LGBT activists are ‘playing defense’
They say a wave of repressive legislation among states targets their communities
Nearly halfway through 2017, LGBT activists said they have weathered a blitz of bills in statehouses that has many in the community feeling — for the second straight year — that they have a bull’s-eye on their backs.
More than 100 anti-LGBT bills in 29 states have been introduced in the past five months, according to the Movement Advancement Project (MAP), a think tank that researches and analyzes state and federal laws with LGBT implications.
Even though only six measures in five states have become law this year, the number of bills that took root speaks volumes, said Alex Sheldon, MAP research analyst. “States like Texas and Arkansas are now trying to pass multiple bills that target people specifically,” she said.
In 2016, there were about 220 anti-LGBT bills introduced at the state level, according to MAP, four of which were approved.
A backlash to a Supreme Court ruling in 2015 sanctioning samesex marriage and the strong stance by the Obama administration for LGBT rights are among the catalysts behind the bills, which signal a troubling turn in the quest for equal rights, said Naomi Goldberg, MAP policy director.
“We were heading in the right direction” after 2015, she said. “Now, there’s definitely been a shift. States are really going after the most vulnerable people. We are playing defense.”
The aggressive action by legislatures stands in stark contrast to a sentiment by many activists that there is broad public support for LGBT protections, as well as progress at the local level in cities and towns. “There is a real disconnect around fairness and equality,” Sheldon said. “It makes you wonder: Are legislators out of touch?”
BULK OF BILLS Religious exemption bills made up the bulk this year: 45 bills introduced in 22 states. Those bills would let people, churches and sometimes corporations cite religious beliefs as a reason not to enforce a law, such as declining to marry a same-sex couple.
Of the six total bills that did pass in 2017, four of them provided religious exemptions. Two of them, for example, in South Dakota and Alabama, would let statefunded adoption and foster agen- cies refuse to place children with same-sex couples.
Supporters of religious exemption bills said “freedom of conscience” is an essential right. “Conscience exemptions can be found in a myriad of state and federal laws on all sorts of issues,” said Bruce Hausknecht, judicial analyst at Focus on the Family, a Christian conservative organization. “It’s that type of protection of our freedom that makes America exceptional.”
The transgender community was singled out, MAP research shows, in 39 bills introduced in 21 states.
The state action played out amid rollbacks at the federal level. In February, the Justice and Education Departments reversed guidance the Obama administration had issued that said Title IX protected the rights of transgender students to use facilities that match their gender identity
Schools generally have been leaders in understanding the needs of transgender students, Goldberg said. “But with the rescinding of the (Title IX) guidance, when a school doesn’t do a good job, the Department of Education won’t stand up for them. That’s what is problematic.”
‘BRUTAL’ SESSION IN TEXAS Perhaps no one felt the weight of the 2017 legislative session like Texans, who saw about two dozen anti-LGBT bills introduced, activists said. “It has just been a brutal session for targeting people that were already marginalized and making their lives more difficult,” said Rebecca Robertson, legal and policy director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas.
Two bills took on a fast track in the final days of Texas’ legislative session: One was a bathroom bill involving transgender people that collapsed amid a deadlock among Republicans. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott hasn’t ruled out reviving the bill in a possible special legislative session in June.
After a ruckus in North Carolina over last year’s HB2 bathroom bill, Robertson said, Texas activists were astounded that a similar measure was considered in their state. Major companies such as Facebook and Apple have lined up against the bill. “The business community has been adamant in opposition to all of these discriminatory measures, but that hasn’t won the debate,” she said.
The second bill, which was approved, would allow publicly funded foster care and adoption agencies to refuse to place children with certain people — such as LGBT couples — because of religious reasons. Abbott has 20 days from the session’s adjournment to sign the bill, veto it or allow it to become law without his signature.
Hundreds of faith leaders in Texas have spoken out against those bills, such as the Rev. David Wynn of Fort Worth.
“As a Christian pastor, I honestly don’t get it. I think we are all reading the same Bible, but it’s hard to tell,” he said. “You tell me what Jesus would do.”
WHEN STATES DON’T ACT Even in states that saw a flurry of “good bills,” the failure of these to win approval was disappointing, activists said.
Florida, for example, had nearly a dozen pieces of legislation that would have provided discrimination protections, stronger anti-bullying laws and a ban on conversion therapy. None passed.
“It’s gone from will it hurt you to do the wrong thing to will it hurt you not to do the right thing,” said Nadine Smith, CEO and cofounder of civil rights group Equality Florida.
The most sweeping of the bills, the Florida Competitive Workforce Act, would prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity in employment, housing and in public places such as restaurants.
The bipartisan bill had 71 cosponsors or 44% of the Legislature, Smith noted, an “unprecedented number” that shows wide support. But the legislation never made it to the floor for a hearing in either chamber. “It’s disappointing that the leadership blocked it from being heard,” Smith said. “It’s the right thing to do economically. Businesses saw it as a way to draw top talent.”
Smith is undaunted. She said the legislation will be reintroduced next year.
“We see Florida as a breakthrough state,” she said.
WHERE YOU LIVE MATTERS Does where you live dictate what protections you have? The answer is yes, MAP’s Goldberg said. But the dynamic is complicated.
“It used to be simply that you you’d cross the border from a state where you could get married to one where you can’t,” she said. “But now you can go from being protected in the workplace by a state law to not being protected by a state law … or a transgender person who can use a restroom in school, and in the next state, you can’t.”
Sarah Scanlon, 53, knew since she was 5 that she was gay. Growing up in Jonesboro, Ark., she said, it “was never safe for me to be who I am.” She left the state in her mid-20s for a more welcoming Seattle. “I thought, wow, this is a whole new world.”
But even in Washington state, she felt the sting of discrimination: “I was fired from a job and punched on a public bus because I was gay.”
Scanlon, who now lives in Little Rock, sees a growing awareness among state residents about what is happening at the Statehouse. “The public is saying, hey, quit picking on them so much. There are more important things to be dealt with here.”
The massacre a year ago at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando — an LGBT haven — had a “profound effect” on galvanizing support from faith leaders and some elected officials in Florida, Smith said.
For Smith, no one symbolizes an evolution on LGBT issues more than her dad. He had great difficulty accepting that his daughter was a lesbian.
Eventually, the military veteran embraced Smith, walking her down the aisle at her wedding — and at age 79, he made a commercial for LGBT equality.
“My father has been the journey of the country on this issue,” Smith said.