September 24th, 2020
Media Contact: Denise Spivak, CEO
CenterLink: The Community of LGBT Centers
Phone: 954-765-6024
Email: denise@lgbtcenters.org
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Recently President Trump instructed federal agencies to end racial sensitivity trainings that address topics like white privilege and critical race theory, calling them "divisive, anti -American propaganda." The trainings cited include references to white privilege and racism.
This week, the administration has expanded that ban to contractors doing business with the federal government and those receiving grant funds. It mandates that contractors with the federal government will not have “workplace training that inculcates in its employees any form of race or sex stereotyping or any form of race or sex scapegoating”.
“Americans should be taught to take PRIDE in our Great Country, and if you don’t, there’s nothing in it for you!” Trump tweeted this Tuesday after announcing the executive order. These new rules are part of broader initiatives to revise American history as part of the Administration’s 1776 Commission, designed to encourage educators to gloss over issues like systemic racism and slavery while teaching history in our schools.
CenterLink strongly opposes these bans and supports ongoing national conversations and trainings focused on important societal issues like police brutality, racial equity, and equality. “Systemic racism is still rampant today,” said CenterLink CEO Denise Spivak. “It is embedded in our schools, health care facilities, places of work, and the criminal justice system. Sexism, homophobia, and transphobia prevail as well. Prohibiting education and discussion about, much less rejecting the relevance and importance of any or all these issues, does not mean that they don’t exist. Much the opposite – it serves to validate and to divide, and it perpetuates a culture of otherism and discrimination that is unhealthy, unequal, and untenable. CenterLink will continue to work with our partners and our national network of LGBTQ+ centers and the communities they serve to bring an end to racism, discrimination, and injustice.”
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CenterLink strengthens, supports, and connects LGBTQ community centers. Founded in 1994, CenterLink plays an important role in addressing the challenges centers face by helping them to improve their organizational and service delivery capacity, access public resources, and engage their regional communities in the grassroots social justice movement. www.lgbtcenters.org