The Unheard Voices of LGBTT Latinos

1. The Unheard Voices of LGBTT Latinos DeniceVidals LodoeGyatso Roure LLS 100-Sec 62

2. LGBTT Latinos have trouble accepting their identity because of issues such as hate crimes and family and community rejection. • With awareness of the hate crime law in New York and public facilities in communities, LGBTT Latinos can feel safe and have support of their sexual identity, not letting hatred get the best of them. If communities did not separate themselves from the LGBTT community, they would have better understanding of each other and less hate crime would exist.

3. Civil Rights Act of 1968 • permitted federal prosecution of anyone who willingly injured or intimidated with force another person based off their race, color, religion, or national origin

4. The Matthew Shepard Act • included crimes motivated by a victim’s actual or perceived gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability.

5. New York Hate Crime Law • Person commits a hate crime when he or she “intentionally selects the person against whom the offense is committed or intended to be committed in whole or in substantial part because of a belief or perception regarding the race, color, national origin, ancestry, gender, religion, religious practice, age, disability or sexual orientation of a person, regardless of whether the belief or perception is correct.”

6. Problem: • “Every hour, a crime motivated by the perpetrator’s bias against the victim occurs in the United States” (Human Rights Campaign). • Hate crime laws do not guarantee the prevention of violence against the LGBTT community. • Laws shape attitudes and attitudes influence behavior, but that does not prevent all crime from occurring

7. Solution: • In order to decrease the amount of hate crime towards LGBTT Latinos, people need to have knowledge about the LGBTT community and awareness of the hate crime law can make a difference. • Public facilities need to be established where both heterosexual and LGBTT communities can come together and listen to how they each feel about the situation

8. Fatal Beating of Ecuadorean Immigrant • Ecuadorean immigrant, Jose Sucuzhanay, was attacked with a beer bottle to the head and repeatedly hit by a baseball bat that cause brain damage. • He was attacked by 2 men that yelled anti-Hispanic and anti-gay slurs because he was walking with his arms around his brother. • Keith Phoenix, 28, and Hakim Scott, 25, are charged with second-degree murder, manslaughter and assault, all as hate crimes.

9. Elderly NYC Man Killed • Ever Orozco, a 69-year-old man, was stabbed to death with an eight-inch knife under a New York subway station. • Steven Torres, a 22-year-old Bronx resident, faced charges of second degree murder for the death of Ever Orozco.

10. Murder of a Transgender Woman • In 2010 the New York Daily News reported the arrest of RahseenEverertt for the strangulation murder of transgender woman Amanda Gonzalez-Andujar in her Queens apartment.

11. Coming-Out Issues • “When you have to learn a new language, a new culture, a new economy, you tend to stick with the people you know” (Human Rights Committee). • “When one family succeeds, it often reflects positively on the entire family. Many Latina/o families also believe the opposite to be true, and because there is bias against gays, that silences some LGBT Latinas/os, as well as relatives who might otherwise be supportive” (Human Rights Committee).

12. Family Support and Acceptance • In order for LGBTT Latinos to come out to their families without worrying about being socially accepted, families need to find support in LGBTT community centers so they have a better understanding of their child’s choice of identity. • . With a parent’s acceptance and support they become an advocate for their child’s right to equality and the widespread of family support will allow LGBTT Latinos to express their feelings of their sexual identity.

13. Conclude: • . Based on census data, 1.4 million Latino adults consider themselves lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or transvestite (LGBTT) in the United States and a majority come from New York. • Hate crimes have doubled since the last year and the number is predicted to keep on increasing if no one takes affirmative action to make a change in the community.

14. Injustice in the Workplace • LGBT Latinos face a broken bargain in the American workforce. • According to a report from Huffington post “A Broken bargain for LGBT workers of color, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) Latinos are among the most disadvantaged workers in America”. • This report is collected from Movement Advancement Project (MAP) and found that LGBT Latinos face extraordinarily high rates of unemployment and poverty. • Discriminations coupled with lack of workplace protections, unequal job benefits and taxation, and unsafe, under sourced US schools.

15. LGBT Are More Racially Diverse • It has been claimed that LGBT workers are racially more diverse than the general population. • It is more likely that they will be bringing up children, which is contrary to some stereotype about gays and lesbians. • In a 2012 Gallup poll, one in three LGBT respondents (33 percent) identified themselves as people of color, compared to 27 percent of non-LGBT respondents. In addition, data from the 2010 Census show that LGBT people of color are more likely to be raising children than white LGBT people; fully one-third of Latinos in same-sex couples are raising children.

16. Cont. • But the problem emerges, when LGBT Latinos are usually faced with such discriminations at workplace and are not in the best place to work due to such unjust practices, many of them are being forcibly kicked out from work. • This in return creates a greater issue with bringing up a children and a family. If financially they are not able to raise themselves due to the work issue, how will they then be able to bring up a family. • Unfortunately Latino family usually faces obstacles in finding good jobs that provide their wages and benefits.

17. Movement Advancement Project reported: • LGBT Latinos are at high risk of becoming homeless. An estimated 20-40 percent of homeless youth in the U.S. identify as LGBT or believe they may be LGBT. One study found that among homeless youth who identify as gay or lesbian, 26 percent were Latino. • LGBT Latinos are at significant risk of being unemployed. LGBT people of color have higher rates of unemployment compared to non-LGBT people of color. A 2012 Gallup poll found that 14 percent of LGBT Latinos were unemployed compared to 11 percent of non-LGBT Latinos. • LGBT Latinos Less Likely to be Out at Work. A 2009 survey found that only 18 percent of Latino LGBT workers were out to everyone at work compared to 29 percent of non-Latino white LGBT workers.

18. Latina/Latino Transgender • Reportedly Injustice At Every Turn(A look at Latino/a respondents in the national transgender discrimination survey) stated that”Latino and Latina transgender and gender non-conforming people face some of the highest levels of discrimination of all transgender people”. • Injustice At Every Turn(A look at Latino/a respondents in the national transgender discrimination survey) was published in February and provided informations on widespread discrimination experienced by the transgender non-confirming people across the board. • Latinos/a experienced hightened levels of discrimination and had worse outcomes, it revealed that immigration status takes a huge part in this discrimination. • Those who are not a citizen of this country, they reported even worse experiences.

19. League of Latin American Citizen • The executive director of LULAC Brent Wilkes exclaimed that “This study shows how devastating multiple discrimination is for Latino and Latina transgender people and We are committed to ensuring that all people, regardless of race, sexual orientation and gender identity are respected and treated fairly. We call upon other Latino groups to join us as we fight for the right of transgender people to live without fear of discrimination, harassment or violence. We will not stand idly by in a society where equality is not within everyone’s reach.”

20. Key Findings: • Latino/a transgender people had a very high unemployment rate at 20 percent, higher than the overall transgender sample (14 percent) and more nearly three times the rate of the general population at the time the survey was fielded (7 percent). • Latino/a transgender people often live in extreme poverty with 28 percent reporting a household income of less than $10,000/year. • Transphobia, racism, and anti-immigrant bias play a role in these devastating outcomes with non-citizens often reporting the worse experiences.

21. U.S Senate Passes Bill Baring Job Discrimination Against LGBT: • Broken bargain for LGBT Latinos should be fixed o ensure that they are treated fairly no matter wherever they work. • US Senate took an initiative in passing a bill that would greatly help to stop the discrimination against LGBT community, specially minority groups like the Latino community. • Employment Non-discrimination Act (ENDA) was passed with an impressive by-partisan vote of 64-32. • This is the first legislation in the US history to protect LGBT people in the workplace.

22. Politics and it’s Role • President Obama applauded this gesture from senate, he said that “no one should ever loose their job simply because of who they are or who they love”. • Ten republicans got actively involved with democrats in supporting this act. • Republicans argued that the guarantees within ENDA are already mentioned in US labor laws. • Activist for LGBT have insistingly claimed to hail approval for the law,which is similar to two other bills that failed in congress in 1996 and 1997.

23. Protections at School • Many high schools and universities around the country provides a safe zone for the LGBT students so that they wont feel left out and detached from the rest. • 85% of New York city schools provides assistance to the LGBT community.

24. Cont. • Strong leadership from national Latino organizations such as the League of United Latin American Citizens, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, and National Council of La Raza have helped push forward this legislation. • However this bill has a long way to go, but if this will be approved as a law, the LGBT workers will have a better treatment at their workplace and no discrimination would be faced due to their sexual orientation and gender identity.

25. Safe Zone at John Jay • I have focused on the clubs and groups in this school that are actively involved in enhancing the equal treatment of the LGBT students here at John Jay. • I have gotten an opportunity to conduct an interview with the head of harmony club Mr. Marlon Daniels, on their roles and initiatives.

26. Harmony Club at John Jay • Being a school that advocates for the justice, many unjust practices are being done to the LGBT students around the country. John Jay stood up to create a safe zone for those student and opened a club called Harmony club. • This provides an opportunity for them to explore within their own LGBT community and share things that they might not be able to share with others. • This is a floor for them to open up themselves on who they really are and what can they do when they are faced with unjust actions. • Almost roughly 40% of those who show up at their office are Latino/a

27. Events and Activities • President Travis felt the importance of emphasizing the equal treatment of all people without discriminating on their sexual orientation and gender identity. That’s why during the freshmen orientation in 2012, he had specifically informed and the students about where the students of LGBT can go when they are in times of troubles. Because we are all same and equal treatment is what we are adhered to. • The Harmony club helds different event to acknowledge the students about the LGBT community and encourage more people to show up and open their gender identity to them, so that they can reach out to those in the need of help.

28. Cont. • The club comprises of two Latino/a executive members and they encourage more of such students from minority group to run for the posts. • They are hosting a month long event of “GAYPRIL”. They are basically celebrating the month of April as the month of gay. They emphasized it comprises of all the LGBT community. • They hosted a talent show last month and will be hosting a concert for LGBT community.

29. GAYPRIL • In the month of April, the Harmony club will be hosting a month long celebration of LGBT community here at John Jay. • They have a Queer Ball, an event where the Queer ball is themed “carnival” which is tied to traditional Latino and West Indian culture to try and bridge the gap b/w the LGBT community and Latinos. • They have list of events throughout the month aimed to educate the students on key concepts and issues.

30. The Concepts and Issues (GAYPRIL) • The intersection of socially and culturally constructed identities based on race, ethnicity, gender and gender expression sexuality, class, age , ability and religion. • How prejudice and discrimination exist at both the micro and macro levels. • Different theories of human rights and their derivation. • Take action to preserve and promote human rights, human dignity, and human freedom. • The contexts in which mass movements in societies emerge. • There are alot more concepts and issues they are willing to introduce.

31. Marlon Daniels • The head of harmony club Marlon exclaimed the negative connotation of the word “gay” are not intentional in many situations but it’s also not excusable. • Therefore keeping in mind that usage of such words could actually cause you great troubles. • Marlon was once a speaker for the LGBT club’s speaker at Cornell University and it’s currently his sixth year serving here at John Jay.

32. Cont. • Something unusual about this particular school that he have noticed is that there are more number of transgender female who turned to male, than male to female. • He emphasized that ignorance and tolerance shouldn’t be kept to oneself, we are here for a reason. • Counselor Betty Taylor is a wonderful person one can go and talk to. She does counseling specially for the LGBT students and she is with the John Jay’s “SAFE ZONE”.