Run on the Right Side of History with HRC at the Marine Corps Marathon and NYC Marathon

This year, HRC’s Athletes for Equality are excited to have a team of runners participate ​in the 2016 Marine Corps Marathon​ and the 2016 TCS New York City (NYC) Marathon.

Whether you are an experienced runner or a beginner, we are building a team of committed individuals to fundraise for equality and run on the right side of history.

Each dollar raised will go to HRC Foundation, enhancing the lived experiences of LGBT people and their families, as we change hearts and minds across America and around the globe.  This is an exciting opportunity ​and we are thrilled to be building a strong team of fundraising participants to join us as we run on the right side of history.

For both races, all team members will receive the following from HRC:

·       Personal fundraising page through Crowdrise

·       Marathon training program for athletes of all levels

·       HRC team singlet

·       Fundraising incentives

·       The knowledge that every dollar you raise will help make America’s future one where LGBTQ people can live in pursuit of happiness with the liberty and justice they deserve. 

Click here to learn more about the 2016 Marine Corps Marathon​ and click here to learn more about the 2016 TCS New York City (NYC) Marathon.

Should you have any questions, please email Carly [email protected].

HRC’s Athletes for Equality are committed to taking a personal stance in the name of equality. Whether LGBTQ or straight allies, our athletes share our beliefs about the injustices LGBTQ Americans face and possess a willingness to push themselves physically to bring forth change.

Can’t make the Marine Corps Marathon or the NYC Marathon? Join another team today.

www.hrc.org/blog/run-on-the-right-side-of-history-with-hrc-at-the-marine-corps-marathon-and?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed

Mississippi’s New Anti-LGBT Bill Claims That Women Can Be Fired For Wearing Pants

Mississippi lawmakers brainstormed as many ways to discriminate against LGBT people as they could think of and put them all in one bill.

The post Mississippi’s New Anti-LGBT Bill Claims That Women Can Be Fired For Wearing Pants appeared first on ThinkProgress.

thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2016/03/30/3764798/mississippi-anti-lgbt-bill/

Siren: Today, Mississippi Senate to Vote on Appalling Anti-LGBT Legislation

Contact Lt. Governor Tate Reeves and Senator Tindell NOW and tell them to vote no on HB 1523.

Today, the Mississippi Senate is scheduled to vote on H.B. 1523. Dubbed the “Religious Liberty Accommodations Act,” this horrific legislation would allow individuals, religious organizations and private associations to use religion to discriminate against LGBT Mississippians in some of the most important aspect of their lives, including at work, at schools, and more. The measure has already been approved by the State House of Representatives and would advance to the Governor’s desk if passed out of the Senate. Today’s vote comes as legislatures in Georgia and North Carolina have faced a tremendous backlash for voting in favor of legislation that would put the LGBT community at risk of discrimination.

“This legislation moves Mississippi backward, undermining equality for its residents and jeopardizing its ability to attract and retain fair-minded businesses,” said HRC President Chad Griffin. “Governor Byrant should be paying close attention to the backlash against discrimination in Georgia, where Gov. Nathan Deal vetoed a terrible anti-LGBT bill, and in North Carolina, where fair-minded people and the broader business community are calling on state leaders to repudiate and repeal the discriminatory law passed last week. Mississippi’s economy and its reputation hang in the balance.”

Earlier this week, Georgia Governor Nathan Deal, announced his decision to veto H.B.757 — a deeply discriminatory bill that sailed through the State Legislature. The legislation, which sparked a massive backlash of opposition from a broad array of civil rights groups, leaders in Hollywood, and corporate America, could have weakened local non-discrimination protections, allowed businesses to discriminate by denying service to LGBT people, and explicitly empowered discrimination by religious organizations. North Carolina is currently facing intense criticism for the passage of HB 2, a horrific anti-LGBT law that eliminates existing municipal non-discrimination protections for LGBT people and prevents such protections from being passed by cities in the future. The law, which was passed in a one-day hurried special session, is also the first of its kind to force transgender students in public schools to use restrooms and other facilities inconsistent with their gender identity — a provision that put 4.5 billion dollars in federal funding under Title IX at risk. Yesterday, over 80 CEOs and business leaders signed a letter calling for the repeal of HB 2.

“The freedom to practice one’s religion is a core American value, firmly protected by the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. Mississippi’s H.B. 1523 however is extreme legislation that goes far beyond that fundamental right,” said HRC Mississippi State Director and former United Methodist pastor Rob Hill. “Fair-minded Mississippians must not be fooled by lawmakers’ disgraceful attempts to mask discrimination against LGBT people and their families with religious freedom. We call on the Senate and the Governor to put a stop to this attack on fairness and equality.”

Under H.B. 1523, religion could be used by most any individual or organization to justify discrimination against LGBT people, single mothers, unwed couples and others.  Tax-payer funded faith-based organizations could: refuse to recognize the marriages of same-sex couples for provision of critical services including emergency shelter; deny children in need of loving homes placement with LGBT families including the child’s own family member; and refuse to sell or rent a for-profit home to an LGBT person — even if the organization receives government funding. As introduced, H.B. 1523 would also give foster families the freedom to subject an LGBTQ child to the dangerous practice of “conversion therapy,” and subject a pregnant unwed girl to abuse, without fear of government intervention or license suspension. It would even allow individuals to refuse to carry out the terms of a state contract for the provision of counseling services to all eligible individuals, including veterans, based on the counselor’s beliefs about LGBT people or single mothers.

Furthermore, schools, employers and service providers could implement sex-specific dress and grooming standards, as well as refuse transgender people access to the appropriate sex-segregated facilities, consistent with their gender identity — all in conflict with the United States Department of Justice’s enforcement of federal law. H.B. 1523 even legalizes Kim Davis-style discrimination by allowing government employees to abdicate their duties and refuse to license or solemnize marriages for LGBT people.

The measure comes to the Mississippi Senate today after passing the House by 80-39 vote last month. The attacks on fairness and equality in Mississippi are part of an onslaught of anti-LGBT bills being pushed this year by anti-equality activists across the country. HRC is currently tracking nearly 200 anti-LGBT bills in 34 states. As of today, at least half of these bills have been beaten back around the country. For more information, visit: www.hrc.org/2016legislature.

HRC’s Project One America is an initiative geared towards advancing social, institutional and legal equality in Mississippi, Alabama and Arkansas. HRC Mississippi is working to advance equality for LGBT Mississippians who have no state-level protections in housing, workplaces, or public accommodations. Through HRC Mississippi, we are working toward a future of fairness every day—changing hearts, minds and laws toward achieving full equality.

Take Action: Contact Lt. Governor Tate Reeves and Senator Tindell NOW and tell them to vote no on HB 1523.

www.hrc.org/blog/siren-today-mississippi-senate-to-vote-on-appalling-anti-lgbt-legislation?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed

Bank of America, Miramax, & Uber Join 90+ Business Leaders Demanding NC Repeal Anti-LGBT Law

Today, HRC and Equality NC, the state organization working to secure equal rights and justice for LGBT North Carolinians, announced that executives from Bank of America, American Airlines, Cisco, Miramax, Uber, Google Ventures, and Braeburn Pharmaceuticals have signed onto an open letter that now includes more than 90 leading CEOs and business leaders calling on Governor Pat McCrory and the North Carolina General Assembly to repeal the radical provisions in the deeply discriminatory House Bill 2 that was rammed through the legislature last week.

The letter — signed by dozens of CEOs from across the nation — was made public yesterday afternoon, and came only a day after Georgia Governor Nathan Deal announced he would veto anti-LGBT legislation in Georgia after facing a sustained outcry from a broad chorus of advocates and companies. On Thursday morning, HRC President Chad Griffin and Equality NC Executive Director Chris Sgro will deliver the letter personally to Governor McCrory’s office. Griffin and Sgro have also requested a meeting with the governor on Thursday in order to discuss the very real impact this new law will have on LGBT North Carolinians. A copy of the letter and its signatories can be found here and below.

“Discrimination is bad for North Carolina, bad for America, and bad for business,” said HRC President Chad Griffin in announcing the open letter yesterday. “These business leaders are speaking out because they know this attack on lesbian, gay, bisexual and especially transgender North Carolinians isn’t just morally wrong — it also puts their employees, customers and North Carolina’s economy at risk. For the sake of all North Carolinians, Governor McCrory and the General Assembly must act now to repeal this heinous attack on fairness and equality.”

“North Carolina’s place as a business leader in the South is based on fairness, inclusion, and diversity,” said Equality NC Executive Director Chris Sgro yesterday with the release of the open letter. “HB 2 does not represent North Carolina values, and it weakens our competitive edge. We are glad to see our business community in the Old North State standing up against discriminatory measures like this. Governor McCrory made a mess of our state last week, and our businesses are leading the charge to repair our state to a place of fairness.”

H.B. 2 has eliminated existing municipal non-discrimination protections for LGBT people and prevents such protections from being passed by cities in the future. The legislation also forces transgender students in public schools to use restrooms and other facilities inconsistent with their gender identity, putting 4.5 billion dollars in federal funding under Title IX at risk. It also compels the same type of discrimination against transgender people to take place in state buildings, including in public universities.  Lawmakers passed the legislation in a hurried, single-day session last Wednesday, and Governor McCrory quickly signed it into law in the dead of night.

North Carolina has the unfortunate distinction of becoming the first state in the country to enact a law attacking transgender students, even after similar proposals were rejected across the country this year — including a high-profile veto by the Republican Governor Dennis Daugaard of South Dakota. North Carolina school districts that comply with the law will now be in direct violation of Title IX, subjecting the school districts to massive liability and putting an estimated $4.5 billion of federal funding from the U.S. Department of Education, as well as funding received by schools from other federal agencies, at risk. This section of House Bill 2 offers costly supposed solutions to non-existent problems, and it forces schools to choose between complying with federal law — plus doing the right thing for their students — or complying with a state law that violates students’ civil rights. Read more about how this bill puts federal funding at risk here.

The full letter to Governor McCrory and list of signatories is below:

Dear Governor McCrory,

We write with concerns about legislation you signed into law last week, HB 2, which has overturned protections for LGBT people and sanctioned discrimination across North Carolina. Put simply, HB 2 is not a bill that reflects the values of our companies, of our country, or even the overwhelming majority of North Carolinians.

We are disappointed in your decision to sign this discriminatory legislation into law. The business community, by and large, has consistently communicated to lawmakers at every level that such laws are bad for our employees and bad for business. This is not a direction in which states move when they are seeking to provide successful, thriving hubs for business and economic development. We believe that HB 2 will make it far more challenging for businesses across the state to recruit and retain the nation’s best and brightest workers and attract the most talented students from across the nation. It will also diminish the state’s draw as a destination for tourism, new businesses, and economic activity.

Discrimination is wrong and we believe it has no place in North Carolina or anywhere in our country. As companies that pride ourselves on being inclusive and welcoming to all, we strongly urge you and the leadership of North Carolina’s legislature to repeal this law in the upcoming legislative session.

Sincerely,

Karen Appleton, Senior Vice President, Box
Brandee Barker, Cofounder, The Pramana Collective
Marc Benioff, CEO, Salesforce
Chip Bergh, President and CEO, Levi Strauss & Co.
Michael Birch, Founder, Blab
Ed Black, President and CEO, Computer & Communications Industry Association
Nathan Blecharczyk, Cofounder and CTO, Airbnb
Steven R. Boal, CEO, Quotient Technology Inc.
Lorna Borenstein, CEO, Grokker
Brad Brinegar, Chairman and CEO, McKinney
Lloyd Carney, CEO, Brocade Communications Systems, Inc.
Brian Chesky, CEO, Airbnb
Ron Conway, Founder and Co-Managing Partner, SV Angel
Tim Cook, CEO, Apple
Dean Debnam, Chairman and CEO, Workplace Options
Jack Dorsey, CEO, Square and Twitter
David Ebersman, Cofounder and CEO, Lyra Health
Jared Fliesler, General Partner, Matrix Partners
Joe Gebbia, Cofounder and Chief Product Officer, Airbnb
Jason Goldberg, CEO, Pepo
Alan King, President and COO, Workplace Options
Kristen Koh Goldstein, CEO, BackOps
Mitchell Gold, co-founder and chair-man, Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams
John H. Graham IV, President and CEO, American Society of Association Executives
Logan Green, CEO, Lyft
Paul Graham, Founder, Y Combinator
David Hassell, CEO, 15Five
Charles H. Hill III, Executive Vice President, Worldwide Human Resources, Pfizer Inc.
Reid Hoffman, Chairman, LinkedIn
Robert Hohman, Cofounder & CEO, Glassdoor
Drew Houston, CEO, Dropbox
Chad Hurley, Cofounder, YouTube
Dave Imre, Partner and CEO, IMRE
Dev Ittycheria, President & CEO, MongoDB
Laurene Powell Jobs, President, Emerson Collective
Cecily Joseph, VP Corporate Responsibility and Chief Diversity Officer, Symantec CorporationTravis Kalanick, CEO, Uber
David Karp, Founder and CEO, Tumblr
Travis Katz, Founder and CEO, Gogobot
Brian Krzanich, CEO, Intel      
Joshua Kushner, Managing Partner, Thrive Capital
Max Levchin, CEO, Affirm
Dion Lim, CEO, NextLesson
Shan-lyn Ma, CEO, Zola
Bill Maris, CEO, Google Ventures
Marissa Mayer, President and CEO, Yahoo
Melody McCloskey, CEO, StyleSeat
Douglas Merrill, CEO, Zestfinance
Dyke Messinger, President and CEO, Power Curbers Inc.
Brian Moynihan, CEO, Bank of America
Hari Nair, Vice President and General Manager, Orbitz.com & CheapTickets.com
Michael Natenshon, CEO, Marine Layer
Alexi G. Nazem, Cofounder and CEO, Nomad Health
Laurie J. Olson, EVP, Strategy, Portfolio and Commercial Operations, Pfizer Inc.
Bob Page, Founder and CEO, Replacements, Ltd.
Doug Parker, Chairman and CEO, American Airlines
Michelle Peluso, Strategic Advisor and former CEO, Gilt
Sundar Pichai, CEO, Google
Mark Pincus, Founder and Executive Chairman, Zynga
Hosain Rahman, CEO, Jawbone
Bill Ready, CEO, Braintree
Evan Reece, CEO, Liftopia
Stan Reiss, General Partner, Matrix Partners
John Replogle, CEO, Seventh Generation
Chuck Robbins, CEO, Cisco Systems
Virginia M. Rometty, Chairman, President and CEO, IBM Corporation
Dan Rosensweig, CEO, Chegg
Kevin P. Ryan, Founder and Chairman, Alleycorp
Bijan Sabet, General Partner, Spark Capital
Julie Samuels, President, Engine
George A. Scangos, PhD, CEO, Biogen
Steve Schoch, CEO, Miramax
Dan Schulman, President and CEO, PayPal
Adam Shankman, Director and Producer
Gary Shapiro, President and CEO, Consumer Technology Association
David A. Shaywitz, MD, PhD, Chief Medical Officer, DNAnexus
Behshad Sheldon, President and CEO, Braeburn Pharmaceuticals
Ben Silbermann, CEO, Pinterest
Brad Smith, President and Chief Legal Officer, Microsoft
Arne Sorenson, President and CEO, Marriott International
David Spector, Cofounder, ThirdLove
Jeremy Stoppelman, CEO, Yelp
Bret Taylor, CEO, Quip
Todd Thibodeaux, CEO, CompTIA
David Tisch, Managing Partner, BoxGroup
Nirav Tolia, Cofounder and CEO, Nextdoor
Kevin A. Trapani, President and CEO, The Redwood Groups
Ken Wasch, President, Software & Information Industry Association
Bob & Harvey Weinstein, Co-Founders and Co-Chairmen, The Weinstein Company
Mark Zuckerberg, Founder and CEO, Facebook

www.hrc.org/blog/bank-of-america-miramax-uber-join-90-business-leaders-demanding-nc-repeal-a?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed

Mississippi may pass 'license to discriminate' law today

www.glaad.org/blog/mississippi-may-pass-license-discriminate-law-today