Illinois Rep. Kelly M. Cassidy (14th Dristrict) introduced an amendment to the Illinois Criminal Code of 1961, which would add protections for gender identity, military status and immigration status to the state’s hate crimes law.
HB4725, filed in the General Assembly Feb. 3, is the result of efforts among Illinois lawmakers and local LGBT activists, including members of The Civil Rights Agenda, who authored the bill.
“As a member organization of the LGBTQ Immigration Coalition and as an organization that works with many transgender individuals that have experienced crimes motivated by hate and discrimination, as well as an organization that fought for the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell and is committed to the needs of LGBT service members and veterans, we recognized that hate crimes protection in Illinois must be expanded,” said TCRA Executive Director, Anthony Martinez.
“One of my personal goals as an activist in the LGBT community is to ensure the expansion of trans rights in Illinois and throughout the nation,” Martinez told Chicago Phoenix.
Transgender women make up 44 percent of all LGBT murder victims, according to a July 2011 study by the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs.
The study also found a 13 percent increase in anti-LGBT hate crimes in 2010, and suggests that many more go unreported. More than half of survivors of hate crimes did not report it to the police, said the same study.
“Many of the transgender folks who come to us, especially transgender women, say that they don’t feel comfortable reporting an assault because they think they are either going to face police harassment,” said Martinez.
“Or they are not going to be seen as a victim but as the person who brought on the attack.”
In addition, the NCAVP study found that over 60 percent of victims say they were met by “indifference, abusive or deterrent” when reporting a hate crime.
This response was most common among transgender people of color, according to the study.
If the amendment is passed, crimes against victims because of their gender identity, military status or immigration status will be, “accorded weight in favor of imposing a term of imprisonment or may be considered by the court as reasons to impose a more severe sentence,” according to the bill summary.
Rick Garcia, a longtime local activist, played a vital role in developing the new legislation. Months ago, Garcia approached June Latrobe, the public policy director at Illinois Gender Advocates, about whether or not gender idenity was included in the Illinois Hate Crimes Act.
After further discussions with Rocco Claps, the director of the Illinois Department of Human Rights, they approached newly-appointed Rep. Cassidy with a plan for an amendment, according to Garcia.
On Tuesday, Feb. 7, hours before the Ninth Circuit ruled "Prop 8" unconstitutional in the state of California, raucous cheers rang out in the Ugandan Parliament as legislators reintroduced a controversial bill that would in effect legislate hate against the Ugandan lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) community.
The proposed bill, known as the Anti-Homosexuality Bill (AHB), would compel families, doctors, and counselors to report on all those suspected of being members of the LGBTI community, and would impose criminal sanctions, possibly even the death penalty, for those who fail to turn in their fellow citizens.
Combined with other proposed legislation before the Parliament, like portions of the HIV/AIDS Prevention Control Bill, the AHB would also hinder Uganda's HIV-prevention efforts, contributing to the alarming rise in HIV infection rates.
This poses a serious threat to the rights and freedoms of all Ugandans and is a clear violation of international law. It denies LGBTI citizens their rights to health care, education, and work.
It creates an atmosphere of hate, intolerance, and fear. It criminalizes the actions of civil society organizations and individual citizens who work to defend the legal rights of their fellow Ugandans.
And it puts the imprimatur of the law behind discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.
This is a blatant suppression of the rights of all Ugandans and an attempt to curtail the freedoms of speech and assembly of a vibrant civil society in Uganda.
The bill's supporters claim to be acting in the name of protecting Ugandan children -- playing on the common prejudice that equates homosexuality with pedophilia.
In fact, the bill places children squarely in harm's way. The bill calls on Ugandan families to betray trust and turn in their siblings and children.
The bill would have doctors break confidentiality and deny care to Ugandans. In fact, this bill would disrupt Ugandan families, increase the HIV prevalence in the country, and set a frightening precedent for the silencing of rights advocacy of any group deemed undesirable by politicians.
Moreover, the bill's possible passage into law is not the only threat to Ugandans. The reintroduction of the bill imminently threatens the safety of the LGBTI community and the safety of anyone assumed to be LGBTI.
Vigilante violence and hate speech amplified by sensationalist media and homophobic rhetoric by religious leaders is all too real today in Uganda.
Across the country, LGBTI people already face physical attacks and rape, extortion by neighbors, and arbitrary arrest by police.
If we support the human and civil rights of our LGBTI citizens in the United States, we must also vigorously advocate against the passage of this bill and act to stop state-sanctioned homophobia from taking root in any country.
If we support human rights, we cannot ignore legalized brutality against any group of our global community.
Two men are suing a California theme park for damages after a photo of them on a ride was allegedly doctored and displayed with a gay slur.
Craig Person and Edmund Yang went on the Psycho Mouse ride at California’s Great America park in August 2008 and were photographed holding hands.
After the ride, they decided not to buy the photograph but friends later told them the image had been printed out and displayed at the ride’s counter with the caption ‘Were [sic] fags’, a lawsuit says.
The men went to the park’s managers to complain. While the lawsuit says the park was initially responsive, communication then dried up.
Their attorney, Wendy Musell, said: “Mr Yang was in the process of coming out, and it was very difficult for him to deal with this type of ridicule based on his sexual orientation.”
As I enter my 30th year of life, something is happening to me that I never thought would take place: I'm getting older. The hair atop my head is thinning; the creases around my eyes are deepening, and the love handles simply won't go away, no matter how hard I hit the gym. It's a fact of life I never imagined I'd have to deal with because, simply put, I thought I'd be dead by now. Grim I know, but keep reading - it gets better.
November 20th is the International Transgender Day of Remembrance, which pays homage to transgender individuals around the globe who are murdered for being who they were born to be. Fourteen were murdered this year in the United States and Puerto Rico alone, including Sandy Woulard, who was murdered right here in Chicago. While I believe violence is an unbelievably important issue in the transgender community, I think it is important to broaden this commemoration to include victims of self-violence, as transgendered individuals are much more likely to die by their own hands than by another's. Suicide is a huge issue in the trans community, and a recent survey by the Gay and Lesbian Task Force and the National Center for Transgender Equality elucidates this more clearly, finding that 41 percent of transgender people have attempted suicide (compared to the 1.6 percent national average).
The Chicago Transgender Coalition will be hosting a vigil in honor of the Transgender Day of Remembrance on Saturday, November 20. The Vigil will begin at 6pm and will be held downtown at the Thompson Center at 100 W. Randolph St.
The vigil is being organized to memorialize those lives lost to transphobia and violence against the transgender community. The event is held each November to honor Rita Hestor, who was murdered in San Francisco in 1998 and whose memory the first vigil was organized for. The 18 people memorialized were all lost within the past year in America, including Sandy Woulard of Chicago.
If you are part of an organization, the Coalition would love for you to join in presenting this vigil. If you would like to sign on as a presenting sponsor, please contact Anthony and he will add you to the list.
The current list of presenting organizations: Affinity Community Services, AIDS Foundation of Chicago, Bisexual Queer Alliance, Chicago Black Gay Men’s Caucus, Chicago Women’s Health Center, Equality Illinois, Gender Queer Chicago, Howard Brown Health Center, Illinois Department of Human Rights, Illinois Department of Public Health, Illinois Gender Advocates, LGBT Change, PFLAG – Parents of Transgender Support Group, PFLAG – Oak Park, The Civil Rights Agenda, Transformative Justice Law Project
Chicago's Center on Halsted, in conjunction with the Broadway Youth Center, is hosting the 5th annual Night of Fallen Stars. It's an evening to celebrate Chicago’s Transgender community featuring performances of poetry, music, comedy, dance and more. In honor of Transgender Awareness Month and A Day of Remembrance, they will also honor the many transgendered people who have lost their lives to gender hate crimes.
Appearance by Jaila Simms AKA - The first transgendered artist to win a reality series MTV / P. Diddy’s “Making His Band”. Official member of Bad Boy’s “Dirty Money Crew”. Songstress Jaila Simms appears at this showcase for trans artists featuring music, dance, comedy and poetry, presented in recognition of Transgender Awareness Month.
Sponsored by: Broadway Youth Center Center on Halsted Equality Illinois Howard Brown Health Center Illinois Gender Advocates
The Broadway Youth Center (BYC) is a program of Howard Brown Health Centerone of the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) healthcare organizations. Through a wide array of health, wellness, social service and research programs, Howard Brown cares for more than 36,000 adult and youth clients annually. For more information about Howard Brown or the BYC, please visit www.howardbrown.org.
PRICE $5 donation at-the-door
FOR MORE INFORMATION For more information, please contact: Casey Schwartz 773.299.7601 caseys@howardbrown.org
by Ed Negron, a former drug user, turned gangbanger, turned drug dealer, turned own best customer, turned addict, turned recovering addict (still there), turned activist, turned business manager, turned student, turned Substance Abuse Counselor, turned better and happier person, turned someone who can love and be loved (Love you Patrick), turned blogger. Check out Ed's own blog here.
This post is dedicated to
Jorge Steven Lopez Mercado,
(August 13, 1990 – November 13, 2009)
and every other victim of a hate crime.
Today I will share my personal "Work-In" with you. I am writing this with feelings of anger and sadness. I am angry because I live in world where some people think that it’s ok to hurt another person because they don’t like them. The sadness is that we are losing too many young lives to volience.
On November 13, 2009, 19-year-old, openly gay Jorge Steven Lopez Mercado’s body was found on the site of an isolated road in the city of Cayey in Puerto Rico. His body was partially burned, decapitated, and dismembered, both arms, both legs, and the torso.
A suspect has been arrested for the murder. According to Telemundo and other local reports, the 28 year old father of four Martinez Matos confessed to authorities that he picked Lopez Mercado up from the street, thinking that he was a woman. When he realized that Lopez Mercado was a man, Martinez Matos said he regressed to an incident when he was sexually assaulted during a prison term. He then attacked Lopez Mercado, separating his arms from his torso. Again this is all hearsay. I have been reading articles all over the web with varying version of the story. The bottom line is this is just so wrong on many levels. As I read all the news stories and what his friends on Facebook are saying about Jorge Steven my tears start flowing.
Today I just heard of Jason Mattison Jr,s. death. Jason was 15, an openly gay sophomore at the Vivian T. Thomas Medical Arts Academy in Baltimore. He was found dead last week at his aunt’s house. He had been raped, gagged with a pillowcase and stabbed repeatedly in the head and throat. Then his body was shoved into an upstairs closet at the house. Full story at baltimoresun.com.
As I write this my tears are flowing. Why is there so much hate in this world?
No child is born a bigot. Hate is learned.
I will only speak for myself. I was born into this world as a blank slate. I would image that the only thing I knew was that when I was hungry I cried and mom fed me. So I learned that to get fed, I had to cry. As child, I watched and learned from this big world around me. I saw how adults looked at and treated each other. I listen to every word they said. I mimicked their every move because they were adults and I wanted to be just like them.
The earliest lesson I remember about hate came from my family and every other Puerto Rican I new. I wasn’t supposed to like Mexicans. Back in the day, there was the big feud between Puerto Ricans and Mexicans. No one knew why we hated each other. We just knew we were supposed to hate each other - just because. I always love it when adults say, “just because” when they don’t have answer to a question.
Then I learned I was supposed to hate gay people because the Bible says so.
But it really doesn’t. Ok, so now I have to hate myself because I like boys to. Then my hatred grew into rage because, as much as I wanted to like myself, all I heard was hatred towards people like me. My rage then turned into self-destruction. I began to do harm to my body through drugs and alcohol. Some of that rage was turned outward toward everyone else. I grew hatred towards everyone who hated gays.
Fuck those homophobes. I was going to make their lives just as miserable as they made mine. But I did it mentally. I got into peoples heads and mind fucked them. I said and did things for the shock value. The look on their faces was priceless. But at the end of the day, I still felt the same about myself. It was a “lose-lose” situation. I became tired of hating. It takes to much negative energy.
I had to unlearn hate. Yes, it’s possible.
Ending my hate takes a lot of conscious thinking. I have to keep an awareness of how my actions and words impact other people, intentional or unintentional. I’m not perfect, I still have my moments, but I try to catch myself. People may still hate me because of who I am, but that doesn’t mean I have to hate them in return. Yes, I may get mad at them, but I won’t hate them. Again, it’s not always easy, but it can be done.
Here is a good example of how people change hate into something beautiful. This past Tuesday morning I read on Facebook that there was going to be a vigil for Jorge Steven Lopez Mercado in New York. I immediately thought that Chicago, having the second largest population of Puerto Ricans outside the island, has to have one as well. I sent an email out to a hand full of friends at 9:15a.m., and by the end of the day these individuals put it together.
Now my tears are of joy.
My community yet again modeled want community is truly about. I know I can lean on them when I’m not strong, and visa versa. When one of us is hurt we must put all our differences aside and come together to provide support and strength for one another. We will mourn together. We will show the world that the BGLTQ Community will not be defeated by hate or any other injustices!
I invite you to join us in solidarity as we to honor the life of Jorge Steven Lopez Mercado. On Sunday, November 22, 2009, vigils will be held in cities across the U.S. Visit http://mercado-vigil.tumblr.com to find a city near you.
If you cannot join us in person I ask that you hold Jorge Steven Lopez Mercado, Jason Mattison Jr. and all other victims of a hate crime in your heart on Sunday and always.
Chicago Vigil DATE: Sunday, November 22. TIME: 4pm-6pm LOCATION: Convene at 4p.m, at the corner of Division & California, Procession & Vigil towards the Humboldt Park Boat House, upon arrival program will commence.
We are asking organizations/community members to:
-post the save the date on their website/facebook/listerv (facebook event to come)
-call their contacts and encourage them to attend (allies as well!)
-ask orgs/individuals to bring candles for themselves and others
Please contact Dulce at quintero.dulce@gmail.com with questions or if you would like to help or contribute to the vigil organizing efforts.
(October 22, 2009, Washington, DC) In an historic move, the United States Senate joined the House of Representatives in passing The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which will be the first federal law to include gender identity and transgender people. Once signed by the President, this law will add sexual orientation, gender identity, gender and disability to the categories included in existing federal hate crimes law and will allow local governments who are unable or unwilling to address hate crimes to receive assistance from the federal government. President Obama has indicated that he will sign the bill into law.
Very important post by Dan Savage at the Stranger:
Most residents of Fort Worth have never even seen the inside of a gay bar. Fort Worth's police chief Jeff Halstead is counting on that fact—counting on the average person's ignorance about gay bars and certain stereotypes about gay men—to get a half a dozen Forth Worth police officers off the hook for conducting a violent raid on a Forth Worth gay bar, the Rainbow Lounge, late last Saturday night. Seven men were arrested during the raid, which took place on the 40th anniversary of the raid on the Stonewall Inn that kick-started the modern gay rights movement, and one of those men—Chad Gibson—remains in intensive care with a brain injury. Gibson may not survive.
We must tell our own truth, or others will do it for us.
By Pistol Pete
It's been forty years since the Stonewall uprising, forty-three years since the lesser known Compton Cafe Riots. It seems a lifetime removed from the era when gay bars were raided and ashamed men with covered faces were escorted to paddy wagons. All of us in the LGBT community are thankful for the courageous actions of our forefathers & mothers, but sadly most of us could not name them if we tried.
I wonder if things would be different for my particular letter, T, if the LGBT community didn't have such a clandestine history. While there were many leaders in the infancy of the gay right movement, a large number of them were transgendered men and women. In fact, some of the main players in Stonewall were transwomen and drag queens, so why are names like Sylvia Rivera so unfamiliar? These individuals were once at the forefront of public harassment and police brutality, and the first ones to stand up for their rights. Well, something funny happened after a couple of years: it became a lot easier for the movement to bargain with politicians when the T wasn't at the table.
Sylvia Rivera
Since that time how much has changed? Just last year the Human Rights Campaign ditched the T's at the first sign of light for a sexual orientation-only Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) that would have been vetoed by President Bush anyhow. It is important to note that many LGB individuals were disheartened by the move, but it was a clear signal from the LGB"T" leadership to the trans community.
So we did what any hot mess trannies would do - we made lemonade! The great thing about HRC's cowardice is that it highlighted a realization that older generations knew all too well - the transgender community cannot readily count on LGB groups for support. As most gays are aware, sexual orientation and gender identity are not the same thing and often times gays and lesbians are just as confused by the transsexual phenomena as any other group. This isolation has led transpeople to unite forces to form a more visible, burgeoning and connected transgender community. People are stepping out of the shadows, risking social and professional ostracism to fight change.
Case in point is the 5th Annual Transgender Lobby Days in Washington D.C, which I attended on April 27-29th. It was inspiring to be with such a strong, intelligent, and articulate group of individuals - many of whom have thrived personally, mentally and emotionally despite experiencing social and/or employment discrimination, harassment and assault. It was wonderful to meet transpeople likeShannon Minter, who are doing amazing things with their lives.
Shannon Minter
And politicians are becoming more receptive to the cause because of organizations like the National Center for Transgender Equality, who organized the Lobby Days. I must say that when I told my Representative that I was a transgendered man, his reaction was all too normal. His eyes widened with surprise, he became quiet, and started looking for the tell tale signs that he must have missed - they weren't there. I could tell he was taken aback, but very polite and supportive of our cause. It's a process, but folks are learning fast. The day after we lobbied Congress, a transgender-inclusive hate-crimes bill passed the House, 249-175, and an inclusive ENDAwill be introduced in the next few weeks.
I firmly believe that when transpeople take the leap and step out, revealing their status, equal rights will swiftly follow. Education and familiarization are the keys to fighting stigma, and all too often transfolks are afraid to stand up and be counted. Many, if not most, transgender individuals can go through life without anyone knowing - they look and act like the ordinary human beings they are. But to bridge the gap from the exotic, unusual or strange stereotypes to an accepted, integrated community, transpeople must voluntarily let go of the cold comforts of a closeted life, just as the gays have done. The main obstacle here is not a radical right-wing ideology, but preconceived notions and conventional wisdom that pegs transgender people as unstable libertines, a la Jerry Springer, transgressing gender norms for pure entertainment, shock value or misguided personal gratification. We must tell our own truth, or others will do it for us.
The House Republican chosen to lead the charge against including women, people with disabilities, and gays in America's already-existing hate crimes law - existing law already counts violent crime based on the race, religion or national origin of the victim as a "hate crime" - just referred on the US House floor to Matthew Shepard's murder as "a hoax." Her name is Virginia Foxx, and she's from North Carolina. At what point will Republicans stop letting their party be lead by bigots and extremists?
While Matthew’s mother, Judy Shepard looked on from the House gallery, Foxx, who managed the floor for those opposed to the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act, spoke saying, “the hate crimes bill that’s called the Matthew Shepard Bill is named after a very unfortunate incident that happened where a young man was killed, but we know that that young man was killed in the commitment of a robbery. It wasn’t because he was gay. This – the bill was named for him, hate crimes bill was named for him, but it’s really a hoax that that continues to be used as an excuse for passing these bills.”
“Vile lies, like the one spread by Rep. Foxx today on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives about Matthew’s brutal hate-fueled murder, continues to underscore how extreme anti-LGBT opponents have become,” said Brad Luna, Communications Director for the Human Rights Campaign. “It is no longer acceptable in this day and age to just come right out and say you don’t like gay people. Instead, extremist opponents of equality must resort to these types of malicious and twisted lies. Rep. Foxx should be ashamed of herself.”
On the night of October 7, 1998, two men led Matthew Shepard to a remote area east of Laramie, Wyoming where they demonstrated unimaginable acts of hate, killing the twenty-one year old college student because he was gay. This hate motivated murder sparked a national outcry to expand hate crimes laws to protect the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. The perpetrators of this heinous act are now both serving life sentences for Matthew’s death.
Media Matters for America has posted video of Rep. Foxx’s remarks today and background information regarding widespread acceptance among the media and others that Matthew’s murder was motivated by hate violence. To read the background, go to: http://mediamattersaction.org/items/200904290005
Because there is no federal law mandating states and municipalities to report hate crimes, they are often underreported. However, the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s own statistics, based on voluntary reporting, show that since 1991 over 100,000 hate crime offenses have been reported to the FBI, with 7,624 reported in 2007, the FBI’s most recent reporting period. Violent crimes based on sexual orientation constituted 16.6 percent of all hate crimes in 2007, with 1,265 reported for the year. In addition, while not captured in the federal statistics, transgender Americans too often live in fear of violence.
The LLEHCPA gives the Justice Department the power to investigate and prosecute bias motivated violence where the perpetrator has selected the victim because of the person's actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability. It provides the Justice Department with the ability to aid state and local jurisdictions either by lending assistance or, where local authorities are unwilling or unable, by taking the lead in investigations and prosecutions of violent crime resulting in death or serious bodily injury that were motivated by bias. It also makes grants available to state and local communities to combat violent crimes committed by juveniles, train law enforcement officers, or to assist in state and local investigations and prosecutions of bias motivated crimes.
A wide coalition of national organizations has called for the passage of the LLEHCPA legislation. Some of those organizations supporting this legislation include: the National Sheriffs Association; International Association of Chiefs of Police; 26 state Attorneys General; the National District Attorneys Association; the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights; the Anti-Defamation League; the NAACP; the National Council of La Raza; the Presbyterian Church; the Episcopal Church; and the National Disability Rights Network.
To take action to support the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act, please visit: www.FightHateNow.org
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Oh, you might want to let Mz. Foxxx know what you think.
If you reside within her district, please email her with your demand to apologize to the Shepard family. Currently, emails are not allowed from outside her district.http://www.foxx.house.gov/
Illinois Rep. Kelly M. Cassidy (14th Dristrict) introduced an amendment to the Illinois Criminal Code of 1961, which would add protections for gender identity, military status and immigration status to the state’s hate crimes law.
