HRC Blog

During the August recess, three volunteers with HRC Colorado had the great opportunity to meet with Senator Michael Bennet's state director, Rosemary Rodriguez. She has been a true ally to the LGBT community, not just under Senator Bennet, but in years past. We thanked Rosemary for her support and that of Senator Bennet.

Today, GLSEN, the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, released its National School Climate Survey, which documents the experiences of LGBT students from across the country. The 2009 National School Climate Survey shows that while progress has been made in providing safe schools for LGBT youth, much work remains to be done. Among the report’s key findings: • 84.6% of LGBT students reported being verbally harassed, 40.1% reported being physically harassed and 18.8% reported being physically assaulted at school in the past year because of their sexual orientation.

Last week, members of the Charlotte community and I met with the Legislative Correspondent of U.S. Representative Larry Kissell from the 8th District of North Carolina to talk about supporting the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. Kissell voted in favor of the Matthew Shepard Act, which passed last year, and voted to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”

Last year, the Delaware legislature passed a non discrimination bill prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in employment. Governor Markell stepped up to protect state employees from discrimination on the basis of gender identity as well as sexual orientation. These actions guaranteed state employees could not be excluded from health coverage, but did not protect the families of LGBT employees nor did it address access to pensions for their families.

"We were aware that the Congressman is ok with ‘sexual orientation’ but has a hard time with the ‘gender identity’ part of the bill. I shared a couple of stories about friends that have lost their jobs in Central NY due to their gender identity and asked him to please remember my face and please make our country a place where all people can work without being fired because of who they are."