NEWSWORKPLACE DISCRIMINATION

According to a soon to be released investigative report from the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, tens of millions of taxpayer dollars are spent each year on evangelical fundamentalist Christian concerts, retreats, youth programs and other events all aimed at converting military personnel and their families to Christianity.

This is not the money the military has historically spent on chaplains who provide support for military personnel who identify as people of faith.

Instead, the Department of Defense is spending on these programs with the intent to proselytize -- here are just a few examples of programs funded with taxpayer dollars:
--$30 million a year spent on the Army's Strong Bonds program. Strong Bonds is supposed to be non-religious, but has been hijacked by chaplains who have turned the program's pre- and post-deployment getaways for soldiers and their spouses into evangelical fundamentalist Christian retreats held at Christian camps and resorts.

In Michigan, you can fund your colleges or support your gay people, but you can’t do both. Or so says the Michigan House, which Thursday approved an amendment to the state education budget that would eliminate 5% of state funding to those schools that provide domestic partner benefits to the same-sex partner of university employees.

I know, I know. First Texas tries to weasel money away from campus LGBT support centers, now this. Because if there’s one thing conservatives hate more than education, it’s gay people!

That’s probably an unfair statement. But give me a break. It takes a major league ego to think that punishing schools that, you know, treat employees fairly, is a good idea.

Great news! Washington Governor Chris Gregoire just signed a law that will make correctional officers at prisons across the state safer on the job thanks to your signatures.

No one should be afraid to go to work, even when you work at a volatile place like a prison. But Jayme Beindl had expressed concerns about working alone, and without video surveillance, in the chapel at Monroe Correctional Complex where she worked as a Correctional Officer. After she was murdered in that very chapel by an inmate back in January, a number of investigations (including one by the National Institute of Corrections) showed that various safety precautions needed to be taken. Things like new safety curriculum for correctional officers, a pilot program for the use of personal panic button alarms and mace, and a study of the video monitoring at prison facilities. Jayme's tragic case also showed that Correctional Officers needed a better way of expressing their concerns to those who could make changes. The most important recommendation was the creation of a committee to review safety concerns at each prison facility. They would include correctional officers, giving them a chance to voice their concerns in a more effective way.

It is always worth remembering that no amount of progress is irreversible, especially in a time where the culture war seems to be as prevalent and potent as ever.

Back in February I wrote about a significant victory for LGBT people in Kansas. Manhattan, KS (home of all things purple and Wildcatty) passed an ordinance that prohibits discrimination against people based on sexual orientation and gender identity. I had also written about attempts to stop it and undo it. But ultimately, the ordinance passed, and I couldn’t have been more proud.

But after April’s city commission election, it looks like all of that hard work may be undone. Two of the original supporters of the ordinance have been ousted, and replaced with people who would love to see the ordinance repealed.

More than 120,000 people have joined a viral petition campaign calling on McDonald’s and Maryland authorities to take action over the severe beating of a transgender woman at a franchise of the fast-food chain near Baltimore, Maryland.

The assault, captured on film by a McDonald’s employee, shows 22-year-old Chrissy Lee Polis viciously attacked by several customers while McDonald’s employees watch. Polis is punched, knocked to the ground, dragged across the floor by her hair, and kicked in the face until she appears to experience a seizure.

To date, only one McDonald’s employee has been held responsible, with the company continuing to say that it’s investigating the situation and “will take appropriate action as necessary.”

The attack has caused widespread outrage, with hundreds of people attending a vigil and rally outside of the Maryland McDonald’s to protest anti-transgender violence. In response to the attack, Adrian Leigh Cowan, a Baltimore resident, also launched a campaign on Change.org, the fastest-growing online platform for social change.

Indiana University South Bend Chancellor Una Mae Reck has heard a loud and clear message from many students and faculty on campus, who want the Chancellor to suspend Chick-fil-A as a vendor on campus, given the restaurant chain's deep financial ties to extreme anti-gay groups around the country.

Students with the Civil Rights Student Association, the Gay Straight Alliance, the Feminist Student Union, and the Student Workers Unions have all asked Chancellor Reck to suspend Chick-fil-A from serving food on campus, arguing that Chick-fil-A's endorsement of groups fighting civil rights for LGBT Americans violates IUSB's Supplier Code of Conduct, which requires vendors to adhere to anti-discrimination and diversity policies inclusive of sexual orientation.

These same students have been joined by faculty, who passed a Faculty Senate resolution last month that called for a deeper look into Chick-fil-A's support for anti-gay groups. These same faculty supported a suspension of Chick-fil-A from campus, while a review of the restaurant's ties to homophobic groups was conducted. Those ties include documentation of more than $1.1 million to groups opposed to LGBT equality, as well as donations from individual franchises to anti-gay groups, as well as events at Chick-fil-A's charitable arm, the WinShape Foundation, designed around opposition to same-sex marriage.

Say there's a person who believes that LGBT people deserve no legal protections from discrimination, who believes that LGBT people don't deserve basic civil rights, and who advocates "ex-gay" therapy -- the dangerous practice of trying to "cure" people of their sexual orientation. Would you expect the government to reward this person with a cushy job, where they would be tasked with making significant decisions about hiring?

That's what is happening in Jackson, Michigan, where county administrators have appointed a woman named Crystal Dixon as Director of Human Resources. Dixon has a past that is particularly controversial. In 2008, she was fired from the University of Toledo, after publishing a letter where she wrote that LGBT people were against God, that they should try to "cure" themselves of their sexual orientation, and that they deserved no legal protections from discrimination since their homosexuality was merely "a lifestyle choice."

The appointment has drawn the ire of many equal rights activists in the state of Michigan, given that Dixon's new appointment puts her directly in charge of overseeing human resources -- a department that is supposed to be seen as an outlet for all city and county employees, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity. But with a woman like Dixon at the helm, can LGBT employees in Jackson really feel trusted and safe?

Indiana University at South Bend (IUSB) made news a couple months ago, after the school temporarily suspended Chick-fil-A as a campus vendor, in the wake of numerous stories that indicated the chicken chain had substantial financial ties to leading anti-gay organizations in the United States.

Chick-fil-A was later reinstated as a vendor by the school's chancellor, but student and faculty activism certainly did not subside. Indeed, in the past few weeks, students and faculty have stepped up their organizing in hopes of convincing the school's chancellor that Chick-fil-A's anti-gay agenda is incompatible with the university's commitment to diversity and equality. These students and faculty members are now presenting a unified voice from across scores of departments and organizations on campus, urging the chancellor to listen to popular opinion, and remove Chick-fil-A as a food service vendor.

The Student Government Association overwhelmingly endorsed efforts to hold Chick-fil-A accountable on campus for the company's anti-gay ties. And last week, the IUSB Faculty Senate passed a resolution calling out the inconsistency of hosting Chick-fil-A -- which has given more than $1.1 million to organizations opposed to LGBT equality -- on campus. Here's the pivotal clause in their resolution, which was forwarded to Change.org via email:

The anti-gay narrative around the restaurant chain Chick-fil-A is about to intensify in a major way.

Earlier this year, Chick-fil-A came under fire after a franchise in Pennsylvania decided to give a substantial donation to an event organized by the Pennsylvania Family Institute, one of the leading anti-gay groups in the Keystone State and an ardent opponent of marriage equality.  Soon after that news broke, bloggers like Jeremy Hooper at Good As You noted that Chick-fil-A's charitable arm, the WinShape Foundation, had hosted retreats for some of the most virulent anti-gay groups in the country, including the National Organization for Marriage, Focus on the Family, the Ruth Institute and more.

Now an in-depth investigation from Equality Matters finds that Chick-fil-A has given over $1.1 million to anti-gay groups around the country, and has employment practices that are hostile toward "sinful" candidates. Talk about a fowl discovery, sure to make Chick-fil-A among the most anti-gay businesses in the entire United States.

What's a wedding without flowers, right? Flowers (hopefully fair trade ones!) are a staple at most every nuptial, whether they're held by a bride, on the lapel of a groom, or in a centerpiece at a reception table. But one Canadian florist is making clear that if your wedding is a same-sex wedding, she won't be providing the flowers.

Too bad that's in violation of Canadian law.

At issue is the florist Petals and Promises Wedding Flowers in New Brunswick, Canada. The owner of that shop, Kim Evans, initially agreed to provide flowers for an upcoming wedding in the area. But when Evans found out that the flowers would be for a lesbian wedding, she decided to cancel the order by firing off an email to the couple.