Immigration Rights

For Immediate Release

June 19th, 2012

Contact: justin adkins, Publications and Communications Chair

The Consortium of Higher Education LGBT Resource Professionals has been busy this past week focusing on immigration rights issues.  We have signed onto 2 different statements.  

We joined LGBTQ organizations in a letter of thanks to the Obama administration for the President’s statement of support for undocumented students last week.  This effort was graciously organized by the Immigration Equality/Action Fund.  Of course, this impacts a huge number of LGBTQ youth and young people, including Jose Vargas, Felipe Vargas, Prerna Lal, and many other leaders of the DREAM movement, so it is a wonderful victory for our community.   

We also joined Lambda Legal and the Center for American Progress by signing on to a statement related to the upcoming U.S. Supreme Court ruling on immigration and immigrants’ rights. The statements explain why S.B. 1070 is bad for all immigrants, with an emphasis on how S.B. 1070 and the nation’s overall broken immigration system negatively impact people who are LGBT or living with HIV/AIDS.

U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: justin adkins, Publications & Communication Chair, [email protected]

The Consortium of Higher Education LGBT Resource Professionals commends the The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) In what has been hailed as a "landmark" move.  On Monday the EEOC ruled that employers who discriminate against an employee, or potential employee, based on their gender identity is in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination based on sex.

M. Dru Levasseur, Transgender Rights Attorney for Lambda Legal says, “This is the first time the EEOC has held that transgender people are protected from discrimination by federal law.  This ruling, by the agency in charge of enforcing and interpreting federal discrimination laws, confirms the growing trend of court decisions holding that sex discrimination laws protect transgender people from discrimination. The decision applies to both private and public employees everywhere in the United States. It will be binding on EEOC offices and investigators across the country, and will be binding on all federal agencies. The decision will also be entitled to significant deference by the courts.”

Rutgers University

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: justin adkins, Publications & Communication Chair, [email protected]

This week a jury in New Brunswick, N.J., found former Rutgers University student Dharun Ravi guilty of invasion of privacy and bias intimidation, among other charges, against roommate Tyler Clementi in the widely watched case.  Not only was the life of Tyler Clementi ended due, in part, to the bullying and intimidation he encountered but the lives of the bullies and others on campus have been changed forever.

Response to Vandalism at NCSU

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

October 20, 2011

Contact: justin adkins, Publications & Communication Chair, [email protected]

October 20, 2011: The Consortium of Higher Education LGBT Resource Professionals was informed Tuesday that the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender (GLBT) Center at North Carolina State University (NCSU) was vandalized Monday night, with threatening messages sprayed painted on the walls and doors. A statement posted on the NCSU GLBT Center website read:

The incident has been reported, no one was hurt, and it is being investigated by University officials. We are working on a positive affirming response to this cowardly act of hatred.