You cannot just create positions for cis, white, abled gay people and call it doing the work on justice. Creating a position for a cis, white, gay man to get paid to chair a community relations commission doesn’t mean anything at all. Having some laws in place doesn’t change the fact that we are more likely to be unemployed or underemployed, more likely to be laid off or fired, and unable to seek legal redress for it. The same goes for these claims about employment that are, frankly, simply false. The GRPD engages in so much inequitable behavior and having a liaison isn’t going to magically transform the nature of policing and the overarching methods.
To say we have a equality in this city on the basis of the police force now having a liaison and some training is, frankly, horrifying. There are so many things wrong with this focus.
Second, I notice that the two primary areas they are claiming the city has improved is in relation to policing and employment. So frankly, their ranking is questionable to begin with. We have much more work to do to be a truly inclusive city.Īaminah – First, it is important to note that the organization that provides this scoring system is a deeply problematic organization with a terrible track record regarding racial justice, engaging in/supporting biphobia, and lack of meaningful support for transgender individuals including erasure of non-binary people. I appreciate the efforts to be more inclusive but personally I think the HRC 92 out of 100 ranking is extremely premature. I was repeatedly called a sinner by complete strangers, something I had never experienced before in my life. We were in a bit of a culture shock when we first arrived in Grand Rapids. Boston has a long history of being a welcoming city to the gay community. Even an honorable judge recently was singled out by her priest who denied her a sacrament of her faith.Įight years ago, my wife and I moved here from Boston, Massachusetts. There is still a deep seeded culture in Grand Rapids that is oppressive to the LGBTQA+ folx. They are put in crisis because they have been kicked out of their family homes. Organizations that support homeless youth like HQ and 3:11 Housing report that the high numbers of youth who face housing insecurity are from the LGBTQA+ identities. Parents even if they are accepting face being ostracized by other family members, friends and faith communities. At issue is the teen coming out to their family members and facing rejection. Here are four responses that I receivedĬolleen – As an openly gay minister from a liberal church here in Grand Rapids I am contacted throughout the year by teenagers or parents of LGBTQA+ youth. I found the high score somewhat unbelievable, based on interactions and conversations I have had in recent years with those who identify as LGBTQ, so I sent the MLive article and the HRC scorecard to numerous people to get their response. Below is a chart of how the City of Grand Rapids scored, looking at the following areas: non-discrimination laws, municipality as employer, law enforcement and leadership on LGBTQ equality. The LGBTQ-friendly status was based on a metric that comes from the national organization, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC). Last month, MLive ran a story about the City of Grand Rapids receiving a high score for being an LGBTQ-friendly city.