NY man gets 25 years for transgender hate killing
(Syracuse, NY) An upstate New York man has been sentenced to the maximum 25 years in prison for the hate crime killing of a transgender woman.
Dwight DeLee was found guilty of manslaughter last month for shooting Lateisha Green because of anti-gay bias. The 20-year-old construction laborer is just the second …
Tags: Construction Laborer, Delee, Gay Bias, Hate Crime, Manslaughter, Maximum, New Man, Syracuse Ny, Transgender, Upstate New York, York ManStates with more Catholics more favor gay rights
Want to predict which state might move next to legalize same-sex marriage? You might count Catholics. The higher their percentage of the population, the more likely the state is to… support gay rights.
This counter-intuitive finding is brought to you with a tip of two hats — mine to Mark Silk at Spiritual Politics and his to Robbie Jones who led Silk to a new study soon by be published by two Columbia University political scientists.
Jeffrey Lax and Justin Phillips examined public support and resulting political policy on eight issues including marriage, housing, adoption and hate crimes.
The main thrust of the study was to examine whether there is “pro-gay bias in policy making” (the authors conclude no) or a tyranny of local majorities “in which anti-gay majorities trump minority rights” (the authors again say no).
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Jury begins deliberating in NY hate crime trial
(Syracuse, NY)A jury is deliberating at the trial of a 20-year-old upstate New York man charged with the hate crime slaying of a transgendered woman.
Prosecutors say Dwight DeLee fatally shot 22-year-old Lateisha (lah-TEE’-shuh) Green outside a Syracuse house party last November because of anti-gay bias.
Three days of testimony wrapped up …
Tags: Crime Trial, Delee, Gay Bias, Hate Crime, House Party, Last November, Prosecutors, Shuh, Syracuse Ny, Testimony, Transgendered Woman, Upstate New York, York ManDelaware is 21st state to pass lesbian-gay bias law
Dover, Delaware–State lawmakers sent a sexual orientation nondiscrimination bill to the governor on June 25, passing it through both houses of the legislature in only an hour.
The House passed the measure at 8:30 pm, shortly after the Senate passed an identical bill. In previous legislative sessions, the Senate killed the bill.
Rep. Pete Schwartzkopf, one of the bill’s champions, said that Gov. Jack Markell had expressed support for the measure
When Markell signs it, Delaware will become the 21st state with such a law. But, unlike seven similar state laws passed since 2002, Delaware’s does not include gender identity.
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Group: Gay bias killings highest since 1999
national advocacy group says the number of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people killed in bias-motivated incidents increased by 28 percent in 2008 compared to 2007.
The National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs released its report Tuesday. It says last year’s 29 killings is the highest it has recorded since 1999. It documented the same number of slayings then.
The New York-based coalition says the overall number of victims who reported anti-LGBT violence in 2008 increased by 2 percent.
The coalition says its figures are more accurate than those from law enforcement agencies. As an example, the group says the FBI doesn’t record bias crimes against transgender people because gender identity isn’t covered by federal hate-crime law.
See Group: Gay bias killings highest since 1999 Houston Chronicle
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High School Student Takes On Anti-Gay Harassment — And Wins
ACLU Reaches Agreement With School District To Combat Bias After Lesbian Student Is Harassed By Teachers
VALLEJO, CA – The American Civil Liberties Union announced today that it has reached a settlement agreement with the Vallejo City Unified School District on behalf of a high school student who faced anti-gay harassment and discrimination from teachers and school staff and was required to participate in a school-sponsored “counseling” group designed to discourage students from being lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender. The settlement is designed to combat harassment and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity at all the district’s schools, and includes district-wide anti-harassment training for students and staff.
“All I ever wanted was to be able to go to school and just be myself. But I couldn’t do that when the people I was supposed to be learning from were judging me and telling me something was wrong with me. How was I supposed to learn when I was constantly scared?” said Hamilton, a high school student who came out as a lesbian when she was 13.
For Rochelle Hamilton, starting high school was the beginning of relentless verbal harassment and discrimination from teachers and staff based on her sexual orientation and gender expression. Hamilton began attending Vallejo’s Jesse Bethel High School as a sophomore in the fall of 2007. The verbal attacks started almost immediately, and continued for months.
Hamilton became severely depressed and her grades plummeted. Worried for her daughter, Hamilton’s mother, Cheri Hamilton, repeatedly wrote letters, made phone calls, and met in person with school and district officials for several months. After three months of outreach to the school and the district, Cheri Hamilton contacted the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California for help. The ACLU intervened to resolve the matter with the school district.
Hamilton reports that while some of the harassment she suffered came from other students, most of the time it came from school teachers and staff. Specific incidents included:
· A teacher approached Hamilton while she was hugging her girlfriend and said, “This is ungodly, and you’re going to hell. This is a sin.”
· Another teacher said, “What’s wrong with you? What are you, a man or a woman?”
· Other school staff made repeated harassing comments to Hamilton in front of her classmates, including saying, “it’s not right to be this way.”
· Hamilton was also on several occasions denied access to the girls’ locker room.
“California school districts are required by state law to protect students from harassment and discrimination, including on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity,” said Elizabeth Gill, an ACLU-NC staff attorney who worked with the district on the settlement. “If a school district ignores anti-gay bias in schools, it is plainly violating both state and federal law. These laws are designed, in part, to ensure that all students are able to learn and thrive free from bias. When it’s left unchecked, harassment can take a serious toll on students.”
One of the most egregious incidents in this case involved a school counselor who required Hamilton to attend a special weekly support group for gay students. The real purpose of the group was quickly revealed, however, when the counselor berated students for “choosing” to be gay and tried to convince them to change their sexual orientation or gender expression. The counselor told the students that it is “hard to get a job if you’re gay.” When Hamilton’s mother went to school officials about the “counseling” group, the counselor confronted Hamilton the next week, telling her, “You’re going to get this treatment your whole life. What are you going to do, stand up every time?”
“The district-wide anti-harassment training will make Vallejo schools a more welcoming place to learn for all students,” said Jory Steele, ACLU-NC’s managing attorney. “District administrators made the right move in taking important steps to protect its students from bias.”
Hamilton transferred out of Jesse Bethel High School midway through her sophomore year to escape the daily harassment. She is now completing her junior year at another high school in the district.
Pursuant to the five-year agreement reached with the ACLU, the district will adopt a clear policy explicitly prohibiting discrimination and harassment based on sexual orientation or gender identity, as required by California law; develop a specific procedure for harassment and discrimination complaints; provide mandatory training for all teachers and other staff who interact with students in how to identify anti-gay harassment and discrimination, why it’s harmful, and how to prevent it; and provide mandatory anti-harassment training to all students in the district, as well as taking other steps to make the district a more welcoming environment for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students.
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Court lets private schools expel lesbians
The state Supreme Court left intact Wednesday a lower-court ruling that said a private religious high school wasn’t covered by California civil rights law and could expel students it believed were lesbians.
Over Justice Kathryn Mickle Werdegar’s dissent, the court denied review of an appeal by parents of two girls who were expelled from a high school in Riverside County. A lawyer for the parents said the ruling, which is binding on trial courts statewide, would allow private schools to discriminate against students on any basis they chose, including sex and religion.
The girls were juniors at California Lutheran High School in the town of Wildomar when the principal, Gregory Bork, called them to his office in September 2005 and questioned them separately about their sexual orientation, after another student reported postings on their MySpace pages.
Bork suspended the girls based on their answers, and the school’s directors expelled them a month later. The girls, who later graduated from another high school, have not been identified and have not discussed their sexual orientation, said their parents’ attorney, Kirk Hanson.
The parents sued under the Unruh Act, a 1959 state law that forbids discrimination by businesses. It was amended in 2005 to include bias based on sexual orientation and someone else’s perception of sexual orientation. State education law also prohibits anti-gay bias, but that applies only to public schools.
In January, the Fourth District Court of Appeal in San Bernardino said the school is not a business but instead a social organization entitled to follow its principles.
Although California courts have defined such organizations as a Boys Club and the Rotary Club as businesses covered by the Unruh Act, the appeals court cited a 1998 state Supreme Court ruling that allowed the Boy Scouts to exclude gays and atheists. Like the Boy Scouts, the appellate panel said, a private religious school exists mainly to instill its values in young people.
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Indian River insists it supports gay students
Indian River Central School District officials are defending the way their schools support students after a federal gay-bias lawsuit was lodged against the district and several employees Wednesday.
The lawsuit claims that district employees wouldn’t allow former student Charles P. Pratt, 20, to start a Gay-Straight Alliance in 2004 and that Superintendent James Kettrick, who was the high school principal at the time, “displayed utter and willful indifference” to the harassment Mr. Pratt said he was subjected to at school.
“The Indian River Central School District has, as a matter of practice and policy, promoted tolerance and inclusiveness in all of its schools,” a statement released Thursday reads. “We have support groups to assist students with a variety of difficulties, including, but not limited to religious issues, racial tension, sexual orientation, socio-economic difficulties, and any other type of bias or discrimination.”
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Indian River insists it supports gay students
Indian River Central School District officials are defending the way their schools support students after a federal gay-bias lawsuit was lodged against the district and several employees Wednesday.
The lawsuit claims that district employees wouldn’t allow former student Charles P. Pratt, 20, to start a Gay-Straight Alliance in 2004 and that Superintendent James Kettrick, who was the high school principal at the time, “displayed utter and willful indifference” to the harassment Mr. Pratt said he was subjected to at school.
“The Indian River Central School District has, as a matter of practice and policy, promoted tolerance and inclusiveness in all of its schools,” a statement released Thursday reads. “We have support groups to assist students with a variety of difficulties, including, but not limited to religious issues, racial tension, sexual orientation, socio-economic difficulties, and any other type of bias or discrimination.”
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Settlement in Microsoft gay bias case
(London) Microsoft and a British worker who sued the computer giant in London for alleged discrimination have settled the case out of court.
Details of the settlement were not released under a confidentiality agreement between the two sides.
Jamie Durrant, 38, claimed in his complaint to a labor tribunal that the company …
Tags: Bias Case, Computer Giant, Confidentiality Agreement, Discrimination, Gay Bias, Gay London, Jamie Durrant, Microsoft, Microsoft Case, Tribunal
