Monthly Archives: February 2022

U.S: Lesbian slurs used by Grant County staff to describe job applicant

Image courtesy of Sarah Ward

A Mount Vernon woman is suing Grant County and its director of community corrections, claiming she was called a “bad lesbian,” among other derogatory terms, by staff members while under consideration for a job in 2013 and was eventually passed over because of her sexual orientation.
 
Terry Hanson, 54, contends county staff discriminated against her and violated her civil rights. In the suit filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Pendleton, Hanson claims Grant County has a “custom, policy or practice of engaging in sexual orientation discrimination.”

The claims come after another federal suit filed against Grant County in September by James Gravley, a former county parole and probation officer. Gravley claimed to have heard the comments made about Hanson, spoke out about what was said, filed a complaint with the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries and was later fired in retaliation.
 
In an answer filed in November to Gravley’s federal complaint, Grant County admitted an employee called Hanson one lesbian slur during a staff meeting to discuss job candidates, but it denies anyone called her a “bad lesbian” and other derogatory terms.
 
Both lawsuits ask for jury trials and an undisclosed amount of financial damages.

Continue reading: https://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-northwest-news/2014/12/lesbian_slurs_used_by_grant_co.html (source)

U.K: Lesbian couple forced to move home after being hounded by neighbour

A lesbian couple were forced to quit their home after they were hounded by a neighbour who spotted them kissing through their living room window, a court heard

Nurse Faye Mallon and counsellor Lydia Henshall were subjected to foul mouthed homophobic abuse by former gym owner Kim Armstrong who called them ‘naughty disrespectful girls.’

During a hate campaign father-of-two Armstrong would repeatedly drive his vehicle into the couple’s car and also filled their wheelie bin with medical waste, a court was told.

When confronted by the two women he retorted: “‘Am I bothered? You’re the f**king weirdos” and he also dismissed the couple as “fat lesbians.”

Ms Mallon, 26 and Ms Henshall, 27 later moved out of their home in Stockport, Greater Manchester to get away from the abuse.

Continue reading: https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/lesbian-couple-forced-move-home-26286691 (source)

Australia: Lesbian forced out of army will address Royal Commission

Decorated army veteran Yvonne Sillett will appear at the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide on Monday. Yvonne was driven out of the Australian Army over her sexuality three years before the government changed policy and allowed gays and lesbians to serve.

Yvonne says on the Discharged LGBTI Veterans’ Association website (DLVA) that she joined the Army at 18. After then qualifying as a cipher operator, she obtained the Top-Secret clearance necessary for the job.

But a decade later, the army’s then discriminatory policies caught up with her.

“In 1988, I was caught up in a ‘witch-hunt’ at Watsonia Barrack for being gay.”

The Army consequently notified Yvonne Sillett that it would reduce her security clearance to Confidential. She could no longer serve in the Signal Corps.

“The prospect of future promotion was next to zero and I would never be able to train female recruits again. I elected for honourable discharge after serving for 10 years!”

If Yvonne had served another decade, she would have received a pension for life. Because of her sexuality, that never happened.

Continue reading: https://qnews.com.au/lesbian-forced-out-of-army-will-address-royal-commission/ (source)

U.S: Tesla Sued by Lesbian for Racism and Homophobia

Image courtesy of Sarah Ward

A Black gay woman who worked at a Tesla Inc. factory accused the electric-vehicle maker in a lawsuit of “festering” racism by ignoring the racial and homophobic slurs and physical harm she endured.

Kaylen Barker, a former contract worker who inspected brake parts, is the latest to complain that Tesla ignores discrimination based on race, sexual orientation and gender at its plants. According to her complaint, her abuse occurred even as Tesla defended another contract worker’s discrimination case in court — which the company lost and was ordered to pay $137 million in damages.

Continue reading: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-02-02/tesla-sued-by-black-gay-worker-over-unchecked-racism-at-plant (source)

Brazil: young lesbian attacked in nightclub

A 20-year-old lesbian student was a victim of homophobia inside a nightclub in São Bernardo do Campo (SP) in the early hours of Sunday (30 January). First she was verbally abused and then she was the victim of physical violence.
Gabriela Oliveira Guimarães was at the place called Blow Rudge accompanied by three cousins ​​when she was verbally attacked by other regulars, who called her “dyke” and “Male Maria”.
(Translated)

Uma estudante de 20 anos, lésbica, foi vítima de homofobia dentro de uma casa noturna em São Bernardo do Campo (SP) na madrugada de domingo (30). Primeiro, por meio de agressões verbais. Depois, foi vítima de violência física.
Gabriela Oliveira Guimarães estava no local de nome Blow Rudge acompanhada por três primos quando foi ofendida por outros frequentadores, que a chamaram de “sapatão” e “maria macho”.
(Original)

Continue reading at: https://www.uol.com.br/universa/noticias/redacao/2022/02/01/mae-relata-homofobia-contra-jovem-lesbica-em-bar-de-sp.htm (Source)

Italy: lesbian couple threatened

14 January 2022

Outraged because two young girls publicly were affectionate on the bus, a seventy-year-old threatened them with a knife and repeatedly insulted them by shouting “ugly lesbians, either stop it or I’ll put a knife in your belly”.

The serious instance of homophobia occured the other evening on the Amt bus number 13 from Corso Saffi to the terminus of via Turati, in Caricamento. At this point, thanks to both to passengers reporting the situation to the Police emergency number, to the Amt operations center, the woman was intercepted by a police car patrol.

The seventy-year-old, who already possessed a small criminal record, was reported on foot, but got away with a simple report for threats aggravated by the use of the knife (which was later found in the hands of an acquaintance, who was reported for aiding and abetting).

(Translated)

Indignata perchè due ragazzine si scambiavano pubblicamente carezze ed effusioni sul bus, una settantenne le ha minacciate con un coltello e offese in modo ripetuto gridando più volte “brutte lesbiche, o la smettete o vi pianto un coltello nella pancia”.

Il gravissimo fatto di omofobia è accaduto l’altra sera sul bus Amt numero 13 che da corso Saffi stava raggiungendo il capolinea di via Turati, a Caricamento: proprio qui grazie all’allarme lanciato al 112 da alcuni passeggeri e dalla centrale operativa di Amt la donna è stata intercettata da una pattuglia delle volanti della polizia.

La settantenne, con già alle spalle piccoli precedenti penali, è stata denunciata a piede libero, ma se l’è cavata con una semplice segnalazione per minacce aggravate dall’uso del coltello (poi rinvenuto nelle mani di un suo conoscente, per questo denunciato per favoreggiamento).
(Original)

Continue reading at: https://www.primocanale.it/cronaca/2905-genova,-minaccia-coppia-lesbica,-graziata-dall-assenza-del-ddl-zan.html (Source)