The plight of Jane Doe, a 16-year-old transgender girl in the custody of Connecticut’s Department of Children and Families (DCF), should provoke national outrage. Jane’s story represents one of the most devastating examples of how public systems fail the most vulnerable youth in their care and custody. Removed from her family at the tender age of five, Jane has endured unrelenting brutality and abuse while in the custody of the system charged with protecting her. Despite the fact that Jane...
Date
Month: July 2014
Over the past few days, cities across the country have come to the support of the unaccompanied minors who have fled Central America to immigrate into the United States. Today, the City and County of San Francisco joins these cities. In a unanimous decision, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed a resolution sponsored by Supervisor David Campos to assist in the humanitarian relief effort. As part of the resolution, the City and County of San Francisco will advocate for “the need for...
Major League Baseball (MLB) Commissioner Bud Selig today announced a set of actions that will alter the lives of baseball players and the trajectory of MLB teams for future generations. The league has welcomed openly-gay former MLB player Billy Bean back into their fold with a position to work with the league to implement a program of greater inclusion for LGBTQ players in baseball. Billy, a hero to me and to all of us, has been appointed as MLB’s first Ambassador for Inclusion. Billy is...
In 1964, I was 4 years old. My biological father had died the year prior and my mom had married the only father I would ever remember, Max Kendell. We had just relocated to Ogden, Utah from Portland, Oregon with my little sister, Sharon, who is 18 months my junior. We had left the comfort and embrace of my grandparents’ home, who we moved in with after our father’s death. My first memories are of the move to Utah. I was anxious and uneasy. My world was very small and already traumatic. I...
Julian, Sandy, and I were lucky enough yesterday to attend the LGBTQ Pride Month Commemoration event at the White House. President Obama and First Lady Michelle were there, along with some of NCLR’s closest colleagues and so many who have fought tirelessly for this moment. The Advocate asked me to write about my thoughts on the day. A link to that piece is below. We know we are far from finished. Yesterday’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling in the Hobby Lobby case will make it more difficult to...