03-26-12 Common Council Meeting Minutes

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REGULAR MEETING MARCH 26, 2012 stereotypical images that are destructive and the majority of opinion of Brown vs. The Board of Education, Supreme Court Justice Earl Warren read that the climate created by discrimination resulted in harm that could never be undone. That young people living in such a climate were forever damaged by it. The climate here in South Bend is oppressive. Devon Smith, a straight women and a graduate of Harvard Divinity School who received a doctorate from Notre Dame moved away because she did not feel that this is a safe or welcoming community. She stated that she knows people who remained closeted for fear of losing their jobs. Passage of this bill will address and give recourse to someone who loses a job based on sexual orientation only. The office manager of her church used to be the pre-trial diversion director at the St. Joseph County Prosecutor’s Office; she left that job after Mike Barnes left office and began working as a paralegal at a South Bend law firm. After working there for a year and receiving a good yearly evaluation and a raise, she was fired. Why, her boss overheard her speaking to her partner on the phone during her lunch break, she was away from her desk. The next morning he fired her telling her bluntly that he wasn’t going to work a lesbian. And still we hear the question is there really discrimination here? There is, make no mistake about it, the civil rights issue of our day. You disagree, John Becker wrote this week in an on- line newspaper: James Byrd Jr. murdered because he was black as every bit as dead as Matthew Shepherd who was killed because he was gay. She added Tyler Clementi who jumped off a bridge and killed himself after being outed by his roommate. A friend who teaches at the University of Illinois in Chicago, described to her a young student there, a transsexual who jumped to his death from scaffolding only three weeks. Walking while black or living while gay should not be a crime. All we are asking for is the right to take a grievance to the Human Rights Commission for a fair hearing and for the Human Rights Commission to act as mediators. A small thing, an important thing, a necessary and right and good thing, and of course churches are exempt. Regina Williams-Preston, 838 N. Elmer, South Bend, Indiana, stated that when it came to her attention that our city had the opportunity to adopt a new non-discrimination policy that includes protection from discrimination for sexual orientation, frankly she was surprised to learn that this is not already included in our city’s definition of human rights. She identifies at heterosexual, catholic, African-American woman, happily married for five years. She is a middle school teacher and as such, she knows the importance of affirming the experience of all students no matter their race, ethnicity, gender or sexual orientation. Yes, middle school students are struggle with issues of sexual identity. As evidenced in the rise of school bullying and recent high profile suicides of children being targeted for being gay. In the school setting, we must protect all students’ right to dignity. You may be surprised by the number of her students who have two moms or two dads. Even though they do not identify themselves, they are directly affected and deeply scared by discrimination against people based on sexual orientation. There are many voices calling for the elimination of bullying in schools. She said that we can talk to young people until we are blue in the face but as any teacher can tell you the transfer of knowledge is best done through experience and modeling, it starts with the adults. We have to stand up and say it is not okay to target people for humiliation or discrimination based on their sexual orientation. We have to do this through our own actions. The way we treat each other everyday, but most importantly, through the law. We may not all agree that sexual orientation is a choice, but most everyone would agree that no matter our sexual identity we are all human. And as human beings we all deserve equal and fair treatment under the law. Any discrimination with regard to education, housing or employment is wrong morally. We need to make all discrimination wrong legally. Over the course of history, the social evolution of human interaction has shown that laws change long before attitudes and actions. We write laws to guide our order and civility, but a change in the law doesn’t bring about an immediate change of mind. Yes, we know that change is a process. Start the process, vote to make a legal commitment to expand the scope of our non-discrimination policy to include sexual orientation. Paul Phair, 116 E. Northshore, South Bend, Indiana, stated that tonight we have heard a lot of eloquent, passionate, persuasive statements. He stated that as a young person in South Bend and someone who is involved both professionally and charitably in a lot of different organizations and a lot of events, just wanted to share a very brief opinion that he holds on a larger context of what this ordinance means for our community. In order to 16