WORK TO PREVENT BULLYING OF LGBT STUDENTS IN SCHOOL

The Texas Civil Rights Project is a non-profit organization which provides free legal and educational services throughout Texas. The TCRP Safe Schools Program is a free educational program aimed at preventing harassment and discrimination in school. Safe Schools exists to protect all students, with a focus on the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) community. Safe Schools offers free in-class seminars to local middle and high schools in Austin and surrounding areas.

For more information, visit: www.texascivilrightsproject.org/go/safeschools

We are currently looking to fill the new position of Safe Schools Facilitator.

Primary Duties:

• Facilitate Safe Schools seminars for students at local middle and high schools
• Facilitate trainings for teachers, faculty, and administration at local schools and non-profits
• Develop and improve Safe Schools curriculum
• Develop and post web materials for faculty and administration
• Perform volunteer outreach for the Safe Schools Program
• Perform Safe Schools outreach to local schools and non-profits

Preferred Qualifications:

• Classroom and/or facilitation experience
• Curriculum development experience and/or in-depth knowledge of LGBT issues
• Availability during school hours and flexible schedule
• Ability to take on a leadership role in a developing program
• Passion for anti-violence in the LGBT community
• Reliable transportation

Hours:

The Safe Schools Facilitator will work approximately 5 hours per week, depending on seminar scheduling. The candidate must be available during some school hours and limited evening hours to perform facilitation at seminars. The remainder of the working hours will take place at the TCRP office performing outreach and curriculum development (flexible). The position is guaranteed for one year with the possibility of continuation if funding allows.

Salary: $13 per hour

How to Apply:

Please submit a resume, cover letter, writing sample, and 3 references to Amanda.tcrp at gmail.com. The position is open until filled.

As an equal opportunity employer, Texas Civil Rights Project embraces diversity and does not discriminate in employment on the basis of age, race, color, creed, gender or gender expression, religion, marital status, veteran’s status, national origin, disability, or sexual orientation. Women and people of color are strongly encouraged to apply.

UPDATE – See opening statement at Federal hearing of Dec. 21, 2011 at TCRP Blog

TCRP Press Release

Two “Occupy Austin” protesters today filed suit in Austin federal district court, asking that the court immediately halt the City’s policy and practice of “banning” them and other lawful protesters from Austin City Hall, its Freedom Plaza, and surrounding sidewalks. 

The Plaintiffs, Rudy Sánchez and Kris Sleeman, claim that the banning policy unconstitutionally prevents them from exercising their fundamental political speech rights under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

They have asked the court to immediately enjoin the city policy, which it codified on November 1. Under that policy, the City can ban anyone it deems “unreasonably disruptive,” regardless of whether they are doing anything unlawful at all.

See Related Story: TCRP Calls Occupy Arrests Unfair

The City has banned approximately 95 protesters since October 30; the current bans range from weeks/months to as long as two years. The City can even issue a permanent ban under the policy.

Because it takes a number of months, at best, to resolve the merits of criminal charges and for a court or jury to decide whether they’re legitimate, the banning policy in effect indefinitely suppresses people’s right to protest at the City Hall and surrounding sidewalk.

Rudy Sánchez was arrested while taking pictures of the Austin Police Department officers during the mass arrest of people on the free speech plaza during the early hours of Sunday, October 30 and then told by a city official that he was “banned” from returning to City Hall for two years. He hasn’t returned to City Hall because of the ban.

Kris Sleeman was at City Hall plaza during the early morning arrests, but wasn’t arrested. Later that morning, he gave an interview to local television news about what he saw during the arrests. That evening, Sunday, he spoke at an “Occupy Austin” general assembly.

A number of police began filling the plaza and surrounding the protesters. As Mr. Sleeman attempted to leave, the police arrested him on an outstanding warrant for running a stop sign on his bike. While officers drove him to the jail, a city official told him he was banned from City Hall for one year.

Ryan Bates, of the law firm of YETTER COLEMAN LLP and lead attorney in the lawsuit, called the city’s banning of protesters “an unconstitutional denial of the core freedom to criticize the government provided by the First Amendment. For a city that prides itself on its Free Speech Plaza — and rightfully so — it is sadly ironic that Austin has chosen to bar lawful protesters from using it. We are asking the court to immediately halt this unconstitutional policy.”

Jim Harrington, director of the public interest group Texas Civil Rights Project and also an attorney in the case, said “the use of criminal charges plus the banning order is a ‘one-two punch’ against protesters’ rights and creates an inherent potential of abuse and retaliation by city authorities, which is exactly what seems to be the situation.”

NEWS:
TCRP’s New Disability Rights Project
Receives Grant from Texas Bar Foundation
(View Press Release at TCRP Blog)

Veterans’ courts help vets with service-related conditions like PTSD or traumatic brain injury (TBI) get treatment instead of going to prison. They hold participants accountable by using sanctions imposed by the judge to ensure participants complete treatment.

In the future, veterans’ courts must expand their dockets to handle the growing community of veterans. More than two million U.S. troopshave been in Iraq or Afghanistan since 2001, and the Department of Veterans Affairs estimates at least 33 percent of today’s veterans return with PTSD, TBI, or both.

Azzurra Crispino, a philosophy professor with Austin Community College, has volunteered to study Texas’ system of veterans’ courts to better understand how they can expand their services to more veterans in their communities.

The greatest obstacle today is finding funding for the treatment that courts prescribe veterans and to appoint counsel for indigent veteran defendants.

“Historically, we know that the damage war causes to our veterans can last a long time,” said Harrington. “As time goes on, more and more veterans suffering from their service will return home. We need to beready to help them. It is something that will affect us for many years to come.”

Vinson & Elkins attorneys in the firm’s Houston, Dallas, and Washington D.C. offices have partnered with TCRP to create resources veterans leaving prison can use to get back on their feet and ward away the risk of homelessness. These exciting resources will be available soon on TCRP’s website and TexasLawHelp.org.

One resource is for veterans who received less-than-honorable discharges because of undiagnosed PTSD or TBI. It will help them petition to upgrade their discharge statuses so they can receive important benefits including pensions, healthcare, home loans, and hiring preferences. Another resource will help terminally-ill and severely disabled veterans seek release from prison.

Countless veterans will benefit from these resources for years into the future.

Making Prisons Humane

For veterans who must be incarcerated, TCRP is committed to ensuringhumane prison conditions, including access to healthcare and other basic rights.

One recent victory was the case of a veteran with a cochlear-implant hearing aid. The hearing aid battery was dying, and his prison refused to replace it for over a year. Attorneys with TCRP were able to get the battery replaced.

The Justice for Veterans Campaign also protects veterans’ religious liberties. Religious practice is a fundamental right, and it often has a profoundly important impact on an inmates’ rehabilitation. TCRP is representing two veterans — one Native American and another Hebrew Israelite – in efforts to ensure they are able to perform basic religious ceremonies.

Further, TCRP recently completed an appeal on behalf of veteran Eugene Blackmon, who was confined in life-threatening heat for 50 consecutive days, with heat indexes as high as 130. If the appeal is successful it could affect prison conditions in Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi.

Eugene Blackmon

The appeal was completed with the help of volunteer attorneys Vasu Behara, Andrew Zollinger, and paralegal Alice Lineberry, of DLA Piper, and with a supporting amicus brief from Sean Flammerof Scott Douglass & McConnico.

Vasu, Andrew, Alice and Sean will be honored with the Kristi Couvillon Pro Bono Award at TCRP’s 21st Annual Bill of Rights Dinner.

“It has been wonderful to work on this project,” said McGiverin. “It is gratifying to help men and women who selflessly set aside concern for themselves to serve a greater purpose because they wanted to leave the world a better place than they found it.”

For more information on the Justice for Veterans Campaign at TCRP, please visit our web page at:
texascivilrightsproject.org/go/veterans