East Lansing LGBT non-discrimination law
JRN 400.
Daily Archives: February 18, 2015
Washington Florist Illegally Refused To Provide Flowers For Same-Sex Wedding, Judge Rules
Washington Florist Illegally Refused To Provide Flowers For Same-Sex Wedding, Judge Rules
A judge in Washington state ruled Wednesday that a florist’s refusal to sell flowers for a same-sex wedding violated the state anti-discrimination law.
Benton County Superior Court Judge Alexander C. Ekstrom found that the florist violated consumer protections when she wouldn’t sell flowers for the same-sex wedding of a longtime customer because of her religious beliefs. The couple was protected by the Washington Law Against Discrimination, which prohibits bias based on sexual orientation, the court ruled.
Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson (D) and the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington, which represented the couple, praised the decision.
“The law is clear: If you choose to provide a service to couples of the opposite sex, you must provide the same service to same-sex couples,” Ferguson said in a statement, TV station KEPR reported. “Washingtonians have enacted laws recognizing equality for same-sex couples, and I will continue to vigorously uphold these laws. I appreciate the judge’s decision and am very proud of my team’s hard work to stop this unlawful discrimination.”
Robert Ingersoll and his partner, Curt Freed, had bought flowers from the shop for nearly a decade, the Tri-City Herald reported in 2013. So the couple was surprised when owner Barronelle Stutzman told them she wouldn’t provide wedding flowers because of her “relationship with Jesus Christ.” Stutzman told KEPR at the time that it was the only wedding she had turned down in nearly 40 years.
The couple was married in 2013.
Washington’s anti-discrimination law allows for penalties of up to $2,000 per violation, as well as legal fees. The state will likely seek those against Stutzman individually as well as her business, a spokesman for the attorney general’s office told The Associated Press.
Lee Daniels Discusses Homophobic Audience Reaction To Gay Kissing On 'Empire': WATCH
Lee Daniels Discusses Homophobic Audience Reaction To Gay Kissing On 'Empire': WATCH
Writer, director and producer Lee Daniels recently talked about watching focus groups react to same-sex kissing on his new show, Empire. Daniels referred to the dial technology used by focus groups to give instant feedback as to whether they love or hate something. When viewers love something they turn their dials up to a ten, whereas when they hate it they turn to zero. So how did the majority of those in the focus group first react to a gay kiss on Empire?
They’re at a ten until the two men kiss. So at the end the questioner asks, ‘why is it a zero when two men kiss?’ And you knew that the hundred people in the room — a hundred people in the room, most of them, 90 percent, 95 percent of them were heterosexual — didn’t want to admit to their homophobia so they just sort of look at the floor—it’s like not admitting to be a racist…’But can you tell me why you’re at a zero? Why do you go from a ten to a zero?’ Because it’s unaccepted. I think that it’s slowly becoming a thing because we are making it a thing. It is the civil rights of our time right now and I think we have to not back down.
Watch the interview, AFTER THE JUMP…
And you can watch Empire Wednesdays at 9 PM ET/PT on Fox.
Sean Mandell
lgbt y otras letras del abecedario
lgbt y otras letras del abecedario
Descripción.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlpJ53kZSB4&feature=youtube_gdata
Block Party-15.jpg
Gay Man in 'Ex-Gay' Billboard's Counter-Ad: 'I Was Born Gay'
Gay Man in 'Ex-Gay' Billboard's Counter-Ad: 'I Was Born Gay'
Nonprofit Planting Peace teamed up with the South African model used in an ‘ex-gay’ billboard to refute the hateful message in a big way.
Sunnivie Brydum
www.advocate.com/ex-gay-therapy/2015/02/18/gay-man-ex-gay-billboards-counter-ad-i-was-born-gay
Walmart Discriminated Against Lesbian Couple, Feds Say
Walmart Discriminated Against Lesbian Couple, Feds Say
BOSTON (AP) — A federal agency says Wal-Mart discriminated against a lesbian employee who sought health coverage for her ailing wife and has ordered “a just resolution” for violating her civil rights.
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ordered the retail giant to work with Jacqueline Cote of New Bedford, Massachusetts, who hopes the determination will help her pay off $100,000 in medical bills.
In a Jan. 29 EEOC ruling, obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press, the agency said Cote “was treated differently and denied benefits because of her sex.”
Cote tried to enroll her partner in Wal-Mart’s health plan repeatedly starting in 2008, but coverage was denied and the company didn’t provide it until 2014. In 2012, Cote’s wife, Diana Smithson, was diagnosed with cancer.
The Bentonville, Arkansas-based company said it expanded its policy in 2014 to include same-sex couples.
“While we disagree with the finding of reasonable cause, we have notified the EEOC of our willingness to meet with them and Miss Cote to discuss resolving the matter,” spokesman Randy Hargrove said.
Cote, 52, and Smithson, 63, met while working at a Wal-Mart store in Augusta, Maine, in 1999. They moved to Massachusetts where they continued to work for Wal-Mart and where they married in May 2004, just days after the state legalized same-sex marriage.
Smithson quit in 2007 to take care of Cote’s elderly mother. That prompted Cote to try to add Smithson to her health plan the following year.
Cote said she tried to enroll online, but the system wouldn’t let her proceed when she indicated her spouse was a woman. When she sought an official explanation, she was told that same-sex spouses were not covered.
Each year thereafter, she tried and failed to enroll Smithson — including in 2012, when Smithson was diagnosed with ovarian cancer.
“I was shocked,” said Cote, who was working in the company’s East Falmouth, Massachusetts, store at the time. She said her colleagues in every Wal-Mart store she has worked in have been supportive of the couple.
In 2013, Cote reached out to Gay & Lesbian Advocates and Defenders, which filed a charge of discrimination with the EEOC the following year.
“If she was a woman married to a man, she would have been given spousal health benefits,” said Allison Wright, an attorney with GLAD who is representing Cote.
Wright said the next step will be attempting settlement negotiations with Wal-Mart.
“We’re estimating up to about $100,000 worth of medical expenses and other damages because of Wal-Mart’s discriminatory denial,” she said.
Cote said the couple paid out of pocket for Smithson’s medical expenses in 2012, when Smithson lost her private health coverage, and up until Jan. 1, 2014, when Wal-Mart’s expanded policy took effect.
The couple has “an inordinate amount of bills,” said Cote, who now works in Wal-Mart’s Swansea, Massachusetts, store as an office associate. Smithson was in remission for 18 months but resumed chemotherapy treatments last month.
“I’m not only doing this for me,” Cote said. “I’m doing this for other gay and lesbian couples that have been discriminated against as well.”
First openly bisexual governor in US history is sworn in – vows to 'restore public's trust'
First openly bisexual governor in US history is sworn in – vows to 'restore public's trust'
Oregon’s Kate Brown replaces John Kitzhaber who resigned in disgrace
gregh
Kate Brown Gives Us Hope: The Importance of Our Nation’s First Openly Bisexual Governor
Kate Brown Gives Us Hope: The Importance of Our Nation’s First Openly Bisexual Governor
Kate Brown made history today when she was sworn in as the United States’ first openly bisexual governor.
HRC.org
NEWS: Ansel Elgort, Alabama, Hillary Clinton, Kissing Kevin Spacey
NEWS: Ansel Elgort, Alabama, Hillary Clinton, Kissing Kevin Spacey
Michigan Court Administrator awarded $730,000 for turning in judge caught ‘preaching from the bench.’
What does Ansel Elgort regret about losing his virginity at 14? The lighting: “That’d be one thing I’d do differently. It was, like, fluorescent, bright bedroom light, like, over the covers.”
Jessica Williams will not be replacing Jon Stewart on The Daily Show.
Norman Reedus of Walking Dead fame Flaunts his torso.
Happy Birthday, Cybill Shepard!
Kelly Clarkson says no one wants to work with her.
Jonathan Groff is cute on the red carpet.
7 Alabama counties are still barring same-sex couples from saying “I do.”
Niagra Falls has frozen over.
Is Hillary Clinton seeking favor with Elizabeth Warren?
Speaking of Hillary, is Arkansas’ anti-gay bill a test for the potential Presidential hopeful?
Woman says male ‘enhancement’ supplements made her son snap.
What’s it like to kiss Kevin Spacey? Meechum knows.
Missy Elliot continues to prove why we need her to make a comeback.
Oklahoma might actually eliminate AP US History from schools, replacing it with teaching of sermons, the ten commandments, and Ronald Reagan speeches.
Goldie Hawn tells Harvard Business Review about why there was no sequel to The First Wives Club: “We were all women of a certain age, and everyone took a cut in salary to do it so the studio could make what it needed. We all took a smaller back end than usual and a much smaller front end. And we ended up doing incredibly well. The movie was hugely successful. It made a lot of money. We were on the cover of Time magazine. But two years later, when the studio came back with a sequel, they wanted to offer us exactly the same deal. We went back to ground zero. Had three men come in there, they would have upped their salaries without even thinking about it. But the fear of women’s movies is embedded in the culture.
Sean Mandell