Memphis Housing Authority expands protections to LGBT employees

MHA joins the list of organizations protecting
LGBT employees from discrimination.

Tennessee Equality Project is pleased to share news of expanded workplace protections for LGBT employees in Memphis. 

On Thursday, Feb. 28, the Board of Commissioners of the Memphis Housing Authority approved Resolution No. 4315 which amended the Section 1.03 on Equal Employment Opportunity in  the MHA Employee Handbook . The new verbiage added "..., genetic information, veteran status, political affiliation, sexual orientation and gender identity."

Commissioner Ian L. Randolph confirmed the change to the employee handbook with Tennessee Equality Project on Friday. 

This action follows the addition of housing protections for LGBT consumers during the first administration of President Barack Obama in federally funded housing programs (most of MHA's funding comes from Federal Government).  Commissioner Randolph reported that the Memphis Employment Non-Discrimination Ordinance enacted in October 2013 by the Memphis City Council influenced the decision to extend LGBT-inclusive workplace protections to MHA employees.

TEP applauds the leadership of the MHA Board of Commissioners. Let's continue to look for an equality ripple effect in Memphis and Shelby County. 

Key step in ending job discrimination against gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people

Word has it over the last week that the national organizations that serve the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender community are going to press for an executive order from President Barack Obama to bar job discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity among federal contractors.

Tennessee Equality Project is wholly supportive of this move.  Such an executive order would touch thousands of firms and hence millions of employees across the country, including people who work in Tennessee.

Tennesseans have a particular interest in this issue.  In 2011 the Metro Nashville Council passed a contractor non-discrimination ordinance that did the same thing as the requested executive order but with Metro Government contractors.  Unfortunately the Legislature passed SB632/HB600 that not only nullified that ordinance but robbed every city and county in the state of the ability to do the same thing when awarding their procurement dollars.

If you're not sold on the idea that it would help people in Tennessee, then I'm not going to try to oversell the proposal.  But it's out there and there's something you can do to help.

You can sign this petition at the White House petition site.  And you can email it to your friends and post it on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter.  It will help grow citizen support for the lobbying effort our national organizations are pursuing.

Nope, it's not as dramatic as the petitions calling for secession, but it's far more constructive. 

LGBTQ community may have some recourse with the TN Human Rights Commission

The Tennessee Human Rights Commission board of Commissioners held a listening session for citizens of Memphis and Shelby County last night at Bridges.

The Tennessee Human Rights Commission is an independent state agency which investigates allegations of discrimination in housing, employment, Title VI and places of public accommodations. Complaintants may report discrimination based on race, color, gender, disability, national origin, religion, creed, familial status or age (40 and over).

Noticeably absent among the unlawful bases for discrimination in housing, employment, and public accommodations is sexual orientation and gender identity or expression. Last night, I brought copies of the latest cover article from the Memphis Flyer to the commissioners about the efforts of the Memphis Gay and Lesbian Community Center to provide emergency housing services to lesbian, gay, bi and trangender youth to highlight the fact that these youth are being underserved and actively discriminated against when attempting to access emergency housing and shelter.

I also shared a personal story from a few years ago in which a friend and I tried to find shelter for one of these youth who called the center for help. The center's Youth Empowerment Services were not available at the time. The 18-year-old caller had just been kicked out of her family's home in Fayette County because she was transgender. We tried to find temporary housing for her in area shelters. But she was only allowed to stay over for one night before she was told she could not stay at these shelters. Shelters turned her away for "religious" reasons or told her that they could not ensure her safety. We were finally able to find a place for her to stay at a local church that welcomes all people.

The commissioners present at the listening forum were sympathetic, but they and I knew that they have no mandate under current Tennessee law to investigate or prosecute such claims of discrimination. Commissioner Jocelyn Wurzburg hoped that the commission would be able to investigate such claims in her lifetime, but she felt it would be a difficult task to expand the commission's mandate in the current legislative climate.

There was one bright spot though. The Regional Coordinator for the Memphis office of the TNHRC, Linda Reed, suggested that discrimination based on gender expression may be covered by the commission in some circumstances. Reed stated that similar claims of discrimination in housing, employment, and public accommodations have been successfully prosecuted under the category of gender. While the mandate of the commission's authority still falls short, such an interpretation may offer recourse to some LGBTQ citizens of Tennessee on a case by case basis.

If you have endured discrimination in the above areas within 180 days of the alleged discriminatory act, learn more about how to file a complaint with the commission on their website.

Does lack of LGBT-inclusive workplace protections in Germantown promote dishonesty in the workplace?

The Tennessee Court of Appeals recently overturned a lower chancery court ruling that a former Germantown police officer be reinstated with full back pay and benefits. The Commercial Appeal reports:

The three-member panel ruled Wednesday that the city was justified in firing former Lt. Stephanie Hill because the evidence supported charges of neglect of
duty and truthfulness.

The city fired Hill in July 2007 for violating departmental policies that stem from her accounts of how her unmarked police car was damaged in January that year.

Lt. Hill initially reported that she was uncertain about how the unmarked police car was damaged. She later reported that

her former roommate, Jamie Baker, had damaged the car at the home the two shared in Collierville. Baker told police Hill knew she hit the car when it happened.

Court records say that the couple ended their relationship "in an acrimonious and tumultuous manner" in mid-March only a few weeks before the city opened its internal affairs investigation.

I may be reading too deeply between the lines of this story, but the way this story is written leads me to believe that Lt. Hill and Baker were domestic partners. If Baker were simply a "roommate," wouldn't Lt. Hill have been forthcoming about the damage to the car?

Most gay or lesbian law enforcement officers will tell you that it's risky to disclose your sexual orientation on the job. The State of Tennessee and the City of Germantown currently provide no workplace protections against discrimination based on sexual orientation. In addition to basic concerns about employment discrimination, police officers have to know they can depend on other officers to protect each other in dangerous situations. Their safety and lives depends on it!

Did Lt. Hill withhold Baker's involvement in the damage to the car because she feared unfair treatment on the job? Disclosing Baker's responsibility for damage to the car to Internal Affairs may have exposed Lt. Hill to sexual harrassment, employment discrimination, and abandonment by fellow officers in dangerous situations because she is or may be perceived to be a lesbian.

Unless there are specific protections for unlawful discrimination (e.g., race, color, national origin, sex, religion, etc.), employment in Tennessee is "at will" - meaning that the employer is free to discharge employees for good cause, or bad cause, or no cause at all. No federal, state or local law prohibits the Germantown Police Department from firing employees because they are lesbian, gay, bi, straight, or transgender.

We should all favor honesty in the workplace. While it was wrong of Lt. Hill to withhold how the car was damaged, it is also wrong for the City of Germantown to promote dishonesty in the workplace. If the City of Germantown as an employer does not explicitly protect employees from discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity, it sends the message that employees should fear for their jobs and live their lives in secret. Lt. Hill and other employees of the Germantown Police Department and City of Germantown should not have to fear being "outed" in the workplace.

Hardworking, high-performing employees shouldn’t be fired just because they’re gay or transgender. ALL lesbian, gay, bi, straight and transgender employees want the same thing: to work hard, earn a living, and provide for their familes.