If you are willing to share your experiences (anonymously) with discrimination in housing, employment, public accommodations, or other aspects of community life, please do so in one of three ways:
- Post your story here. Click on "Comments" below to share your experiences.
- Contact Ben Warner directly at 396-3052 or ben@jcci.org to send in your story.
- Mail your story to JCCI's offices at 2434 Atlantic Blvd, Jacksonville, FL 32207, care of Ben Warner.
If you are interested in participating in a focus group to discuss your experiences, please contact Ben Warner at the phone, e-mail, or address above.
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So far we have stories about various situations. Some people have shared stories about everyday interactions which singly may seem harmless but which add up over time. Others have shared stories about violence and physical or emotional harm.
In thinking about your own life, you might ask yourself some of these questions:
- Have you been treated differently or been discriminated against when you or your partner stayed in the hospital?
- Do you have a story about GLBT people in school being harassed by teachers or students?
- When looking for an apartment, have you or your partner experienced discrimination?
- When you were buying a home, did perceived sexual orientation or gender identity become a problem?
- Have you been discriminated against in a restaurant, hotel, or golf club?
- Have you been harassed or caused undue harm at work because of perceived sexual orientation or gender identity?
- In looking for jobs, have you experienced discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity?
- Have you encountered situations in which:
o police
o firefighters
o emergency medical personnel
o landlords
o real estate agents
o doctors
o dentists
o social workers; or
o school personnel (K-12 and university)
did not provide services because of perceived sexual orientation or gender identity or because your relationship was not recognized?
6 comments:
What is the commitment to participate in the Focus Groups - one time only? How many will be in the group?
We're looking to have at least five separate focus groups of 8-12 people each. If you are interested, please let me know and I can keep you informed as we set the dates/times/locations of each of the groups. The commitment would be for one focus group meeting.
When I read this it was very funny to me look I am Black Poor and 51 Years of Age "Have I experienced Discrimination? Yea from just about eveybody that I have had contact with, so what else is new? And it want stop until this world ends!
I am your average blonde haired green eyed american...people treat me well and I am used to being treated nicely, until people here find out I am a lesbian. Or until I stick up for a minority b/c I am from the North and I was not taught HATE. I have come to feel very unwelcome here in Jax for the predjudise I have encountered and my family will leave just as soon as we can find jobs and homes elsewhere. I have had "christians" stand 2 inches from my face and tell me how i need to be dead, I have been let go from jobs b/c I came out, I have lost people who were suppose to be my friends b/c being social with me was too controversial. I am now of the mindset that I just need to leave.
One of the reasons we're trying to collect people's stories is to understand the need for anti-discrimination legislation locally.
Are you willing to share more information about your experiences with discrimination? Can you tell us more about either the social isolation/discrimination/prejudicial/hate comments you received, or the more about the employment losses due to discrimination because of sexual orientation?
I appreciate your courage in sharing this information, and if it's too late for you to have a safe/pleasant experience in Jacksonville, maybe you can help change things for the next person.
Discrimination Of GBLT
To start things off my name is Matthew Ferst I am 19 years of age and I am gay.
I feel I had to tell my story because it really isn’t right the way we get treated just because of who we are. I was a closet case for a while , I would probably say since I was about 15. The reason it took me so long to come out of my closet was because I was afraid of the rejection that I would receive.
Well my story is basic, I was with my boyfriend going about my basic day, and with us in love as much as we are we showed PDA (Public Display Affection) and for no reason at all was looked at and talked about in the most disrespectful way known to a gay person such as myself.. Although they don’t know it , it hurts to hear things like that just because I am being myself.
My family has accepted it a lot better then I thought they would, although they don’t like the fact that I am gay, it has come down to when I have altercations with my someone on my fathers side of the family they would use the word queer so many times against me and that’s just flat out discrimination and its about time that it be known who and what we are and have EQUAL RIGHTS, not no less or not no more but EQUAL, Because we are all people and love doesn’t have a gender….
That is my story and I hope this helps someone in the near future to realize WE ARE PEOPLE so give us the rights to be who we want be.
-Matthew Ferst
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