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Chapter
7
Sample Page
Living
in the primarily heterosexual USA
Our “civil rights” in the USA
Many people think that you cannot be discriminated against
in housing, public accommodations, education, or employment,
if you are a gay man or woman. WRONG. I have been harassed
by neighbors; told there were no vacancies at motels, even
though their glaring neon sign said differently; advised
not to come out on campus or I might lose my grant; and
I’ve been fired from three jobs for being a lesbian.
These things have been pretty devastating, to say the least.
I even had one employer hire a private investigator to track
me. I had worked for him for over two years, and I was up
for a promotion to assistant manager. When the investigator
verified that I was lesbian, I was fired without notice
right in the middle of the ’80s recession. I went from
being the head buyer for a store to squeezing dogs’
anal glands in a grooming parlor, Of course my employers
did not say my sexuality was the reason. No, they said I
was a drug user, which was totally untrue—I don’t
even drink—and that I was “an unreliable employee.”
Hmmm. I guess never being late to work or missing a day
in two years means unreliable to some people.
Now, you must remember this was in the deep South, where
intolerance is a daily right to every God fearin’ homophobe,
but there are people like this everywhere you go—people
who are pointing one finger at you with three pointing right
back at themselves!
Don’t
laws protect us from discrimination?
Not in most states, but most everyone I’ve spoken to
thinks we are protected. An acquaintance of mine who has
a doctorate said “If I got fired I’d go to the
Lambda Legal Defense and Educational Fund and get them to
help me.”
The Lambda Legal Defense Fund is a great organization, but
there is little chance that they would even being able to
do anything, unless you are in one of the eleven states
that have civil rights legislation for gay people written
into their laws.
Those states are as follows: California, Connecticut, Hawaii,
Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey,
Rhode Island, Vermont, and Wisconsin. Of the eleven only
Massachusetts, New Jersey, Vermont, and Wisconsin have laws
which prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation
in all categories. The categories are: public employment,
public accommodations, private employment, education, housing,
credit, and union practices. This information was compiled
from the Lambda Defense and Educational Fund Website and
was last updated on October 25, 1999, so it may have changed
by now.
If you want to live in a state that fully protects its gay
citizens, then I’d say do some research on the ones
listed above to make sure that the antidiscrimination laws
have not been repealed or amended. Keep in mind that the
laws are not going to change ignorant, intolerant people,
and if you get into a lawsuit with a private individual,
you can bet it will be a nasty fight to the bitter end.
HOW
TO BE A HAPPY LESBIAN, A COMING OUT GUIDE
©2005 by Amazing Dreams Publishing. All rights reserved.
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