It's The 85th Texas Legislature Sine Die Day

It's is mercifully Day 140 of the 85th Texas Legislative session and the last day of it.   The clock is ticking toward 12:01 PM as we stand on guard in liberal progressive Texas for any GOP led legislative attacks on our human rights and our humanity.

And surprise surprise, I'm here in the ATX for the last day of the session

It has definitely not been an easy session for those of us who fight for the human rights of TBLGQ Texans.   The last time we had anti-LGBTQ bills passed in Texas was 2005, and we'd just come off a 2015 session in which we were successful in killing 24 anti-TBLGQ bills including four anti-trans ones.

The anti-LGBTQ Forces of Intolerance were determined this year to pass some anti-TBLGQ hate legislation this year and we were just as determined to kill them.

We were successful in killing the big anti-LGBTQ bills in SB 6 and HB 2899, but unfortunately some good bills for our community fied during this session as well.   We also saw some horrible ones like SB 4 pass

There is chatter that we may be going into a special session, but right now, just need this one to end with the quickness.

And if Governor Abbott is stupid enough to do Dan Patrick's bidding and call it, me and the trans community will be there ti be in his face again to flush any anti-trans bill they propose.

US Seventh Circuit Court Of Appeals Full Panel Rules You Can't Be Fired For Being Gay

“I have been saying all this time that what happened to me wasn’t right and was illegal. Now I will have my day in court, thanks to this decision, No one should be fired for being lesbian, gay, or transgender like happened to me and it’s incredibly powerful to know that the law now protects me and other LGBT workers.”-Kimberly Hively

That's something I always believed and many Americans believed was already the case for TBLGQ Americans, but now we have a federal court decision to back that up in the Hively vs Ivy Tech Community College case.

On Tuesday a full panel of the US Seventh Circuit in Chicago by an 8-3 margin found that workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation violates Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

“… Hively represents the ultimate case of failure to conform to the female stereotype (at least as understood in a place such as modern America, which views heterosexuality as the norm and other forms of sexuality as exceptional): she is not heterosexual. Our panel described the line between a gender nonconformity claim and one based on sexual orientation as gossamer-thin; we conclude that it does not exist at all. Hively’s claim is no different from the claims brought by women who were rejected for jobs in traditionally male workplaces, such as fire departments, construction, and policing. The employers in those cases were policing the boundaries of what jobs or behaviors they found acceptable for a woman (or in some cases, for a man).”
-Chief Judge Diane Wood

This came just three weeks after a three judge panel in Atlanta ruled the other way that Title VII doesn't cover discrimination based on sexual orientation.

The plaintiff in this case, Kimberly Hively, was an instructor at Ivy Tech Community College  who in August 2014 sued the school with the help of Lambda Legal after she was seen kissing her girlfriend in the parking lot of the school and subsequently denied promotions and full employment.

Hively's suit argued that Ivy Tech violated Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.  The trial court dismissed her suit and claimed that Title VII of the CRA, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex, race, color, national origin and religion, doesn't protect employees from anti-gay discrimination.

In April 2015 Lambda Legal appealed the case to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals seeking a reversal of the trial court decision and reinstatement of Hively's complaint.  The three judge panel ruled against Hively in July 2016, but Lambda Legal requested it be heard by a full Seventh Circuit eleven judge panel.   The request was granted on October 11. 2016 and heard in November 2016.

What also makes this ruling notable is that the Seventh Circuit not only leans conservatives, five of the eight majority judges in this 8-3 decision were appointed by Republican presidents.

Once again, that 'strict constitutionalism' cuts both ways. so spare me any calls of 'judicial activism'.. You conservafools don't complain when those same federal judges make rulings in your direction.  .

“In many cities and states across the country, lesbian and gay workers are being fired because of who they love. But, with this decision, federal law is catching up to public opinion: ninety-percent of Americans already believe that LGBT employees should be valued for how well they do their jobs—not who they love or who they are. Now, through this case and others, that principle is backed up by the courts,” said Greg Nevins, Employment Fairness Program Director for Lambda Legal. who argued the case in front of the full Seventh Circuit judicial panel.  

“This decision is gamechanger for lesbian and gay employees facing discrimination in the workplace and sends a clear message to employers: it is against the law to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation.”

And it remains to be seen whether this decision gets litigated at the Supreme Court.      

Unjust SB 180 Passes KY Senate

Got the news from my old Kentucky stomping grounds that the GOP controlled Kentucky Senate in Frankfort went there and passed the unjust SB 180, a 'right to discriminate' bill sponsored by Sen. Albert Robinson (R-London).

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/news/politics-government/article66200452.html#storylink=cpy

It passed the Kentucky Senate on a 22-16 vote with five Republican senators, Julie Raque Adams (R-Louisville), Alice Forgy Kerr (R-Lexington), Christian McDaniel (R-Latonia), Carroll Gibson (R-Leitchfield) and Wil Schroeder (R-Wilder) joining the 11 Democratic senators in opposing the unjust bill.

It moves on to the Democratic controlled Kentucky House, where Speaker Greg Stumbo (D-Prestonburg) stated this bill was headed to committee to die.

"We took an oath to defend the Constitution, not violate it," said Speaker Stumbo.

The 2016 legislative session ends on April 12.and I'll be watching along with my former fairness campaign colleagues to make sure that the unjust SB 180 never makes it out of committee.

Bye Bye President Jonathan

Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan, who signed a draconian anti-gay law last year during his term but failed to effectively combat the rise of Boko Haram terrorism and corruption in his nation, found himself on the losing end of the March 28  Nigerian elections.

Karma is a you know what, isn't it President Jonathan?

Moving into the presidential villa in Abuja soon will be 72 year old opposition leader Muhammadu Buhari, a retired Nigerian army major general who once ruled the country from December 31, 1983-August 27, 1985 after a military coup d'etat before he was himself deposed in a military coup and imprisoned for 40 months.

This was the second time that Jonathan and Buhari had faced off in an election that would determine who would lead the most populous nation in Africa.

The president-elect's record is mixed.  While Buhari is regarded as incorruptible in a nation that has been plagued with it messing with its economic growth and development, and took steps as a military leader to eradicate graft as a by jailing 500 politicians, officials and businessmen, his term was also remembered for human rights abuses.

Buhari comes from the Muslim north and backed sharia law there, which led to suspicions in Christian dominated southern Nigeria that he had a secret radical Islamist agenda that contributed to his losses in the last three presidential elections.   He also escaped a July 2014 Boko Haram assassination attempt on his convoy in Kaduna.

But after getting the support of key heavyweight defectors from Jonathan's People's Democratic Party, support from influential Nigerian Christian leaders and promising to end the Boko Haram insurgency within months of his election, Buhari made history by becoming the first challenger to knock off a Nigerian presidential incumbent.

As to what that means for the Nigerian TBLGQ community, we'll have to wait and see.

Will be interesting to see once he is inaugurated what happens in Nigeria under Buhari's leadership and what it means on an African continent in which one out of every five people on it is Nigerian.

2015 Final Four Coaches Issue Statement On The Indiana Religious Bigotry Law

The men's Final Four is taking place in Indianapolis this weekend, and instead of us talking about whether the Kentucky Wildcats will win the two games they need to become the first unbeaten NCAA men's champions since Indiana did it in 1976, we are talking about events that happened up the street from Lucas Oil Stadium at the Indiana statehouse and governor's mansion.

The GOP controlled Indiana legislature passed a RFRA (Religious Freedom Restoration Act) that is a Trojan Horse that allows discrimination against TBLG people, and is so broadly written that it could open the door to discrimination to other groups that white male Republicans don't like on the basis of their alleged Christian beliefs.

And for those of you who drank the GOP red Kool-Aid and claim it won't, then why did Indiana Governor Mike Pence (R) have a double secret signing ceremony for it last Thursday with three professional gaybaiters in attendance?

Hey, if you're so proud of this bill, then why the secret signing?  Why are you ashamed Gov. Pence of your and your GOP controlled state legislature's discriminatory handiwork?

It has triggered a backlash that is seriously fracking with Indiana's economy through cancelled concerts and lost convention and tourist business.   If they don't kill this unjust law, this may end up being the last NCAA men's (or women's) Final Four they host.

The 2016 Women's Final Four is scheduled to be held in Indianapolis next year. 

FYI Texas Legislature, the 2016 Men's Final Four is scheduled to be in Houston.  So I would suggest that you drop ALL the anti-TBLG bills you flied this session in order to avoid the fate of Indiana.

The coaches involved in this year's Final Four, Michigan State's Tom Izzo, Wisconsin's Bo Ryan, Kentucky's John Calipari, and Duke's Mike Krzyzewski issued this statement condemning the Indiana law through the National Association of Basketball Coaches.

“We are aware of the recent actions in Indiana and have made a point to talk about this sensitive and important issue among ourselves and with our teams," the statement read. "Each of us strongly supports the positions of the NCAA and our respective institutions on this matter – that discrimination of any kind should not be tolerated. As a part of America’s higher education system, college basketball plays an important role in diversity, equality, fairness and inclusion, and will continue to do so in the future.”
 

Stay tuned, we'll see if Indiana does the right thing instead of the right-wing thing and kills this unjust law.