National
RNC 2012: Santorum calls for end to ‘assault on marriage’
Anti-gay Republican says Obama’s policies ‘undermine the traditional family’
Former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum speaks at the Republican National Convention (Blade photo by Michael Key)
TAMPA, Fla. — Speakers at the Republican National Convention on Tuesday hammered President Obama for what they said were failed economic policies while largely staying away from social or LGBT issues — although marriage was a cornerstone in the high-profile speech by former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum.
The former Republican presidential candidate talked about running for the White House and shaking hands with people from many walks of life as he criticized Obama — even misrepresenting the president by saying he was “waiving the work requirement for welfare.”
Santorum devoted a significant portion of his speech to what he said was the decline of the institution of marriage.
“The fact is that marriage is disappearing in places where government dependency is highest,” Santorum said. “Most single mothers do heroic work and an amazing job raising their children, but if America is going to succeed, we must stop the assault on marriage and the family.”
Santorum never explicitly mentioned same-sex marriage during his speech, although the Republican has a history of vocal opposition to LGBT rights. Still, the former senator said President Obama, who in May endorsed marriage equality, has enacted policies that “undermine the traditional family.”
Additionally, Santorum criticized the Obama administration for immigration policy, saying “with his refusal to enforce our immigration laws, President Obama rules like he is above the law.” The criticism could be a reference to many actions the administration has taken — including providing certain young, undocumented immigrants with deferred action on deportation — but also could be a reference to the Department of Homeland Security’s decision to consider undocumented immigrants a low priority for removal if they’re in a same-sex marriage.
Jerame Davis, executive director of the National Stonewall Democrats, said Santorum’s remarks on marriage shouldn’t be a surprise given that delegates at the convention earlier in the day approved a party platform including anti-gay language.
“Earlier today, delegates at the Republican convention enthusiastically voted in favor of the most anti-LGBT platform ever adopted by a political party,” Davis said. “It was a low point for the party and our country. It came as no surprise, then, to hear Rick Santorum lecturing delegates and the American people on ‘traditional families’ during the primetime speeches tonight.”
No other speakers at the convention on Tuesday made marriage or social issues as great a part of their speeches as Santorum, but others did touch on marriage.
Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell, who chaired the Republican Party platform committee, touted the marriage language in the manifesto — which endorses a U.S. constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage throughout the country — in addition to backing to other conservative policies like making abortion illegal.
“This platform affirms the traditional meaning of marriage and the sanctity of human life, defends religious freedom and Second Amendment rights and calls for a balanced budget amendment,” McDonnell said.
Speeches took place throughout the day at the convention as delegates took care of procedures needed for the Republican Party position itself for the 2012 presidential election.
Delegates at the convention officially threw their support behind Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, making him officially the party’s nominee in the race for the White House, in addition to giving final approval to the 2012 Republican Party platform. During the roll call of the states and jurisdictions who sent delegates to the convention, Romney received the backing of the 2,061 delegates, well over the 1,144-delegate threshold needed for him to claim the nomination.
But Romney was unable to secure all the delegates at the convention. More than 100 delegates pledged to libertarian Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) wouldn’t give up backing of their candidate. A handful of delegates also went to Santorum, who gave Romney the greatest challenge for the Republican nomination during the presidential primary.
The woman reading the delegate contributions from the states would only say the number allocated to Romney without recognizing other candidates, much to the consternation of Paul supporters, who heckled her for not recognizing him. According to media reports, Paul was present on the floor when the roll call was being recorded as supporters shouted “Let him speak!”
A number of other high-profile speeches took place on Tuesday, including remarks from Republican governors as well as U.S. Senate and congressional candidates.
The most well-received speech likely came from Romney’s wife, Ann Romney, who delivered personal remarks about starting a family together with the Republican presidential nominee at an early age and his experience starting Bain Capital, running the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City and serving as governor of Massachusetts.
“But because this is America, that small company which grew has helped so many others lead better lives,” Ann Romney said. “The jobs that grew from the risks they took have become college educations, first homes. That success has helped fund scholarships, pensions and retirement funds. This is the genius of America: dreams fulfilled help others launch new dreams.”
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie gave the keynote address at the Republican National Convention (Blade photo by Michael Key)
Delivering the keynote address for the Republican National Convention was New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who was widely considered a possibility as Romney’s running mate before the selection of Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.). Christie vetoed same-sex marriage legislation earlier this year.
In his speech, Christie talked about enacting fiscally conservative policies in a “blue” state that he said will result in New Jersey saving $132 billion in taxpayer dollars over the next 30 years — a bipartisan effort that the governor said could be duplicated in the White House and Congress.
“The disciples of yesterday’s politics underestimated the will of the people,” Christie said. “They assumed our people were selfish; that when told of the difficult problems, tough choices and complicated solutions, they would simply turn their backs, that they would decide it was every man for himself. Instead, the people of New Jersey stepped up and shared in the sacrifice.”
Federal Government
4th Circuit rules gender identity is a protected characteristic
Ruling a response to N.C., W.Va. legal challenges
BY ERIN REED | The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Monday that transgender people are a protected class and that Medicaid bans on trans care are unconstitutional.
Furthermore, the court ruled that discriminating based on a diagnosis of gender dysphoria is discrimination based on gender identity and sex. The ruling is in response to lower court challenges against state laws and policies in North Carolina and West Virginia that prevent trans people on state plans or Medicaid from obtaining coverage for gender-affirming care; those lower courts found such exclusions unconstitutional.
In issuing the final ruling, the 4th Circuit declared that trans exclusions were “obviously discriminatory” and were “in violation of the equal protection clause” of the Constitution, upholding lower court rulings that barred the discriminatory exclusions.
The 4th Circuit ruling focused on two cases in states within its jurisdiction: North Carolina and West Virginia. In North Carolina, trans state employees who rely on the State Health Plan were unable to use it to obtain gender-affirming care for gender dysphoria diagnoses.
In West Virginia, a similar exclusion applied to those on the state’s Medicaid plan for surgeries related to a diagnosis of gender dysphoria. Both exclusions were overturned by lower courts, and both states appealed to the 4th Circuit.
Attorneys for the states had argued that the policies were not discriminatory because the exclusions for gender affirming care “apply to everyone, not just transgender people.” The majority of the court, however, struck down such a claim, pointing to several other cases where such arguments break down, such as same-sex marriage bans “applying to straight, gay, lesbian, and bisexual people equally,” even though straight people would be entirely unaffected by such bans.
Other cases cited included literacy tests, a tax on wearing kippot for Jewish people, and interracial marriage in Loving v. Virginia.
See this portion of the court analysis here:
Of particular note in the majority opinion was a section on Geduldig v. Aiello that seemed laser-targeted toward an eventual U.S. Supreme Court decision on discriminatory policies targeting trans people. Geduldig v. Aiello, a 1974 ruling, determined that pregnancy discrimination is not inherently sex discrimination because it does not “classify on sex,” but rather, on pregnancy status.
Using similar arguments, the states claimed that gender affirming care exclusions did not classify or discriminate based on trans status or sex, but rather, on a diagnosis of gender dysphoria and treatments to alleviate that dysphoria.
The majority was unconvinced, ruling, “gender dysphoria is so intimately related to transgender status as to be virtually indistinguishable from it. The excluded treatments aim at addressing incongruity between sex assigned at birth and gender identity, the very heart of transgender status.” In doing so, the majority cited several cases, many from after Geduldig was decided.
Notably, Geduldig was cited in both the 6th and 11th Circuit decisions upholding gender affirming care bans in a handful of states.
The court also pointed to the potentially ridiculous conclusions that strict readings of what counts as proxy discrimination could lead to, such as if legislators attempted to use “XX chromosomes” and “XY chromosomes” to get around sex discrimination policies:
Importantly, the court also rebutted recent arguments that Bostock applies only to “limited Title VII claims involving employers who fired” LGBTQ employees, and not to Title IX, which the Affordable Care Act’s anti-discrimination mandate references. The majority stated that this is not the case, and that there is “nothing in Bostock to suggest the holding was that narrow.”
Ultimately, the court ruled that the exclusions on trans care violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution. The court also ruled that the West Virginia Medicaid Program violates the Medicaid Act and the anti-discrimination provisions of the Affordable Care Act.
Additionally, the court upheld the dismissal of anti-trans expert testimony for lacking relevant expertise. West Virginia and North Carolina must end trans care exclusions in line with earlier district court decisions.
The decision will likely have nationwide impacts on court cases in other districts. The case had become a major battleground for trans rights, with dozens of states filing amicus briefs in favor or against the protection of the equal process rights of trans people. Twenty-one Republican states filed an amicus brief in favor of denying trans people anti-discrimination protections in healthcare, and 17 Democratic states joined an amicus brief in support of the healthcare rights of trans individuals.
Many Republican states are defending anti-trans laws that discriminate against trans people by banning or limiting gender-affirming care. These laws could come under threat if the legal rationale used in this decision is adopted by other circuits. In the 4th Circuit’s jurisdiction, West Virginia and North Carolina already have gender-affirming care bans for trans youth in place, and South Carolina may consider a similar bill this week.
The decision could potentially be used as precedent to challenge all of those laws in the near future and to deter South Carolina’s bill from passing into law.
The decision is the latest in a web of legal battles concerning trans people. Earlier this month, the 4th Circuit also reversed a sports ban in West Virginia, ruling that Title IX protects trans student athletes. However, the Supreme Court recently narrowed a victory for trans healthcare from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and allowed Idaho to continue enforcing its ban on gender-affirming care for everyone except the two plaintiffs in the case.
Importantly, that decision was not about the constitutionality of gender-affirming care, but the limits of temporary injunctions in the early stages of a constitutional challenge to discriminatory state laws. It is likely that the Supreme Court will ultimately hear cases on this topic in the near future.
Celebrating the victory, Lambda Legal Counsel and Health Care Strategist Omar Gonzalez-Pagan said in a posted statement, “The court’s decision sends a clear message that gender-affirming care is critical medical care for transgender people and that denying it is harmful and unlawful … We hope this decision makes it clear to policy makers across the country that health care decisions belong to patients, their families, and their doctors, not to politicians.”
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Erin Reed is a transgender woman (she/her pronouns) and researcher who tracks anti-LGBTQ+ legislation around the world and helps people become better advocates for their queer family, friends, colleagues, and community. Reed also is a social media consultant and public speaker.
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The preceding article was first published at Erin In The Morning and is republished with permission.
National
GLSEN hosts Respect Awards with Billy Porter, Peppermint
Annual event aims to ‘inspire a lot of people to get active’
GLSEN will host its annual Respect Awards April 29 in New York, with guests including Miss Peppermint and Billy Porter.
Respect Awards director Michael Chavez said that the event will be moving.
“It will inspire a lot of people to get active and take action in their own communities and see how much more work there is to do, especially with all of the harmful things happening,” he said.
At the event, they will recognize the Student Advocate of the Year, Sophia T. Annually, GLSEN recognizes a student from around the country who is impacting their community.
“Sophia is doing incredible work advocating for inclusive sex education that is LGBTQ+ affirming, working with Johns Hopkins University to implement curriculum.” Chavez said.
Chavez calls the students that attend the Respect Awards the “biggest celebrities” of the evening.
“It is really important for the adults, both the allies and the queer folks, to hear directly from these queer youth about what it’s like to be in school today as a queer person,” he said.
GLSEN is a queer youth advocacy organization that has been working for more than 30 years to protect LGBTQ youth.
“GLSEN is all hands on deck right now, because our kids are under direct attack and have been for years now,” said actor Wilson Cruz.
Cruz is the chair of GLSEN’s National Board, which works to fundraise and strategize for the organization.
“I think we are fundamental to the education of LGBTQ students in school,” he said. “We advocate for more comprehensive support at the local, national, and federal levels so our students are supported.”
Chavez is one of the students that was impacted by this work. He led his school’s GSA organization and worked with GLSEN throughout his youth.
Cruz said Chavez is doing what he hopes today’s GLSEN students do in the future, which is pay the work forward.
“There’s nothing more powerful than people who have experienced the work that GLSEN does and then coming back and allowing us to expand on that work with each generation that comes forward,” he said.
Florida
Homeless transgender woman murdered in Miami Beach
Andrea Doria Dos Passos attacked while she slept
Gregory Fitzgerald Gibert, 53, who was out on probation, is charged with the second-degree murder of 37-year-old Andrea Doria Dos Passos, a transgender Latina woman who was found deceased in front of the Miami Ballet company facility by a security guard this past week.
According to a Miami Beach Police spokesperson the security guard thought Dos Passos was sleeping in the entranceway around 6:45 a.m. on April 23 and when he went to wake her he discovered the blood and her injuries and alerted 911.
She was deceased from massive trauma to her face and head. According to Miami Beach police when video surveillance footage was reviewed, it showed Dos Passos lying down in the entranceway apparently asleep. WFOR reported: In the early morning hours, a man arrived, looked around, and spotted her. Police said the man was dressed in a black shirt, red shorts, and red shoes.
At one point, he walked away, picked up a metal pipe from the ground, and then returned. After looking around, he sat on a bench near Dos Passos. After a while, he got up and repeatedly hit her in the head and face while she was sleeping, according to police.
“The male is then seen standing over her, striking her, and then manipulating her body. The male then walks away and places the pipe inside a nearby trash can (the pipe was found and recovered in the same trash can),” according to the arrest report.
Police noted that in addition to trauma on her face and head, two wooden sticks were lodged in her nostrils and there was a puncture wound in her chest.
Victor Van Gilst, Dos Passos’s stepfather confirmed she was trans and experiencing homelessness.
“She had no chance to defend herself whatsoever. I don’t know if this was a hate crime since she was transgender or if she had some sort of interaction with this person because he might have been homeless as well. The detective could not say if she was attacked because she was transgender,” said Van Gilst.
“She has been struggling with mental health issues for a long time, going back to when she was in her early 20s. We did everything we could to help her. My wife is devastated. For her, this is like a nightmare that turned into reality. Andrea moved around a lot and even lived in California for a while. She was sadly homeless. I feel the system let her down. She was a good person,” he added.
The Miami Police Department arrested Gibert, collected his clothing, noting the red shorts were the same type in the video and had blood on them. Blood was also found on his shoes, according to police. He was taken into custody and charged.
“The suspect has an extensive criminal record and reportedly was recently released from custody on probation for prior criminal charges. Police apprehended the suspect in the city of Miami and the investigation is currently ongoing. This case is further evidence that individuals need to be held accountable for prior violent crimes for the protection of the public. We offer our sincere condolences to the family and friends of the victim,” Miami Beach Mayor Steve Meiner said in a statement.
Joe Saunders, senior political director with LGBTQ rights group Equality Florida, told the Miami Herald that “whenever a transgender person is murdered, especially when it is with such brutality, the question should be asked about whether or not this was a hate-motivated crime.”
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