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Opinion: We Have A Blue Virginia. What Will We Do With It?

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GayRVA Editor-In-Chief Marilyn Drew Necci has an extensive wish list for our new Democratic General Assembly, one that starts with LGBTQ civil rights and goes a lot farther from there.

Well, it’s finally happened — no matter how your mom or your Trump-loving former high school classmates feel about it, Virginia has become a blue state. Our governor is a Democrat, our Congressional representatives are mostly Democrats, and on Tuesday, we voted to give Democrats control of both houses of the Virginia General Assembly. This might change at some point in the future, but at least for the next two years, Democrats are in the driver’s seat when it comes to making the laws in Virginia.

Tuesday brought us all sorts of progressive election results. All five of Virginia’s LGBTQ representatives in the General Assembly were re-elected, which makes Danica Roem, as of two years ago the first transgender person elected to statewide office, now the first transgender person to be RE-elected to statewide office. Her fellow Delegate Dawn Adams also became the first lesbian to be re-elected in the General Assembly.

Farther down the ballot, openly LGBTQ candidate Karl Frisch won a seat on the Fairfax County School Board, defeating an opponent who used anti-LGBTQ rhetoric throughout the campaigning process. In Virginia Beach, former Hampton Roads Pride President Michael Berlucchi was elected to the vacant City Council seat he’d previously been appointed to last May.

Meanwhile, in the West End, Ghazala Hashmi defeated Glen Sturtevant and his “Save Our Neighborhood Schools” campaign to become the first Muslim woman to serve on Virginia’s state Senate. Hashmi is one of two new female state Senators, who along with four new female Delegates pushes the total of female General Assembly members to 41 out of 140 — the highest it’s ever been.

In the House Of Delegates, four new African American delegates, only one of whom is succeeding a previous African American representative, swelled the membership of the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus to 23. Of the four Democrats who have already announced their candidacy for the next session’s Speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates, only one is a white man, while two are black and two are women. Since the position has only ever been held by white men, there will likely be more history made when the coming session’s Speaker of the House is sworn in.

It’s easy to get bogged down in the horse race when discussing elections like these, especially when they go your way. But of course, getting representation is only half the battle. What must come next is major progress on a variety of issues that affect LGBTQ Virginians and other underrepresented minorities in our state.

For years, Equality Virginia has been pushing the General Assembly to pass a variety of much-needed LGBTQ civil rights bills, and the Republican leadership in the House Of Delegates has consistently stood in the way. Here’s a list of reforms attempted in past years, some of which passed in the Senate, none of which were ever allowed to reach a floor vote in the House Of Delegates:

  • Adding sexual orientation and gender identity to the list of protected classes covered by hate crime laws
  • Prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity in employment (currently public employees enjoy this protection, but employees of private businesses do not)
  • Prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity in housing
  • Modernization of the process through which transgender people can change the gender markers on legal documents including birth certificates
  • Prohibiting health care companies from withholding trans-related health care from their transgender clients
  • Removing the Marshall-Newman amendment to the Virginia State Constitution, added in 2006, that defines marriage within Virginia as solely between one man and one woman (this may not seem important now, but with Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court, one legal decision on SCOTUS’ part could easily make it all too relevant again)

Two years ago, I wrote an admittedly fiery editorial in which I blamed the entire situation on gerrymandering that prevented the will of a majority of Virginians from being reflected in our state’s legislature. I was angry at the time, but based on what’s happened in the two years since that editorial, it seems I was also right — court decisions over the course of 2018 and 2019 paved the way for a redrawn district map that commentators widely agree was crucial in bringing Democrats back to legislative power.

Now that the changes have been made and the votes have been counted, it’s time for our legislature to bring more good news to Virginia’s LGBTQ community. As Equality Virginia’s Executive Director, James Parrish, stated in response to the Democrats’ electoral victory, “Virginia’s voters were loud and clear and elected a pro-equality majority in the House and Senate. We look forward to working with the 2020 General Assembly to pass nondiscrimination protections for LGBT Virginians in employment, housing, and public spaces like stores or restaurants.” In that sentiment, Parrish speaks for us here at GayRVA as well.

Newly re-elected Delegate Danica Roem, for one, stands ready to make sure that these protections come to Virginia at long last. “We have a mandate from the people to pass nondiscrimination (bills) that are comprehensive and inclusive of all our LGBTQ constituents,” Roem told the Washington Blade. “We will be getting that done.”

But there are a good many more progressive issues that we’d all like to see taken up by our new Democratic legislative majority. Governor Northam brought up several of them in a post-election cabinet meeting on Wednesday. He began with guns, a hot-button topic that has had particular relevance in Virginia over the past year due to the Virginia Beach municipal building shooting and the still-lingering fallout of Unite The Right in Charlottesville. The Republican-controlled General Assembly closed a special session called for by Northam this summer to focus on gun legislation after 90 minutes, infuriating many Virginians who want to see action taken on the issue of gun violence.

During the cabinet meeting yesterday, Northam listed a number of legislative items he’d like to see passed in the General Assembly this year. Among them were universal background checks for gun buyers, reinstating the one-handgun-a-month rule, requiring reporting of lost or stolen guns within 24 hours of their disappearance, and a ban on weapons with high-capacity magazines and bump stocks. “They’re pieces of legislation that will save lives, they’re also pieces of legislation that Virginians agree with,” Northam said, according to the Virginia Mercury. “We’ll at least start with those.”

Northam also said that he wanted to give local governments the chance to decide what to do with their Confederate monuments, an issue with relevance in Richmond (the statues on Monument Avenue are currently under state control) as well as Charlottesville and Norfolk. Northam also stated that he wants to increase Virginia’s minimum wage, and work to decriminalize marijuana.

Here at GayRVA (and RVA Magazine), we’d love to see all of those things happen. Indeed, to truly fulfill the promise our newly Democratic state legislature brings to us, these things need to happen. For Virginia’s LGBTQ population and for many other marginalized communities, they will make a significant difference to our quality of life here in the Commonwealth. Let’s get it done.

Top Photo via VCU-CNS

TIES Summit Provides Resources, Highlights Needs of Trans People of Color

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Equality Virginia’s sixth Transgender Information and Empowerment Summit put significant focus on the needs of transgender people of color, who are at significantly higher risk for violence and discrimination.

Hundreds of transgender people and their allies recently gathered in Richmond for a trans conference focused on providing resources to the LGBTQ community. 

Equality Virginia held its sixth Transgender Information and Empowerment Summit on Saturday, October 19, for the first time at the University of Richmond. Organizers said the summit is held annually to give Virginia’s transgender community a safe space where they can learn and gain resources. 

Attendees had access to free legal resources, such as name or gender change guidance, as well as free medical and mental health consultations. There were around 40 workshops that focused on housing issues in the transgender community, LGBTQ suicide prevention, advocacy, and other relevant topics.

This year’s summit introduced a couple of events designed with transgender people of color in mind. First, the summit held a panel that included prominent transgender people of color to speak on issues that affect them. The panel also focused on educating the public about how to include transgender persons of color into LGBTQ conversation and events.

“As we know, but the story is not often told, much of the groundbreaking LGBTQ grassroots has been by trans and non-binary people of color, ” said James Parrish, executive director of Equality Virginia. “Yet rarely are their contributions recognized.”

Left to right: Panelists Xemi Tapepechul, Justina Hall, and Nathaniel Preston talked about how important to include trans, gender non-conforming, and nonbinary people of color into LGBTQ spaces. Moderated by Olive Gallmeyer. (Photo by Christopher Brown)

Panelists answered questions from the moderator and audience, including inquiries about medical assistance for transgender patients and helping transgender youth. 

“We just need more inclusive groups and counselors who go through LGBTQ-affirming training,” said panelist Justina Hall, youth peer navigator for Virginia-based Nationz Foundation, a nonprofit organization that provides health and wellness for the LGBTQ community. “Understand that sometimes people don’t have the language to place what they’re experiencing and going through.”

According to the Human Rights Campaign, an advocacy group working to protect the LGBTQ community’s civil rights, transgender women of color are more likely to be victims of murder compared to non-transgender women of color. The organization said the “intersections of racism, sexism, homophobia, biphobia, transphobia, and unchecked access to guns,” also makes it harder for transgender people of color to gain employment, housing and health care.

“I think a big reason that the murder rate is very high for trans women of color, in particular, is that we often don’t see transgender women as women,” said Ted Lewis, the executive director of Side By Side, which provides support to LGBTQ youth. “I think as you lay on multiple underrepresented repressed identities — being a woman, being transgender, being a person of color, being black within that sort of umbrella — it gets hard, real fast.”

The summit included a People of Color lounge, which allowed trans and non-trans people of color to gather, and workshops geared toward trans people of color.

“Respectful United: Allyship without Tokenism” addressed what non-people of color can do to make an environment inclusive. The workshop discussed hows to avoid tokenism — a symbolic effort, which is more about appearance than actual inclusion — when including trans, gender-nonconforming and non-binary people of color. Another session was geared toward the Spanish-speaking transgender community, while another highlighted how LGBTQ organizations can better maintain “anti-racism” spaces.

“Two main things that I feel like [are] missed a lot in these types of conferences are the inclusion of transgender women of color, and the inclusion of non-English speakers,” said Xemi Tapepechul, D.C. performing artist.

James Parrish. Photo Courtesy Equality Virginia

Other sessions included “Trans Voting Rights 101” and “Power to the People: Advocating for Trans Equality,” which highlighted the importance of the transgender community to get out the vote and show up at polls. The American Civil Liberties Union said transgender voters should have an equal opportunity to choose candidates who fight for their rights, and that having an ID that doesn’t match your gender identity should not affect your right to cast a ballot. 

“We don’t even want people hesitating about it, because then they might not vote,” said Parrish. “And we need everybody to vote.”

According to Parrish, Equality Virginia has been working to make sure that Virginians have registered to vote in their communities, along with letting voters know which candidates are pro-LGBTQ, so Virginia can have “a more supportive General Assembly.” The organization recently formed the Virginia Values Coalition, which is calling on state lawmakers to establish legal protections for the LGBTQ community, from employment and housing to public spaces like stores or restaurants. 

“We hope to arrive at the General Assembly with thousands of people behind us,” Parrish previously told Capital News Service. 

Written by Christopher Brown, Capital News Service. Top Photo: Christopher Brown, via CNS

New Coalition Calls on Lawmakers to Support LGBTQ Equal Rights

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With the new Virginia Values Coalition, Equality Virginia has created a statewide advocacy group to demand laws protecting LGBTQ rights in Virginia.

Bianca Rey, chair of Capital Trans Pride, understands firsthand the struggle to live with equal protections. The constant worries of being fired from a job or treated differently are thoughts individuals in the LGBTQ community deal with on a regular basis, Rey said. “Is today going to be the day where somebody is going to approach me and tell me, you can’t come to this coffee shop anymore and buy coffee, because you’re trans, or gay, or you’re bi?” 

Rey, a Virginia resident, said she feels fortunate to live near the D.C metro area, where resources are easily accessible for the LGBTQ community. Still, Virginia is one of 30 states in the country without specific laws to protect LGBTQ residents. 

“We’re professionals, we’re teachers, we’re veterans, we work in healthcare, we’re physicians,” Rey said. But, she said, the LGBTQ community worries about access in a way the straight community doesn’t.

“I think, as a state, our top priority is to legalize a policy where LGBTQ Virginians are free to work and not be discriminated for being who they are,” she said.

That is why advocacy group Equality Virginia recently formed the Virginia Values Coalition, which is calling on state lawmakers to establish legal protections for the LGBTQ community from employment and housing to public spaces like stores or restaurants. 

“We hope to arrive at the General Assembly with thousands of people behind us,” said James Parrish, executive director of Equality Virginia. 

Last February, the group pushed for several bills to end discrimination in work and housing that did not make it past Republican-led House sub-committees:

  • Senate Bill 998 and House Bill 2067: Both aimed to prohibit employers from discriminating based on sexual orientation or gender identity. SB 998 passed the Senate but not the House. HB 2067 died in committee.
  • SB 1109 and HB 2677 both aimed to make discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity an unlawful discriminatory housing practice. SB 1109 passed the Senate but not the House. HB 2677 died in committee. 

Sen. Jennifer McClellan, D-Richmond, supported legislation to protect Virginia’s LGBTQ community. McClellan said she plans to reintroduce the housing bill in the upcoming General Assembly session.

“I plan to reintroduce my housing discrimination bill in 2020 and if Sen. [Adam] Ebbin reintroduces his, I will once again be a co-patron,” she said. “Virginia’s LGBTQ citizens have the right to fair housing and fair employment, and if Democrats have the majority, we will finally be able to push the needle forward on many of these protections.”

Over 20 other bills supported by Equality Virginia failed to advance in the 2019 General Assembly session.

Parrish said last year was his 10th session lobbying for a housing bill and the first time the General Assembly had not allowed the coalition’s priority bills to be voted on before the House.

“We had the votes necessary both in the committee and on the floor for the housing bill, and they would not let it come up for votes,” he said.

Republicans hold a slim majority in the state legislature — 51-49 in the House and 21-19 in the Senate. Advocates for a number of causes believe that flipping control of the General Assembly could impact the policies and legislation being passed.

Equality Virginia Executive Director James Parrish. Photo by Michael Key, via VCU CNS

Right now, the Virginia Values Coalition field team is signing up people who support LGBTQ non-discrimination protections. Later in the year, it will host events highlighting individuals and organizations who join the coalition.

The coalition also will host panels across the state to educate people on the challenges transgender people face and how Virginians can support the community. 

Equality Virginia also has two programs to get business owners and elected officials to demonstrate their support for LGBTQ nondiscrimination legislation: 

  • Equality Means Business, which allows any small business owner to pledge online that their establishment does not discriminate against employees, customers and clients based on sexual orientation or gender identity. 
  • Local Leaders for Fairness, which enables elected officials to state their support of the General Assembly passing nondiscrimination protections for the LGBTQ community related to employment, housing and public spaces. 

Currently, 24 districts and 46 elected Virginia officials have signed the online statement.

The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments Tuesday on three employment discrimination cases. Arguments in the cases asked if Title VII protections extend to gay, lesbian and transgender employees. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 bans discrimination on the “basis of race, color, religion, sex, and national origin.”

The case could be significant because fewer than half of the nation’s 50 states have laws in place that prohibit discrimination based on gender and sexual identities, according to the Human Rights Campaign.

Written by Aliviah Jones, Capital News Service. Top Photo via VCU CNS

Resolutions And Flags Aren’t Enough – LGBTQ Advocates Want Laws

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Three state regulatory boards have passed guidance to ban conversion therapy, but Virginia’s LGBTQ community wants laws passed that will outlaw the practice outright.

Adam Trimmer attended several of the Pride week events leading to Saturday’s VA PrideFest on Brown’s Island. 

The road to the LGBTQ community has been difficult for 30-year-old Trimmer. He considers himself a survivor of conversion therapy — a practice that uses physical or psychological tactics in an effort to change a person’s sexuality. Trimmer’s pastor recommended he start conversion therapy after a suicide attempt in college. Now Trimmer is the Virginia ambassador for Born Perfect, a campaign that seeks to end the practice.

“When you grow up being told that you’re going to hell, that is not something that you want, and I think that is why conversion therapy is so prevalent, especially in the South,” Trimmer said. “All we really want is to not feel ashamed of ourselves.” 

Though Pride flags were raised this week by Richmond’s mayor — whose resolution banning conversion therapy recently passed Richmond City Council — and three state regulatory boards have offered guidance to ban the practice, the LGBTQ community wants more.

They want legislators to pass a law banning the practice.

Members of Richmond’s City Council (Photo taken from Richmond’s City Council’s Facebook)

A resolution like Mayor Levar Stoney’s is nonbinding, and will not become a statewide law. Only the Virginia General Assembly has the power to ban the practice. Virginia is one of 31 states that does not have laws preventing conversion therapy, according to the Movement Advancement Project.

In the past, state legislators introduced laws on conversion therapy, but none of these bills passed the Senate floor:

  • SB262 – Introduced in January 2016 by Sen. Scott Surovell, D-Fairfax. The bill prohibited any health care professionals from performing conversion therapy on minors and said that state funds could not be spent on the practice. In 2018, Surovell introduced an identical bill, SB 245, that also did not pass.
  • SB1773 – Introduced in January by Sen. Siobhan Dunnavant, R-Henrico. The bill would require Virginia health boards to release regulations or guidance documents defining what conversion therapy is and what is deemed unprofessional conduct for minors.
  • SB1778 – Introduced in January by Sen. Steve Newman, R-Bedford. Would prohibit the usage of electroshock, aversion or any other physical treatments when performing conversion therapy on minors.

Three Virginia boards that advise mental health professions — the Board of Psychology, Board of Counseling, and Board of Social Work — all voted to prohibit conversion therapy on minors. The boards have the executive power to create a regulation change without legislative approval and to take disciplinary action against anyone who offers conversion therapy to minors. Virginia residents were allowed to weigh in on the proposed bans during a public comment period. 

Josh Hetzler, legislative counsel for The Family Foundation of Virginia, wrote that the boards’ guidance is “overtly at odds with the laws of Virginia and the Constitution of the United States.” The faith-based public policy group believes the ban usurps a parent’s right to make decisions concerning the upbringing of their child, and subjects them to “discrimination on the basis of religious conviction.” They believe it might not hold up to legal scrutiny.

Hetzler also referred to the 2018 U.S. Supreme Court decision that “professional speech” receives the same First Amendment protection as ordinary speech.

The Virginia Catholic Conference, a public policy agency representing Virginia’s Catholic bishops and their two dioceses, is also against the ban.

“When minors have unwanted same-sex or mixed-sex attractions, they and their families should be free to seek counseling towards the resolutions they desire,” Jeff Caruso, VCC executive director, wrote in the forum. “Licensed professionals with years of education and experience should not be removed from the process of helping children work through these sensitive and deeply personal issues.” 

Caruso also said the ban would affect “the fundamental rights of parents for their children” as well as the “limits on regulatory authority that ensure consistency with the General Assembly.” 

The Trevor Project conducted an inaugural LGBTQ Youth Mental Health survey this year. The research concluded that a small percentage of LGBTQ youth undergo conversion therapy (5%) and that 42% of those who do attempt suicide. That’s compared to 17% of LGBTQ youth who attempt suicide but do not undergo conversion therapy. 

“I am proud that members of Richmond’s City Council joined me in opposing the inhumane and regressive practice of conversion therapy and affirming the sexual orientation and identities of all Richmonders,” Stoney said earlier this month on social media.

A rainbow flag was raised on Sept. 23, along with a trans flag and the Philly Pride Flag, for Richmond Pride. (Photo from City of Richmond Flickr account)

Equality Virginia, an LGBTQ advocacy organization, applauded Richmond’s leadership for taking the initiative to regulate conversion therapy.

“It’s exciting to see Richmond wanting to be vocal on this issue,” said James Parrish, executive director for Equality Virginia. But, he said, it is more important to see health professionals advocating for permanent, statewide change. 

Parrish and Equality Virginia hope the practice is banned in the state because mental health advocates believe it “mentally and physically harms people.”

“At the end of the day, we need everyone working to end this practice,” Parrish said.

Written by Christopher Brown, Capital News Service. Top Photo: Mayor Levar Stoney raising a rainbow flag on Sept. 23. (Photo from City of Richmond’s Flickr account)