Amid growing extremist violence targeting the LGBTQ+ community, NUHW’s Executive Board voted unanimously to adopt a resolution rejecting LGBTQ+ hate.
“It’s our collective responsibility to protect our communities from extremists who justify violence under the guise of morality,” said Ilana Marcucchi-Morris, an NUHW e-board member and social worker at Kaiser Permanente.
The resolution commits NUHW to taking actions “that stop the spread of extremist violence based on race, color, religion, national origin, ethnicity, sex, gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, disability, or any other protected characteristic as defined by law.”
Growing hostility toward LGBTQ+ people increased further during Pride Month. In Glendale, home of NUHW’s Southern California headquarters, anti-LGBTQ+ demonstrators instigated fights outside a school board meeting, where inside the board members unanimously approved recognizing June as Pride Month.
Two weeks later, anti LGBTQ+ protesters, who included members of far-right organizations, again protested outside the school board meeting, and police had to be called to break up fights. The anti-LGBTQ+ violence in Glendale came just one week after protesters violently clashed at a North Hollywood elementary school over a Pride-themed assembly.
The recent extremist violence in Southern California is part of a surge against marginalized communities across the nation so severe that the Human Rights Campaign issued a State of Emergency for the LGBTQ+ community. On July 27, California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced that hate crimes reported to California law enforcement increased 22 percent between 2021 and 2022 and that since 2013, reported hate crime events are up 245 percent.
“Our members are front-line healthcare workers — including workers at the Los Angeles LGBTQ Center and Lyon-Martin Community Health Services in San Francisco — who see firsthand the impacts of extremist violence on their communities,” NUHW President Sal Rosselli said. “It is up to all of us to reject extremism and violence. We can’t accept it or normalize by reacting with silence. We are accountable to ourselves, to each other, and to our communities. We must stand firm in our commitment to human rights, equality, and safety.”
NUHW leaders participated in numerous Pride events during June and are working to get allied organizations to sign onto our resolution, which is below:
RESOLUTION
Whereas all threats to the health and safety of marginalized communities actively harm all communities; and there have been unprecedented attacks upon the civil rights and physical well being of members of the LGBT+ community which undermine democratic and social norms
Whereas ending the targeted violence both at the institutional and individual level requires collective action and standing in solidarity with marginalized communities is vital to protecting democratic norms and combating oppressive policies
Therefore be it resolved that we commit to actions that stop the spread of extremist violence based on race, color, religion, national origin, ethnicity, sex, gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, disability, or any other protected characteristic as defined by law; and
Therefore be it resolved that we commit to holding ourselves, each other and elected leaders accountable to take substantive and meaningful action to protect the health and safety of marginalized communities in the face of extremist fundamentalist violence;
Be it further resolved that we unequivocally reject extremist fundamentalist violence in all formats, politically, individually and institutionally.
