30 Jul 2015 - NPWJ News Digest on LGBTI rights

Articles

Black Trans Inmate Ashley Diamond Alleges New Sexual Assault
By the Huffington Post, 29 Jul 2015

Ashley Diamond, a 36-year-old transgender black woman, has been serving time in various men's prisons for the past three years for offenses including burglary and theft. She's been denied hormone therapy, harassed and raped, and she has attempted castration and suicide, according to a lawsuit she filed in February against the Georgia Department of Corrections. But the sexual assaults have continued, according to a recent status report.  Chinyere Ezie, a lead attorney on Diamond's case and staff attorney at the Southern Poverty Law Center, explained to HuffPost Live's Alyona Minkovski on Monday that Diamond reports she suffered an additional sexual assault in June at a temporary jail cell in a Georgia state prison while on her way to a medical appointment. Ezie said there are "very clear" federal guidelines outlined by the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) that could help protect Diamond, including rigorous screening procedures that identify transgender inmates and subsequently offer individualized housing plans. "Unfortunately with Ms. Diamond, that hasn't been the case, and PREA has not been implemented here," Ezie said. "And we believe that's one of the reasons why she remains so vulnerable."

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LGBT website founder fined under Russia's gay propaganda laws
By the Guardian, 29 Jul 2015

The founder of an online community for LGBT teenagers in Russia has been fined under the country’s law against gay propaganda. Elena Klimova was fined 50,000 roubles (£540) after a court in Nizhny Tagil concluded that Deti-404, which has pages on Facebook and Russian social network VK, was guilty of distributing “propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations among minors”. Klimova said she would appeal against the ruling. Kilmova successfully appealed against a fine levied by a court in the same town in January. With parents and teachers often unsympathetic or even hostile, Deti-404 (Children-404) is one of the few platforms for Russian teenagers to discuss LGBT issues in a safe space. Nearly every day, young people write in with stories and photographs – with their faces and names often hidden – describing the harassment, beatings and confusion they suffer due to their sexuality. The group has recently come under attack by the authorities and pro-Kremlin activists. At the request of the local prosecutor general’s office, a court in St Petersburg in March found Deti-404 guilty of gay propaganda and ruled that its VK page should be blacklisted. The court said it would have the state communications watchdog block the page, but it has remained accessible. Klimova said she also intends to appeal against this ruling.
 

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Microsoft Supports The Equality Act
By Human Rights Campaign, 29 Jul 2015

This morning, Microsoft announced its support for The Equality Act, a comprehensive federal LGBT non-discrimination legislation. “To create technology that empowers the world, we need to reflect the diversity of the world,” Microsoft said in a statement. “Supporting diversity, inclusiveness and equal treatment is not just good for business, it is also the right thing to do. That’s why we support the protections for LGBT Americans as outlined in The Equality Act.” Microsoft joins a number of leading American corporations, including American Airlines, Facebook, Nike, General Mills, Google, Apple, The Dow Chemical Company, and Levi Strauss & Co, in support of federal LGBT non-discrimination protections. Microsoft received a perfect 100 on HRC’s annual Corporate Equality Index (CEI), a nationally recognized benchmark of LGBT inclusion in the workplace, and was recognized on HRC’s list of Best Places to Work for LGBT Equality in 2015.
 

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Another Round?: EEOC Continues Expansion of Workplace Protections for LGBT Employees
By the National Law Review, 28 Jul 2015

Just a few days ago Alex Galvan posted  about the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (EEOC) mission to expand Title VII’s protections to LGBT employees. As if on cue, the EEOC has now taken another next step towards completing its mission.  Last week, in a 3-2 decision, the EEOC held that Title VII prohibits employers from treating an applicant or employee differently on the basis of their sexual orientation because “sexual orientation is inseparable from an inescapably linked to sex” and as a result “[s]exual orientation discrimination is sex discrimination.” The key distinction between this decision and earlier decisions issued by the EEOC, addressed in Alex’s post, is that this decision does not limit sexual orientation discrimination claims solely to allegations of gender or sex stereotyping. Instead, all a complainant will need to allege now is that the employer relied on “sex based considerations” or took “gender into account” when taking an adverse employment action. Although this decision is not binding on federal courts, it can be cited and relied upon as persuasive authority. Expect plaintiffs to rely heavily upon its analysis in charges and litigation alleging sexual orientation discrimination. The decision will likely have no impact in jurisdictions where sexual orientation is already prohibited by law or where the court has interpreted Title VII as prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.
 
 

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Jamaica to Hold First LGBT Pride Celebration
By the Advocate, 28 Jul 2015

Jamaica is, sadly, a country renown for its violent homophobia, a place where the LGBT population the Human Rights Watch have said largely "live in constant fear." Homosexuality between men is illegal (a holdover from British Colonial law), yet the Caribbean nation is nonetheless set to hold its first ever Pride celebration next week. While security concerns prevent a parade, organizers have planned a full week of events.v Running concurrent with Jamaica's Emancipation and Independence celebrations, Pride Jamaica will take place from August 1-8 in the capital city of Kingston. Festivities will kick off with a flash mob, followed by an opening ceremony. Then, over the next few days, there will be an art exhibition, open mic night, flag raising ceremony, and coming out symposium. Gay Star News reports that the symposium will "also feature allies, who will share their experiences of what it is like to publicly support the LGBT community in Jamaica, as well as an acoustic concert for women and a pride party."
 

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