Organization Offers Assistance to Survivors Experiencing Discrimination
The organization has launched a toll-free hotline stating that tragedy does not discriminate and neither should relief agencies.
On Sept. 12th Lambda Legal announced plans for outreach to LGBT survivors of the hurricane who may experience discrimination in services provided by agencies because of their sexual orientation, gender identity, or HIV status.
The organization is reaching out to a variety of agencies, including gay and lesbian centers near the area impacted by Hurricane Katrina and around the country, asking them to distribute a flier outlining forms of discrimination gay men, lesbians, bisexuals, transgender people or people with HIV may experience after disasters.
Lambda Legal is asking people to contact them if you or someone you know are being kept out of or been mistreated by a shelter or other facility because of sexual orientation, gender identity, or HIV status, denied access to needed HIV medications or care, denied help, services, or the ability to assert legal rights because you are (or were) in a same-sex relationship and not married, kept from your or other family members, or denied the ability to take action on their behalf because you don’t have a formal legal relationship, asked to provide documents to prove your relationship or ownership of property when married people are not, turned away or mistreated by a private or public relief agency based on religious views about LGBT or HIV-affected people, mistreated in temporary or permanent foster care, and denied the right to handle the affairs of a deceased loved one.
“If individuals or couples within the LGBT or HIV community are denied services because of their sexual orientation, gender identity, or HIV status, I encourage them to call one of our help desks around the country,” said Kevin Cathcart, executive director of Lambda Legal.
Lambda Legal Help Desk Numbers are as follows:
Toll-Free Hotline – 866-542-8336
South Central Regional Office (Dallas) – 214-219-8585
National Headquarters (New York) – 212-809-8585
Midwest Regional Office (Chicago) – 312-663-4413
Western Regional Office (Los Angeles) – 213-382-7660
Lambda Legal is a national organization committed to achieving full recognition of the civil rights of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgender people, and those with HIV through impact litigation, education, and public policy work.
