New Study Finds Gap in LGBT Health Services

With all the media coverage lately around Gay Pride events, as well as around marriage equality, it is ironic that so little is really known about the lives and health needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people. This lack of specific information on the LGBT community is not just an academic problem; policymakers, especially those in government, demand real numbers to document the existence of problems. This is particularly true in these tough economic times, as funders, government officials and state agencies rightly demand efficient programs that are targeted like laser beams on specific, documented problems. In this context as with so many things, knowledge equals power: the power to allocate resources and work to fix these problems.

At the national level, researchers have estimated that LGBT people lag behind on seven of the ten targets set by the U.S. government to improve health nationally, called Healthy People 2010. In New York City, we know that LGBT lag behind on at least six of NYC’s health goals, called Take Care New York. However, most states do not measure sexual orientation on their health surveys, and none have consistently measured gender identity.

As researchers and advocates, we are working to change that. In our recent work funded by the New York State Department of Health interviewing 60 experts in health and human services and surveying 3,500 LGBT New Yorkers about their health and human service needs, we have found some striking disparities between their experiences and those of non-LGBT people. Empire State Pride Agenda has just this week published these findings in a report entitled “LGBT Health and Human Service Needs in New York State.”

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US condemns anti-gay violence in Iraq

WASHINGTON: The United States on Wednesday condemned alleged violence and abuse against homosexuals in Iraq, adding the US embassy in Baghdad has raised the issue with Iraqi government officials.

“In general, we absolutely condemn acts of violence and human rights violations committed against individuals in Iraq because of their sexual orientation or gender identity,” State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said.

“This is an issue that we’ve been following very closely since we have been made aware of these allegations, and we are aware of the allegations,” Kelly told reporters when asked about anti-gay violence in Iraq.

“Our training for Iraqi security forces includes instruction on the proper observance of human rights,” Kelly said.

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IGLHRC Asks the Iraqi Government to Protect Gay People

NEW YORK, April 17, 2009 – The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) has sent a letter to the Iraqi Minister of Human Rights, Wijdan Salim, requesting that she takes specific measures to protect lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) Iraqis and prevent hate crimes against those perceived to be gay.

IGLHRC’s letter, written to coincide with Ms. Salim’s visit to Washington D.C., responds to a recent wave of violent crimes against Iraqi citizens perceived to be gay.

Just hours before IGLHRC sent its letter, an Iraqi group identified as “Fazilat” (Virtue) posted flyers threatening homosexuals with death on walls in the Sadr City neighbourhood of Baghdad.

The flyers, distributed on April 17, list the names of some of the would-be targets and states that “we will soon punish all you perverts.” Residents of Sadr City say the people who were outed in these fliers have gone into hiding.

Previous acts of anti-LGBT violence in Iraq include the April 2, 2009 murder of two men in the Sadr City neighbourhood of Baghdad.

An unidentified local official described these men as “sexual perverts (Monharef Jensiyan) who were killed by members of their tribe to restore their family honour.”

Prior to death, the men’s relatives had disowned them and they were also thrown out of their tribes. So far no one has claimed their bodies and the government has not launched an investigation into the case.

These murders took place one week after Iraqi authorities unearthed the bodies of 4 men killed by gunshots in Sadr City on March 25.

The words “pervert” and “son of a bitch” (jaravah: a derogatory term to describe homosexuals) were written on the chests of the victims. As part of this new wave of violence, a coffee house in Sadr City that was frequented by gay men has also been burnt down.

Apart from these cases, IGLHRC has also received reports of the arrest, torture, and murder of several members of the group Iraqi-LGBT amid a nationwide government crackdown on gay-friendly businesses across Iraq.

Several other reports indicate dozens of extra-judicial murders of LGBT people across Iraq during the past few months.

In response to these violent murders, on April 8, 2009, IGLHRC and Human Rights Watch submitted an urgent appeal to the Special Procedures of the United Nations to ask for an investigation.

IGLHRC is also working closely with the D.C.-based Council on Global Equality to bring the plight of gay and lesbian Iraqis to the attention of U.S. government officials, who will be meeting with the Iraqi minister next week.

SEE ALSO

Shadowy Group Threatens to Kill Gays in Iraq. A shadowy group has posted signs around the Iraqi capital’s main Shiite working-class district of Sadr City naming alleged homosexuals on a list and threatening to kill them. (France 24 News, April 17, 2009)

Member of Iraqi Gay Group Pleads for Help “Before It’s Too Late”. Is there anyone to help me before it’s too late? That is the question asked by a member of Iraqi-LGBT in Baghdad, who says he is to be executed, in a letter released at the weekend by Iraqi-LGBT in London. (UK Gay News, April 6, 2009)

Iraqi Gays Sentenced to Death for Their Sexuality Face Execution. More than 100 prisoners in Iraq are facing execution – and some of them are believed to have been convicted of the ‘crime’ of being gay, the UK-based Iraqi-LGBT group revealed this afternoon. According to Ali Hili of Iraqi-LGBT, the Iraqi authorities plan to start executing them in batches of 20 from this week. (UK Gay News, March 30, 2009)

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Activist’s ‘railroad’ helps gay Iranians

Not quite three years ago, Arsham Parsi was an Iranian refugee in Turkey. Today, he is executive director of the Iranian Queer Railroad, trying to help 200 people down the same road he took to Toronto.

“Every day, people escape, people come here,” he said yesterday in his downtown apartment. “It’s constant, like a railroad, always moving.”

On a recent trip to Turkey, he secured refugee status from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees for 45 Iranian gays, but they are awaiting interviews at the Canadian and U.S. embassies. Parsi, 28, is lobbying on to get them out of Turkey where temporary residents must pay a $200 fee every six months.

“People in Turkey say they’re not homophobic and I say, `You’ve living in Istanbul. When you leave Istanbul, it’s different.’ Gays have been beaten on the streets in Turkey and the police do nothing.”

Canada, the U.S. and Australia are the likely destinations for gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgendered people on his “railroad,” because those countries recognize the kind of persecution they face in Iran, where President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said there are no gays.

Iran is one of 86 countries around the world that still declare homosexuality a crime and punish it with prison or death.

Parsi was still in Iran when he became an activist in 2001, first starting a clandestine online chat group for fellow gays, then an organization. He left when he heard government officials were hunting him.

Since arriving in Toronto in 2006, Parsi has been a guest speaker at the UN Human Rights Council and his activism earned him awards last year from the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission and Pride Toronto.

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New York Appellate Court Decision Affirming Out-Of-State Marriage Recognition

‘Yet another appellate court has ruled that government officials act lawfully when they respect out-of-state marriages of same-sex couples.’

(New York, January 5, 2009) — A decision last week from the New York Appellate Division, Second Department affirmed dismissal of a case brought by antigay Arizona group the Alliance Defense Fund and confirmed that Westchester County Executive Spano lawfully recognized out-of-state marriages of same-sex couples.

The Court said in its decision: …”The Executive Order at issue here requires that same-sex marriages be recognized to ‘the maximum extent allowed by law.’ By its terms, therefore, the Executive Order can never require recognition of such a marriage where it would be outside the law to do so. Since it is within the authority of the County Executive ‘[t]o see that the laws of the state, pertaining to the affairs and government of the county…are executed and enforced within the county’) the Executive Order is not illegal.”

“Yet another appellate court has ruled that government officials act lawfully when they respect out-of-state marriages of same-sex couples,” said Susan Sommer, Senior Counsel at Lambda Legal. “The Alliance Defense Fund has wasted the courts’ time and taxpayers’ money in their years of consistently unsuccessful cases attacking these marriages in New York and the government officials who refuse to discriminate against lesbian and gay New Yorkers.”

In February 2008, in Martinez v. County of Monroe, the Appellate Division, Fourth Department in Rochester, also upheld application of the marriage recognition rule to valid out-of-state marriages of same-sex couples. Today’s decision comes after four ADF losses at the trial court level and is the first New York Appellate Court ruling on their cases challenging marriage recognition. The ADF, on behalf of several Westchester County taxpayers, challenged County Executive Spano’s June 6, 2006 Executive Order No. 3, which directs, “each and every department, board, agency, and commission of the County of Westchester under my jurisdiction to recognize same sex marriages lawfully entered into outside the State of New York in the same manner as they currently recognize opposite sex marriages for the purposes of extending and administering all rights and benefits belonging to these couples, to the maximum extent allowed by law.” In March 2007, the lower court ruled that Spano’s order was legally issued and consistent with New York law. That ruling was appealed. In oral argument on June 23, 2008, Lambda Legal represented Westchester County couple Michael Sabatino and Robert Voorheis, who had married in Canada and were permitted to intervene as defendants in the case.

“Today the court has re-affirmed that our relationship will be honored in the community where we live and where we make our life together as a married couple,” said Sabatino. “It is a relief to know that we will continue to enjoy the rights and benefits of our marriage.”

In July, Attorney General Cuomo, on behalf of Governor Paterson, filed a motion to dismiss a similar case brought by the Alliance Defense Fund. The ADF, on behalf of a group of taxpayers, challenged Governor Paterson’s May 14, 2008 directive that state agencies respect out-of-state marriages of same-sex couples, consistent with long-standing

New York law. The court granted Lambda Legal’s motion to intervene in the case on behalf of Peri Rainbow and Tamela Sloan, long-time public employees who are raising a special needs child adopted from foster care. The couple depends on the protections that come from respect for their marriage. On September 2, 2008, the New York Supreme Court (Bronx trial court) dismissed the lawsuit, ensuring that couples will continue to be treated equally in New York State.

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Indonesia scraps plan to tag PWAs

(Jakarta) An Indonesian province beleaguered by a spiraling HIV infection rate scrapped plans to implant microchips in those with full-blown AIDS on Tuesday, following strong opposition from government officials, health workers and rights activists.

Papua’s parliament agreed to drop a section of the health development bill that supported the tagging of …

Indonesia scraps plan to tag PWAs

Papua’s parliament agreed to drop a section of the health development bill that supported the tagging of …

In New Jersey, a Blue-Ribbon State Government Commission Tells Governor Corzine and the Legislature: It’s Time to Enact Marriage Equality

To Read the Complete Report Online, visit http://www.nj.gov/oag/dcr/ curc.html

Making its final recommendation, the New Jersey Civil Union Review Commission says the civil union law ‘invites and encourages’ harm to same-sex couples and their children

The commission cites ‘overwhelming evidence’ the civil union law will never provide equality with the passage of time

The 13 Commissioners include not only LGBT leaders, but also a right-to-life Republican, plus two clergy, plus six government officials representing an Administration that had opposed marriage equality in the courts

To watch video of same-sex couples testifying before the Commission, visit www.CivilUnionsDontWork.com

TRENTON, N.J. — A New Jersey state government commission today unanimously recommended to Governor Corzine and the New Jersey legislature that they enact a law to allow same-sex couples to marry “expeditiously because any delay in marriage equality will harm all the people of New Jersey.”

The recommendation is part of the 79-page final report just released by the New Jersey Civil Union Review Commission, a 13-member body created by the civil union law enacted in December 2006. The 13 Commissioners include not only LGBT leaders, but also a right-to-life Republican, plus two clergy, plus six government officials representing an Administration that had opposed marriage equality in the courts. Their report, passed on a 13 to 0 vote with no abstentions, is based on testimony from more than 150 witnesses over 26 hours spanning 18 public meetings in 2007 and 2008.

The civil union law “invites and encourages unequal treatment of same-sex couples and their children,” concludes the final report, titled The Economic, Legal, Medical and Social Consequences of New Jersey’s Civil Union Act. “In a number of cases, the negative effect of the Civil Union Act on the physical and mental health of same-sex couples and their children is striking, largely because a number of employers and hospitals do not recognize the rights and benefits of marriage for civil union couples.”

“The Commission is compelled to issue its final report now because of the overwhelming evidence that civil unions will not be recognized by the general public as the equivalent of marriage in New Jersey with the passage of time. Nearly a decade later, civil union couples in Vermont report the same obstacles to equality that New Jersey civil union couples face today,” the report states, citing the recent study of a panel in Vermont.

Besides assessing the civil union law’s impact on same-sex couples, today’s final report describes how the absence of a marriage equality statute deprives New Jersey’s entire economy of considerable revenue. “Spending on weddings and tourism could boost the New Jersey economy by approximately $248 million over three years,” the report states. One expert testifying before the Commission estimates the figure could be $500 million or more.

But the heart of today’s report is its delineation of the harm that New Jersey’s civil union law has pro-actively inflicted upon same-sex couples.

“I’m a pro-life Republican and past Director of Gloucester County Right-to-Life,” said Commission member AnnLynne Benson on the release of today’s report, “so I know the diversity of this Commission. Our report demonstrates in exquisite detail why amending New Jersey’s law to extend marriage to same-sex couples is a necessity. The New Jersey Supreme Court ruled that ‘denying rights and benefits to committed same-sex couples violates the equal protection guarantee and can no longer be tolerated under our State constitution.’ Implementation of that ruling by the invention of a parallel status failed to deliver equality. It was like planting a toothpick and hoping a tree would grow.”

According to the final report, the civil union law’s harm to same-sex couples includes:

– The inability of a number of same-sex partners to visit one another in
the hospital, and to make medical decisions for one another, because
hospitals don’t accept civil unions as equal to marriage. The
Commission’s final report begins with the story of Naomi and Gina, a
couple in Montclair, New Jersey who had a humiliating and
life-threatening experience at a hospital. Gina was admitted to the
emergency room with cardiac arrhythmia, unable to give consent for
treatment. When Naomi arrived and said she was Gina’s partner, the
doctor interrogated Naomi about the nature of the relationship and
initially kept Naomi away from Gina and refused to let her give
consent for Gina. The report has other stories like this.

– “Significant psychological damage” to the children raised same-sex
couples because their families are given the stigmatizing label of
civil union; and to LGBT youth who view themselves as inferior because
they cannot marry. “Their heartbreaking testimony,” the report
states, “brings to life their struggle in a way that no numbers –
whether complaints filed with government agencies or advocacy
organizations — can encapsulate on their own.” As Dr. Marshall
Forstein, a Harvard Medical School professor, testified:
“Second-class citizenship, now institutionalized in some states in the
form of civil unions, contributes to increased rates of anxiety,
depression and substance use disorders in marginalized populations.”

– The denial of health insurance by employers to same-sex partners,
especially harmful during the current economic crisis. Today’s final
report underscores what the Commission’s interim report of February
2008 found, that the federal Employment Retirement Insurance Security
Act (ERISA) preempts the New Jersey Civil Union law for approximately
50 percent of all employers in the state. For that 50 percent,
providing equal rights and benefits for same-sex couples under the
civil union law is an option rather than a requirement.

The Commission’s final report refutes the notion — as the interim
report did — that a change in state law from civil unions to
marriage equality would have minimal impact because Federal law does
not recognize same-sex relationships. The final report provides
ample evidence to the contrary, based on the dramatically lower
invocation of ERISA by companies in Massachusetts, which has a
marriage equality law. “The term ‘marriage,’ the report concludes,
“would make a significant difference in providing equality even with
no change in federal law.”

– Compounded harm to women, African-Americans and Latino-Americans, all
of whom face discrimination because of their gender, race or
ethnicity, and who now suffer double discrimination when denied equal
rights and benefits under the civil union law. The state Public
Advocate told the Commission about “the particular difficulty for
lower-income same-sex couples who encounter discrimination because
they have fewer resources with which to seek legal counsel and
redress, and who have difficulty meeting expenses if faced with
reduced healthcare benefits.”

– Harm to the marriages of couples where one partner is transgender.
The final report reaffirms the finding in the Commission’s interim
report that the classification of civil union places marital status in
question for these couples, who had gotten married legally when they
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