Annual Update 2009 - Discrimination Docket

Equality and Religious Freedom

Alicia Pedreira, who is suing the Kentucky Baptist Homes for Children for wrongful termination after they fired her because her religious beliefs did not conform to those of the state-funded agency.

California: Filed friend-of-the-court brief in successful appeal to state high court on issue of whether a doctor’s religious beliefs justify withholding medical treatment from lesbian or gay patients

California: Filed friend-of-the-court brief in case of Christian student groups suing two state colleges, seeking official recognition despite maintaining their right to discriminate against gay students in contravention of official college policies (pending)

Kentucky: Appealed decision by federal district court dismissing our lawsuit against state-supported Kentucky Baptist Homes for Children for firing a lesbian counselor because her religious beliefs did not conform to those of the agency

Michigan: Working to persuade the Detroit Rescue Mission, a faith-based homeless services group that receives city funding, that its religious beliefs don’t trump the city’s law banning discrimination based on sexual orientation (pending)

New York: Helped table proposed State Religious Freedom Restoration Act because of threat it posed to existing LGBT nondiscrimination protections

Pennsylvania: Filed friend-of-the-court brief in federal appeals court challenging dismissal of employment discrimination case marked by coworkers’ relentless harassment of employee of private business with antigay religious messages and taunts about his effeminate appearance; brief argues that harassment by coworkers based on their religious views about gay people is illegal religious discrimination (pending)

Non-discrimination Laws

Federal: Stepped up lobbying efforts to pass Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA ) and to keep it trans-inclusive (narrowed version of ENDA passed House of Representatives)

Federal: Efforts to enact trans-inclusive hate crimes statute failed Southeast region: Put together and sponsored comprehensive training for LGBT activists in southeastern states on how to pass LGBT nondiscrimination laws

Colorado: Lobbied successfully for bill banning discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in housing, family planning services, public accommodations, and other public spheres

Delaware: Lobbied unsuccessfully to add sexual orientation to categories of people protected by the state’s civil rights law prohibiting discrimination in housing and public accommodations

Florida: Began multi-year effort to add sexual orientation and gender identity to state civil rights law

Idaho: Worked to amend the state’s non-discrimination law to include protections for LGBT people

Illinois: Advocated for further protections for LGBT people against discrimination in public accommodations (unsuccessful)

Kentucky: Worked to add sexual orientation and gender identity to categories protected by state civil rights law (unsuccessful)

Maine: Worked in coalition to successfully thwart signature-gathering effort to put on the ballot an initiative to repeal existing LGBT nondiscrimination protections, eliminate funding for civil rights teams in schools, prohibit adoption by unmarried couples and restate the ban on same-sex marriage

Michigan: Worked in coalition to successfully persuade the cities of Lansing and Hamtramck to adopt ordinances that prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity

Missouri: Advocated for inclusion of sexual orientation and gender identity in Missouri Non-Discrimination Act

Ohio: Advocated for statewide measure to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in employment, housing, and public accommodations (pending)

Pennsylvania: Led field and lobbying efforts in support of measure to amend Pennsylvania’s non-discrimination law to include sexual orientation and gender identity (pending)

Tennessee: Helped advocate for measure adding sexual orientation and gender identity to Nashville’s employment non-discrimination policy (pending)

Tennessee: Assisted grassroots effort that successfully advocated for comprehensive non-discrimination policies for all public university employees

West Virginia: Led successful effort to get the city of Charleston to enact the state’s first comprehensive LGBT non-discrimination municipal ordinance

West Virginia: Led lobbying effort in support of statewide bill to make LGBT discrimination in employment, housing, and public accommodations illegal (pending)

“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and Other Challenges to Discrimination

Major Margaret Witt, a decorated flight and operating nurse and Gulf War veteran, who is challenging her dismissal under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”

Massachusetts: Received unfavorable ruling from 1st Circuit Court of Appeals in challenge to “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” in which we filed friend-of-the- court brief

Missouri: Leveraged incident in which lesbian residents were ejected from county campground to get better protections for Jackson County lesbian and gay residents and workers.

Washington: Continued challenge to “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” on behalf of decorated flight nurse discharged by Air Force; federal appeals court partially ruled in our favor and sent the case back to federal district court (pending)

Free Expression and Other Basic Human Rights

California: Helped persuade federal appeals court to rule that a roommate-finding website cannot require users to disclose their sexual orientation

Minnesota: Filed friend-of-the-court brief in defense of Larry Craig, arguing that the prosecution of the senator for solicitation violated his right to privacy and sought to punish him under a law struck down as unconstitutional decades earlier (unsuccessful)

Minnesota: Filed friend-of-the-court brief in federal appeals court to challenge immigration judge’s ruling denying gay Pakistani’s petition for asylum; in Pakistan, homosexuality is punishable by death (pending)

New York: Persuaded St. Lawrence County Board of Legislators to adopt more speech-friendly policies after poster advertising a regional LGBT film festival was removed from a county bulletin board

Pennsylvania: Filed friend-of-the-court brief in case brought by a Boy Scout chapter in Philadelphia, supporting city’s decision to revoke the Boy Scout’s “free-rent” privileges (pending)

Puerto Rico: Persuaded law enforcement officials to establish no-tolerance policy for discriminatory behavior against LGBT people by police

Tennessee: Persuaded Tennessee Bureau of Investigation to classify and investigate acts against a local citizen that included vandalizing his home with anti-gay slurs as hate crimes

Wisconsin: Challenged police department’s closing of Milwaukee Gay Arts Center’s production of Naked Boys Singing (pending)