Advocates call Texas UIL birth certificate ruling ‘horrible policy’ for transgender athletes | | Dallas Morning News

Public-school superintendents in Texas have overwhelmingly approved an amendment to the University Interscholastic League’s constitution that will require the league to use a birth certificate in determining questions about a student-athlete’s gender.

A referendum ballot submitted to the state’s superintendents in January found 95 percent in favor of the proposal (586-32, with 2 non-responses).

Critics of the measure have called it a “horrible policy” for transgender athletes, essentially denying students a chance to participate in middle school and high school athletics. The new rule would force transgender students to amend their birth certificate, a laborious and potentially costly process, in order to play.
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According to TransAthlete’s data, Texas now becomes one of the most restrictive states in the nation for transgender athletic participation, joining six other states (Alabama, Georgia, Idaho, Kentucky, New Mexico and North Carolina) that require a birth certificate, gender-reassignment surgery or documentation of hormone therapy. Florida and California, the two states that most mimic Texas in student participation, have far more inclusive rules.

Advocates call Texas UIL birth certificate ruling ‘horrible policy’ for transgender athletes | | Dallas Morning News

City Council votes to strengthen LGBT civil rights protections

While they've been a protected class for four years in the city, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people now have backing to protect against discrimination.

After a lengthy discussion that included more than 20 speakers from the public, the City Council Monday night voted 7-2 to amend its human rights ordinance to give the Human Relations Commission enforcement and investigatory powers into claims of discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.

Under the old city ordinance, sexual orientation and gender identity were included as a protected class in the city's Human Relations Commission code, but investigations were voluntary.

That meant a homosexual or transgendered person could be fired from a private business, denied housing, refused service or kicked out of school, and the case would be closed if the accused party didn't comply with an investigation.
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Religious exemptions do apply. With the amendment passed Monday, churches, religiously affiliated nonprofits, religious schools and other official religious organizations are exempt from the commission's reach to enforce anti-discrimination claims.

City Council votes to strengthen LGBT civil rights protections

Georgia governor says changes in works on religious exemptions bill – LGBTQ Nation

Georgia‘s governor indicated Monday that changes are coming to a bill allowing faith-based organizations to refuse service to gay couples without repercussion.

Supporters say it’s intended to prevent religious adoption agencies, schools and other organizations from losing licenses, state grants, or other government benefits for their religious beliefs about same-sex marriage.

The state’s business community continued to marshal opposition to the proposal, wary of the type of economic backlash Indiana experienced following 2015 passage of a broader “religious freedom” law. At an event touting the state’s booming film and television industry, Gov. Nathan Deal said his office is working with legislative leaders and declined to say whether he supports the Senate-approved version.
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The measure as approved by the Senate allows individuals and faith-based organizations to decline service to couples based on religious beliefs about marriage. Senate leaders added that language, originally from a separate Senate bill, to a House bill allowing religious officials to decline performing gay marriages.

Opponents warn that the changes to the bill also could extend the legal protection to businesses with faith-based mission statements.

Georgia governor says changes in works on religious exemptions bill – LGBTQ Nation

Charlotte passes LGBTQ public accommodations bill despite threat from Governor – LGBTQ Nation

North Carolina‘s largest city has passed a law allowing transgender people to choose public bathrooms that correspond to their gender identity, which the governor had called a threat to public safety and warned that the General Assembly may step in.

The Charlotte City Council voted 7-4 Monday to expand protections based on sexual orientation and gender identity, making it the latest frontier in a national debate on how businesses treat gay, lesbian and transgender customers. One of the revisions to the city’s nondiscrimination ordinance allows people to choose restrooms corresponding to the gender with which they identify.

“I’m pleased that Charlotte has sent a signal that we will treat people with dignity and respect, even when we disagree,” Charlotte Mayor Jennifer Roberts said moments after the vote.

North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory — a former mayor of Charlotte, one of the 20 largest cities in the U.S. according to census figures — said in an email Sunday that changing the policy on restrooms could “create major public safety issues.”

Charlotte passes LGBTQ public accommodations bill despite threat from Governor – LGBTQ Nation

See also:   McCrory: If Charlotte approves LGBT protections, ‘immediate’ state response likely

Transgender rights targeted in twice as many bills this year versus 2015 – report | World news | The Guardian

State lawmakers have introduced twice as many bills targeting transgender rights since the start of the 2016 legislative session as in all of 2015, according to a new report from the Human Rights Campaign (HRC).

HRC has identified 44 anti-transgender bills, in 16 states, out of more than 175 pieces of legislation that attempt to curtail lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights. Of those 44 bills, 23 are aimed at transgender children, with most proposing to bar transgender students from using girls’ or boys’ locker rooms and bathrooms or from participating in men’s and women’s sports teams if not assigned that gender at birth.

Other proposals would allow individuals and organizations to discriminate against transgender people for religious reasons.

“This deeply disturbing trend is a stark reminder of just how vicious and deplorable opponents of equality are in their relentless attacks against our community,” Chad Griffin, president of HRC, said in a statement.
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The fight for transgender rights has attracted unprecedented visibility. A growing number of courts and federal agencies have recognized that laws passed to protect women from gender bias also protect the rights of transgender people.

Transgender rights targeted in twice as many bills this year versus 2015 – report | World news | The Guardian

ADDENDUM::Georgia Senate backs exemptions for gay marriage objectors – LGBTQ Nation

Please note that I am well aware that the issues in Georgia have exploded in the past week to 10 days.  While "this" may be old news for those that are aware and have been following said issue, some may be uninformed.  I am also seeking to present some sort of time line for what has occurred as not only does it present national issues but international as well in regards to business and travel.

One point that needs to be kept in mind while looking at Georgia and other states (Indiana comes to mind), this IS a direct result of Hobby Lobby.

When one looks at the decision rendered by SCOTUS it has to be through the lens of the Reich's overall agenda -  starting with a "reformed" interpretation of the Free Exercise Clause or an outright repeal of the First Amendment,  continuing with the abolition of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, ending with the implementation of dominionist ideology in order to govern by theocratic control.  With the ruling in Hobby Lobby, the Reich will "now" be able to exempt themselves from any laws that they don’t like; that they find “religiously objectionable.” 

This is a direst response to the challenge against theocratic authority that Ken Ham and Terry Mortenson of AIG speaks of,

Georgia‘s state Senate approved a bill on Friday allowing faith-based organizations to refuse services to same-sex couples without government penalties, including loss of grants or other taxpayer funding.

Senators voted 38 to 14 on party lines, despite fear about damage to the state’s economy expressed by the state’s influential business community and opposition from gay-rights advocates.

The bill combines a Senate proposal shielding adoption agencies, schools and other faith-based organizations from penalties for opposing same-sex marriage and a House bill allowing religious officials to decline performing the unions.

Sen. Greg Kirk, an Americus Republican, initially proposed the exemption for faith-based organizations as a separate bill titled the “First Amendment Defense Act.”

What makes the bill so erroneous,

In its example of beliefs that would be protected, however, the bill cites only the view of marriage as that between one man and one woman.

Georgia Senate backs exemptions for gay marriage objectors – LGBTQ Nation

The Walmart Case That Could Expand Gay Rights at Work - Bloomberg Business

While some may see this as a case of gold-digging, the reality of it is it is not and has important implications.  The main premise, discrimination based on sexual orientation is discrimination based on gender.  Under Title VII, the EEOC has determined the reason for treating people differently is gender; it is based on the sex of the spouse.

As the article also notes it Walmart's "public persona" at risk as well, "If the company continues defending its old policy, that could carry significant reputational risks. Walmart boasts a 90 percent rating on the Corporate Equality Index compiled by the LGBT nonprofit Human Rights Campaign and last year drew friendly media attention for joining LGBT activists in opposing a religious liberty bill in its home state of Arkansas that would have shielded businesses that discriminated against LGBT customers. Walmart didn’t move to dismiss the Cote case after it was filed in July; efforts to settle the dispute through the EEOC before Cote sued were unsuccessful."

Is anti-gay discrimination a form of sex discrimination? Walmart Stores, the biggest private employer in the U.S., is the target of a lawsuit that might soon provide an answer to that question.

Walmart didn’t extend spousal health benefits to employees in same-sex marriages until January 2014, even in states where same-sex marriage was legal. Before then, when workers such as Jackie Cote applied for coverage for their same-sex spouses, Walmart rejected their requests, as it has maintained it had the right to do. While the Supreme Court last year ruled that same-sex couples have the right to marry, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 doesn’t mention sexual orientation.

The act does provide protection on the basis of sex, and that’s a premise of the lawsuit Cote filed last summer on behalf of herself and a class of plaintiffs that lawyers now estimate to be 1,200 current and former Walmart employees. Cote, who has worked at Walmart since 1999, married Diana Smithson in Massachusetts in 2004. In 2012, Smithson, a breast cancer survivor, was diagnosed with stage 3 ovarian cancer. Within two years, without Walmart insurance to cover Smithson’s treatment, the couple racked up more than $150,000 in medical bills. “I thought that they would really have no choice because I was legally married in the state of Massachusetts,” Cote says.

Seeking compensation for the benefits that were denied and out-of-pocket medical expenses, the suit alleges that Walmart’s stance was unlawful because it’s a form of sex discrimination. “The sex of her spouse is the reason for treating people differently—isn’t that discrimination based on sex?” asks attorney Gary Buseck, legal director for Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders, one of the advocacy groups representing Cote.

The case, among a recent wave of lawsuits over the past several years to grapple with this question, is headed to mediation on Feb. 22; if a settlement isn’t reached, it’s scheduled for trial in federal court in Massachusetts in November. Legal experts, civil rights advocates specializing in anti-gay and gender-identity bias, and employment lawyers who defend large companies say whatever the outcome, the case against Walmart could help set a precedent by expanding the definition of sex discrimination. That might lead other employers to reconsider the risks of discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation. The argument that sexual-orientation discrimination is a form of sex discrimination can apply to other types of workplace bias as well, such as employees alleging they were fired or denied promotions for being gay.

The Walmart Case That Could Expand Gay Rights at Work - Bloomberg Business

Meet The New Kim Davis: Anti-Gay Texas Clerk Still Won't Issue Same-Sex Marriage Licenses - The New Civil Rights Movement

Back in July, Irion County, Texas Clerk Molly Criner publicly declared that her office wouldn't issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, despite the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges.

In an interview with The Christian Reporter News, Criner compared her plight to clerks in Nazi Germany who were asked to collect information about Jews but refused to do so.

Citing her belief that children are better off with a mother and father, Criner said she prayed about the issue extensively, becoming physically ill and not sleeping for four days. She considered resigning, but after reading the majority and dissenting opinions in Obergefell, she concluded that the court had overstepped its bounds — even though she acknowledged she's not a constitutional scholar.

Meet The New Kim Davis: Anti-Gay Texas Clerk Still Won't Issue Same-Sex Marriage Licenses - The New Civil Rights Movement

Florida gay rights bill won’t advance after Senate stalemate – LGBTQ Nation

It took a decade for Florida’s Republican-dominated Legislature to even listen to a bill to give LGBT people civil rights protections. When it finally did, the legislation was dead on arrival.

What little hope gay rights advocates had that an anti-discrimination bill would move forward withered this week when the Senate Judiciary Committee remained deadlocked on the measure a day after voting 5-5 on the bill.

A procedural measure kept the bill technically alive, but its sponsor and other supporters know there’s almost no chance the issue can be revived this year.
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Although there are signs that some Republican attitudes are changing on gay rights — two Republicans voted for the bill in the Judiciary Committee and Republican Rep. Holly Raschein is sponsoring the House version of the bill (HB 45) along with nine GOP co-sponsors — it took only five Republicans to stop it from advancing.

Florida gay rights bill won’t advance after Senate stalemate – LGBTQ Nation

Fargo hospital says transgender lawsuit should be dismissed – LGBTQ Nation

Attorneys for a Fargo hospital say a lawsuit brought by a transgender employee alleging discrimination in the workplace has no merit and should be dismissed.

Faye Seidler was born as a male and identifies herself as a female. Seidler says in a federal suit that Sanford Medical Center violated her civil rights. She is seeking unspecified damages and an order to stop the hospital from discriminating against employees who have undergone or are undergoing a gender transition.

Seidler says managers did not treat her fairly and she was wrongly denied access to the women’s locker rooms.

Fargo hospital says transgender lawsuit should be dismissed – LGBTQ Nation

Lawmakers reluctant to add LGBT to Ohio’s hate-crime law | The Columbus Dispatch

Last year, many people celebrated the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling that struck down bans on same-sex marriage. But advocates say there is more to be done to protect lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights.

Ohioans can still be discriminated against in employment, housing, and public accommodation based on their sexual orientation and gender identity, and in many parts of Ohio, they lack the ability to charge suspects with hate crimes, as was done in Conley’s case.

Lisa Wurm of the ACLU of Ohio said legislation to include nondiscrimination protections has been introduced in the state legislature every year for the past 10 years, and more than 70 percent of Ohioans think the law already exists.

“With marriage (equality) comes some additional actions that need to be followed up,” Wurm said.

But some groups in the state say that adding protections for LGBT individuals constitutes special treatment.
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Federal law expanded in 2009 to give individuals legal protection for bias-motivated acts based on sexual orientation, gender identity and other factors, but under the law, prosecution happens only if the crime poses a threat to interstate or foreign commerce. If neither is at play, state law takes precedence.

In Ohio, this means that hate crimes — referred to as “ethnic intimidation” in the Ohio Revised Code — based on sexual orientation, gender identity and even disability often are not prosecuted because they are not included in the state law.

Besides Ohio, 13 other states, including Pennsylvania and West Virginia, lack a hate-crime law that covers both sexual orientation and gender identity. Ohio also is one of 28 states that do not provide protection in employment, housing and public accommodation.

An executive order by then-Gov. Ted Strickland in 2007 made it illegal to discriminate against state employees based on sexual orientation and gender identity; in 2011, Gov. John Kasich continued the order but removed gender identity from the list of protected groups.

At the time of last year’s Supreme Court ruling, Kasich said Ohio’s anti-discrimination laws were sufficient without the addition of sexual orientation and gender identity.

Lawmakers reluctant to add LGBT to Ohio’s hate-crime law | The Columbus Dispatch