National
Carey: Voter suppression could ‘derail’ LGBT progress
Task Force head delivers 2012 State of the Movement address
National Gay & Lesbian Task Force chief Rea Carey (Blade photo by Michael Key)
BALTIMORE — The head of the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force on Friday identified efforts to keep minorities from going to the polls on Election Day as the latest tool in the arsenal of anti-gay forces to stop LGBT progress.
Rea Carey, the Task Force’s executive director, said during her 2012 “State of the Movement” address that “the very ability to cast a vote” has been under attack and called on LGBT rights supporters to fight those efforts and bring voters to the polls.
“They could derail our progress for years by focusing on something that our movement could easily mistake as not ‘our’ issue,” Carey said. “Believe me, it is our issue when we or our allies find ourselves without easy access to the polls.”
Carey said executive orders in 14 states and 20 new laws have made it harder for five million people to vote this year. According to Carey, these initiatives are a “systematic effort” to take the vote away from people of color, students, the working poor and unemployed and other groups.
Her views are supported by a report published in December by the Voting Rights Institute, which says new Republican-initiated laws have cut early voting, challenged the citizenship of eligible voters and mandated that voters produce photo ID at the polls.
One such law is Florida’s HB 1355, an omnibus elections overhaul passed after the Tea Party came into power in the state in 2010. In addition to early voting cuts, the law imposes restrictions on non-governmental entities conducting voter registration.
Carey said these efforts — which she called “one of the last desperate ploys by those who can no longer compete with the power of their ideas” — particularly affect LGBT people because they have “a devastating effect on the ability of transgender people to vote” and impact states where marriage equality could be on the ballot in 2012.
“If we do not protect the right to vote, we will not win on immigration, we will not win on non-discrimination, we will not protect affirmative action and we will not win on marriage,” Carey said.
The Task Force chief called on the audience to register voters that anti-gay forces don’t want at the polls and urged voters who are turned away to cast a provisional ballot, post their story on Facebook and Twitter and contact the Civil Rights Division at the Department of Justice.
Carey made the remarks during the 24th annual Creating Change conference at the Hilton Baltimore, where an estimated 3,000 attendees came to discuss LGBT rights. Conference participants ranged from government officials in suits, female activists wearing combat boots and bloggers in graphic tees. The hotel bathrooms were modified as “gender neutral restroom” to accommodate attendees.
During her speech, Carey offered a litany of accomplishments that the LGBT community has achieved in the past year, including the passage of statewide transgender non-discrimination laws in four states, defeating an anti-trans bill in Maine and the lifting of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”
Carey also said the Task Force and LGBT advocates had a hand in issues facing a broader range of people, such as beating an anti-choice “personhood” ballot measure in Mississippi and a measure in Maine that would end same-day voter registration.
Carey noted the heavy emphasis that marriage receives in the LGBT rights movement.
“The LGBT movement is not a movement for marriage only,” Carey said. “It is a movement for the full dignity of our lives, for a transformed society.”
“Marriage has motivated our allies and captured the attention of people who weren’t paying attention before,” Carey said. “But someday, when we succeed in nationwide recognition of our marriages, and even along the way, we will likely see that the engagement in our movement will drop off. Severely.”
Carey said in states where marriage equality has been achieved, advocacy groups find they have less attention, engagement — and fewer donations. She said these groups in some cases have had to lay off workers “even while struggling to get attention for other very pressing issues.”
“We have learned that with a win, we usually have to turn right around and defend that win,” Carey said. “We also know that people who aren’t included in that win remain vulnerable to discrimination.”
New York is an example of a state that could be in such a situation. The state legalized same-sex marriage last year, but workplace non-discrimination protections for transgender people haven’t yet been enacted.
“At the Task Force, we say we want more than marriage — there is no singular solution to the many ways we experience discrimination, violence and bigotry,” Carey said. “At the Task Force we insist that immigration, housing, health care, fair wages, Social Security and ending systemic racism and sexism are all LGBT issues.”
Carey referred to the opening song “Defying Gravity” in the musical “Wicked” and compared the struggles faced by the character Elphaba, or the Wicked Witch of the West, to the struggles faced by LGBT people.
“LGBT people have been called a repulsion, a harm to society,” Carey said. “We have been called wicked. The fact that we have made it this far, surviving childhood taunts, the neglect of churches and schools, the laws and policies of a country that have treated us as criminals — this is already a testament to our ability to defy gravity.”
Carey’s speech was well-received by those in audience, and her remarks that marriage shouldn’t be the singular focus of the LGBT rights movement were met with significant applause.
Katherine Acey, a former executive director for the New York City-based Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice, said Carey’s speech was “expansive and visionary” and useful because it “laid out everything we’ve accomplished.”
“Her looking at the big picture and looking at how we must stand with all of the members of our community — also allies who are part of our world community — I thought that was striking, the way she delivered that,” Acey said.
Federal Government
US Census Bureau testing survey on LGBTQ households
Agency proposing questions about sexual orientation and gender identity
The U.S. Census Bureau is seeking public comment on a proposed test of sexual orientation and gender identity questions on the American Community Survey. The test would begin this summer and continue into next year.
The Census Bureau published the request as a Federal Register notice. In its press release the agency noted that the ACS is an ongoing survey that collects detailed housing and socioeconomic data. It allows the Census Bureau to provide timely and relevant housing and socioeconomic statistics, even for low levels of geography.
As part of the process for adding new questions to the ACS, the Census Bureau tests potential questions to evaluate the quality of the data collected.
The Census Bureau proposes testing questions about sexual orientation and gender identity to meet the needs of other federal agencies that have expressed interest in or have identified legal uses for the information, such as enforcing civil rights and equal employment measures.
The test would follow the protocols of the actual ACS — with one person asked to respond to the survey on behalf of the entire household. These particular questions are asked about people 15 years of age or older. Households are invited to respond to the survey online, by paper questionnaire or by phone.
The current Federal Register notice gives the public a final opportunity to provide feedback before the Census Bureau submits its recommendations to the Office of Management and Budget for approval. The public may provide feedback through May 30 online.
The White House
Judy Shepard to receive Presidential Medal of Freedom
Nancy Pelosi is also among this year’s honorees
Beloved LGBTQ advocate Judy Shepard is among the 19 honorees who will receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award in the U.S., the White House announced on Friday.
The mother of Matthew Shepard, who was killed in 1998 in the country’s most notorious anti-gay hate crime, she co-founded the Matthew Shepard Foundation with her husband Dennis to raise awareness about anti-LGBTQ violence.
The organization runs education, outreach, and advocacy programs, many focused on schools.
In a statement shared via the Human Rights Campaign, Shepard said, “This unexpected honor has been very humbling for me, Dennis, and our family. What makes us proud is knowing our President and our nation share our lifelong commitment to making this world a safer, more loving, more respectful, and more peaceful place for everyone.
“I am grateful to everyone whose love and support for our work through the years has sustained me.
“If I had the power to change one thing, I can only dream of the example that Matt’s life and purpose would have shown, had he lived. This honor reminds the world that his life, and every life, is precious.”
Shepard was instrumental in working with then-President Barack Obama for passage of the landmark Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act in 2009, which was led in the House by then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who will also be honored with a Presidential Medal of Freedom during the ceremony on Friday.
Also in 2009, Shepard published a memoir, “The Meaning of Matthew: My Son’s Murder in Laramie, and a World Transformed,” and was honored with the Black Tie Dinner Elizabeth Birch Equality Award.
“Judy Shepard has been a champion for equality and President Biden’s choice to honor her with the Presidential Medal of Freedom is a testament to what she’s done to be a force of good in the world,” HRC President Kelley Robinson said in a statement.
“A mother who turned unspeakable grief over the loss of her son into a decades-long fight against anti-LGBTQ+ hatred and violence, Judy continues to make a lasting impact in the lives of the LGBTQ+ community,” she said.
“It is because of her advocacy that the first federal hate crimes legislation became law and that countless life-saving trainings, resources and conversations about equality and acceptance are provided each year by the Matthew Shepard Foundation,” Robinson said. “We are honored that Judy is a member of the HRC family and know that her work to create a more inclusive and just world will only continue.”
Other awardees who will be honored by the White House this year are: Actor Michelle Yeoh, entrepreneur and former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Jesuit Catholic priest Gregory Boyle, Assistant House Democratic Leader Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.), former Labor and Education Secretary and former U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole (R-N.C.), journalist and former daytime talkshow host Phil Donahue, World War II veteran and civil rights activist Medgar Evers (posthumous), former Vice President Al Gore, civil rights activist and lawyer Clarence B. Jones, former Secretary of State and U.S. Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), former U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) (posthumous), Olympic swimmer Katie Ledecky, educator and activist Opal Lee, astronaut and former director of NASA’s Johnson Space Center Ellen Ochoa, astronomer Jane Rigby, United Farm Workers President Teresa Romero, and Olympic athlete Jim Thorpe (posthumous).
National
United Methodist Church removes 40-year ban on gay clergy
Delegates also voted for other LGBTQ-inclusive measures
The United Methodist Church on Wednesday removed a ban on gay clergy that was in place for more than 40 years, voting to also allow LGBTQ weddings and end prohibitions on the use of United Methodist funds to “promote acceptance of homosexuality.”
Overturning the policy forbidding the church from ordaining “self-avowed practicing homosexuals” effectively formalized a practice that had caused an estimated quarter of U.S. congregations to leave the church.
The New York Times notes additional votes “affirming L.G.B.T.Q. inclusion in the church are expected before the meeting adjourns on Friday.” Wednesday’s measures were passed overwhelmingly and without debate. Delegates met in Charlotte, N.C.
According to the church’s General Council on Finance and Administration, there were 5,424,175 members in the U.S. in 2022 with an estimated global membership approaching 10 million.
The Times notes that other matters of business last week included a “regionalization” plan, which gave autonomy to different regions such that they can establish their own rules on matters including issues of sexuality — about which international factions are likelier to have more conservative views.
Rev. Kipp Nelson of St. Johns’s on the Lake Methodist Church in Miami shared a statement praising the new developments:
“It is a glorious day in the United Methodist Church. As a worldwide denomination, we have now publicly proclaimed the boundless love of God and finally slung open the doors of our church so that all people, no matter their identities or orientations, may pursue the calling of their hearts.
“Truly, all are loved and belong here among us. I am honored to serve as a pastor in the United Methodist Church for such a time as this, for our future is bright and filled with hope. Praise be, praise be.”
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