Tell the ProJo: No More Hateful Propaganda!

On October 1st, the Providence Journal ran a hateful op-ed piece on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. This article not only demeans LGBT people with insults and slurs, and implies that workplace protections are unnecessary because LGBTQ people don't face discrimination; it also ignores medical and mental health information by arguing that "homosexual behavior is changeable", and that transgender people just "made up fancy, official-sounding terms...and demanded they be granted special rights and government-mandated benefits." It ignores Constitutional protections for religious instituions, relying on inaccuracies and preying on prejudice to spur opposition to a fair, overdue piece of legislation.

We need to let the ProJo know that hateful, factually incorrect propaganda like this is not appropriate material for a major newspaper. We need to show the Journal that Rhode Islanders like controversy, but don't stand for false controversy based on lies and misinformation. And sending a Letter to the Editor has never been easier - just click the link below and it's on its way.

Sample Letter for Campaign

Subject: Hateful Propaganda Has No Place in the Journal!

Dear [ Decision Maker ] ,

Sincerely,

Campaign Launched:
October 03, 2007

Background Information

This week, the Providence Journal published a piece of hateful propaganda masquerading as an op-ed on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. The article implies that LGBTQ people don't face any discrimination, and that transgender people have a "made-up disorder" - ignoring years of research, and policy statements by the American Medical Association, and American Psychological Association, the American Psychiatric Association, and other medical and mental health organizations.

Beyond that, the op-ed preys on prejudice and fear to stir up dissent on a critical equal rights protection - a measure that 89% of Americans agree should be enacted.

Why?

Just last week, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the firing of Krystal Etsitty, a transgender bus driver in Utah. Whe Etsitty informed her supervisors that she was transitioning, a manager claimed that the Utah Transit Authority could be legally liable for "unspecified disasters" that might occur if Etsitty used a ladies room on her route, and fired her. The Denver-based appeals court stated that the Federal law banning sex discrimination does not protect discrimination against transgender individuals. "Rather, like all other employees, such protection extends to transsexual employees only if they are discriminated against because they are male or because they are female," Judge Michael Murphy wrote in the 10th Circuit opinion.

This event - one in a string of recent high-profile firings around the country - underscores how important the protections that ENDA will grant are, for all of us. It is absolutely wrong for the Providence Journal to publish an inaccurate, hateful piece of propaganda on an issue so critical to people's lives.