Update on Brandon McInerney Gay Hate Crime Trial

Gay Teen Murder Defendant's Brother Talks About Testimony: MyFoxLA.com

The murder trial of Brandon McInerney is continuing in Chatsworth and there have been some explosive testimony since last we checked in. 14-year-old McInerney, now 17, fatally shot his 15-year-old classmate Lawrence (Leticia) King twice in the head on February 12, 2008 when both boys attended E.O. Green Junior High School in Ventura County, California. McInerney is being tried as an adult (which I do not agree with) and is being charged with first-degree murder in a trial that began July 5, 2011.

The latest revelations are that Brandon McInerney was apparently repeatedly physically and sexually abused by his father.

Brandon McInerney was molested by a relative as a boy, a family secret that his older half brother didn't learn until two weeks after McInerney shot a gay classmate to death in February 2008, the half brother told jurors in a Chatsworth courtroom Wednesday.

James Bing testified that McInerney’s father cried hysterically as he revealed the molestation that occurred when Brandon was about 9 years old.

The older McInerney was upset because the family had dealt with the problem internally, sending the relative away for years, instead of reporting it to police and getting Brandon help, Bing told the courtroom.

McInerney’s father, who is now dead, believed the memory of the molestation was what caused his son to react so violently when Larry King began dressing like a girl and flirting with McInerney at their Oxnard junior high school, Bing said.

[...]

When McInerney’s father died in 2009, coroner's officials found alcohol and drugs in his system. Bing said his stepfather was frequently high on drugs and was sadistic.

He once put soap into a sock and beat the boys with it for an offense that later turned out to have been committed by someone else, Bing testified.

Billy McInerney poured Tabasco sauce down's the boys' throats when they were sleeping and would pull down their pants in front of their friends, disparaging the size of their genitals, Bing said.

"He was a mean, nasty person,'' Bing said.

How convenient that the alleged sexual molestation was never reported to anyone else outside the family so it will be different to corroborate. James Bing is Brandon McInerney's half-brother (same father different mother) and is the person speaking in the video given at the top of this post. If I were a juror I would take the testimony of a family member of the accused with more than a grain of salt.

What would you b willing to tell the court if a member of your extended family was accused of a crime for which they faced 53 years to life in prison if found guilty?

MAP: Sexual Orientation & Gender Identity Discrimination in U.S.

This map is what the state of play in sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination in employment looks like in the various states as of March 2011. There are 29 states that have no protections for LGBT people in employment in any way (so your boss can say, "I'm firing you because you're a fag!") and you have no recourse what so ever.

As of July 6th, there are now 15 states which ban discrimination on the basis of gender identity, and there are 21 which ban employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity (all the states which ban gender identity discrimination also ban sexual orientation discrimination). The six states which do not overlap are: New York, Wisconsin, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Maryland and Delaware. (One should note that 3 of these 6 states have already enacted marriage equality!) Wisconsin is  ahead scratcher because they passed sexual orientation non-discrimination way back in 1982, the first state in the country to do so. There was gender identity nondiscrimination legislation pending  in New York and Maryland which died when those legislative sessions ended this Spring.

The Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) would prohibit employment discrimination nationwide on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. Significantly, A version of ENDA (without gender identity protection, thus some people called it "SplENDA") passed the U.S. House under Democratic control in 2007 but failed to be brought up for a vote in the 2009-2001 111th Congress. With Republicans in majority control of the U.S. House it is very doubtful that ENDA will pass that body in the 2011-2013 112th Congress.

CT Gov Signs Transgender Rights Bill Into Law!

Democratic Governor Dan Malloy

Democrats have full control of the legislature and governor's office in Connecticut and one of the most important bills that has been acted recently is a bill to include transgender people in the state's civil rights laws prohibiting discrimination. (Note the state has had marriage equality since 2008!)

Raw Story has more details about HB 6599 which Mallow signed into law on July 6, 2011.

The new law adds the phrase "gender identity or expression" to all existing state sex discrimination laws, making Connecticut the 15th state to specifically protect transgender people. 

Anything under authority of the state's Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities is subject to the new rules, including employment, housing, public accommodations and credit. 

"An Act Concerning Discrimination" -- or HB-6599 -- defines "gender identity or expression" as follows: 

a person's gender-related identity, appearance or behavior, whether or not that gender-related identity, appearance or behavior is different from that traditionally associated with the person's physiology or assigned sex at birth, which gender-related identity can be shown by providing evidence including, but not limited to, medical history, care or treatment of the gender-related identity, consistent and uniform assertion of the gender-related identity or any other evidence that the gender-related identity is sincerely held, part of a person's core identity or not being asserted for an improper purpose.

The law will go into effect on October 1, 2011 and Connecticut will become the 15th state to ban transgender discrimination, not just in employment but in the areas of most traditional civil rights laws such as housing, credit, public accommodations and education.

With full Democratic control and since the state now has basically almost every LGBT protection imaginable I would hope the next bills Connecticut enacts are progressive priorities like an increase in the minimum wage and same-day voter registration (and restitution of voting rights for felons after they have served their time).

UN Passes Historic Resolution On LGBT Rights

The United Nations has passed a landmark resolution acknowledging that LGBT rights are human rights. The  United Nations Human Rights Council has formally adopted the resolution I blogged about earlier by a vote of 23 in favor, 19 opposed and 3 abstentions (very close!).

The list of which countries voted which way is provied by TransGriot:

The UN resolution passed with 23 countries voting in favor, 19 countries against and 3 countries abstaining

The nations voting YES were: Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Chile, Cuba, Ecuador, France, Guatemala, Hungary, Japan, Mauritius, Mexico, Norway, Poland, Republic of Korea, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland, Ukraine, Thailand, UK, USA, Uruguay.

The nations voting NO were:  Angola, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Cameroon, Djibouti, Gabon, Ghana, Jordan, Malaysia, Maldives, Mauritania, Nigeria, Pakistan, Qatar, Moldova, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Uganda.

Abstentions: Burkina Faso, China, Zambia

Absent: Kyrgyzstan, Libya (suspended)

The resolution text includes (pdf):

Expressing grave concern at acts of violence and discrimination, in all regions of the world, committed against individuals because of their sexual orientation and gender identity

1.  Requests the High Commissioner to commission a study to be finalised by December 2011, to document discriminatory laws and practices and acts of violence against individuals based on their sexual orientation and gender identity, in all regions of the world, and how international human rights law can be used to end violence and related human rights violations based on sexual orientation and gender identity;

2.  Decides to cenvene a panel discussion during the 19th session of the Human Rights Council, informed by the facts contained in the study commissioned by the High Commissioner and to have constructive, informed and transparent dialogue on the issue of discriminatory laws and lractices and acts of violence against individuals based on their sexual orientation and gender identity;

3.  Decides also that the panel will also discuss the appropriate follow-up to the recommendations of the study commissioned by the High Commissioner;

4.  Decides to remain seized of this priority issue.

Note that the United States voted in favor of the resolution, which was sponsored by Brazil and South Africa. Recall that, the next time some idiot tells you it doesn't matter if Obama or a Republican is President.

Nevada Legislature Passes Transgender Rights Bill(s)

The Nevada Legislature has completed work on Assembly Bill 211, a bill to prohibit employment discrimination based on gender identity or gender expression, passing it by votes of 29-13 in the Assembly and 11-10 in the Senate to reach Republican Governor Brian Sandoval's desk.

Additionally, the Nevada Senate had previously passed bills to prohibit discrimination in public accommodations (Senate Bill 331) and housing (Senate Bill 368) on the basis of gender identity or expression. These bills are still pending in the Assembly.

The Senate killed Senate Bill 180, which would have added gender identity or gender expression to the state's hate crimes law, even though the Federal Hate Crimes Law already has provisions which include sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression.

The National Gay and Lesbian task Force sent out a statement praising the Nevada's legislature's positive legislative actions to protect transgender individuals:

"This is a wonderful victory for the people of Nevada. We commend lawmakers for ensuring that all Nevadans, regardless of gender identity or expression, are protected from discrimination in employment. The startling statistics and personal stories found in our national survey on transgender discrimination show just how critically necessary these protections are. No one should fear being jobless, homeless and going hungry because of discrimination. Without legal protections, transgender people are made particularly vulnerable to bias and abuse. This law will literally save lives. We thank the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada for its hard work leading to this victory and we're proud to be a partner in this effort. We look forward to the governor's signature on this important measure."

The Hawaii Legislature passed and Democratic Governor Neil Abercrombie signed into law a measure prohibiting employment discrimination on the basis of gender identity of gender expression earlier this year.

WATCH: Transgender Victim Of Violent Attack Speaks

Apparently, a white transgender woman was physically attacked by two black female teenagers in a Baltimore-area McDonald's restaurant on Saturday. Joe.My.God has posted cell-phone video of the actual attack, which shows McDonald's employees simply watching and laughing (one of whom has since been fired).

The Baltimore Sun has posted the video above with the victim, Chrissy Lee Polis, and has more details about the incident:

County police confirmed that the attack occurred April 18 in the 6300 block of Kenwood Ave. Police said the 14-year-old girl has been charged as a juvenile, while charges were pending against an 18-year-old woman. Reached Saturday, police officials said the investigation was continuing.

The police report does not provide a motive but quotes one of the suspects saying that the fight was "over using a bathroom."

Polis suffered cuts to her mouth and face, and said she had a seizure. She also acknowledged that she was intoxicated at the time of the assault.

On Saturday she said she continued to suffer from painful bruises.

Polis, who said she had a sex-change operation to become a woman, said this isn't the first time that she's been picked on physically because of her sexual identity. She said she's been subjected to beatings and even sexual assaults.

She said seeing herself all over the Internet and all over the news has been "like walking out of the closet all over again." Polis is concerned that the public attention could trigger more violence — and worries it could hurt her chances of getting a job. "I want to cry, but I need to hold my head up," she said.

Her twin brother, Matty Polis, who also lives in Baltimore, said it's been painful to watch her have to endure these sorts of attacks.

"My sister has gotten this her entire life," Matty Polis said. "Being the way she is, she's always had a hard time."

It's interesting that this incident would happen just a few weeks after the Maryland legislature punted on improving protections for transgender residents, although the legislation being considered would not have included public accommodations protections. Maryland does have a hate-crimes law inclusive of gender identity.

DRAMA! EQMD Head Fired After Major Legislative Setbacks

Morgan Meneses-Sheets

The executive director of Equality Maryland, Morgan Meneses-Sheets, who lead the organization while it suffered two defeats this year at enacting gender identity non-discrimination and full marriage equality has been abruptly fired by the board of directors, it was revealed on Friday.

Metro Weekly's Yusef Najafi has the complete statement from Meneses-Sheets:

It is with a heavy heart that I share that today will be my last day as the Executive Director of Equality Maryland. While it is not my choice to leave, it is my choice to make my voice heard as I exit. 

I've spent the last eighteen months at the helm of EQMD and this time has held some of the most rewarding moments of my career, but it has also been extremely difficult. In particular the past few months have been tough to bear. Not because of the hard work which I welcome and felt honored to be part of, but because of the forces within the organization and external politics that created additional and unnecessary obstacles to our forward movement and success. 

As I move on, I will not focus on the negative or destructive forces that created this untenable situation, instead I will look back at the many proud moments along the way. 

During my first months, Equality Maryland lead the successful efforts to protect the Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration’s policy providing transgender Marylanders the opportunity to update their driver’s license to appropriately reflect their gender. This policy undeniably makes a difference in people’s lives. When you go to a grocery store and pay with a check or buy a glass of wine, you are asked for identification, and to have it match how you present yourself to the world protects you against discrimination and violence. I am proud of this success. 

I am proud that we have built a strong grassroots network throughout the state. I am proud that we identified new supporters, had more young people involved and created a diverse, thriving volunteer program. I am proud of our efforts during the 2010 elections, in particular our work to protect pro-equality Delegate Kris Valderrama and to oust Senator Alex Mooney who had a 0% voting record on LGBT issues. 

I am also extremely proud that together with the staff, our volunteers, our partners and many passionate and dedicated legislative allies that this year we got further than ever before in the goals to amend our state’s anti-discrimination laws to include protections on the basis of gender identity and to enacting full marriage equality. These are what many people call the “civil rights causes of our day” and it has been a privilege to be part of the movement to realize these incredibly important goals. 

I know that many in our community, myself included, were disappointed that we did not get to the finish line, but having done this work for many years I know that progress can take time. We created a strong foundation for future efforts. I look forward to celebrating continued success in Maryland’s fight for equality. 

Looking back, there are things that I could do differently, but lessons I learned I will always have with me. Know that I worked hard and I did my best with the tremendous staff alongside me. Together, we were able to move the organization further legislatively than ever before. 

I am sad that I will not be part of the team advancing critical protections for jobs, housing, credit and public accommodations for transgender Marylanders. I am disappointed that I was not provided the opportunity to continue to build and enhance the efforts to end the exclusion of loving and committed gay and lesbian couples from marriage. 

As a Marylander, as a lesbian, as a parent, as someone with many loved ones who are transgender, and as someone who believes in social justice I sincerely hope that Equality Maryland will succeed in their future endeavors to ensure that our state lives up to the promise of equality for all of its citizens. This will require significant changes, but it is possible. I hope that those who worked hard with my team will continue to be part of these endeavors so that we may also see a better future. 

I am excited to spend more time with my family as I have given up many precious hours with them to wage this battle. I am also excited for the opportunities that lay ahead for me.
I thank those who stood by my side. I am grateful to have met and worked with so many incredible people, many who I will continue to count as friends as I take the next steps in my journey.

I'm sure this will make some trans advocates happy, who were displeased that Equality Maryland agreed to move forward with HB 235, a bill that did not include public accommodations protections, but would have banned discrimination statewide on the basis of gender identity in education, housing and credit.

How Many Americans Are LGBT?

hat/tip to the Wall Street Journal.

Hawaii Legislature Passes Transgender Civil Rights Bill

Good news from Hawaii! The legislature has put finishing touches on passing HB 546, a bill to prohibit discrimination in employment based on gender identity or expression, with a vote of 22-2 in the State Senate, following an earlier vote of  42-4 in the State House. Hawaii law already banned discrimination in public accommodations and housing on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation.

Governor Neil Abercrombie earlier this year signed a civil unions bill into law, and has said he will sign this measue into law, as well, making Hawaii the 13th state to ban employment discrimination based on gender identity, some 20 years after the state banned employment discrimination based on sexual orientation.

MD Gender Identity Bill Killed By 6 Traitorous Democrats

For the second time in a few weeks, a huge priority of the LGBT community has been killed by the Maryland legislature. Previously it was HB 175, the marriage equality bill, and today it was HB 235, the gender identity non-discrimination bill.

From Equality Maryland:

 MARYLAND SENATORS WALK AWAY FROM JUSTICE - SEND GENDER IDENTITY PROTECTIONS BACK TO COMMITTEE 

Equality Maryland thanks supporters for the significant progress made in 2011 and vows to keep up the fight for full protections

Annapolis, Maryland, April 11, 2011 - Today, led by Sen. DeGrange, the Senate referred House Bill 235, the Gender Identity Anti-Discrimination Act, back to the Judicial Proceedings Committee by a vote of 27-20, effectively ending efforts to pass vital protections in housing, employment, and credit for transgender Marylanders.

Senators Kasemeyer (D-12), Klausmeier (D-8), McFadden (D-45), Middleton (D-28), Robey (D-13) and Zirkin (D-11) were expected to support ending discrimination based on gender identity in housing, employment, and credit, but voted instead to recommit the anti-discrimination bill. 

Equality Maryland's Executive Director, Morgan Meneses-Sheets:
"Six Senators who committed to support HB 235 took a walk on justice and fairness today and turned their backs on the most vulnerable members of our community.  We are appalled that lawmakers continue to play politics with much needed protections for the transgender community.  

We must not forget all the positive strides we accomplish as a community this year overcoming significant hurdles, including getting this legislation out of the Senate Rules Committee.  Supporters of this critical legislation made hundreds of phone calls and sent thousands of emails to their legislators. Countless members of the transgender community shared their very personal stories of discrimination.  We are grateful to them for their courage and to every supporter who made their voice heard on this important bill.

Equality Maryland remains committed to fighting against discrimination and injustice targeting the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community at every turn.  Progress takes time.  Today's result was not fair or right, but we will keep up the fight to make the Free State truly free." 

###

Equality Maryland is Maryland's largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) civil rights group, with thousands of members across the entire state. Equality Maryland includes: a 501(c)(4) advocacy organization that lobbies in Annapolis and across the state to create equal protection under the law for LGBT Marylanders and their families; a 501(c)(3) educational foundation that works to eliminate prejudice and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity through outreach, education, research, community organizing, training and coalition building; and Equality Maryland PAC, which exists to influence elections. For more information, visit www.EqualityMaryland.org.

NJ Lawsuit Hinges On Definition Of "Male"

This is an interesting story I discovered via PageOneQ. The New York Times has the deets:

Mr. Devoureau, 39, says he has identified himself as a man all his life. In 2006, after he began taking male hormones and had sex-change surgery, he adopted the name El’Jai (pronounced like L. J.). A new birth certificate issued by the State of Georgia identifies him as male, as does his New Jersey driver’s license, and the Social Security Administration made the change in its records. 

“As long as I’ve been a person, I’ve lived as a man,” he said in an interview. “At age 5, I did everything a boy did: I climbed trees, I played football, I played with trucks. Most of the people in my life, all they know is I’m male.” 

Last June, Urban Treatment Associates in Camden hired Mr. Devoureau as a part-time urine monitor; his job was to make sure that people recovering from addiction did not substitute someone else’s urine for their own during regular drug testing. On his second day, he said, his boss said she had heard he was transgender. 

“I said I was male, and she asked if I had any surgeries,” he said. “I said that was private and I didn’t have to answer, and I was fired.” 

Calls to Urban Treatment were not returned. But after Mr. Devoureau made a complaint to the state’s Division on Civil Rights, the treatment center filed a response in January saying that Mr. Devoureau’s dismissal “was not motivated by, nor related in any way to, any discriminatory intention.” 

Civil rights laws and court decisions allow limited cases of favoring one group over another, like giving preference to women for jobs as nurses in maternity wards. In its January filing, Urban Treatment said that firing Mr. Devoureau was legitimate, “since the sex of the employee engaged in that particular job position is a bona fide occupational qualification” — implying that Mr. Devoureau was not really a man. 

Mr. Devoureau’s suit, filed in Superior Court in Camden, is not the first job discrimination case brought by a transgender person, though those remain rare. But Michael D. Silverman, executive director of the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund, said it was the first employment case in the country to take on the question of a transgender person’s sex.

The question of what defines male and female is not as simple as "what you see in the mirror when you stand in front of it nude." Scientifically (and legally) there are at least 8 different characteristics which comprise "sex." It will be interesting if this lawsuit forwards this notion in the legal sphere.

Note that there are only 12 states which ban employment discrimination on the basis of gender identity. The Maryland legislature just failed to enact HB 235 which would have banned gender identity discrimination in employment, housing and credit (but not public accommodations).

How Many LGBT Americans Are There? 9 Million!

The Williams Institute, a UCLA Law School-based academic think tank on sexual orientation and gender identity law and public policy, has issued a report entitled How Many Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered People Are There? written by Distinguished Scholar Gary Gates.

In the report, Dr. Gates analyzing multiple data sets and national and international surveys which include LGBT people to obtain an estimate of approximately 9 million LGBT Americans, roughly 3.8% of the general population, or the population of the state of New Jersey.

From the executive summary:

 An estimated 3.5% of adults in the United States identify as lesbian, gay, or bisexual and an estimated 0.3% of adults are transgender.
 This implies that there are approximately 9 million LGBT Americans, a figure roughly equivalent to the population of New Jersey.
 Among adults who identify as LGB, bisexuals comprise a slight majority (1.8% compared to 1.7% who identify as lesbian or gay).
 Women are substantially more likely than men to identify as bisexual.  Bisexuals
comprise more than half of the lesbian and bisexual population among women in eight
of the nine surveys considered in the brief.  Conversely, gay men comprise substantially more than half of gay and bisexual men in seven of the nine surveys.
 Estimates of those who report any lifetime same-sex sexual behavior and any same-sex sexual attraction are substantially higher than estimates of those who identify as LGB. 
An estimated 19 million Americans (8.2%)  report that they have engaged in same-sex
sexual behavior and nearly 25.6 million Americans (11%) acknowledge at least some
same-sex sexual attraction.

This is a very important contribution to the debate about LGBT rights in this country. Interestingly, if one believes in an equivalent "one-drop rule" for sexual orientation, the canonical 10 percent rule looks to be about right!

MA Gov. Patrick Issues Gender Identity Executive Order

Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick is a strong ally of
LGBT rights and was re-elected in November 2010

The Democratic Governor of Massachusetts Deval Patrick has issued an executive order banning discrimination in state government based on gender identity or gender expression.

The order expands the state’s current civil rights policy by forbidding state government and its contractors from discriminating on the basis of “gender identity or expression.’’ The state already forbids discrimination based on a host of other characteristics, including race, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability, and religion. 

Patrick said he signed the order after being asked to do so by advocates. 

“It’s really this point about leading by example,’’ he said following an unrelated event late yesterday. “We have so much talent in this Commonwealth, and it resides in every single corner and in every single community, and we want to make as clear as possible that we welcome that talent and its contributions.’’

The order only covers only the public sector. There is a bill ending before the state legislature which would ban discrimination against transgender individuals in housing, employment, public accommodations and education. Gov. Patrick also supports that legislation.

O, Canada! House of Commons Passes Transgender Rights Bill

The LGBT blogosphere is buzzing with the news that Canada's House of Commons by a vote of 143-135 has narrowly passed a bill banning discrimination on the basis of gender identity or gender expression.

The entire NDP and Bloc Quebecois caucuses and six Conservative members voted in favour of Bill C-389, allowing it to pass with a vote of 143-135 in the House of Commons Wednesday night. Some Liberals voted against the bill while others abstained.

The private member’s bill is now handed to the Senate — where the Conservatives have a majority — where it must pass before becoming law.

In terms of votes, the unelected Senate has historically followed the lead of its elected counterpart. But late last year, members of the upper chamber came under fire when they defied the opinion of majority of the House, and defeated an environmental bill.

The Leader of the Government in the Senate, Marjory LeBreton, said the bill will be treated the same way it was in the House, and “sees no evidence at all” to indicate any party lines will be taken.

The bill, sponsored by NDP MP Bill Siksay, would prohibit discrimination on the basis of gender identity and expression through adding “gender identity” and “gender expression” to the list of prohibited grounds for discrimination in the Canada Human Rights Act, and through adding transgendered and transsexual Canadians as identifiable groups in the Criminal Code’s hate crimes law.

It is very notable that an LGBT-supportive country like Canada, which legalized marriage equality way back in 2005, has only been able to get a bill passed through one house of the legislature banning anti-transgender discrimination in 2011. Here in the United States we are nowhere near to a national legal consensus on marriage equality and we haven't been able to pass a bill banning discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation despite trying since 1973! There are only 12 states which include the T in their LGB anti-discrimination laws.

And it is looking more and more unlikely that Canada's gender identity non-discrimination bill will become law this year:

Critics have dubbed the legislation “the bathroom bill,” claiming it would allow male sexual predators to invade women’s washrooms and change rooms.

[...]

The Conservatives, who have a majority in the Red Chamber, have adopted the tactic of using the Senate to block private-members’ bills passed by the House of Commons that don’t accord with the government’s agenda.

Legislation to force the government to act on climate change was defeated last year, while bills requiring Supreme Court judges to be bilingual, providing tax credits for university graduates who work in certain regions and offering restitution for Italian Canadians interned during the Second World War, lie in limbo.

Since Prime Minister Stephen Harper does not support the transgendered-rights legislation, it will doubtless face similar purgatory when it arrives in the Senate.

And with prospects for a spring election increasing, because opposition parties can’t bring themselves to support the upcoming budget, any legislation that isn’t on the brink of royal assent is likely to perish.

Hopefully if there's a Spring election, there will be a change in Governments from the Conservatives to the Liberals.