The LGBT community will learn ways to report discriminatory and racist acts during a training next month at William Way LGBT Community Center.
The Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations will hold a free Know Your Rights workshop Jan. 11 in which agency officials will teach participants how to identify discrimination, how to protect oneself and details about the city’s Fair Practices Ordinance, a law prohibiting discrimination, including against LGBT people.
The training is part the PCHR’s initiatives to create resources for the LGBT community, which came as a response to PCHR’s Oct. 25 hearing addressing allegations of racism in the community.
“At the public hearing, it became clear to us for more members of the LGBTQ community to know exactly what the PCHR does,” said PCHR Executive Director Rue Landau. “We want people to know about all of the protections under the Fair Practices Ordinance, how to file a complaint and the PCHR’s internal process that occurs after people file a complaint.”
Landau and PCHR Deputy Director Pam Gwaltney will lead the training, which will include a presentation, handouts and a Q&A segment for participants.
“We have handouts and guides that break Fair Practices down into simpler forms so everybody will understand how to exercise their rights when needed,” Landau said.
Landau said she hopes the training will clarify the differences between racism and discrimination while showing how the PCHR can combat each situation.
“If somebody throws a racial epithet at you on the street, that’s racism. If your employer yells a racial epithet at you and fires you, that is discrimination,” Landau said. “The PCHR wants to make sure to clarify the remedies available to people based on what they’re experiencing.
“If it’s a hate or bias incident, we’re going to engage the police,” Landau added, explaining how the PCHR would deal with different situations. “If it is racism that doesn’t rise to discrimination, we could engage in conflict resolution and mediation tactics and facilitate a dialogue to help create a better understanding between people.”
Landau recognized that racism continues to persist in the LGBT community, which she said highlights the importance of individuals knowing their rights.
“Sadly, racism in the LGBTQ community has been happening for decades,” Landau said. “And we heard many situations loud and clear at our public hearing that it continues. PCHR is determined to do everything we can to eradicate the racism and discrimination that is happening in our community so that 30 years from now, we are not reliving the same situation as we are now.”
PCHR’s Know Your Rights training will be held at 6 p.m. Jan. 11 at the William Way LGBT Community Center, 1315 Spruce St.