In Italy, A Teacher Is Fired For Refusing To Deny She Is Gay

Yesterday I posted about Jim Gaylord, the Tacoma, Washington school teacher who was fired from his job because he was gay. Now, to be fair, that was in 1972, and times have changed, you know … or have they?

A teacher, who only gave her name as ‘Silvia,’ was fired from her teaching position at Sacro Cuore, a Catholic school in Italy, for being gay … or for not being gay ... or maybe because she just refused to answer.

The school, saying it needed to “protect the school environment” fired ‘Silvia’ simply for refusing to confirm or deny the rumor that she is a lesbian.

“What happened to me is medieval. Maybe I’m a lesbian, maybe I’m not. But asking me about my sexual orientation as a condition for renewing my contract is unacceptable.”

But, she was given an option, saying that Sister Eugenia Libratore, the headmistress and Mother Superior, told her that the school would turn a blind eye to the rumors if Silvia was willing to “solve the problem” of maybe being gay.

Libratore confirmed to local media that she chose not to renew ‘Silvia’s’ contract, even though she’d worked at the school for five years, after hearing gossip that she was a lesbian, even though Italy has laws in place prohibiting anti-LGBT discrimination in the workplace.

Stefania Giannini, Italy’s education minister, is said to be investigating the matter and will “act with due severity” if the allegations were found to be true.

You think times change, you think people change, but just yesterday we learned of a teacher being fired ion 1972 for admitting to being gay, and here in 2014 we learn of another educator who was fired because she wouldn’t admit to being gay.

One step forward is still a few steps behind.

via Pink News

ISBL Asshat of the Week: North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory

Up there in neighbor to the north, North Carolina that is, Republican Governor Pat McCrory has opted to pass over protections for LGBT workers when he signed a new executive order that bars employment discrimination for state workers on the basis of “race, religion, color, national origin, sex, age, disability and genetic information.”

Let me make this queer: he wants to make sure that no one is discriminated against in the state’s hiring policies unless those people are LGBT and then let the discrimination roll!!

And while North Carolina LGBT advocates have condemned the policy, and are demanding an explanation, a McCrory spokes-tool, Ryan Tronovitch, claims McCrory’s new executive order mirrors federal employment language which already includes protections for LGBT workers.

Except that isn’t true.

Still, McCrory declared, as he signed the order, “This order ensures fairness and encourages people to work for state government. Insisting on nondiscrimination will strengthen our state and demonstrate that we value diversity of thought and each of our citizens’ unique backgrounds.”

Nondiscrimination, though, does not apply to sexual orientation or gender identity. So, really, it’s not nondiscrimination, it’s discrimination.

North Carolina — one of 29 states were LGBT employees can be fired based solely on their sexual orientation and gender identity — currently has no employment protections for LGBT workers. And efforts to pass employment protections for state workers and teachers have consistently stalled in the Republican –controlled state legislature because, well, gay.

Workers tied directly to the federal government are already protected under pre-existing presidential executive orders and rulings from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and last week President Obama said he would issue an executive order more clearly prohibiting discrimination in federal employment on the basis of gender identity.

It might be a tough sell in North Carolina because the Governor, and his flunkies, don’t seem to know what the law entails, or what it even means. See, when asked to comment on the lack of employment protection for North Carolina LGBT employees, McCrory Deputy Communications Director Ryan Tronovitch stated that McCrory’s executive order was similar to both federal language and past executive orders from previous North Carolina governors:

“This Executive Order mirrors federal language as well as orders issued under Governors Hunt, Martin, Easley and Perdue over the course of more than 30 years. Insisting on fairness and nondiscrimination for employees and applicants to North Carolina’s state government is a tradition that Governor McCrory is proud to continue.”

But, federal equal employment policies do, in fact, cover sexual orientation, instituted by executive order of President Barack Obama, as well as gender identity, as interpreted by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. And when this fact — and you know how republicans handle facts … they act like they don’t exist — was pointed out to Tronovitch, he replied, “Actually…you are wrong” and then directed the writer from qnotes — the source for this post — to an outdated 2009 version of federal employment policies.

And when it was pointed out, again, that he was wrong, Tronovitch finally acknowledged his earlier, incorrect statement, but then fell back on that old, still untrue, standby argument that McCrory’s new executive “mirrors” federal regulations.

Like I said, they don’t need no stinking facts.

Asshats never do.