National
Phoenix mayor celebrates pro-LGBT ranking
Arizona capital receives perfect score in annual HRC index
Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton (Photo courtesy of Christian Palmer)
Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton said extending rights to LGBT residents is good for his city’s economy.
“We’re a big city; we’re a young city; we’re a city that got hammered during the recession,” he told the Washington Blade in an interview this week. “I need every single person in my city to have every opportunity to be successful.”
Stanton spoke to the Blade a day after the Human Rights Campaign released its annual index that ranks cities based on whether their laws and policies specifically include sexual orientation and gender identity and expression. It also examined other factors that include whether a city’s police department has an LGBT liaison and if officials reported 2011 hate crimes statistics to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Phoenix is among the 25 cities around the country that include Philadelphia, Seattle and Atlanta that received a perfect score in the index. The Arizona capital, which is the sixth largest city in the U.S., is one of only eight cities in states without LGBT-inclusive anti-discrimination laws that garnered such a ranking.
“It’s a recognition by me that I want the very best and brightest people to stay here in Phoenix, including our LGBT community,” Stanton told the Blade. “I want them to make sure they feel fully supported by their city government.”
Arizona voters in 2006 rejected a proposed state constitutional amendment that would have defined marriage as between a man and a woman. They approved an identical measure two years later.
Gov. Jan Brewer in 2009 signed a budget into law that eliminated health benefits for same-sex partners of state employees.
Lambda Legal and the D.C. law firm Perkins Coie subsequently filed a lawsuit challenging the law on behalf of 10 state employees. The U.S. Supreme Court in June declined to hear Brewer’s appeal of a U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals injunction that blocked the governor from enforcing the benefits ban.
The Phoenix City Council in February approved a measure that bans anti-LGBT discrimination in employment, housing, public accommodations and government contracts. Stanton also co-chairs a Freedom to Marry coalition of nearly 400 mayors from across the country who support marriage rights for same-sex couples.
“Companies want to move to or increase jobs in locations where the laws are similar to their corporate policies about supporting all of their employees, including the LGBT community,” Stanton told the Blade. “For us to be able to retain the best and the brightest and attract the best and the brightest, we have to have laws that say we want the best and the brightest.”
Arizona Sens. John McCain and Jeff Flake are among the 10 Republicans in the U.S. Senate who voted for a transgender-inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act on Nov. 7.
Stanton said he is “very proud” of the GOP lawmakers for backing ENDA and for what he described as their leadership on efforts in support of a comprehensive immigration reform measure that remains stalled in Congress.
“I cannot believe the House will not take that up,” Stanton told the Blade, discussing House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio)’s reluctance to allow an ENDA vote in his chamber. “ENDA is a no-brainer.”
Stanton also applauded bisexual Arizona Congresswoman Kyrsten Sinema who represents portions of south Phoenix, Scottsdale, Mesa and Chandler and the city of Tempe.
He told the Blade that Sinema was “public about her sexuality” during the time they worked together when he was on the Phoenix City Council and she was in the state legislature. Stanton said he doesn’t give her sexual orientation “a second thought.”
“I’m proud of her for who she is and how she represents our state,” he said. “I’m proud she represents us in Washington for all that she does, including the diversity that she brings to Congress. She’s an amazing person as people in Washington are learning, but we’ve known about her here for a long time already.”
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.”
Comings & Goings
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Heather Lawver’s journey to growth, inclusion with Ceemo.ai at StartOut’s Growth Lab
HHS reverses Trump-era anti-LGBTQ rule
4th Circuit rules gender identity is a protected characteristic
Pride season has begun
New World Bank US executive director: LGBTQ rights are human rights
