When he founded LGBTQ+ History Month and convinced the National Education Association to recognize it, both Phyllis Schafly’s Eagle Forum and Beverly LaHaye’s Concerned Women for America responded by placing full-page opposition ads in national newspapers, as The Advocate reported, hoping to scare parents.
In the quarter-century since, the month has become international. It is now celebrated in Hungary, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Brazil, Greenland, and the City of Berlin, in addition to the United States. Wilson is the subject of a 2020 short film titled “Taboo Teaching,” made by his partner, documentary filmmaker Dan Steadman.
Wilson chose October for several reasons: it was already the month of National Coming Out Day; the first and second LGBTQ Marches on Washington, in 1979 and 1987, were both in October; and it is within the academic year, which Wilson wanted as a teacher.
In the beginning, he partnered with advocacy groups to construct curriculum packets, which were mailed to teachers for $5.00. Resources are now only a click away, as Equality Forum began hosting LGBTQ+ History Month in 2006, picking 31 LGBTQ icons from all over the world through all eras of history and highlighting one each day in October. All past icons can be searched on the site as well. Find your favorite icon here. Mayor Bruce Teague, at the Oct. 6, 2020 Council meeting declared the month of October as LGBTQ+ History Month in Iowa City.
LGBTQ+ Civil Rights History in Iowa City
Fifty years ago, the University of Iowa (UI) was the first public university to officially recognize and continuously fund an LGBTQ+ student organization: the Gay Liberation Front (GLF).
A photo of the GLF’s Homecoming float was included in the 1971 yearbook, and the Daily Iowan ran a five-part series on the emerging gay rights movement. (In the early 1970s, “gay” was used as a blanket term and LGBTQ+ was still in the distant future.) Since then, LGBTQ+ rights in Iowa City have steadily gained, despite occasional setbacks.
In 1974, the first Midwest Gay Pride Conference was held at UI, and advocates began lobbying for civil rights protection in Iowa City.
In 1976, after two years of building support, the Iowa City Human Relations Commission (now the Iowa City Human Rights Commission) proposed adding sexual orientation to the list of classes protected under its anti-discrimination ordinance. The proposal also included age, marital status, and disability. At a lengthy hearing before the City Council in 1977, 21 people spoke for the change. No one spoke publicly against, but it was known that several council members were deeply opposed. Advocates represented themselves as a wide cross-section of the community and emphasized the need to protect basic human rights of “your doctors, lawyers, dentists, accountants, clergymen, secretaries, teachers, and reporters," said Neil O'Farrell, Chairman of the Gay People's Union in the book "Private Lives, Public Conflicts: Battles Over Gay Rights in American Communities."
The Ordinance passed by a 4-3 vote, but only after housing was removed from the areas of protection due to strenuous objection by Iowa City landlords. Housing was not added until 1984, and then only after a compromise to exempt owner-occupied housing of four units or less.
In 1996, the Iowa City Council added gender identity to its list of protected classes in all areas. The state of Iowa added sexual orientation and gender identity to its civil rights laws in March 2007. Two years later, Johnson County Recorder Kim Painter expressed support for 39 LGBTQ+ couples who attempted to apply for marriage licenses, but stated she must deny the requests due to state law. This was one of several coordinated actions that resulted in the lawsuit gaining same-sex couples the right to marry in Iowa in 2009. Dawn and Jen Barbou Roske of Iowa City were among the named plaintiffs in the suit. Iowa was the third state to grant this right. The Advocate, a national LGBTQ+ magazine, named Iowa City the country’s third gayest city that year. The Iowa City Human Rights Commission continues to advocate for LGBTQ+ rights, as does the GLF, which continues its work as the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, and Allies Union.
Memorandum on Federal Agencies, Contracts, and Staff Training
On September 4, the Director of the Executive Office of the President issued a memorandum directing heads of executive departments and federal agencies to review contracts for staff training.
Agencies are “directed to begin to identify all contracts or other agency spending related to any training on ‘critical race theory,’ ‘white privilege,’ or any other training or propaganda effort that teaches or suggests either (1) that the United States is an inherently racist or evil country or (2) that any race or ethnicity is inherently racist or evil.”
The memo instructs agencies to “begin to identify all available avenues within the law to cancel any such contracts and/or to divert federal dollars away from” them.
The memo justifies this action by referring to “press reports” claiming that federal employees have been told in trainings that “virtually all white people contribute to racism” or “benefit from racism.” Again, citing press reports, the memo claims some trainings have advanced “the idea that there is racism embedded in the belief that America is a land of opportunity or the belief that the most qualified person should receive a job.”
Asserting that these trainings “engender division and resentment within the federal workforce,” the memo notes that the White House “cannot accept our employees receiving training that seeks to undercut our core values as Americans.” Although the memo dutifully mentions “fair and equal treatment” and the intention to “continue to support all Americans, regardless of race, religion, or creed,” it also characterizes critical race theory as a “movement” disseminating “divisive, false, and demeaning propaganda.”
For the moment, the memo only directs agencies to “begin to identify” contracts for trainings related to white privilege or systemic racism. However, it clearly states agencies are to attempt to void any current contracts they legally can, and to “cease and desist from using taxpayer dollars to fund” such training.
Including employees of the Postal Service, the federal full-time-equivalent civilian workforce in 2020 is approximately 2.8 million people, according to Congressional reports. This figure is actually quite a bit higher. First, “Full-time-equivalent” is a way of measuring numbers of employees as if all employees were full-time. Therefore, for example, groups of two people each working 20 hours per week, or four people each working 10 hours per week, would each be measured as one “full-time-equivalent” employee, because the hours they share add up to 40 hours a week. Therefore, part-time employees are grouped until they “equal” one full-time person.
Second, the figure excludes some agencies and some personnel within counted agencies. For example, Congressional reports state employees of the Federal Reserve, foreign service personnel at the State Department, and employees of most intelligence agencies are not represented in this count. There are various reasons for this, including that the number of the intelligence personnel is a matter of national security. That is a lot of people who will not be receiving training, based on the theory that white privilege and structural inequality are “propaganda.”
In fact, structural inequality has been proven in many ways. From restrictive covenants, redlining, and unfair loan conditions that greatly inhibited opportunities for BIPOC home ownership in the past, to studies showing that identical resumes displaying “white-sounding” and “Black-sounding” names will result in far higher rates of response for the resumes with “white” names today, according to a 2017 study, inequality is certainly a characteristic of American society.
This is not, however, the same as teaching that America is “an inherently racist or evil country.” It is simply acknowledging the reality that human society is imperfect but can also aspire to learn from its past and build a better future. In the same way that a women’s property no longer automatically becomes her husband’s when she marries (and that she may now decide to marry someone other than a man), we as a society are capable of recognizing what we want to leave in the past, and how we want to shape our future. If you have thoughts on federal employees being denied information pertaining to white privilege and societal inequality, Russell Vought, Director of the Office of Management and Budget and author of the memo, can be reached at @RussVought45 on Twitter, or via email at this page.
VOTE! But How?
If you consume media at all, you have seen messages telling you to vote. But what is the actual process for voting? If you are new to voting or new to Iowa, the process may seem confusing. But it is important to vote.
Here are some tips:
Register.
Registering is the first step in voting. There are several steps to registering. First, check to see if you are eligible. You must be:
A U.S. citizen.
An Iowa resident.
At least 17 years old. (Usually, you must be 18 by the time of the election to actually vote.)
If you are a college student with a permanent address outside Iowa, you can choose to vote here by following the instructions online.
Second, check to see if you are already registered. You can do that online.
Third, complete the registration form. You can register online if you have a valid IOWA driver’s license or non-driving ID card, online.
If not, you must register with a paper form. For a paper form, go online or call 319-356-6004 to request one. Mail or deliver the form to the Johnson County Auditor’s Office at 913 S. Dubuque St., Suite 101, Iowa City, IA 52240. You can also go to the Auditor’s Office and fill out the form there.
Be sure to complete all sections, including apartment number if you live in a multi-unit dwelling, and remember to sign the form.
Find your polling place.
If you vote in person, your polling place is the location where you must vote, based upon your address. Locate your polling place online. However, in Johnson County, you may also vote early. For a list of early voting sites, which are NOT dependent on address, go online. Some early-voting sites are even drive-through! How easy is that?
Do NOT vote twice! You must choose to either vote in person or vote by mail. If you vote by mail, vote very early. Make sure your vote will arrive before Nov. 3, 2020 even if the mail moves very slowly. The deadline to request a mail ballot is Oct. 24, 2020, but don’t wait that long if you plan to vote by mail. Request your ballot today.
If you vote by mail, read the instructions and follow them carefully. Any mistake may cause your vote not to be counted. In Pennsylvania, the state Supreme Court recently decided ballots that are not enclosed inside a second secrecy envelope inside the outer mailing envelope cannot be counted, according to the Associated Press. This seemingly small detail may invalidate thousands of votes. Follow directions exactly.
That was a lot of words, but voting is actually a very easy process. Register, determine how and where you’ll vote, and cast your ballot. It’s that simple. Make your voice heard! Remember: early voting is now available at the Iowa City Public Library.
Making Children Invisible: Ending Data on LGBTQ and Tribal Youths in Foster Care
In 2016, Health and Human Services (HHS) issued a rule expanding data collection to include the sexual orientation of youths aged 14 and over in foster care. The rule also included requirements related to how well state child welfare agencies were administering the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA), which requires agencies attempt to both identify Native American children and preferentially place them with either relatives or tribe members. As of this spring, however, the current administration stripped foster care workers of authority to ask about sexual orientation and tribal identity, making these children invisible.
An estimated 430,000 children are placed in foster care each year. A disproportionate number of them are LGBTQ, especially females. While LGBTQ people represent between 5% and 10% of the general population, female LGBTQ youth comprise over 20% of the foster care population, according to the National Indian Child Welfare Association. Native American youths are placed in foster care at a rate 2.7 times that of their presence in the general population. In Iowa in 2014, the rate was 4.8 times higher, according to the National Indian Child Welfare Association.
The intent of the rule was to provide foster homes for these youth where their orientation or tribal identity was supported. Although HHS cast the rule as “intrusive and worrisome to those who have experienced trauma and discrimination as a result” of their LGBTQ status, making these youth invisible has the effect of removing the promise of a foster home where they are understood. In addition, the rule included provisions for asking for information in a sensitive way and making clear to the youth that answering was voluntary.
Without data on sexual orientation, youth will be left “navigating structures that are ill-equipped to respond to them in culturally competent ways,” noted Patrick Comerford, Executive Director of True Colors, Inc., one of six non-profit agencies and tribes which have filed a lawsuit against the rule. Chuck Hoskin, Jr., Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation, commented that data “ensures that our Cherokee children are protected by ICWA,” and noted his hope that the lawsuit would restore the reporting requirements “in order to protect our children.” The lawsuit was filed Aug. 27, 2020 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California and is ongoing.
Highlighting the under-representation of Black female scientists
Did you know, according to National Science Foundation, only 2% of scientists in this country are Black women? Dr. Ariangela Kozik and her colleagues hope to change that.
As reported by the New York Times, Dr. Kozik is the founder of Black in Microbiology Week (BMW), and also works as a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Michigan. According to a New York her work focuses on the microbiome of asthma, a disease that disproportionately affects BIPOC children, she is also a passionate advocate for equity in academic training. Dr. Kishana Taylor, Dr. Kozik’s partner in founding BMW, notes she spent over 13 years in the field of virology (the study of infectious diseases) before she met another Black female virologist. Dr. Kozik comments that, “it’s hard to explain what it means to know I’m not the only one out here.”
Black women in science struggle against a double dose of “-isms.” The field of science is already known for sexism, but Black women also encounter racism. Dr. Taylor says she was the only Black doctoral student in her department at the University of Georgia. She has loved science since she was a child, but by the time she earned her doctorate, “was super-ready to leave science,” due to the criticism and condescension she faced from colleagues. Mentorship in her postdoctoral fellowships has helped but has also made Dr. Taylor determined to champion her fellow Black scientists.
LaNell Williams is also involved in BMW. A counterpoint to anyone tempted to dismiss Dr. Taylor’s experiences at the University of Georgia as unique to the South, PhD-candidate Williams has encountered the same attitudes at Harvard. She has had her admission to Harvard dismissed as affirmative action, colleagues have used racial slurs in her presence, and have touched her hair without permission. “I’ve gotten used to people not expecting much of me,” she says.
This dismissal is especially egregious in the era of COVID-19. Dr. Taylor’s work focuses on zootic diseases—those that pass from animals to humans, as the coronavirus did. Dr. Kozik is currently focusing on asthma, but her broad research interest is biopsychosocial aspects of disease—the development of illness through the complex interaction of biological factors with individual psychological and social factors.
For instance, the personal question of whether to wear a mask in public or not has become a socio-political indicator. Studying how decisions such as this affect the spread of disease is an example of the biopsychosocial model. Candidate Williams is working on Harvard’s virus project, studying the life cycle of viruses, with a particular focus on how they self-assemble. Since BIPOC are three times as likely as whites to be infected with coronavirus, and five times as likely to be hospitalized, the work of BIPOC scientists is especially important.
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