Oregon Principal Claims He Was Let Go For Being Gay

Tom Klansnic served as principal of North Gresham Elementary School for ten years, until the school declined to renew his contract after he came out as gay, says his attorney.

BY SUNNIVIE BRYDUM

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An elementary school principal in Gresham, Ore., says school leadership declined to renew his contract because he is openly gay. Tom Klasnic has been the principal of North Gresham Elementary School for ten years, but when his contract came up for renewal, the district declined to rehire him, reports KOINLocal6. The principal divorced his former wife three years ago, and subsequently came out as gay, reports KOIN. 

Klansnic’s attorney, Judy Snyder, said that she and her client are preparing to file a lawsuit against the district alleging discrimination and retaliation. Oregon’s antidiscrimination laws do include employment protections based on sexual orientation.

“He’s been a very successful principal and he’s continued to be a very successful principal even under close scrutiny of the last two years,” Snyder told KOIN, pointing out that the school district renewed Klansnic’s contract twice without performance complaints before the principal came out as gay. “He’s had a great deal of difficulty getting specifics as to what he has failed to do to meet performance expectations.”

The school district declined to offer specifics about why it did not renew Klansnic’s contract, but did confirm that it has a nondiscrimination policy that includes sexual orientation.

“It’s our policy not to discuss personnel matter,” said Athena Vadnais, a spokesperson for the school. “And under Oregon state law, anything within an employee’s file is confidential.”

'Ace of Cakes' Star Offers Wedding Cake to Lesbian Couple Turned Away from Oregon Bakery

By: SheWired Editors

A lesbian couple in Oregon was turned away from the Sweet Cakes bakery after the owner refused to bake their wedding cake, calling them “abominations to the Lord.”  Now, Ace of Cakes star Duff Goldman has stepped up and offered to bake them their wedding cake, according to an interview with The Huffington Post. Goldman, executive chef of Baltimore’s Charm City Cakes, told HuffPo that he read about the baker turning the women away and new that he could help.

“I will make you a cake for free, drive it up to Portland no charge just to right this wrong,” Goldman said.

Aaron Klein, the owner of the Gresham Ore., bakery Sweet Cakes is under investigation over the incident as an Oregon statute bans sexual orientation discrimination in public accommodation, which includes businesses. However, that statute may conflict with Klein’s constitutional right to practice his religion. The office of Oregon’s attorney general is investigating the matter. Following the incident Klein told a local news station, “I believe that marriage is a religious institution ordained by God,” Klein, who owns the bakery with his wife Melissa, is quoted as saying.

Specifying that he does not consider himself to be anti-gay:

“I’ll sell [gay people] stuff…I’ll talk to them, it’s fine” — Klein also noted, “I’d rather have my kids see their dad stand up for what he believes in then to see him bow down because one person complained.”

Victory for Oregon's Transgender State Workers

LAMBDA LEGAL CLIENT ALEC ESQUIVEL
by Lambda Legal
Oregon has changed its state employees’ health care policies to include transition-related health care for transgender people, Lambda Legal announced today. The change came in response to Lambda Legal’s lawsuit on behalf of state employee Alec Esquivel, who was denied insurance coverage for a medically necessary surgery because he is transgender.

Esquivel says:

This is a huge relief for me, and I appreciate that the state has clarified its health benefits policy to ensure others will not have to go through what I did to access the health care prescribed by their doctor

Designated female at birth, Esquivel was diagnosed with gender identity disorder (GID) in 2001 and began to take steps to align his body with his longstanding male gender identity. In 2010, Esquivel’s doctor recommended that he undergo a hysterectomy as part of his treatment, but the doctor’s request for insurance coverage was denied based on the plan’s categorical exclusion of transition-related health care. 

In 2011, Lambda Legal—along with Jennifer Middleton of co-counsel Johnson Johnson Larson & Schaller in Eugene—sued the state and the Public Employees’ Benefit Board, arguing that Oregon’s antidiscrimination law prohibits an employer from denying insurance coverage on the basis of gender identity.

Lambda Legal Staff Attorney Tara Borelli says:

By removing the categorical exclusion that prevented Alec Esquivel from accessing critically necessary health care, the state of Oregon has replaced a discriminatory, harmful barrier with a commitment to treating employees equally. Alec was denied coverage simply because he is transgender. When the State refused to provide him with coverage for the same medical procedure that co-workers could access, Alec was compensated less based on his gender identity.  Oregon has now corrected that inequity.

GID is a serious medical condition recognized by the American Medical Association, the American Psychiatric Association, and the World Health Organization. Treatment varies by individual, but can involve a combination of hormone therapy, sex reassignment surgery and psychotherapy. The AMA and other major medical associations have called for an end to discriminatory exclusions of medical care in health insurance policies for people with GID.  

Learn more about transition-related health care here.

Lambda Legal: Esquivel v. Oregon Case

Alec Esquivel is a law school graduate who is clerking for the Oregon Court of Appeals. Assigned female sex at birth, he was diagnosed with Gender Identity Disorder (GID) in 2001 and began to take steps to have his body match his male gender identity. In 2010, as part of his transition-related health plan, Alec sought insurance coverage for a hysterectomy, a procedure that routinely is covered for other employees under the state’s health plan. Esquivel’s doctor then submitted a request for insurance coverage. On June 21, 2010, Esquivel was denied based on the plan’s categorical exclusion of transition-related health care, a violation of Oregon’s antidiscrimination guarantees.

Lambda Legal’s lawsuit seeks recognition that denying a public employee the same coverage that others receive because of the employee’s gender identity violates Oregon’s Equality Act and its guarantees of equal treatment in the workplace regardless of gender identity.

Click the header link above to read the full article.

Oregon Republicans strip anti-gay language from party platform

gaypolitics:

The Oregon Republican party has voted to the remove language from the official party platform that some members saw as needlessly hostile toward gays.

The change is a conscious effort to attract younger voters — as well as more gays and lesbians — to the party, said one party member.

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(via )

Men Arrested, Released in Portland Hate Crime

By Neal Broverman

MAIN: Andrew Smith, UPPER R:Shawn Siefke, LOWER R: Christian Sanchez-Villavencio X390 (FAIR) | ADVOCATE.COM

Two men were arrested in connection with an antigay attack in Portland, Ore., early Saturday morning, then released.

Shawn Siefke (top right) and Christian Sanchez-Villavencio (bottom right) asked a man for directions at about 3 a.m. on Saturday. They allegedly began hurling antigay epithets at him before pushing him to the ground. Andrew Smith (left) came to the man’s aid and then found himself punched and eventually kicked in the head. Siefke and Sanchez-Villavencio left the scene only to inadvertently return when police arrived — they were both arrested.

Siefke was charged with third-degree assault and second-degree intimidation, while Sanchez-Villavencio was charged with third-degree assault. They have both since been released, but police are still investigating the incident. Smith had a CAT scan and was released from the hospital.

Read more here. 

Can 4Chan Help Track Down This Portland Gay Basher Who Left His Victim Unconscious?

Police have released this sketch of an unknown gay bashing suspect — described as ” 6’1, muscular, white with freckles, and blond” — who attacked a Portland, Oregon, man walking home at night on Nov. 1. The victim descended from a pedestrian walkway over train tracks, where his attacker, who was seated on a bike and accompanied by another man on a bike, “made remarks” about his sexual orientation before beating him unconscious; he’s since been released from the hospital. Police are releasing this sketch a month after the attack because initial leads didn’t pan out.