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Lack Of LGBTQ Protections Has Some Young West Virginians Ready To Leave

Casey Johnson lives in Pittsburgh’s North Shore, a couple of blocks from one of the most colorful buildings in the nation, Randyland, a utopian-esque public art installation with walls, chairs, and trinkets in every possible shade and hue.

When apartment shopping in the Steel City, Johnson, who is pansexual, gender non-binary and uses non-gendered pronouns, searched to find a neighborhood that was the “most accepting.” North Shore, they said, fits the bill.

But if Johnson were ever to move back home to West Virginia, where they grew up, they know that acceptance isn’t certain and often a matter of where someone chooses to live.

Johnson was raised inside the city limits of Martinsburg, one of just over a dozen cities in the state to protect LGBTQ individuals from discrimination in housing and employment.

Their mother now lives outside city limits in Berkeley County, where no protections exist.

“If I were to move in next door to my mother, I can be evicted from an apartment because I’m queer,” said Johnson. “I could be fired from a job because I’m queer. And I’m not protected at the state level.”

Johnson wants to see lawmakers create statewide protections for LGBTQ West Virginians. A bill to do so has been introduced in the statehouse for the last two decades.

The most recent proposal — known as the Fairness Act — died in committee this year without a single vote. At the same time, state Republican lawmakers joined a half dozen other states and passed a transgender athletes ban.

“It hurts to come from a place where we preach how much we love people and how much we care about people, and then we don’t see that in practice,” Johnson said.

This story is part of our series, “Plugging the Brain Drain” about young West Virginians deciding whether or not to leave the state.

After graduating from West Virginia University last year, Johnson moved to Pittsburgh for an entry-level software development job and said they don’t see themselves moving back home with the current lack of protections.

“The thought of living somewhere that I could raise kids who one day would turn out to be queer, and the place wouldn’t accept them, you know, they wouldn’t be able to get health care, they will be turned away from even like schools and things like that, that alone is enough reason to move away from a place for me,” Johnson said.

Advocates started this year’s legislative session with the hope that this would be the year the Fairness Act passed.

During a 2020 gubernatorial debate, Republican Gov. Jim Justice said he supported the legislation. That moment was heralded in October by former Republican Senate President Mitch Carmichael as “a significant turning point in the political landscape of West Virginia as it relates to the LBGT community.”

When the state legislature convened in February, there was a noticeable lack of decisive change on the issue.

The Fairness Act didn’t make it onto the legislative calendar in the Republican-controlled statehouse.

However, the GOP lawmakers joined over 20 other states in considering a ban on transgender girls competing on sports teams consistent with their gender identity.

This proposal passed and became law.

“I’m going to sign it proudly because I really believe that that is the right thing to do,” Justice said just days before signing the ban into law.

This dichotomy of priorities rankled Democrats in the statehouse and sparked protests and outrage among some young West Virginians, a group more progressively-minded on social issues.

“I’m sure to have transgender students,” said David Laub, a WVU graduate student who is studying to be an English teacher. “And it’s really frustrating to me, that I would have to sit by and just watch them not be able to do the things that they care about potentially in school — one of them being sports.”

He’s also a former high school athlete and said he doesn’t see the need to legislate whether or not transgender girls can play sports.

Laub acknowledged that he and his friends are all pretty liberal and among the minority in West Virginia, a state with Republican supermajorities in both the chambers of the legislature.

Political disagreements are a part of life but Laub said some of the legislation proposed this past year by Republican lawmakers went beyond politics.

“When it comes to matters of not being able to discuss systemic racism, and not being able to discuss sexism in the classroom, because they’re divisive concepts, or not being allowed to strike to get a fair wage, or transgender students in my classes not being able to just play sports,” said Laub. “That’s an eye-opener that is so far removed from my personal everyday reality.”

He went to WVU on a full-ride scholarship and said he owes everything in his professional life to the school and by extension the people of West Virginia.

Still, when he thinks about where he wants to live, it comes back to acceptance. David has close friends who are LGBTQ.

“I don’t want to put them in a situation where they feel kind of threatened just for existing or unable to exist in an authentic way without fear of like employment discrimination or other kinds of discrimination,” Laub said.

Almost every Republican — and a few Democrats — in the statehouse voted for the transgender sports ban. However, support is not unanimous.

“I think that anytime lawmakers do something that is a hindrance for young people or hindrance for minorities, it really does turn people away,” said Del. Joshua Higginbotham, R-Putnam, the lead sponsor of the Fairness Act this year and the only Republican delegate to vote against the transgender sports ban.

Joshua Higginbotham, R-Putnam, speaks in the statehouse earlier this year.

In the state Senate, several GOP members voted against the measure. Those who spoke said they agreed with the idea but feared the NCAA’s threat to move revenue-producing regional and national championships to other states without transgender sports bans.

“I don’t think that my colleagues were motivated out of bigotry,” said Higginbotham. “I don’t think they were motivated out of hatred. I think it was a lack of understanding. Most people, especially in the Republican Party, have not met an LGBT person. And I find that to be very disappointing.”

A 2017 national study from The Williams Institute found that West Virginia has the highest percentage of transgender teens with 1.04 percent. The national average is .73 percent.

Higginbotham was first elected to the statehouse in 2016 at the age of 19 and is now just 24. He said many of the people he went to high school with are in college, in jail, or have left the state.

“When I talk to a lot of the people who have left, they remind me that it’s the culture,” Higginbotham said.

He said state lawmakers should do “everything we can” to deregulate and pass tax reforms that will attract businesses.

”But ultimately, if we don’t change the image of our state, if we don’t change the stereotypes…people aren’t going to want to move here,” Higginbotham said. “And more young people will try to leave.”

When Generation Z and millennials become the largest voting bloc, Higginbotham said he expects a cultural shift in West Virginia and the nation.

A study last year from the Center for American Progress found that the 2024 election will likely be the first where these two younger generations outnumber the Baby Boomers.

He points to a poll from the Public Religion Research Institute released earlier this year that found — for the first time — half of Republicans support gay marriage.

“Ten years ago, that would have been an impossibility,” Higginbotham said. “And I think that as we replace some of the Baby Boomers, some of the greatest generation, we’re gonna see these cultural changes.”

Another Year, Another Fairness Act: Is 2021 The Year W.Va. Adopts A Law For Gay, Transgender Rights?

When Gov. Jim Justice said in a debate last year he would sign a nondiscrimination act for gay and transgender West Virginians if it reaches his desk, some Republican leaders called the moment a “turning point” for the state’s political landscape and LGBTQ community.

This law, most recently branded the “Fairness Act,” would bar discrimination against people, regardless of their sexual orientation and gender identity, in employment, housing and public places.

Advocates say the legislation has widespread, bipartisan support this year. Yet, despite being introduced almost every session for the last two decades, the bill rarely ends up reaching the House or Senate floor for a final vote.

“We need to make sure that people know that we are a forward-thinking state,” said Andrew Schneider, executive director of the advocacy group Fairness West Virginia. “We’re generous people, we’re kind and we love each other. That’s the message we send by passing the Fairness Act.”

A Look At The Politics

This year, Del. Joshua Higginbotham, R-Putnam, announced on Twitter that he will be a lead sponsor for the Fairness Act in the House of Delegates. Last year, Sen. Majority Leader Tom Takubo was the lead sponsor for a version of the bill in his chamber.

Neither responded to requests for comment, but Schneider said both lawmakers’ support demonstrates a more widespread backing by the rest of the Republican supermajority.

However, even with five versions of a Fairness Act in the House of Delegates last year and Takubo’s name on a Senate version, none of the bills managed to pass their respective committees.

House Republicans voted down motions from House Democrats, who toward the end of the 60-day session asked their colleagues to skip committee consideration and vote on one of the Fairness bills as a chamber.

“The reason why it didn’t come up for a vote is the leadership last year decided not to bring it up for a vote,” said Schneider. “Everyone now knows someone who is a member of the LGBTQ community. It can’t be ignored or brushed under the carpet anymore.”

Speaker of the House Roger Hanshaw and Senate President Craig Blair both did not respond to requests for comment.

Fairness Ordinances In Big And Small Cities Alike

There are 14 local governments in West Virginia which, while waiting on a statewide law, have passed their own nondiscrimination ordinances. The largest of these municipalities include Charleston and Huntington, the latter of which passed an ordinance in 2013.

Since then, Huntington leaders have developed an advisory LGBTQ committee, a Human Rights Commission and a city-wide “Open to All” campaign.

Some Republican state lawmakers — including Sen. Eric Tarr, R-Putnam, and former Del. Jim Butler, R-Mason — argued last year that the Fairness Act would create more opportunities for people to file reckless legal complaints against small businesses.

“If you’re doing the right thing, you don’t have to worry,” said Huntington Mayor Steve Williams, who helped pass Huntington’s nondiscrimination ordinance during his first term in office.

Rather, Williams said, Huntington’s ordinance has attracted new residents and businesses to the city, drawn to a message of inclusion.

“What I have found is that individuals are moving to Huntington because they’re seeing that we are such an inclusive and diverse community,” Williams said. “I think it’s something that can benefit the entire state.”

But most of West Virginia isn’t populous cities like Huntington, it’s small towns.

Keyser, Mineral County, was the most recent municipality to pass a nondiscrimination ordinance in January. Council members voted on the ordinance with little fanfare.

“Keyser is the epitome of a small town,” said Curtis Westfall, a WVU student who grew up in Keyser, home to about 5,000 people. “We all know each other, sometimes for the best, sometimes for the worst. But in general, we all have a pretty good community spirit.”

Westfall asked his city leaders about an ordinance late last year, and the effort took little convincing.

“I’m a 22-year-old gay man, and obviously I’ve encountered bits of homophobia throughout my life,” Westfall said. “But, I know Keyser to be a loving and accepting place. I wanted the law to represent that.”

Support Not Unanimous

But it’s hard to ignore the places where discrimination still occurs, says Schneider.

Most recently in November, a Kanawha County judge agreed with a lawsuit from Kim Williams, who filed a grievance with the local school board after applying for a high school principal’s position and being passed over for a candidate with less experience.

The Charleston Gazette-Mail reported that a Public Employees Grievance Board judge agreed the case was likely the result of discrimination. A Kanawha County School Board member allegedly told others he wouldn’t hire Williams based on her sexual orientation.

“The vast majority of LGBTQ people are still without protections and are still vulnerable,” said Schneider. “And, many leave the state because they don’t want to have to live in constant fear of whether their boss is going to fire them or whether their landlord is going to kick them out.”

Even in Huntington, which Williams said has made huge strides in the last decade, support for LGBTQ rights is not unanimous.

Del. John Mandt Jr., R-Cabell, posted a statement opposing the bill Thursday.

Mandt resigned in 2020 after homophobic and Islamaphobic remarks he made in a private Facebook chat went viral. Although he resigned, his name was still on the ballot and his district re-elected him to office.

Mandt wrote Thursday that the bill was a “wrongful appropriation of the civil rights movement,” and it forces religious people to “choose between faith or unjust government persecution.”

This is despite the fact that last year, more than 100 faith leaders from throughout the state signed a letter to the Legislature, advocating for the Fairness Act. Members include the Rev. Ron English, president of the Charleston NAACP and a civil rights leader who spoke at Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s funeral.

Emily Allen is a Report for America corps member.

Fairness WV Brings Back Nondiscrimination Bill As ‘Fairness Act’

Fairness West Virginia, an advocacy group for the state’s LGBTQ+ population, held a panel for the press Tuesday morning to discuss its proposed ‘Fairness Act’ for the 2020 legislative session.

If passed, the bill would prohibit discrimination that’s based on a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity.

Panelists included religious and business leaders who favor such legislation. They described a new generation entering the workforce that’s more diverse than the last, which wants employers who appreciate that fact by implementing inclusive policies.

Fairness West Virginia executive director, Andrew Schneider, said passing a law that makes discrimination illegal for all people could help attract and retain residents.

“Passing this law is the right thing to do for our state,” Schneider said Tuesday. “It’s good for business, it’s good for the economy, and it’s the only way we should treat our LGBTQ friends, neighbors and community members.”

Schneider’s group has supported several bills with similar objectives at the state level, but the Legislature has yet to pass any of these bills into law.

Lawmakers Danielle Walker from the House of Delegates and Mitch Carmichael from the Senate were present for the discussion.

Carmichael, who serves as Senate president, told the panelists he adamantly opposes all forms of discrimination as a principle of his faith, but he couldn’t guarantee the bill will have any success in the 2020 session.

He warned there might be a need for some amendments, without specifying which changes the bill might need.

“This may not be the right bill, it may not be the right time,” Carmichael said. “It may not be in the perfect structure. And we need to find that out.”

The West Virginia Human Rights Act already provides “all of its citizens’ equal opportunity for employment”, public accommodations and housing, regardless of things like race, religion and age.

But the state’s laws for equal opportunity don’t mention “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” as characteristics people shouldn’t discriminate against.

Del. Jim Butler, a Republican in Mason County who plans to run against Carmichael in the upcoming primary, said in a press release Monday including the two items would “set up a circumstance where people have special protections rather than equality.”

Butler — who did not respond to a request for comment before this article’s publication — also cited concerns he had for members of West Virginia’s business and religious community.

He mentioned the bill could have negative consequences for “employers, people who rent or sell homes, or anyone else who may be accused of being politically incorrect.”

Danielle Stewart, a transgender woman from Beckley, called opponents like Butler a “vocal minority.”

Stewart said she has been all over the state raising awareness for trans people. She often checks out local business, where she says interactions are typically positive.

“There’s no issues with bathrooms, there’s no issues with getting served food, there’s no issues with shopping,” she said. “It’s really a vocal minority that’s fighting against this. And they’re fighting against this not because of religion, not because of right and wrong, but because they want to maintain control.”

Stewart chairs the Beckley Human Rights Commission, which helps the city ensure equal opportunity to employment, housing and public accommodations. Earlier this year, the Beckley City Council voted to pass an ordinance that ensured equal opportunity to all, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity.

“Beckley is really the center of southern West Virginia,” she said. “We’re really hoping that other municipalities will take up nondiscrimination ordinances, in addition to what we hope that our state Legislature takes up.”

Fairness West Virginia reports there are 12 other local governments in West Virginia that have passed similar ordinances that prohibit discrimination against members of the LGBTQ+ community.