Harvard Law School LGBTQ+ Advocacy Clinic Releases Toolkit for Protecting Employees from anti-LGBTQ+ Harassment
Clinic toolkit supports organizations and employers in combating anti-LGBTQIA+ harassment targeting their members, employees
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CAMBRIDGE, MA – The LGBTQ+ community is under threat in rapidly evolving and complex ways, ranging from harmful legislation, online attacks, and deadly shootings. More than 530 anti-LGBTQ+ bills have been proposed in 2023 alone, many specifically targeting transgender people. In response to this growing and increasingly coordinated aggression, Harvard Law School LGBTQ+ Advocacy Clinic has released Protect Your People, a digital toolkit designed to help protect organizers, service providers, members, and staff of organizations facing digital digital harassment, threats, and attacks as a result of their work supporting LGBTQ+ people and communities.
“With new assaults on LGBTQ+ life emerging daily, it is crucial that LGBTQ+ organizations fulfill their legal and ethical obligations to protect their members and staff,” stated Andy Izenson, Clinical Instructor at the Harvard Law School LGBTQ+ Advocacy Clinic. “These advocates have dedicated their lives to the struggle for justice. When organizations don't understand the threat or don't take responsibility for protecting their people, it compounds the harm of the attacks. After having received numerous requests for support, we designed the Protect Your People toolkit to safeguard LGBTQ+ workers and community members.”
LGBTQ+ advocates, medical and mental health providers who serve the LGBTQ+ community, and LGBTQ+ staff are experiencing heightened levels violence and harassment. The toolkit is designed for employers and organizations to protect their employees and members from the workplace hazards of digital attack, including threats from state and non-state actors. The in-depth toolkit includes threat modeling, organizational culture recommendations, reactive and preventative practices, and guidance for OSHA compliance.
The toolkit is currently available to any organization seeking to protect its staff or members, and to mitigate harm from potential or on-going anti-LGBTQ+ harassment, and to workers and unions advocating for workplace safety practices designed to address the threats at hand.
The Harvard Law School LGBTQ+ Advocacy Clinic engages in cutting-edge impact litigation, legislative and policy advocacy, and public education on behalf of the LGBTQ+ community. The Clinic aims to shape the future of LGBTQ+ advocacy by focusing on advancing the rights of LGBTQ+ people as whole persons embedded in the wider fabric of society and their local communities, with a particular emphasis on issues affecting the most marginalized members of the LGBTQ+ community.