The GLBT Center at NC State held a seminar discussing legal and policy protections Wednesday evening for GLBT History Month.
The GLBT Center invited guest speaker Sarah Gillooly, the policy director for the American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina, to speak about policy and law evolution in the GLBT community from the 1990s to present day.
“The ACLU of North Carolina works to protect the legal and constitutional rights of North Carolinians and defend the constitution of our state and the United States,” Gillooly said. “In a more practical sense, my job is primarily as the lobbyist for the ACLU of North Carolina. I spend my days in the general assembly working with lawmakers on the bills they are passing.”
Gillooly began her presentation by discussing history of the GLBT community in the 1990s.
“So what was happening in the 1990s in America?” Gillooly said. “We were at the height of the AIDS crisis. 42,000 Americans died at the peak year of death from HIV and AIDS related complications. We saw celebrities coming out, this is all happening in the 90s, suddenly queer and trans people are visible.”
Chris Brook, the legal director of ACLU-NC, discussed some historical court cases that helped to shape law and policy for the GLBT community. This included important court cases like Romer v. Evans in 1996, which was the first case to declare discrimination based on sexual orientation violated constitutional protective rights.
“It was really the first decision that held that discrimination against [the GLBT community] could violate the Constitution,” Brook said.
Gillooly also discussed some influential laws that were passed or repealed by Congress that were beneficial to the GLBT community. These included the repeal of the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy and the inclusion of transgender and undocumented women in the Violence Against Women Act.
“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell was repealed by Congress in 2010,” Gillooly said. “This meant that gay, lesbian and bisexual people could serve in the U.S. armed forces. The Violence Against Women Act gives federal funding for domestic violence prevention and response and tapped into that law in 2014 with some language that says anyone who gets that money cannot discriminate against transgender and undocumented women. This was remarkable.”
Preston Keith, the assistant director for the GLBT Center at NC State, talked about the importance of this seminar for students.
“Our policies and laws have shifted and changed through the last two decades,” Keith said. “Looking at it from the early 20th century until now, recognizing that there’s been a lot of successes but also a lot of backlash that’s happening. Wanting people to be more aware of some of the policies and how it relates to their experiences and how that kind of fits into this larger narrative of the political landscape of GLBT protections and laws currently and in the future.”
Keith stated that policies discussed in the seminar, like employment discrimination and access to health care, play a big role in the lives of students in the GLBT community. He encouraged students to be aware of the policies and legislation that relates to them and said the GLBT Center at NC State can connect students with resources within and outside the University.
“We have connections across the Triangle,” Keith said. “Being able to get you connected to a local nonprofit organization, an organizing institution or some type of mechanism or resource that can be available for you and get you connected to those resources. So kind of raising awareness around that as well.”
Gillooly ended her seminar by talking about policy advocacy in the GLBT community.
“There’s a lot of ways to be an advocate,” Gillooly said. “We’re advocates when we work for the survival of communities. Not all of us are going to be standing on a picket line, or lobbying a capital building. Some of us are going to make sure that beloved communities are housed and fed and cared for.”
The GLBT Center is located in 5230 Talley Student Union and is open Monday-Friday from 8 a.m.-5 p.m.
