youth and ensure their safety. This puts LGBTQ youth at increased risk for harassment, violence, and sexual assault by other youth and staff.

GLAD is seeing these nationwide trends in focus at Long Creek, a juvenile detention center and prison in Maine, and is deeply engaged in a critical intervention there to support the youth inside. We became involved with Long Creek when we learned that a detained transgender youth died by suicide last November by demanding a thorough and transparent investigation of the youth’s tragic death.

Through our work, we have uncovered that the facility’s conditions do not comply with federal standards. And we have learned that 30 percent of youth in its custody identify as LGBTQ and are at increased risk of harm, facing daily harassment and abuse by staff and other inmates due to their perceived or actual sexual orientation.

GLAD Civil Rights Project Director Mary L. Bonauto and GLAD Senior Staff Attorney Patience Crozier have been deeply involved with the youth in Long Creek and are now representing two young people who are LGBTQ or perceived to be, advocating alongside them for their safety and ultimately their release from Long Creek. Bonauto has been personally visiting Long Creek virtually every week since last November, checking on the facility’s conditions and on our clients.

Two of our clients have become courageous advocates for themselves and other LGBTQ youth in Long Creek. Speaking honestly about the realities of living in a place like Long Creek is part of their advocacy. For example, it is important to them to be referred to as inmates, not residents, an unambiguous message for us all that Long Creek is a prison, cell blocks and all.

Our clients and their peers are remarkably resilient in spite of Long Creek’s harmful environment, thanks in notable part to the support of local organization Portland Outright and Executive Director Osgood.

Operating in Portland since the 1990s, Portland Outright is a youth-driven program that supports underserved LGBTQ+ youth through ongoing mentorship, social events and trainings, as well as intentional support to youth navigating systems, such as the foster care system, homelessness, mental health services, and the juvenile justice system, including Long Creek.

“At the core of Portland Outright has always been young people mobilizing other young people to be at the table about decisions being made in their own lives, supported by a network of adult mentors,” says Osgood.

About five years ago, the organization started focusing on mobilizing low-income LGBTQ young people around gender and racial and economic justice, which drove their work in homeless shelters, residential treatment centers, and eventually Long Creek.

“We’d been working a lot with low-income folks and folks experiencing homelessness,” Osgood says. “One of the things we were hearing was that a lot of them were coming into contact with the juvenile justice system, either going in and out of Long Creek or leaving Long Creek and going straight into homelessness or into residential treatment that was creating further harm.”

To support the LGBTQ youth incarcerated in Long Creek, Portland Outright created Sexuality and Gender Awareness For Everyone (SAFE) Group, a space inside Long Creek where “young people can talk to each other and organize or create the kinds of connections that help them survive the day-to-day while also creating a vision for a more just system for community-based alternatives to incarceration,” Osgood says. “They talk about the conditions of incarceration but also the systems that are funneling LGBTQ young people into incarceration –  the school to prison pipeline, the mental health system, lack of healthcare, homelessness.”

Portland Outright has also collaborated with Maine Inside Out, an organization that uses original theater inside and outside correctional facilities to initiate dialogue and build community across boundaries. A new collaboration between the two organizations involves opportunities to create visual art pieces made by incarcerated LGBTQ youth. An installation of that visual work is part of “Love Is: Alternatives to Incarceration,” a showcase of theater, film, and visual art. The body of work is a catalyst for young people and the outside community “to have conversations about their vision of justice and of the communities they want to live in,” says Osgood.

We are proud to collaborate with Portland Outright and Maine Inside Out to empower and advocate for and with youth and to find solutions for systemic change.

“Getting to know our youth clients over the past year has been a privilege,” says Crozier. “Their strength and resilience in the face of inhumane conditions is inspiring. And, witnessing how community organizations like Portland Outright and Maine Inside Out have supported their voices and empowerment reminds me of how important it is to fight to keep hope and that we can change the systems that care for our youth.”

“Partnering with GLAD has been like coming home to our community in lots of ways,” says Osgood. “To have folks with a legal lens, who show up consistently for our members and are willing to do the community building, as well as the advocacy work, has really been a gift for the movement that we’re building.”

And we are making progress. Earlier this year, one of our clients was released early to after-care. Another of our clients still inside has become a resident leader and has a treatment program that better meets his needs. Our clients contributed their stories and voices in a federal audit process that led to the facility failing to meet federal standards and having to undergo policy and training changes. Maine’s Department of Corrections is in the process of updating their transgender and intersex policy based on our recommendations and continued advocacy.

And just last month, an expert assessment on Long Creek authorized by the Maine Juvenile Justice Advisory Group was released, highlighting problems at Long Creek and providing a roadmap of recommendations for addressing concerns GLAD has raised over the past year. We are working with Portland Outright, Maine Inside Out, and others on the ground in Long Creek, to push for immediate and dramatic changes at Long Creek, such as:

  • Releasing the 25-50% of youth currently at Long Creek who, according to the assessment, should not be there.
  • Correcting the serious safety concerns of the youth in Long Creek.
  • Developing policy and training about LGBTQ youth.
  • Increasing resources and accountability from the State for funding community-based alternatives to incarceration, such as residential facilities and family and community support services.

“This report confirms what we already know: prisons do not work for youth,” says Bonauto. “We expect the committed leadership of Long Creek and staff and supervisors to seize this opportunity to take a hard and urgent look at rebuilding the medical and mental health services youth need based on research and experiences that work well elsewhere.”

There is much work to be done, in and outside of Long Creek. But the courageous youth determined to change their futures give us hope. GLAD will keep fighting for them, will keep supporting their self-advocacy to send the message that LGBTQ youth, like all youth, deserve to be safe, welcomed, and loved for who they are.

Portland Approves Inclusive Trans Student Policy


For immediate release:                                                

GLAD Applauds Portland’s New Policy on Affirmation and Full Inclusion of Transgender and Gender Expansive Students

(PORTLAND, ME, November 28, 2017) – GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD) applauds the comprehensive policy on fair treatment of transgender and gender expansive students adopted by the Portland School Committee tonight by unanimous vote.

Aiming to “foster a learning environment that is safe, affirming, and free from discrimination, harassment and bullying for all students,” the policy resulted from a collaborative process involving Portland students, families, teachers, administrators, and community members.

“Students are better able to learn when they are respected and supported for who they are. With inclusive and affirming educational environments, all students benefit,” said Patience Crozier, Senior Staff Attorney at GLAD. “GLAD is proud to support the work of the Portland community, which came together to create this excellent policy to ensure all students are respected and can focus on the work of learning, growing, and realizing their full potential.”

The new Portland policy embraces best practices for addressing important considerations including name and pronoun use, school facilities, gender-segregated programs and practices, dress codes and privacy and confidentiality. The policy also includes provisions for supportive annual training for school staff, teachers, and administrators. “When transgender and gender expansive youth are respected, they can focus and learn,” said Crozier. “That’s what this is all about – ensuring that all students are able to thrive in school.”

The policy is consistent with Maine law. The Maine Human Rights Act of 2005 requires nondiscrimination in schools, which are public accommodations. GLAD litigated the case of Orono middle school student Nicole Maines in 2014, resulting in a ground-breaking Maine Supreme Court ruling that denying a transgender girl the use of the girls’ room violated her rights. GLAD provided research, review and comment on the Portland policy language and structure, benefitting from insights gained in the Maines case.

Thông qua các vụ kiện chiến lược, vận động chính sách công và giáo dục, GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders hoạt động tại New England và trên toàn quốc để tạo ra một xã hội công bằng, không phân biệt đối xử dựa trên bản dạng và biểu hiện giới tính, tình trạng nhiễm HIV và khuynh hướng tình dục.

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Liên hệ:
Amanda Johnston, Director of Public Affairs & Education, ajohnston@glad.org / (617) 417-7769

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