Recommendation to respectfully request City Council to support the Human Relations Commission's recommendation to suspend all non-essential travel to the State of North Carolina and Mississippi until the repeal of the North Carolina Public Facilities Privacy & Security Act ("HB2") and Mississippi House Bill 1523, and Respectfully request a signed letter be sent from the Mayor and/or City Council to the Governors of each state opposing each respective bill and informing them of the City of Long Beach's travel sanction.
Communication from Vice Mayor Lowenthal, Councilwoman Gonzalez and Councilmember Richardson. Recommendation to support the Human Relations Commission's recommendation to suspend all non-essential travel to the state of North Carolina and Mississippi until the repeal of HB two and HB 1523. Thank you, Madam Clerk. As many of us know, many municipalities, including San Francisco, Seattle and New York City, have banned all non-essential travel to both North Carolina and Mississippi. What I'd like to share, and I believe that this is shared among quite a few of our members of our constituency, is that we cannot allow the continued discrimination against the LGBTQ community and must definitely take a stand that is meaningful. Long Beach is committed to creating and sustaining a community that promotes tolerance, respect and love for thy neighbor without regard to race, color, national origin, religious creed, disability, gender identity, or sexual orientation. We cannot keep hating and murdering each other because we do not agree with who they are, with whom they are, I should say. We must continue to act out in a way that is positive. And I believe that banning non-essential travel to North Carolina and Mississippi until they repeal their respective bills is our logical next step. Before. Well, we have a motion and a second, so if we can take it behind the dias. Councilman Gonzales. I want to thank you, Vice Mayor, for bringing this forward. I think it's it's exactly spot on what you're what you're mentioning. And Long Beach has been a city that has not discriminated against. We've been very open for our LGBTQ community. I think states that just seem to harbor these these ill, you know, feelings and these this hatred is really no place for us to be doing travel or non-essential travel to. I think this city is much greater than that. And we are. We just passed My Brother's Keeper about, you know, talking about the advances of people that definitely need our help the most. And I think coming off of such tragedy that has happened and coming off of just the beauty that exists here in the city of Long Beach with who we are and the diversity in so many different levels, I feel that this is a great step in solidifying our support for that. So thank you. Thank you. Councilman. Yes. Thank you, vice mayor. You know, in this day and time, I think it really hurts me, too, that we still are passing judgment on each other so much that they are considered less than persons instead of what they really are, which are human beings, you know, full and participate in every right that each of us were born with. You know, that said, I just stand with you. And I really, truly believe that we are all God's children. We need to treat each other as such. This is a such a tragedy. But with that, all that said, we have to really stay vigilant to everything we watch and see. Thank you very much for bringing this to the diocese. Thank you, Councilmember Richardson. Thank you. I just want to say that I wholeheartedly, wholeheartedly support the Human Relations Commission's request. And I want to thank Vice Mayor Lowenthal and my colleagues for inviting me to sign on. Thank you. Councilman Austin. Yes. An injustice to one is an injustice to all. I support the Human Relations Commission and I really want to just applaud them for for bringing this this item forward shows that they are actually working as a commission, being thoughtful and and proactive to try to bring issues like this to our attention. So I will definitely be in support. Thank you. And are there any members of the public that wish to address the Council on item 38 who's come forward? Good evening, Honorable Vice Mayor and members of the City Council. My name is Myles McNeely and I'm the acting chair of the Human Relations Commission. I wanted to first thank you all for taking the time to address this very important issue. I'll be brief in summarizing our recommendation. I did want to highlight that we were unanimous in supporting this recommendation and that survey. And as I mentioned, several cities across the nation have already instituted similar travel bans. Part of what fueled our engagement in this issue was learning about two separate incidents that occurred this year where transgender persons were victimized in Long Beach because of their perceived gender identity or their perceived, perceived transgender identity. After hearing about these of these events, one of which was a violent stabbing of a transgender woman, the Human Relations Commission developed developed a very deep concern about the dignity, safety and well-being of transgender persons in Long Beach. We believe that this travel ban demonstrates solidarity with the LGBT community, and we believe that we must continue to reinforce the notion, the notion that all members in our community are deserving of respect and dignity as the City Council's Principle Advisory Commission promoting peace, tolerance and mutual respect. We believe that adopting this recommendation sends a clear message that Long Beach is a city that embraces these ideals and embraces our diverse community. Thank you. Good evening, Vice Mayor. Members of council. My name is Porter Gilbert. I'm the executive director of the LGBTQ Center of Long Beach. I am also joined this evening by Stellar SEWA, who is a member of our board of directors. I want to give my my biggest thanks to Vice Mayor Lowenthal, Councilwoman Gonzalez and Councilmember Richardson for spearheading this effort at the council level. And huge thanks to the Human Relations Commission for continuing to prioritize the prioritize LGBTQ issues and understanding that we still have quite a bit of work to do. What laws like the ones in Mississippi and North Carolina say about LGBTQ people is that we are not valued, that we are not worthy of protection, that we are not worthy of being able to walk about in public safely without question. We know from from many instances here in Long Beach and throughout the United States that since these laws have have been passed, that people have now taken it upon themselves to begin questioning people in restrooms and asking them whether or not they belong in restrooms and attacking them when they're in restrooms. We know that people can no longer sue for discrimination in the state of North Carolina, not just for discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity, but based on race or disability. So these laws have a very national impact, even if they were enacted at the state level. And by enacting a non-essential travel ban, you are sending a message that Long Beach refuses to stand in the face of discrimination silently. You're standing with our LGBTQ community here in Long Beach, and you're standing with the LGBTQ community and the rest of the United States. So thank you very much for your consideration this evening. Thank you, Porter. Next speaker, please. Good evening. My name is Alexandra Billings. I'm an actress and I'm an assistant professor of theater at California State University, Long Beach. I am celebrating in December my 20th wedding anniversary to my wife, who I met in 1976. I am also transgender, and I transitioned in 1980. I'm 54 years old and I'm not really sure where some of these states think. I've been going to the bathroom for the past 30 years. But it has been in women's restrooms. I've also changed my clothes. Been in locker rooms for a very, very long time. And nothing terrible has ever happened. However, terrible things have happened to me because of what I am. I've been beaten, hit, called names. And raped at gunpoint because I'm transgender. Now, I know there's a lot of debate about what I am. And I really understand it because I do understand that you might look at my life and think, well, you could just choose something differently. And that would be great. Believe me, if I could make a choice about my lifestyle. It would have been something that would have caused a lot of people far less pain and riddled me, probably with far less shame. But I've come to realize in the 54 years I've been on the planet that what I am is a great gift. It's a spiritual gift, and it's a gift of the heart and the mind, and that what I am propels me into something new. So I want to reassure you. And I heard here in this room just in the last 15 minutes, somebody's talking about recruitment of gays. And I can assure you, the only thing that I have ever remotely recruited was people to come to my house and watch Judy Garland clips. And I don't think that that's detrimental to anyone's spirit. So I just want to say lastly, that I, I want you behind me. And what I mean is that for me, it's less about banning travel and more about me feeling you're behind the revolution. Any marginalized community, if any marginalized community were being treated this way and being told that they couldn't go into restrooms. Or had been able to use drinking fountains or been able to ride it in any part of the bus, the entire tire country would be outraged. So I ask you to be behind our movement, our revolution. Thank you very much. Thank you. There's been a motion in a second and we've heard public comment. Members, please cast your vote. Motion carries. Thank you. Item nine. Let's to item 19 and 20.