National
Kristen Clarke confirmed as Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights
Clarke was confirmed as the first woman and woman of color to formally serve in the Civil Rights Division since its establishment in 1957
WASHINGTON – Kristen Clarke, the president & executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, a national civil rights organization based in Washington D.C., was confirmed by the Senate Tuesday to serve as the Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division at the U.S. Department of Justice. Clarke was nominated to the post in January 2021, by President Joe Biden.
Clarke was confirmed as the first woman and woman of color to formally serve in the Civil Rights Division at the Justice Department since its establishment in 1957.
The first generation American daughter of immigrant parents from Jamaica, West Indies, Clarke’s confirmation in the 51-48 Senate vote with Maine Senator Susan Collins as the only Republican voting for her, came after a contentious Senate Judiciary hearing in which Senate Republicans questioned her record and how aggressively she would seek to enforce civil rights laws and investigate law enforcement agencies.
Republican Senators questioned her views on police reform with Texas Senator Ted Cruz, Missouri Senator Josh Hawley and Senate Minority Leader, Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell refusing to back her confirmation.
“I do not support defunding the police,” she said in the hearing, in response to a question from Illinois Democratic Senator Dick Durbin. “I do support finding strategies to ensure that law enforcement can carry out their jobs more safely and effectively and channeling resources to emotional health treatment and other severely under-resourced areas.”
In a statement to CNN, Sen. Cruz said; “Kristen Clarke’s brazen disdain for law enforcement — evidenced by her repeated calls to defund the police and her troubling history of advocacy on behalf of brutal cop killers — should be disqualifying to serve as Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division.”
For the past five years Clarke has headed the Lawyers’ Committee. Prior to joining LDF, she worked at the U.S. Department of Justice in the Civil Rights Division. While at the Justice Department, she served as a federal prosecutor in the Criminal Section of the Division, handling police misconduct, police brutality, hate crimes, and human trafficking cases. She also worked on voting rights and redistricting cases through the Division’s Voting Section.
Clarke’s confirmation comes on a day when President Joe Biden met with the family of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man murdered by a year ago by a Minneapolis police officer who has been convicted in Floyd’s death.
In his remarks in the Oval Office at the White House the President noted, “His [Floyd’s] murder launched a summer of protest we hadn’t seen since the Civil Rights era in the ‘60s – protests that peacefully unified people of every race and generation to collectively say enough of the senseless killings.
Last month’s conviction of the police officer who murdered George was another important step forward toward justice. But our progress can’t stop there.
To deliver real change, we must have accountability when law enforcement officers violate their oaths, and we need to build lasting trust between the vast majority of the men and women who wear the badge honorably and the communities they are sworn to serve and protect. We can and must have both accountability and trust and in our justice system.”
In response to the confirmation of Clarke, Lambda Legal Chief Strategy Officer and Legal Director Sharon McGowan noted in emailed statement;
“We celebrate the Senate’s confirmation of Kristen Clarke to lead the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. Ms. Clarke’s long and unswerving commitment to advancing civil and human rights, as well as her own history with the Division, made her eminently qualified for this critical role within the Justice Department. Her confirmation as the first Black woman to lead the Civil Rights Division is welcome and long overdue.
As we mark the first anniversary of the murder of George Floyd, we must continue to speak out about the fact that police violence continues to impact Black and other communities of color of which LGBTQ people are a part, and that the struggles for LGBTQ justice and racial justice are deeply intertwined. As a civil rights movement that traces our modern LGBTQ history to protests against police violence, we know how important it will be to have leaders in the DOJ committed to police accountability as part of a broader understanding of what LGBTQ equality looks like.
Ms. Clarke has demonstrated her deep understanding of LGBTQ issues over the years, and Lambda Legal looks forward to working with her in her new role to promote equality and advance justice for the communities that we serve.”
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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