2017 National Coming Out Day Book - Final v2

The State of the Union

Source:www.HRC.org,2017

One reality of life for your LGBTQ colleagues is that the level of legal protections they are granted is different from those granted to non-LGBTQ individuals. The right to marry was granted in 2014! This conveyed other everyday rights and benefits. For example, both LGBTQ parents can now be legal parents to their children. They have the legal right to visit a spouse or child in the hospital, give directives for their medical care, or attend their child’s parent-teacher conference. Their family can benefit from the social security taxes they paid should they predecease. We’ve come a long way. However, there is still work to do. In many states it is legal to deny public accommodation (ex: refuse service in a restaurant), expel from housing, or fire an individual for being LGBTQ. Legal protections for transgender individuals lag even further behind those of lesbian or gay individuals. We are headed in the right direction but there is still work to do. Let’s get it done!

39