National
LGBT Asian Americans lobby Congress for immigration reform
2,700 postcards presented to House members during Hill visits
Activists met with at least five House members, including gay Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.). (Washington Blade file photo by Damien Salas).
The National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance delivered more than 2,700 postcards to members of the U.S. House of Representatives last month as part of a stepped up lobbying campaign to push for immigration reform legislation.
In meetings with at least five House members, including gay Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.), a contingent of activists affiliated with the NQAPIA urged the lawmakers to push for a compromise immigration reform bill passed by the Senate in July.
“As the congressional session is nearing its close, NQAPIA is bringing voices of Asian American, South Asian, Southeast Asian, and Pacific Islander lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender communities and our allies from across the country to keep the Congress’ attention focused on the need to fix the broken immigration system,” the group said in a statement.
“As Asian Americans, we know that the ability to keep our families together from an overly aggressive deportation system and a path to citizenship for 11 million undocumented immigrants, over 10 percent of which are from our communities, is at stake,” said Ben de Guzman, NQAPIA’s co-director.
Ben de Guzman, co-director of NQAPIA, speaking at the NQAPIA Awards Gala last July. (Washington Blade file photo by Blake Bergen)
“We also know as LGBT people that what constitutes a family is also at stake, and the overly narrow definition of family is something we are all too familiar with,” de Guzman said. “We also fight for a humane immigration system that allows real opportunities for asylum seekers and reform that keeps people, especially transgender immigrants, out of harm’s way in the detention system.”
The bipartisan bill passed by the Senate by a vote of 68 to 32, among other things, calls for a path to citizenship over a 13-year period for the 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States.
While optimistic over the Senate approval of the measure, immigration reform advocates encountered a setback in the House when Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) announced that the GOP-controlled House would not take up the bill. Instead, he said Republicans would introduce their own far more limited bill that would not include a provision to provide citizenship for undocumented immigrants.
Most national LGBT advocacy groups have expressed support for the Senate bill and have joined immigration rights organizations, including NQAPIA, in calling on the House to pass the Senate measure.
However, some LGBT activists have expressed concern that the U.S. Supreme Court decision in June overturning the main provision of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) might result in a decline in interest in immigration reform within the gay community. The Supreme Court ruling immediately ended the provision in DOMA that prohibited the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages performed in states that have legalized such marriages.
With the federal government now fully recognizing same-sex marriage, immigrant partners among bi-national gay and lesbian couples who for years were unable gain access to U.S. immigration rights now have the ability to become U.S. citizens just as their heterosexual counterparts can.
The discrimination against bi-national gay and lesbian couples brought about by DOMA had long been a rallying cry for the LGBT community to join the fight for overall immigration reform.
“We have seen a little loss of steam in the movement from the collective LGBT community,” de Guzman told the Blade as a result of the DOMA decision.
But he said NQAPIA was optimistic that strong allies like Rep. Polis would “keep the momentum” of LGBT community support for immigration reform moving forward.
“We’re also learning that new parts of the community used the [Supreme Court] decision not as an excuse to let up, but as an introduction to learning about other aspects of how immigration affects the LGBT community,” he said.
NQAPIA official Pabitra Benjamin said the group plans to organize more lobbying visits to Capitol Hill within the next few months to continue its push for immigration reform legislation.
De Guzman said members and supporters of NQAPIA and representatives of allied LGBT groups would be taking part on Friday, Dec. 6, in national “Fast for Families” organized by immigration rights groups to draw attention to what they believe is the urgent need for immigration reform legislation.
The Comings & Goings column is about sharing the professional successes of our community. We want to recognize those landing new jobs, new clients for their business, joining boards of organizations and other achievements. Please share your successes with us at [email protected].
Congratulations to Gil Pontes III on his recent appointment to the Financial Advisory Board for the City of Wilton Manors, Fla. Upon being appointed he said, “I’m honored to join the Financial Advisory Board for the City of Wilton Manors at such an important moment for our community. In my role as Executive Director of the NextGen Chamber of Commerce, I spend much of my time focused on economic growth, fiscal sustainability, and the long-term competitiveness of emerging business leaders. I look forward to bringing that perspective to Wilton Manors — helping ensure responsible stewardship of public resources while supporting a vibrant, inclusive local economy.”
Pontes is a nonprofit executive with years of development, operations, budget, management, and strategic planning experience in 501(c)(3), 501(c)(4), and political organizations. Pontes is currently executive director of NextGen, Chamber of Commerce. NextGen Chamber’s mission is to “empower emerging business leaders by generating insights, encouraging engagement, and nurturing leadership development to shape the future economy.” Prior to that he served as managing director of The Nora Project, and director of development also at The Nora Project. He has held a number of other positions including Major Gifts Officer, Thundermist Health Center, and has worked in both real estate and banking including as Business Solutions Adviser, Ironwood Financial. For three years he was a Selectman, Town of Berkley, Mass. In that role, he managed HR and general governance for town government. There were 200+ staff and 6,500 constituents. He balanced a $20,000,000 budget annually, established an Economic Development Committee, and hired the first town administrator.
Pontes earned his bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth.
Kansas
ACLU sues Kansas over law invalidating trans residents’ IDs
A new Kansas bill requires transgender residents to have their driver’s licenses reflect their sex assigned at birth, invalidating current licenses.
Transgender people across Kansas received letters in the mail on Wednesday demanding the immediate surrender of their driver’s licenses following passage of one of the harshest transgender bathroom bans in the nation. Now the American Civil Liberties Union is filing a lawsuit to block the ban and protect transgender residents from what advocates describe as “sweeping” and “punitive” consequences.
Independent journalist Erin Reed broke the story Wednesday after lawmakers approved House Substitute for Senate Bill 244. In her reporting, Reed included a photo of the letter sent to transgender Kansans, requiring them to obtain a driver’s license that reflects their sex assigned at birth rather than the gender with which they identify.
According to the reporting, transgender Kansans must surrender their driver’s licenses and that their current credentials — regardless of expiration date — will be considered invalid upon the law’s publication. The move effectively nullifies previously issued identification documents, creating immediate uncertainty for those impacted.
House Substitute for Senate Bill 244 also stipulates that any transgender person caught driving without a valid license could face a class B misdemeanor, punishable by up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine. That potential penalty adds a criminal dimension to what began as an administrative action. It also compounds the legal risks for transgender Kansans, as the state already requires county jails to house inmates according to sex assigned at birth — a policy that advocates say can place transgender detainees at heightened risk.
Beyond identification issues, SB 244 not only bans transgender people from using restrooms that match their gender identity in government buildings — including libraries, courthouses, state parks, hospitals, and interstate rest stops — with the possibility for criminal penalties, but also allows for what critics have described as a “bathroom bounty hunter” provision. The measure permits anyone who encounters a transgender person in a restroom — including potentially in private businesses — to sue them for large sums of money, dramatically expanding the scope of enforcement beyond government authorities.
The lawsuit challenging SB 244 was filed today in the District Court of Douglas County on behalf of anonymous plaintiffs Daniel Doe and Matthew Moe by the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Kansas, and Ballard Spahr LLP. The complaint argues that SB 244 violates the Kansas Constitution’s protections for personal autonomy, privacy, equality under the law, due process, and freedom of speech.
Additionally, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a temporary restraining order on behalf of the anonymous plaintiffs, arguing that the order — followed by a temporary injunction — is necessary to prevent the “irreparable harm” that would result from SB 244.
State Rep. Abi Boatman, a Wichita Democrat and the only transgender member of the Kansas Legislature, told the Kansas City Star on Wednesday that “persecution is the point.”
“This legislation is a direct attack on the dignity and humanity of transgender Kansans,” said Monica Bennett, legal director of the ACLU of Kansas. “It undermines our state’s strong constitutional protections against government overreach and persecution.”
“SB 244 is a cruel and craven threat to public safety all in the name of fostering fear, division, and paranoia,” said Harper Seldin, senior staff attorney for the ACLU’s LGBTQ & HIV Rights Project. “The invalidation of state-issued IDs threatens to out transgender people against their will every time they apply for a job, rent an apartment, or interact with police. Taken as a whole, SB 244 is a transparent attempt to deny transgender people autonomy over their own identities and push them out of public life altogether.”
“SB 244 presents a state-sanctioned attack on transgender people aimed at silencing, dehumanizing, and alienating Kansans whose gender identity does not conform to the state legislature’s preferences,” said Heather St. Clair, a Ballard Spahr litigator working on the case. “Ballard Spahr is committed to standing with the ACLU and the plaintiffs in fighting on behalf of transgender Kansans for a remedy against the injustices presented by SB 244, and is dedicated to protecting the constitutional rights jeopardized by this new law.”
National
After layoffs at Advocate, parent company acquires ‘Them’ from Conde Nast
Top editorial staff let go last week
Former staff members at the Advocate and Out magazines revealed that parent company Equalpride laid off a number of employees late last week.
Those let go included Advocate editor-in-chief Alex Cooper, Pride.com editor-in-chief Rachel Shatto, brand partnerships manager Erin Manley, community editor Marie-Adélina de la Ferriére, and Out magazine staff writers Moises Mendez and Bernardo Sim, according to a report in Hollywood Reporter.
Cooper, who joined the company in 2021, posted to social media that, “Few people have had the privilege of leading this legendary LGBTQ+ news outlet, and I’m deeply honored to have been one of them. To my team: thank you for the last four years. You’ve been the best. For those also affected today, please let me know how I can support you.”
The Advocate’s PR firm when reached by the Blade said it no longer represents the company. Emails to the Advocate went unanswered.
Equalpride on Friday announced it acquired “Them,” a digital LGBTQ outlet founded in 2017 by Conde Nast.
“Equalpride exists to elevate, celebrate and protect LGBTQ+ storytelling at scale,” Equalpride CEO Mark Berryhill said according to Hollywood Reporter. “By combining the strengths of our brands with this respected digital platform, we’re creating a unified ecosystem that delivers even more impact for our audiences, advertisers, and community partners.”
It’s not clear if “Them” staff would take over editorial responsibilities for the Advocate and Out.
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