OutCasting; Legal services for LGBT families and people living with HIV

set this is our casting the lower hudson river valleys only youth radio show dealing with lgbt q struggles triumphs lifestyles favorite taxes we don't have to be queer to be here are casting this production of westchester public radio the pdf h fm ninety point three and passing your and on the neck at the pdf h duh all archie on this edition of the casting will talk with richard signs about his experiences as a lawyer with queen's legal services in new york city in queens legal services is a nonprofit organization seeks to provide equal access to justice for all low income residents of queens for a range of legal advocacy education and community partnerships they provide free legal counseling representation and referrals and civil matters eligible low income individuals and families they also work to address and identify root causes for systemic inequalities in the legal system and queens legal services as a part of a legal services nyc our guest richard science represents a low income people living with a chevy and

lgbt families i'm travis here with juliana hi richard thanks so much for joining us i thank you travis and going on are so hard to get into this kind of advocacy well as a gay latino man from houston texas there weren't that many have people look like me doing legal work dad even fewer who are out i've been out since i school and have been doing advocacy work and organizing since high school again it was just because the need was there in college my university i had i went to georgetown university which was which is the first catholic university in the united states we did not have an lgbt resource center and like in around college is now it's unheard of to not have a resource center and my classmates and i along with the support professors and the administration that some of the administration you know that was something that we worked hard on and it took many years and it wasn't until after i had

graduated that the gun that they did establish an lgbt resource center what are the sorts of issues that you deal with on a daily basis on any given day i can be dealing with on one type of issue for example a family court case which can be a costly issue or i can start off the morning with the benefits issue that someone someone's benefits were this budget it then in the afternoon deal with an issue about discrimination and then at night get an email concerning i'm someone who's facing an eviction and so the survey issues and then he would focus with people living with a chevy or lgbt families but first talk about the age of the people most of our clients are livin on some former public assistance which includes some shelter costs which includes food stamps and also some public health insurance program like medicaid is for example

there were an accident although my primary issue is trying to get better are getting healthier because i money into work this might lead to me losing my job or me losing my house think or for some people across a mean you know having less food on the table so when we talk about i'm having in each at specific project were taught about those issues but work were also talk about the reality that in two thousand and twelve people living with a chevy are still highly stigmatized there's still a lot of misinformation out there about the virus itself and what it means to be living with intervene for lgbt families and individuals again there's still a lot of stigma out there although we live in new york state which is relatively progressive there is still a number of issues that are made worse because of discrimination and discriminatory practices so for example in new york state all those same sex couples are able to get married now there's still a lot of

unanswered questions around how other states are the places where no respect i recognize their families so do you deal with a lot of marriage equality retarding like insurance policies and taxes with barry couples we do know and in fact my organization and legal services nyc we partnered where i'm lambda legal which is the national lgbt in each at advocacy organization and preparing what we call our new york state marriage equality act its impact on low income and no income families when that marriage equality was enacted last summer everyone was excited is a great i'm time they came out the bill passed right around pride time so it gave us another reason to celebrate a new york state was recognizing and respecting our families but for many people who are living in poverty are dealing with issues around finances it was a new thing for for same sex couples who were receiving public assistance for example some of the questions we were getting from our community

members were if i receive public assistance and i were to get married what i still be eligible in some cases the answer is no because marriage is more than just the respect of our families is also the cop a good joining together to two house votes i guess i'm including the finances some other questions are if i'm receiving benefits or a federal program will the federal government recognize my family and my spouse four am and benefits for our purposes around benefits the answer is unclear my organization our position is that the so called defense of marriage act is unconstitutional and there are a number of cases going on nationally dealing with that specific issue and the end result is am i going to have this additional benefit then aman title too because the federal government is respecting my arm my family or my limited only by my home state recognized my family but when you're doing a case that has to do with lgbt

discrimination have you seen a lot of themes in our recurring issues of discrimination unfortunately gas and they're some of the same issues that have been going on for four years there is an inherent disbelief for example with the trans transgender client that this person cannot be telling the truth there is not credible because you know they're in the air and they're confuse or the they don't even know what they are i have heard and judges make comments might well why it out to tell anyone you're transgender on whitey had to have these operations there is this just the skepticism about an lgbt people and again i'm in my example is transgender people arm with the gay lesbian people there still a belief that we are not

capable of having met your relationships that we are not interested in and families and that can again that this belief that the judgment is still going on an island fortunately the court system and i think there's been a lot of work diane on educating again raising the competence levels and in the court system but there's a lot of work to go how a new deal a bad at the judge or somebody else in the koran says something like discriminatory toward your client i can answer two ways first as an attorney my job is to represent my client to divest my abilities part of representing my client is making sure that my client is respected and everyone in a new york state is entitled to a fair hearing if you're a part of have an affair hearing is that you're not disrespected from the get go so again

using a trench in decline as an example in new york state there still not a law that prohibits discrimination based on gender identity and expression some counties do include gender identity and expression in their non discrimination act on for example the new york city human rights law does but on the state and federal level gender identity and gender expression are not protected classes so going and to a courtroom an administrative hearing office or anytime you're you're working for your quiet the first thing is to make sure that they are respected as a navigator i filled the way to address the discrimination are the possible discrimination is to work again with community groups and with community members are learning how they can advocate for themselves unfortunately there's a lack of resources and providing representation for everyone else that means that what that means is that one client who identifies as lgbt lumber says another klein who designed have

representation may have a totally different experiences in front of the same judge being a lawyer who'd god deals with a bunch of different not much related topics like domestic abuse and discrimination ever see these issues lumped together all the time one of the models that we use and have been an lgbt an atv advocacy project is that there is so much at intersections and our clients lives so for example i am someone who identifies as a gay man may also have hpv but his legal issue is about how sick you know so although his identities are directly or his medical salazar related to the direct legal issue my job is to make sure that he is comfortable and respected throughout the entire process and although i would probably be the first attorney he meets with it by making sure along with our project director jennifer change that everyone is at the same level of

being respectful to our clients regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity or hpv status this is travis here on out testing we don't have to be cleared to be here i'm talking today with giuliani and we're speaking with richard signs about his experiences as a lawyer in newark city representing the low income people living with a chevy and lgbt families you mentioned that you're the only lawyer and your staff about twenty five attorneys that deals with these sort of issues and do you think that's a good thing or do you think there should be sort of separate lawyers that specifically know about one topic or do you think that everyone should calm and now about everything i think it's an example of a nonprofit organization who provides free direct legal services try to be responsive to the needs of our community with limited resources the reality is that for every quiet are every case they were able to take on there so many that were unable to take on just due

to lack of resources but your question about dumb like expertise or are been a special assessment in specific area as i am a big advocate of being bombed of gaining expertise in specific areas on although my practice i'm doing more with our specific populations you know i can go down the hall to one of our experts on housing or one of our experts on tax law and you know we have to work together on please legal services we have around nine different units and again a staff around twenty five attorneys and in addition to a great support staff that are usually the first people that our clients are meeting where we work on a number of different issues and we have two offices in queens one in long island city where we house art and domestic violence on advocacy project which is again representing victims of domestic violence and family court he says an immigration related issues and also in matrimonial switcher

divorces we also have our disability advocates project which represents people mostly and social security hearings and then i'm in the federal courts we have an education project where most of our clients there are armed people our school age including elementary to high school level who are either facing suspensions or need an individual education plan and our attorney in paralegal work on that we have the food stamp project and then again aren't to make office we have our housing unit on which focuses mainly on a nonhuman even a chance and i'm hauled over cases and also for a partnership work were now focusing on discrimination in the house and contacts we do have a foreclosure project as well as our low income tax clinic and our consumer issues project so we have a number of different issues and a number of different

units respond to those issues and sometimes our clients more than likely are quite so multiple issues when they come to us i worked hand in hand with the other attorneys to make sure that we are representing them not only to the best of my ability but to the best of the ability of queens legal services do you think that such different topics like a chevy lgbt families and like domestic violence which kind of sometimes the elderly teenager beat up together but do you think that things like domestic violence to kind of be one together with lgbt families i do know i'm in the united states again day on the statistics are minimal and it under reporting by the oft quoted a statistic is that in same sex couples are in at what's being called intimate partner violence the rates are comparable to and heterosexual couples the issue is that it wasn't until two thousand and eight and new york state that i'm someone who

is innocent sex couple is experiencing an intimate partner violence was able to go to india the family court to get an order of protection and in the past a man you have to call the police have your partner arrested go to the criminal process in order to get an order of protection again that has opened up so many issues of bell on the history of discrimination and harassment and abuse of the police department against lgbt identified individuals so i think the model we use in developing or different projects we are mindful of the different entry such malady that happens and we try to address all of those issues because we do have clients who are lgbt am living with hpv and experiencing fun family related issues does your work cover include lgbt youth with us and i like i think what we're seeing is

either clients who are over eighteen but less than twenty four or armed youths who are of school age eight and again in our in our education you name as you al azhar are our disability advocates project we want to represent you and the other cases for example and our family will you know we we have taken on some youths who are i am people who are twenty four and younger and representing them in the family quarters again this is an area that we are expanding our lgbt advocacy work and we you we want a partner with the experts' out there you know there's a great organization called day one that works specifically when you are young people under twenty four years of age and they also they are also expanding their appeal to be at work there been a lot of things in the media though lgbt youth in there something's uncivil something's been criminal out of nowhere like that how the comedy case within tennis amore the student in i don't know

what part or the country ten was bullied at school and then i said a boy's mother gave him a stun gun to do with the bullying and then there was the string got expelled do you know about that i was in indiana speaking about that case and of that fall under something you never because dealing with that falls under their that it's the intersection of criminal and civil armed for example i know in addition to possibly bullying because of someone actual are perceived sexual orientation and there might also be issues around roman to halt this is for example someone who every day i go to school i know i'm going to be harassed they might be dealing with anxiety or depression and instead of the school officials doing their job what they're responsible for which is the safety of all of the students they want to get

rid of that student i do on the cd the increased media to shut the attention to bullying on seems to be a natural progression of the media and society at large really looking at lgbt issues has as valid issues were intensive training when he's sad to be a lawyer on these cases i'm definitely an illegal trading and understanding that our clients are not perfect and our clients are dealing with a number of issues and in terms of training because of experience and i know i would say anyone who's interested in doing work went on perry with marginalized communities to do an internship yet get out there there's a number of community organizations other ways looking for volunteers and it's that that person all experience and the personal touch working with the un the specific communities that are gonna make you a better advocate you're the starting that you're passionate about this issue or

whatever issues hear your passion about it's now i'm putting it into practice in the best place to go is to these organizations other are doing this work what was your training are your experiences that guy to the point of being a lawyer that specialized in your area currently while i was studying i was really into social justice movements and i might be says look at how the lgbt movement is in that natural extension of the civil rights movement the women's movement the labor movement and how all how all of these things relate to each other and wonder like that the different tactics and techniques are the lessons learned from each of these movements i did have an internship with the national organization on that and at the time all week we knew that there was going to be a big shift and just a national discussion a national policy around people so civil liberties that was my training ground you know being on the forefront of

that i my first job out of college was with the national the chafee advocacy group that was specific to latino men and women and i'm transgender people and from there i got the experience of not only looking at it from a local level but also a regional and a national level but i think it's important you know a number of us we can the board and raze infinity and a certain location to go to school right down the street you know go to college in the same area work your family's all here and they're so much more are out there that you died you know we should take the time if you have the opportunity to take advantage of that to see how things how people do things differently in new york from texas or end in origin what specific lions have you help that you felt the best about that you really need a change they're still there is my first case that

it i i guess every will always remember their first client mine was an order an older woman i'm living with each ady who was facing eviction because there was a problem with her own public assistance budget so any use you're seeing now is in its multiple issues going into play here and she was homebound and due to the stress of possibly being evicted she suffered a stroke working with her and you know getting all the information and advocating for is to make sure that the corrected her her budget and that she was able to receive those benefits so then she would not be effective and seeing that whole process and you know hearing from her on a daily basis you know checking and how are you doing today are you feeling today take a break and we could talk about it tomorrow know i got to have a connection with her and then at the end when we were successful and helping her you know if there was such a great moment the bigger part of that was this was a client and due to the nature of my

project i had never met her all of our communication was over the phone she was home they are you know so although i didn't have that base of face time with her i felt that you know i was able to represent her because we had a connection and then another great he says i represented the family who wanted to become the guardian for a three siblings who are whose mother had passed away all three of them get the children have to for medical issues and we were successful and i'm hoping hoping this family become the guardians of them and we were to keep them together richard what you think has changed since you're a young out gay man in high school a ton of things have changed you know i'm so happy and excited to be at an lgbt youth i am radio program and being able to talk about being a gay man you know for me it's very important

and it validates mind my existence validates my work and it validates that a lot of positive changes have happened to one on one of the major things now is that we have ever every night on on a news there's just a story concerning lgbt issues not all of the more positive stories by the fact that they were making the news now is gripping know i think the celebrities coming out and the change in the media has had a huge impact on how society discusses lgbt issues i think a lot of but the progress that has been made for lesbian and gay people has not really captured that demeans or been as respectful to the needs of transgender communities and transgender people and so i think that's one area where much more change has to happen one other big change in how society discusses

or how gay people themselves talk about ourselves is that we can we can save with that with a sense of history now and it's you know a lot of the stuff is new as we go forward but were able to relate it back to something that's already happened before all of the attention that's going around with marriage this relates to sue when people were just trying to form families together om with that the huge fear of being harassed or or are facing violence and it's not just within on the lgbt community's but again i think there is and a natural extension of the soul rights movement on is what's been called lgbt rights for the gay rights movement in the marriage debate we hear people talk about interracial marriage i think as gay people it's our duty to to look back to this history that we are part of an armed and be able to be proud of it what advice would you give to anybody who's looking to set up reserves is

for lgbt people especially if they have some kind of barrier like a religious women my advice for an individual or an organization that's looking to provide resources or services to lgbt youth are to lgbt families or individuals is to speak directly to the community members there's different ways of going about it right now social network working is huge but i think when you're only doing social networking you're missing the human touch with the i think one of the most important things for any organization and that's providing a service is to make sure that they have a presence in the community so that if i am someone who's seeking help old city's resources are services and i dial a number i know someone's going to pick up the others the other and the top notes just not this name it's an actual person thank you very much for joining us richard thank you again richard signs is a lawyer with queen's legal services and near city

queens legal services is a nonprofit organization that seeks to provide equal access to justice for all low income residents of queens for range of legal advocacy education community partnerships they provide free legal counseling representation and referrals and civil matters to eligible low income individuals and fan they also worked identify and address root causes for systematic inequalities in the legal system queens legal services as a part of legal services nyc which is on the web that legal services nyc doug oh archie you could also find on wb fha site at a casting if h o r g that's it for this edition about casting the lower hudson river valleys only youth run radio show dealing with lgbt q struggles triumphs lifestyles in favor cactus is we don't have to be cleared to be here if you're having trouble whether it's at home at school or just with yourself call the trevor project hotline at eight six six four eighty seven three eight

six or visit them online the trevor project o r g the trevor project is an organization dedicated to lgbt youth suicide prevention again the number is a six six four eighty seven three a six being different is in a recent day or hurt yourself i'll casting is a production of west chester public radio down atf agent fm ninety point three in boston and new york and on the net at the bt if h o r g for more information on this program and a list of resources including the trevor projects suicide hotline visit us at the pdf h double archie come out casting and travis thanks for joining us tune in again next week it's

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