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Out and Equal attends LGBT tourism, diversity conference in Brazil

Organization’s work began in country three years ago

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loneliness, gay news, Washington Blade

Out and Equal Workplace Advocates CEO Erin Uritus took part in the International Conference of Diversity and LGBT Tourism in SĆ£o Paulo from April 23-26, 2018. (Photo courtesy Out & Equal))

SƃO PAULO ā€” The world’s first LGBT organization to specifically advocate on behalf of workplace equality and inclusion took part in the International Conference for Diversity and LGBT Tourism that took place in SĆ£o Paulo from April 23-26.

Out and Equal Workplace Advocates CEO Erin Uritus and Steve Roth, the organization’s senior director of global initiatives, both took part in the conference. The Washington Blade had a chance to sit down with both of them.

Washington Blade: Does Out and Equal have any data on what the biggest challenges are to achieving equality in the workplace in Brazil? What could be done in the face of those challenges?

Erin Uritus: We donā€™t have any specific data on LGBTIQ equality in the workplace in Brazil, because as far as we know this data does not exist yet. However, I think what the whole world knows is that Brazil has the highest number of homicides of transgender people and I think around 400 homicides of LGBTIQ people just in 2017. So, we know that the level of LGBTIQ violence in Brazil is high. But besides this data what we know is coming out of companies that are doing a good work in promoting diversity. Brazilian companies like Mattos Filho, a law firm, and ItaĆŗ, one of the biggest banks in the country, are companies that just started their diversity journey in the last few years but they are telling us that they have real data coming from their actual employees in their HR departments saying that itā€™s easier for them to recruit better people and once they have people they donā€™t lose them. They are seeing right in front of them real data on how inclusive their workplaces are becoming. We have more data from multinational companies that share with us, such as J.P. Morgan, SAP, IBM and Bloomberg. These are companies that collect a lot of data in the U.S., so they know more about inclusiveness in the workplace. I believe that countries have different laws about what data you can collect and the Brazilian companies have just begun this journey. So, it is only a matter of time before more data comes out about this in Brazil.

Blade: Whatā€™s the importance for Out and Equal focusing on Brazil? And why is this happening right now?

Uritus: Itā€™s important for us for many reasons. A few years ago, in Out and Equalā€™s strategic plan we were largely focused on the U.S. and Fortune 1000 companies and that is still our strongest base. But about five years ago we decided it was time, especially with multinational companies, to start expanding globally. And we werenā€™t quite sure where should we go. We started doing the work in Brazil three years ago and J.P. Morgan invited us to do our first Out and Equal LGBT Brazil Forum. So now we have three years under our belt working here in Brazil and every time we come back there is not only more good working going on but there is more opportunity to create a bigger impact. For us Brazil is a very strategic investment. We are also doing work in China and India for the second year but itā€™s much smaller and the political and cultural challenges are much different. In Brazil, we feel like we already have an investment in the local LGBTIQ community and their network is very strong and then you have the leaderships in diversity and inclusion work already taking root in Brazilian companies. For us it is strategically important that not only we maintain but also increase our emphasis in areas of the world like this where all the right pieces of the puzzle are coming together and for us this is Brazil.

Blade: What are the key challenges faced by Out and Equal in working towards equality and inclusion in the workplace and safeguarding it?

Uritus: There are so many challenges, but so many opportunities. Number one we know the community is growing and diversifying in the U.S. and around the world. We know based on multiple studies that 20 percent of millennials identify as LGBTIQ. And we know that in the U.S. 75 percent of the workforce will be millennials by 2025. We also know that 52 percent of Gen Z, the generation coming after the millennials, identify as LGBTIQ or ā€œnot straight.ā€ This is not only very interesting and scary for some companies, but it is an opportunity for them to dive in with us in understanding how the community is diversifying so they donā€™t lose traction and move forward. So, this is a big challenge and it is also a really good opportunity. Another big challenge is gender identity and expression in the workplace. Because depending on the country you are in, city you are in, state you are in and company you are in; there are still people outside our community and even within it that donā€™t understand identity. So, there is still a lot of awareness and education that needs to happen, especially around transgender identity. Twenty years ago, only 5 percent of Fortune 500 companies had policies that protected LGBTIQ people from workplace discrimination. Today that is closer to 95 percent. So, the challenge we had 21 years ago when (former CEO) Selisse Berry started this organization was much bigger than today. But in addition to that there is a challenge today that is more mechanical and organizational because there is so much happening today but how do we leverage technology to make best practices available and searchable so people can dialogue about that? One of the things we are thinking of doing today is creating a digital portal where best practices from multinational companies, from governments, from a company from Brazil can all be put in a centralized place because we want to have the most impact possible and we donā€™t want people starting over in their searching on how to do this. Our challenge is how to bring people together and share.

Blade: You talked about 20 percent of millennials identifying as LGBTIQ. Do you think that as we go forward millennials can be the driving force in promoting equality in the workplace and in the community?

Uritus: What the data shows not only with millennials but even younger, with Gen Z, is that the community is expanding and diversifying specially with the bi-plus and the queer part of that. So, I think the community is growing and what we are getting to know is that not only they want to work in diverse and inclusive workplaces, they demand it. And if you are not a diverse inclusive workplace they will go work someplace else. In fact, there is othe research that has been done that shows how people, especially when economies are good, will choose not only inclusive companies to work for but also inclusive cities to live in. And this is why you see in some of the creative cities movement and work that cities like Toronto and many cities around the U.S. know the importance of being inclusive because millennials will not move there unless they have vibrant diverse communities. We have a lot of hope for the new generation, and also a lot of expectations, enthusiasm and positivity.

Blade: Erin, you have been CEO of Out and Equal for just three months. When you got the job, what was the first thing on your to do list?

Uritus: The first thing I actually did and it is still a priority that I am carrying with me these first few months is to listen. I need to better understand our community as well. This is also a journey for me. So, I want to hear peopleā€™s stories about their identities and their experiences in the workplace. Especially I want to listen to their experiences this year. Because if I was the CEO during the Obama administration I would be listening for different things. Now, with the Trump administration in place and with what is happening in the workplace I am listening to both people who are struggling maybe in the government and maybe in companies that are not focused on LGBTIQ equality. But also, even despite the difficulty there is so much work happening that is positive: People who I think are part of the resistance, who are currently in the workplace, I am asking them and listening to what are the experimental and innovative practices that they are trying in face of difficulties because we donā€™t want to lose the ground that we have gained. My number one priority has been to get to know everybody in the community and to really listen to them to bring all of that data into our strategic planning process. In addition to that I am getting to know all of the talents of my wonderful staff. The staff is incredibly smart and strong, and they have been doing really good work. I am also getting to come to a country like Brazil and understanding what itā€™s like in one of the countries that weā€™ve been supporting.

Out and Equal Workplace Advocates took part in the International Conference of Diversity and LGBT Tourism in SĆ£o Paulo from April 23-26, 2018. (Washington Blade photo by Felipe Alface)

Blade: We already talked about how the transgender community is marginalized, especially here in Brazil. Do you think trans rights and inclusion in the workplace is the next frontier?

Steve Roth: I think itā€™s one of the biggest challenges for sure and that is what we are hearing in our meetings and seeing here in Brazil. But also, people of color, someone pointed out that there was one or two here in the conference. So, what that is about more broadly is diversity within the LGBTIQ community. Transgender people are a particularly important issue right now. Education is a big challenge with the transgender community because most kids get kicked out of their homes so they donā€™t get a good education which means they canā€™t get a good job and often much end up working on the streets as sex workers and it becomes this kind of building cycle. Just this week we talked with some companies that are starting transgender initiatives and programs, and part of it is focusing of course in education and training. But there is also the need for sensitivity training within the company, so people can understand transgender issues. In my understanding of Brazil, there is still confusion between sexual orientation and gender identity. People still think that someone gay wants to be a woman. It is a big need but there is some work starting to be done. In our Brazil Forum last year, we hosted a panel on transgender issues and we at Out and Equal have what we call our transgender guidelines, which is a document a company needs to facilitate the process to transgender workers who are transitioning at work.

Blade: Are there different issues in different places around the world in terms of equality in the workplace around the globe or are there general issues that everyone faces?

Uritus: At the very core of that issue there is the reality that different countries have different laws and workplace policies. There are places where you can still suffer for coming out. And in fact, even in the U.S. we donā€™t have laws protecting our community in 29 states. You can come to work and put a picture of your partner at your desk, come out and be fired that day. Around the world it starts with what the local laws are and the workplace policies. What we know about belonging and authenticity based on recent social science research is that you can be in a room full of people and feel lonely, and you can be with only one person and be able to be authentically yourself. It is really about being able to be your true self and for us in our community that means being out and able to bring your whole self to work.

Roth: I agree. And I think that the core is that around the world the same kind of issues and challenges are faced. They may manifest themselves differently in each country or context depending on laws, culture and society. Just to talk about the examples we know, like Brazil, has a traditional religious culture with Catholicism and now the growth of evangelicalism, but you have a pretty friendly legal framework working for LGBTIQ people. In June, we are going to China and there is not illegal to be gay but the government is very involved and very controlling of everything so you have to be careful about what you say and donā€™t say. When we go to India in July or August we will be faced with a much different scenario because there is the misunderstanding, even in HR departments, that it is illegal to be gay, which is not, whatā€™s illegal technically is gay intercourse. So, if an HR director thinks itā€™s illegal to be gay, of course they are not going to have any kind of programs for LGBTIQ people in the workplace. So that is a special kind of educational challenge. We are going to do special events there for HR, but also for legal departments because they need to know the reality of their legal situation.

Blade: What can we expect from the Out and Equal 2018 Brazilian Forum on Nov. 28-29?

Roth: This is our third year here in Brazil and the event has been building and growing each year. At its core, the forum is about some of the things Out and Equal does best, which is bringing people together to exchange ideas and to share best practices, network and connect. This year weā€™ll have a full day of programming, and for the first time we are going to have two tracks, divided between companies that are just beginning to implement their programs for LGBTIQ people and companies that are already doing a lot of initiatives. We are speaking with more NGOs and institutions here in Brazil, like the LGBT Chamber of Commerce and Tourism, so youā€™ll see more collaborations with those groups and what they are doing. Last year for the first time we introduced our Brazil Excellence Awards and we are going to expand that so we have more categories and more recognition. We are having a reception the night before the forum to promote even more networking. And also, this year we are going to reach out more for places outside of SĆ£o Paulo, where the Forum takes place, so itā€™ll be even more of a national event.

Blade: When a company asks why does inclusion in the workplace matter, how do you answer?

Uritus: I think inclusion matters first of all because it is the right thing to do if you care about your employees. But I think that the data that keeps coming out from reports shows that it is good for business because being more LGBTIQ inclusive attracts better talent and people who feel welcome at the workforce will stay and be loyal to your company. We also know that it contributes to innovation and creativity. And finally, if you have a more diverse and inclusive workforce you naturally understand your customer base better. It is something called customer orientation where the diversity inside helps you understand how to better advertise and sell your products to a more diverse society.

Blade: The word advocate is a part of your organizationā€™s name. What is your definition of an advocate?

Uritus: I think advocating, in our case for workplace equality, is about standing up for what is right, standing up for LGBTIQ people and professionals in whatever work environment they are in. I think also in recent years advocating includes the work of allies. Itā€™s not just about gay people advocating for gay people anymore; it is including everybody who cares about us and just wants to do what is right. So, to me it also means helping allies help our community in the workplace.

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Honoring the legacy of New Orleansā€™ 1973 UpStairs Lounge fire

Why the arson attack that killed 32 gay men still resonates 50 years later

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Fifty years ago this week, 32 gay men were killed in an arson attack on the UpStairs Lounge in New Orleans. (Photo by G.E. Arnold/Times-Picayune; reprinted with permission)

On June 23 of last year, I held the microphone as a gay man in the New Orleans City Council Chamber and related a lost piece of queer history to the seven council members. I told this story to disabuse all New Orleanians of the notion that silence and accommodation, in the face of institutional and official failures, are a path to healing.  

The story I related to them began on a typical Sunday night at a second-story bar on the fringe of New Orleansā€™ French Quarter in 1973, where working-class men would gather around a white baby grand piano and belt out the lyrics to a song that was the anthem of their hidden community, ā€œUnited We Standā€ by the Brotherhood of Man. 

ā€œUnited we stand,ā€ the men would sing together, ā€œdivided we fallā€ ā€” the words epitomizing the ethos of their beloved UpStairs Lounge bar, an egalitarian free space that served as a forerunner to todayā€™s queer safe havens. 

Around that piano in the 1970s Deep South, gays and lesbians, white and Black queens, Christians and non-Christians, and even early gender minorities could cast aside the racism, sexism, and homophobia of the times to find acceptance and companionship for a moment. 

For regulars, the UpStairs Lounge was a miracle, a small pocket of acceptance in a broader world where their very identities were illegal. 

On the Sunday night of June 24, 1973, their voices were silenced in a murderous act of arson that claimed 32 lives and still stands as the deadliest fire in New Orleans history ā€” and the worst mass killing of gays in 20th century America. 

As 13 fire companies struggled to douse the inferno, police refused to question the chief suspect, even though gay witnesses identified and brought the soot-covered man to officers idly standing by. This suspect, an internally conflicted gay-for-pay sex worker named Rodger Dale Nunez, had been ejected from the UpStairs Lounge screaming the word “burn” minutes before, but New Orleans police rebuffed the testimony of fire survivors on the street and allowed Nunez to disappear.

As the fire raged, police denigrated the deceased to reporters on the street: ā€œSome thieves hung out there, and you know this was a queer bar.ā€ 

For days afterward, the carnage met with official silence. With no local gay political leaders willing to step forward, national Gay Liberation-era figures like Rev. Troy Perry of the Metropolitan Community Church flew in to ā€œhelp our bereaved brothers and sistersā€ ā€” and shatter officialdomā€™s code of silence. 

Perry broke local taboos by holding a press conference as an openly gay man. ā€œItā€™s high time that you people, in New Orleans, Louisiana, got the message and joined the rest of the Union,ā€ Perry said. 

Two days later, on June 26, 1973, as families hesitated to step forward to identify their kin in the morgue, UpStairs Lounge owner Phil Esteve stood in his badly charred bar, the air still foul with death. He rebuffed attempts by Perry to turn the fire into a call for visibility and progress for homosexuals. 

ā€œThis fire had very little to do with the gay movement or with anything gay,ā€ Esteve told a reporter from The Philadelphia Inquirer. ā€œI do not want my bar or this tragedy to be used to further any of their causes.ā€ 

Conspicuously, no photos of Esteve appeared in coverage of the UpStairs Lounge fire or its aftermath ā€” and the bar owner also remained silent as he witnessed police looting the ashes of his business. 

ā€œPhil said the cash register, juke box, cigarette machine and some wallets had money removed,ā€ recounted Esteveā€™s friend Bob McAnear, a former U.S. Customs officer. ā€œPhil wouldnā€™t report it because, if he did, police would never allow him to operate a bar in New Orleans again.ā€ 

The next day, gay bar owners, incensed at declining gay bar traffic amid an atmosphere of anxiety, confronted Perry at a clandestine meeting. ā€œHow dare you hold your damn news conferences!ā€ one business owner shouted. 

Ignoring calls for gay self-censorship, Perry held a 250-person memorial for the fire victims the following Sunday, July 1, culminating in mourners defiantly marching out the front door of a French Quarter church into waiting news cameras. ā€œReverend Troy Perry awoke several sleeping giants, me being one of them,ā€ recalled Charlene Schneider, a lesbian activist who walked out of that front door with Perry.

(Photo by G.E. Arnold/Times-Picayune; reprinted with permission)

Esteve doubted the UpStairs Lounge storyā€™s capacity to rouse gay political fervor. As the coroner buried four of his former patrons anonymously on the edge of town, Esteve quietly collected at least $25,000 in fire insurance proceeds. Less than a year later, he used the money to open another gay bar called the Post Office, where patrons of the UpStairs Lounge ā€” some with visible burn scars ā€” gathered but were discouraged from singing ā€œUnited We Stand.ā€ 

New Orleans cops neglected to question the chief arson suspect and closed the investigation without answers in late August 1973. Gay elites in the cityā€™s power structure began gaslighting the mourners who marched with Perry into the news cameras, casting suspicion on their memories and re-characterizing their moment of liberation as a stunt. 

When a local gay journalist asked in April 1977, ā€œWhere are the gay activists in New Orleans?,ā€ Esteve responded that there were none, because none were needed. ā€œWe donā€™t feel weā€™re discriminated against,ā€ Esteve said. ā€œNew Orleans gays are different from gays anywhere elseā€¦ Perhaps there is some correlation between the amount of gay activism in other cities and the degree of police harassment.ā€ 

(Photo by H.J. Patterson/Times-Picayune; reprinted with permission)

An attitude of nihilism and disavowal descended upon the memory of the UpStairs Lounge victims, goaded by Esteve and fellow gay entrepreneurs who earned their keep via gay patrons drowning their sorrows each night instead of protesting the injustices that kept them drinking. 

Into the 1980s, the story of the UpStairs Lounge all but vanished from conversation ā€” with the exception of a few sanctuaries for gay political debate such as the local lesbian bar Charleneā€™s, run by the activist Charlene Schneider. 

By 1988, the 15th anniversary of the fire, the UpStairs Lounge narrative comprised little more than a call for better fire codes and indoor sprinklers. UpStairs Lounge survivor Stewart Butler summed it up: ā€œA tragedy that, as far as I know, no good came of.ā€ 

Finally, in 1991, at Stewart Butler and Charlene Schneiderā€™s nudging, the UpStairs Lounge story became aligned with the crusade of liberated gays and lesbians seeking equal rights in Louisiana. The halls of power responded with intermittent progress. The New Orleans City Council, horrified by the story but not yet ready to take its look in the mirror, enacted an anti-discrimination ordinance protecting gays and lesbians in housing, employment, and public accommodations that Dec. 12 ā€” more than 18 years after the fire. 

ā€œI believe the fire was the catalyst for the anger to bring us all to the table,ā€ Schneider told The Times-Picayune, a tacit rebuke to Esteveā€™s strategy of silent accommodation. Even Esteve seemed to change his stance with time, granting a full interview with the first UpStairs Lounge scholar Johnny Townsend sometime around 1989. 

Most of the figures in this historic tale are now deceased. Whatā€™s left is an enduring story that refused to go gently. The story now echoes around the world ā€” a musical about the UpStairs Lounge fire recently played in Tokyo, translating the gay underworld of the 1973 French Quarter for Japanese audiences.

When I finished my presentation to the City Council last June, I looked up to see the seven council members in tears. Unanimously, they approved a resolution acknowledging the historic failures of city leaders in the wake of the UpStairs Lounge fire. 

Council members personally apologized to UpStairs Lounge families and survivors seated in the chamber in a symbolic act that, though it could not bring back those who died, still mattered greatly to those whose pain had been denied, leaving them to grieve alone. At long last, official silence and indifference gave way to heartfelt words of healing. 

The way Americans remember the past is an active, ongoing process. Our collective memory is malleable, but it matters because it speaks volumes about our maturity as a people, how we acknowledge the pastā€™s influence in our lives, and how it shapes the examples we set for our youth. Do we grapple with difficult truths, or do we duck accountability by defaulting to nostalgia and bluster? Or worse, do we simply ignore the past until it fades into a black hole of ignorance and indifference? 

I believe that a factual retelling of the UpStairs Lounge tragedy ā€” and how, 50 years onward, it became known internationally ā€” resonates beyond our current divides. It reminds queer and non-queer Americans that ignoring the past holds back the present, and that silence is no cure for what ails a participatory nation. 

Silence isolates. Silence gaslights and shrouds. It preserves the power structures that scapegoat the disempowered. 

Solidarity, on the other hand, unites. Solidarity illuminates a path forward together. Above all, solidarity transforms the downtrodden into a resounding chorus of citizens ā€” in the spirit of voices who once gathered ā€˜round a white baby grand piano and sang, joyfully and loudly, ā€œUnited We Stand.ā€ 

(Photo by Philip Ames/Times-Picayune; reprinted with permission)

Robert W. Fieseler is a New Orleans-based journalist and the author of ā€œTinderbox: the Untold Story of the Up Stairs Lounge Fire and the Rise of Gay Liberation.ā€

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New Supreme Court term includes critical LGBTQ case with ‘terrifying’ consequences

Business owner seeks to decline services for same-sex weddings

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The U.S. Supreme Court is to set consider the case of 303 Creative, which seeks to refuse design services for same-sex weddings. (Blade file photo by Michael Key)

The U.S. Supreme Court, after a decision overturning Roe v. Wade that still leaves many reeling, is starting a new term with justices slated to revisit the issue of LGBTQ rights.

In 303 Creative v. Elenis, the court will return to the issue of whether or not providers of custom-made goods can refuse service to LGBTQ customers on First Amendment grounds. In this case, the business owner is Lorie Smith, a website designer in Colorado who wants to opt out of providing her graphic design services for same-sex weddings despite the civil rights law in her state.

Jennifer Pizer, acting chief legal officer of Lambda Legal, said in an interview with the Blade, “it’s not too much to say an immeasurably huge amount is at stake” for LGBTQ people depending on the outcome of the case.

“This contrived idea that making custom goods, or offering a custom service, somehow tacitly conveys an endorsement of the person ā€” if that were to be accepted, that would be a profound change in the law,” Pizer said. “And the stakes are very high because there are no practical, obvious, principled ways to limit that kind of an exception, and if the law isn’t clear in this regard, then the people who are at risk of experiencing discrimination have no security, no effective protection by having a non-discrimination laws, because at any moment, as one makes their way through the commercial marketplace, you don’t know whether a particular business person is going to refuse to serve you.”

The upcoming arguments and decision in the 303 Creative case mark a return to LGBTQ rights for the Supreme Court, which had no lawsuit to directly address the issue in its previous term, although many argued the Dobbs decision put LGBTQ rights in peril and threatened access to abortion for LGBTQ people.

And yet, the 303 Creative case is similar to other cases the Supreme Court has previously heard on the providers of services seeking the right to deny services based on First Amendment grounds, such as Masterpiece Cakeshop and Fulton v. City of Philadelphia. In both of those cases, however, the court issued narrow rulings on the facts of litigation, declining to issue sweeping rulings either upholding non-discrimination principles or First Amendment exemptions.

Pizer, who signed one of the friend-of-the-court briefs in opposition to 303 Creative, said the case is “similar in the goals” of the Masterpiece Cakeshop litigation on the basis they both seek exemptions to the same non-discrimination law that governs their business, the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act, or CADA, and seek “to further the social and political argument that they should be free to refuse same-sex couples or LGBTQ people in particular.”

“So there’s the legal goal, and it connects to the social and political goals and in that sense, it’s the same as Masterpiece,” Pizer said. “And so there are multiple problems with it again, as a legal matter, but also as a social matter, because as with the religion argument, it flows from the idea that having something to do with us is endorsing us.”

One difference: the Masterpiece Cakeshop litigation stemmed from an act of refusal of service after owner, Jack Phillips, declined to make a custom-made wedding cake for a same-sex couple for their upcoming wedding. No act of discrimination in the past, however, is present in the 303 Creative case. The owner seeks to put on her website a disclaimer she won’t provide services for same-sex weddings, signaling an intent to discriminate against same-sex couples rather than having done so.

As such, expect issues of standing ā€” whether or not either party is personally aggrieved and able bring to a lawsuit ā€” to be hashed out in arguments as well as whether the litigation is ripe for review as justices consider the case. It’s not hard to see U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts, who has sought to lead the court to reach less sweeping decisions (sometimes successfully, and sometimes in the Dobbs case not successfully) to push for a decision along these lines.

Another key difference: The 303 Creative case hinges on the argument of freedom of speech as opposed to the two-fold argument of freedom of speech and freedom of religious exercise in the Masterpiece Cakeshop litigation. Although 303 Creative requested in its petition to the Supreme Court review of both issues of speech and religion, justices elected only to take up the issue of free speech in granting a writ of certiorari (or agreement to take up a case). Justices also declined to accept another question in the petition request of review of the 1990 precedent in Smith v. Employment Division, which concluded states can enforce neutral generally applicable laws on citizens with religious objections without violating the First Amendment.

Representing 303 Creative in the lawsuit is Alliance Defending Freedom, a law firm that has sought to undermine civil rights laws for LGBTQ people with litigation seeking exemptions based on the First Amendment, such as the Masterpiece Cakeshop case.

Kristen Waggoner, president of Alliance Defending Freedom, wrote in a Sept. 12 legal brief signed by her and other attorneys that a decision in favor of 303 Creative boils down to a clear-cut violation of the First Amendment.

“Colorado and the United States still contend that CADA only regulates sales transactions,” the brief says. “But their cases do not apply because they involve non-expressive activities: selling BBQ, firing employees, restricting school attendance, limiting club memberships, and providing room access. Coloradoā€™s own cases agree that the government may not use public-accommodation laws to affect a commercial actorā€™s speech.”

Pizer, however, pushed back strongly on the idea a decision in favor of 303 Creative would be as focused as Alliance Defending Freedom purports it would be, arguing it could open the door to widespread discrimination against LGBTQ people.

“One way to put it is art tends to be in the eye of the beholder,” Pizer said. “Is something of a craft, or is it art? I feel like I’m channeling Lily Tomlin. Remember ‘soup and art’? We have had an understanding that whether something is beautiful or not is not the determining factor about whether something is protected as artistic expression. There’s a legal test that recognizes if this is speech, whose speech is it, whose message is it? Would anyone who was hearing the speech or seeing the message understand it to be the message of the customer or of the merchants or craftsmen or business person?”

Despite the implications in the case for LGBTQ rights, 303 Creative may have supporters among LGBTQ people who consider themselves proponents of free speech.

One joint friend-of-the-court brief before the Supreme Court, written by Dale Carpenter, a law professor at Southern Methodist University who’s written in favor of LGBTQ rights, and Eugene Volokh, a First Amendment legal scholar at the University of California, Los Angeles, argues the case is an opportunity to affirm the First Amendment applies to goods and services that are uniquely expressive.

“Distinguishing expressive from non-expressive products in some contexts might be hard, but the Tenth Circuit agreed that Smithā€™s product does not present a hard case,” the brief says. “Yet that court (and Colorado) declined to recognize any exemption for products constituting speech. The Tenth Circuit has effectively recognized a state interest in subjecting the creation of speech itself to antidiscrimination laws.”

Oral arguments in the case aren’t yet set, but may be announced soon. Set to defend the state of Colorado and enforcement of its non-discrimination law in the case is Colorado Solicitor General Eric Reuel Olson. Just this week, the U.S. Supreme Court announced it would grant the request to the U.S. solicitor general to present arguments before the justices on behalf of the Biden administration.

With a 6-3 conservative majority on the court that has recently scrapped the super-precedent guaranteeing the right to abortion, supporters of LGBTQ rights may think the outcome of the case is all but lost, especially amid widespread fears same-sex marriage would be next on the chopping block. After the U.S. Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against 303 Creative in the lawsuit, the simple action by the Supreme Court to grant review in the lawsuit suggests they are primed to issue a reversal and rule in favor of the company.

Pizer, acknowledging the call to action issued by LGBTQ groups in the aftermath of the Dobbs decision, conceded the current Supreme Court issuing the ruling in this case is “a terrifying prospect,” but cautioned the issue isn’t so much the makeup of the court but whether or not justices will continue down the path of abolishing case law.

“I think the question that we’re facing with respect to all of the cases or at least many of the cases that are in front of the court right now, is whether this court is going to continue on this radical sort of wrecking ball to the edifice of settled law and seemingly a goal of setting up whole new structures of what our basic legal principles are going to be. Are we going to have another term of that?” Pizer said. “And if so, that’s terrifying.”

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Kelley Robinson, a Black, queer woman, named president of Human Rights Campaign

Progressive activist a veteran of Planned Parenthood Action Fund

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Kelley Robinson (Screen capture via HRC YouTube)

Kelley Robinson, a Black, queer woman and veteran of Planned Parenthood Action Fund, is to become the next president of the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s leading LGBTQ group announced on Tuesday.

Robinson is set to become the ninth president of the Human Rights Campaign after having served as executive director of Planned Parenthood Action Fund and more than 12 years of experience as a leader in the progressive movement. She’ll be the first Black, queer woman to serve in that role.

ā€œIā€™m honored and ready to lead HRC ā€” and our more than three million member-advocates ā€” as we continue working to achieve equality and liberation for all Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer people,ā€ Robinson said. ā€œThis is a pivotal moment in our movement for equality for LGBTQ+ people. We, particularly our trans and BIPOC communities, are quite literally in the fight for our lives and facing unprecedented threats that seek to destroy us.”

Kelley Robinson IS NAMED as The next human rights Campaign president

The next Human Rights Campaign president is named as Democrats are performing well in polls in the mid-term elections after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, leaving an opening for the LGBTQ group to play a key role amid fears LGBTQ rights are next on the chopping block.

“The overturning of Roe v. Wade reminds us we are just one Supreme Court decision away from losing fundamental freedoms including the freedom to marry, voting rights, and privacy,” Robinson said. “We are facing a generational opportunity to rise to these challenges and create real, sustainable change. I believe that working together this change is possible right now. This next chapter of the Human Rights Campaign is about getting to freedom and liberation without any exceptions ā€” and today I am making a promise and commitment to carry this work forward.ā€

The Human Rights Campaign announces its next president after a nearly year-long search process after the board of directors terminated its former president Alphonso David when he was ensnared in the sexual misconduct scandal that led former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo to resign. David has denied wrongdoing and filed a lawsuit against the LGBTQ group alleging racial discrimination.

Kelley Robinson, Planned Parenthood, Cathy Chu, SMYAL, Supporting and Mentoring Youth Advocates and Leaders, Amy Nelson, Whitman-Walker Health, Sheroes of the Movement, Mayor's office of GLBT Affairs, gay news, Washington Blade
Kelley Robinson, seen here with Cathy Chu of SMYAL and Amy Nelson of Whitman-Walker Health, is the next Human Rights Campaign president. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)
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