HRC Stands with Ambassador Wally Brewster

HRC continues to support former HRC board member and current U.S. Ambassador to the Dominican Republic James “Wally” Brewster. Though vicious verbal attacks of the ambassador and his pro-equality efforts continue, he remains committed to his current appointment. Ambassador Brewster, with support from the Obama Administration, has made it clear that he has no intention of stepping down.

In 2013, Wally Brewster was confirmed as the fifth openly gay ambassador and was sworn-in as U.S. Ambassador to the Dominican Republic. He has since worked to fight corruption and support the rights of all Dominicans.

Ambassador Brewster, and his partner of over 25 years, first came under attack late last year, when Cardinal Nicolás de Jesús López Rodríguez made anti-LGBT comments about the two. Cardinal Lopez claimed that Ambassador Brewster should “stick to housework, since he is a man’s wife.” He went on to call Ambassador Brewster a “faggot” and insisted that “he should go home.”

Following these outrageous remarks, HRC President Chad Griffin called on Pope Francis to condemn the Cardinal’s anti-LGBT slurs. However, the Pope remained silent and the attacks continued. In January, high-ranking members of the Catholic Church, as well as several well-known private citizens, signed a letter calling on the Dominican government to declare the U.S. diplomat “persona non-grata.” Both HRC and the U.S. State Department criticized the letter.

Most recently, Ambassador Brewster was the target of an online petition calling on President Obama to remove Ambassador Brewster from his post. The petition has over 30,000 signatures. Additionally, the College of St. John the Baptist in Santo Domingo posted a banner at the front entrance of the school banning Ambassador Brewster from school grounds.

Despite these continued attacks, the U.S. government continues to support Ambassador Brewster. Seventy-one members of U.S. House of Representatives signed a letter to the Dominican government today expressing support for him and the President’s National Security Advisor Susan Rice reiterated this support in a statement earlier this month.

“[Ambassador Brewster] has the full support of this President, this White House and the entire U.S. government and I know he will continue to advocate tirelessly for the interests of the United States in the Dominican Republic,” she said. “Bigotry in any form is against the universal values that we promote and does not support the social inclusion that we believe is important for a free society to succeed. We will continue to support Ambassador Brewster as he advances universal human rights.”

HRC is deeply concerned about recent efforts from religious leaders and others to remove Ambassador Brewster from his post and stands with President Obama in rejecting these unacceptable and insulting requests. 

To read this post in Spanish, click here. 

www.hrc.org/blog/hrc-stands-with-ambassador-wally-brewster?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed

Lawmaker Delivers Mind-Bending Series Of Arguments Against LGBT Protection

He argued that businesses should be able to “make it known” if they don’t want to serve gay or transgender people.

The post Lawmaker Delivers Mind-Bending Series Of Arguments Against LGBT Protection appeared first on ThinkProgress.

thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2016/03/28/3763918/bill-kintner-lgbt-comments/

Georgia Governor Announces Veto Of Anti-LGBT ‘Religious Liberty’ Bill

“I do not think we have to discriminate against anyone to protect the faith-based communities of Georgia… Georgia is a welcoming state. It is full of loving, kind, and generous people. And that’s what we should want.”

The post Georgia Governor Announces Veto Of Anti-LGBT ‘Religious Liberty’ Bill appeared first on ThinkProgress.

thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2016/03/28/3763902/georgia-veto-anti-lgbt/

Following Backlash From Across the Country, Georgia Gov. Will Veto Discriminatory Anti-LGBT Bill

Following weeks of pressure from the Human Rights Campaign and Georgia Equality, Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal will veto H.B. 757, a deeply discriminatory bill that passed the state legislature. The legislation, which sparked a massive backlash of opposition from a broad array of civil rights groups and leaders in Hollywood and corporate America, would have weakened local non-discrimination protections, allowed businesses to discriminate and deny service to LGBT people, and explicitly empowered discrimination by taxpayer-funded religious organizations.

Deal’s veto comes one week after HRC President Chad Griffin called on Hollywood to stop productions in Georgia if Deal refused to veto the legislation at HRC’s Los Angeles Gala. Soon after, many of the biggest entertainment companies in the world responded to the call — including 21st Century Fox, AMC Networks, CBS Corp., Comcast NBCUniversal, Lionsgate, Live Nation, MGM, Netflix, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Starz, The Walt Disney Co., Time Warner, The Weinstein Company and Viacom. And more than thirty  leading actors, directors, producers, musicians, and agents signed HRC’s letter demanding that he veto the proposal.

“The message to Governor Nathan Deal was loud and clear: this deplorable legislation was bad for his constituents, bad for business, and bad for Georgia’s future,” said HRC President Chad Griffin. “Discrimination and intolerance have no place in the 21st century, and any town, city, or state that enshrines it into law will not be judged kindly by history or by the American public. Thankfully, Governor Deal listened to the voices of Georgians, civil rights organizations, as well as the many leaders in the entertainment industry and in the private sector who strongly condemned this deplorable attack on the fundamental civil rights of LGBT people. We hope North Carolina’s Governor and General Assembly are paying close attention to what has transpired in Georgia, and that they undo their disgraceful attack on LGBT people in the state’s upcoming legislative session.”

According to the State of Georgia, which offers major tax incentives for entertainment companies to film in the state, at least 248 film and television productions were shot in Georgia during the state’s 2015 fiscal year. This resulted in at least $1.7 billion in direct spending as well as more than 100 new businesses relocating to or expanding in Georgia to support these activities.  The only two states where the entertainment industry does more business — New York and California — already have a statewide LGBT non-discrimination provisions on the books. Georgia does not.

In addition to the entertainment industry’s leadership, corporate opposition to the discriminatory law in Georgia was overwhelming. It has included Apple, the Atlanta Braves, the Atlanta Falcons, the Atlanta Hawks, Cisco, Dell, the Dow Chemical Company, the Georgia Chamber of Commerce, Hilton, Intel, Intercontinental Hotels, Live Nation Entertainment, Marriott, MailChimp, the Metro Atlanta Chamber, Microsoft, the NFL, Paypal, Salesforce, Square, Turner, Twitter, Unilever, Virgin, Yelp, and many others.

Gov. Deal will join South Dakota Governor Dennis Daugaard as the second Republican state executive to veto an anti-LGBT bill this month. Unfortunately, North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory, also a Republican, made history last week when he signed into law a radical measure that enshrined discrimination against LGBT North Carolinians into state law, forces transgender students in public schools to use restrooms and other facilities inconsistent with their gender identity, and eliminates the ability of cities and towns across the state from passing local ordinances to protect their residents from discrimination. In their push for the measure, proponents of the law spewed dangerous lies about transgender people accessing bathrooms.

Georgia is among a majority of states that lack explicit LGBT non-discrimination protections. Nonpartisan polling from Public Religion Research Institute released this year found that a majority of Georgians oppose allowing businesses to discriminate and deny service to LGBT people — only 37 percent support such a bill and 57 percent oppose. Georgians also reported that they support protecting LGBT people from discrimination in employment, housing and access to public services by an overwhelming 66-28 margin.

Prior to the veto, HRC and Georgia Unites delivered more than 75,000 email petitions to Georgia Governor Nathan Deal urging him to veto this legislation.

Working to stop such reckless and discriminatory legislation, HRC is proud to be fighting alongside local advocates as part of  Georgia Unites Against Discrimination – a joint project of HRC and Georgia Equality dedicated to protecting LGBT Georgians from discrimination and ensuring that individuals and businesses aren’t able to use religious beliefs as an excuse to harm others.

www.hrc.org/blog/following-backlash-from-across-the-country-georgia-gov.-will-veto-discrimin?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed

'License to discriminate' bill in GA to be vetoed

www.glaad.org/blog/license-discriminate-bill-ga-be-vetoed

Voices of North Carolina: The Transgender Community Speaks Out

This week, HRC is lifting up the voices of North Carolinians whose lives are affected by the dangerous and discriminatory bill (HB 2) that North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory signed into law last week.

The first of those stories is from Madeline Goss, an openly transgender woman from Raleigh and a volunteer with HRC. Last week, she testified about the harmful impact HB 2 would have on her life and the transgender community.

“I can’t use the men’s room. I won’t go back to the men’s room. It is unsafe for me there. People like me die in there,” Goss said.

On March 23, Governor McCrory signed into law an outrageous and unprecedented anti-LGBT bill that eliminates existing municipal non-discrimination protections for LGBT people; prevents such provisions from being passed by cities in the future; and 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. Read more about how this bill puts federal funding at risk here.

North Carolina is now the first state in the country to enact such a law attacking transgender students, even after several similar proposals were rejected across the country this year — including a high-profile veto by the Republican governor of South Dakota on a very similar bill. 

If you would like to share your own personal story of discrimination, please share here.

www.hrc.org/blog/voices-of-north-carolina-the-transgender-community-speaks-out?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed