HRC Blog

Last week, HRC joined forces with the Council for Global Equality and other organizations to submit a report on civil and political rights to the U.S. Department of State. The report highlights ways in which the U.S.’s treatment of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) individuals does not comply with its obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and also suggests steps to ensure increased compliance going forward. Specifically, the report focuses on the U.S.’s need to eradicate employment discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, deter hate crimes against LGBT individuals, protect LGBT individuals in detention from physical and sexual violence, and offer asylum to LGBT individuals persecuted in their native countries. Suggested steps include passage of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), swift repeal of the discriminatory “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” law, passage of the Uniting American Families Act (UAFA), effective implementation of the new Hate Crimes Protection Act, and passage of the Refugee Protection Act of 2010.

Today, following up on an announcement made last October, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) issued a notice detailing new requirements [pdf] for groups receiving HUD grants. For the first time, these new rules require HUD grant recipients to abide by state and local laws prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in housing. Many states [pdf] and localities have adopted such laws and this grant condition will ensure that organizations operating federally-funded housing programs do not use taxpayer dollars to discriminate against LGBT people where prohibited by law.

One week before the mammoth Pride festival in Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel, the metropolitan desert city of Be’er Sheva celebrated it’s first ever city-recognized and funded Gay Pride Festival. This is a breakthrough point for the Be’er Sheva community and the Negev Desert region. Even though Israel, which is the only state in the Middle East where one can live a gay life legally, it is still not an easy life for the LGBT community outside of Tel Aviv-Yafo. Many orthodox Jews were upset because city funds were used in order to make the event happen.

Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, at a public event on Tuesday said that “gays and lesbians don't pay tithing, their religion is politics.” He further commented that Republicans need to organize like gay rights activists, reports the Salt Lake Tribune. HRC Religion & Faith Program Director Harry Knox released the following statement:

During my work in West Virginia around Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell repeal this year, I had the pleasure of becoming acquainted with Rod Snyder. A West Virginia native and resident, Rod has been an integral part of the state’s Democratic Party and of the party at large. Not long after he was honored at the West Virginia Jefferson-Jackson dinner in April, Rod accelerated from Executive Vice President to President of the Young Democrats of America (YDA).