So, this blog assignment is dedicated to the hardships of discrimination. I've read a handful of posts discussing tattoo or alternative body modification in the workplace, the struggles of being a woman or any other identity on the gender spectrum other than a white cisgender hetero-affectionate male, and those giving a from-experience lens of the racial discrimination still occurring in 2016. These are all profound topics that each deserve our attention; true causes that are worthy of support and advocacy efforts. While I recognize diversity, especially on a site dedicated to non-traditional views and appreciations of beauty, I cannot deny my privilege. I am a white, cisgender female in the middle class of our society. While I may face adversity from time to time, I have been privileged enough to never experience true discrimination. Instead of speaking of my own experiences as I have none, I am choosing to write this blog about something that has affected the state in which I live.
As you may have read in the media, Mississippi recently passed H.B. 1523. Under this new law, almost any individual or organization could justify discrimination against LGBTQ people, single mothers, unwed couples, and others. Tax-payer funded faith-based organizations could: refuse to recognize the marriages of same-sex couples for provision of critical services including emergency shelter; deny children in need of loving homes placement with LGBTQ families including the child’s own family member; and refuse to sell or rent a for-profit home to an LGBTQ person -- even if the organization receives government funding. It would also give foster families the freedom to subject an LGBTQ child to the dangerous practice of “conversion therapy,” and subject a pregnant unwed girl to abuse, without fear of government intervention or license suspension. It would even allow individuals to refuse to carry out the terms of a state contract for the provision of counseling services to all eligible individuals, including veterans, based on the counselor's beliefs about LGBTQ people or single mothers.
As many of you know, I am in a graduate program soon to obtain my master's degree in counseling psychology. Our program is based on a multicultural framework, and our board of ethics (i.e., the American Psychological Association & the American Counseling Association) does not stand for such exclusive, discriminatory practices.
Furthermore, schools, employers, and service providers could refuse transgender people access to appropriate sex-segregated facilities consistent with their gender identity -- all in direct conflict with the U.S. Department of Justice’s enforcement of federal law. HB 1523 even legalizes Kim Davis-style discrimination by allowing government employees to abdicate their duties and refuse to license or solemnize marriages for LGBTQ people. That's right: the war on non-hetero-affectionate marriage is still raging on in Mississippi. These couples may still actually be turned away when seeking documentation or processes surrounding their marriage.
We are taking the necessary steps in our state to have the bill repealed before it goes into effect July 1st.
So, if you get anything from this blog, let it be that there are still a handful of good people in this atrocious state... And we're fighting.
@rambo @lyxzen @missy
