National
RNC 2012: LGBT protesters demonstrate at convention
Undeterred by rain, activists rail against Republican Party
Juan Rodriguez (left), Nelina Stamp (center) and Felipe Sousa-Rodriguez at an anti-GOP rally (Blade photo by Michael Key)
TAMPA, Fla. — A major demonstration on the first day of the Republican National Convention included a handful of LGBT protesters who decried the GOP for supporting anti-gay policies.
On Monday, nearly 500 demonstrators gathered in Tampa’s Perry Harvey, Sr., Park for the “March on the RNC” — braving inclement weather — to speak out against the “agenda of the one percent” before marching for about a mile to the city’s convention center. Activists affiliated with GetEQUAL were among those in the LGBT part of the coalition.
Jarrod Scarbrough, a gay Tampa, Fla., resident and co-state leader of GetEQUAL Florida, was among those addressing the audience, saying the policies adopted by the Republican Party as part of the draft version of its platform would harm both him and his partner of 18 years as well as his daughter.
“We are a family, but this week, the Republicans will try to add language to their platform to continue to discriminate against families like mine,” Scarbrough said. “They also want to give an unborn fetus full rights, yet if that fetus grows up to be LGBTQ, 88 percent of those rights will be ripped away. That’s right, as a gay man, I have 12 percent of the rights as heterosexuals. This is wrong, especially when the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution affirms that all men are created equal.”
Scarbrough was among the activists at the White House Easter Egg Roll who intended to ask President Obama to issue an executive order prohibiting federal contractors from discriminating against LGBT workers. The White House later said Obama wouldn’t issue the order at this time, but the action did lead to mainstream media asking White House Press Secretary Jay Carney about the possible directive at the daily news briefing on the same day.
Felipe Sousa-Rodriguez, national field director for GetEQUAL, was alongside Scarbrough onstage — donning a rainbow Pride flag as if it were a poncho — and translated his fellow activist’s remarks into Spanish.
Sousa-Rodriguez, who’s also done work as a DREAM activist, later the told the Washington Blade he wanted to serve as translator to “make sure that everybody could understand the march.”
“Basically what we’re doing is telling that the Republican Party is actually advocating for more rights for a fetus than for an LGBT person — an American person who pays taxes, who fully contributes to their community,” Sousa-Rodriguez said. “They don’t want to extend the Fourteenth Amendment rights to people like us, and yet give it fetuses before they were born. Basically, what they are saying is they want to give more before we are than after we are born.”
The rainy weather impacted the number of people who attended the march. According to Sousa-Rodriguez, about 5,000 demonstrators were expected as well as about a dozen LGBT people, but buses that were scheduled to deliver protesters to the rally were cancelled because of Hurricane Isaac and only a fraction of that number appeared.
A number of activists who attended the march held signs criticizing the policies of the Republican Party and its presumptive presidential nominee Mitt Romney. One held up a sign saying, “Abort Shit Romney & his Taliban Party,” while another sign read, “MIsTrusT,” with letters making up Romney’s first name in capital letters.
But protests were directed at the Democrats as well as Republicans. Others on stage denounced policies keeping the United States at war in Afghanistan and harming undocumented immigrants in the United States. Protesters affiliated with the socialist Workers World Party held up a sign reading “RNC/DNC = Tool of the 1%: Fight Capitalist Rule.”
Green Party Vice Presidential Nominee Cheri Honkala, a single mother who was once homeless along with her nine-year-old son, was among those who spoke and called on participants to “occupy” the polls in November and call for more voices in the upcoming two-party presidential debates.
“If they don’t let other viewpoints into the debate, we’ve got to occupy the debate,” Honkala said. “Don’t vote for the lesser of two evils: vote courage.”
After the march concluded, Scarbrough said demonstrators experienced no hostility from Republicans or others opposed to the protesters’ views and the police arrested no one affiliated with the march. According to ABC News, police did arrest one protester, 20-year-old Dominick Delarosa, when he refused to remove a mask at the request of police.
Nelina Stamp, a 24-year-old queer activist who recently moved to Miami, said she wanted to participate in the march as a visible LGBT person because of LGBT members of her family who live in her home state of New York.
“My mother is a lesbian, and for so long, I had to see her not be able to get married, not have the same equality, be able to get fired from her workplace and live in these circumstances that are just not fair, right?” Stamp said. “Thankfully, New York passed marriage equality just last year, which is great, but still on the federal level, the LGBT community doesn’t have that many rights, and I’m here because it’s not on the Republicans’ agenda.”
Stamp is also a leader with the group Dream Defenders, which seeks to advance the DREAM Act and issues related to undocumented immigrants as well as mass incarceration in the prison pipeline.
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.”
Federal Government
Republican state AGs challenge Biden administration’s revised Title IX policies
New rules protect LGBTQ students from discrimination
Four Republicans state attorneys general have sued the Biden-Harris administration over the U.S. Department of Education’s new Title IX policies that were finalized April 19 and carry anti-discrimination protections for LGBTQ students in public schools.
The lawsuit filed on Tuesday, which is led by the attorneys general of Kentucky and Tennessee, follows a pair of legal challenges from nine Republican states on Monday — all contesting the administration’s interpretation that sex-based discrimination under the statute also covers that which is based on the victim’s sexual orientation or gender identity.
The administration also rolled back Trump-era rules governing how schools must respond to allegations of sexual harassment and sexual assault, which were widely perceived as biased in favor of the interests of those who are accused.
“The U.S. Department of Education has no authority to let boys into girls’ locker rooms,” Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti said in a statement. “In the decades since its adoption, Title IX has been universally understood to protect the privacy and safety of women in private spaces like locker rooms and bathrooms.”
“Florida is suing the Biden administration over its unlawful Title IX changes,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis wrote on social media. “Biden is abusing his constitutional authority to push an ideological agenda that harms women and girls and conflicts with the truth.”
After announcing the finalization of the department’s new rules, Education Secretary Miguel Cardona told reporters, “These regulations make it crystal clear that everyone can access schools that are safe, welcoming and that respect their rights.”
The new rule does not provide guidance on whether schools must allow transgender students to play on sports teams corresponding with their gender identity to comply with Title IX, a question that is addressed in a separate rule proposed by the agency in April.
LGBTQ and civil rights advocacy groups praised the changes. Lambda Legal issued a statement arguing the new rule “protects LGBTQ+ students from discrimination and other abuse,” adding that it “appropriately underscores that Title IX’s civil rights protections clearly cover LGBTQ+ students, as well as survivors and pregnant and parenting students across race and gender identity.”
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