Around The Nation

Ohio

Federal Appellate Court Upholds Termination Of Anti-Gay Human Resources Administrator

CINCINNATI, OH -- In a ruling handed down on Monday, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit upheld the University of Toledo's decision to fire a high-level human-resources administrator, who wrote a newspaper opinion column challenging the idea that LGBTQ people deserve the same civil-rights protections as members of racial minority groups.

Crystal Dixon, who had been the university's interim associate vice president for human resources wrote an op-ed essay published in the Toledo Free Press in April 2008 in which she took aim at LGBTQ people writing that she was greatly offended that "those person who choose the homosexual lifestyle are 'civil-rights victims." She also added that she "cannot wake up tomorrow and not be a black woman" because she is biologically and genetically such "as my creator intended." But, she said, "daily, thousands of homosexuals make a life decision to leave the gay lifestyle" with the help of groups such as Exodus International, which claim to be able to help people overcome homosexual desires. 

The Court ruled that Dixon's op-ed column "contradicted the very policies she was charged with creating, promoting, and enforcing, and cannot be excused as merely a statement of her own views as a private citizen." The court upheld a lower court decision to dismiss the lawsuit. 

In her lawsuit Dixon charged that the university's decision to terminate her violated her constitutional rights. She accused the university administration of violating her First Amendment rights by retaliating against her for her speech. She also claimed that her 14th Amendment right to equal protection under the law was violated by punishing her for expressing her views on homosexuality while other university employees were allowed to state views on homosexuality that the administration favored.

In upholding the dismissal of Ms. Dixon's lawsuit, the Sixth circuit noted that she in fact differed from other university employees cited in her equal-protection claim in that "her speech, and not theirs, contradicted university policies." The court ruled that her essay "spoke on policy issues related directly to her position at the university," and the government's interests as an employer outweighed her free-speech interests in the dispute.

University of Toledo president Lloyd A. Jacobs, had written his own Toledo Free Press op-ed which distanced the university from Dixon's viewpoint although Dixon had not identified herself as an employee of the university.

New Jersey

Proposed NJ legislation Would Ban LGBTQ Minors From 'Conversion' Therapy

TRENTON, NJ -- A bill has been introduced that could make New Jersey the nation’s second state to impose limits on the practice known as 'reparative or conversion therapy.' The measure, NJ Assembly Bill (A3371), which is backed by the American Psychological Association's research, would prohibit counseling that seeks to change the sexual orientation for any person under the age of 18.

Assemblyman John Burzichelli (D-Paulsboro) who along with openly gay Assemblyman Timothy Eustace (D-Bergen County), co-sponsored the legislation said Tuesday;

“I don’t know it’s something rampant in New Jersey with aggressive offering of the service, but some are suggesting that, for a fee, they can change a person’s sexual orientation. It’s so odd in the 2012, soon to be 2013, that anyone would take seriously that sexual orientation is going to be changed by the therapy. There is no sign to tell us it’s a possibility.” ~ NJ.com

The American Psychological Association — which began recognizing in 1974 that homosexuality is not a mental disorder — charged a task force to take a close look at research literature for sexual orientation efforts. 

Clinton Anderson, the Washington D. C. based Director of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Concerns Office at American Psychological Association said;

“There is evidence that some people thought they were harmed by the [conversion] therapy. By encouraging them to believe they could change, when in fact they were not able to change, was undermining to their self-esteem, made them feel worse about themselves and that their faith was not great enough. Those sorts of perceptions people have of themselves can lead to depression, anxiety and more distress.” 

Anderson noted that the majority of the APA's research and data is based on adults but he pointed out that children, particularly adolescents, are more vulnerable.  

Assemblyman Burzichelli reflected; “If an adult wants to engage in processes to change their life, that is an adult decision." 

California, which was the first state in the nation to ban the practise, has a federal court injunction preventing its law from taking effect on January 1 until two cases brought by anti-gay groups who advocate so-called reparative therapy are resolved, with a decision in one of those cases expected as early as this week.