Independent news from the Indigenous Media Freedom Alliance

LGBT Issues as Sovereignty Issues

On Feb. 14, The Huffington Post ran an article about North Dakota’s legislature failing to pass an LGBT anti-discrimination bill. And so, for our lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender brothers and sisters to the north, employment can be terminated on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity, perceived or otherwise.

One might ask how an injustice like this can be permitted to happen in this day and age. If the comments on the story – from whom I’m assuming are liberals – are any indication, this injustice happens because we get complacent about political landscapes or because we’re reactive and lazy as politically-inclined people. Either prospect is alarming because it means we’ve accepted that progress comes slowly or not at all for certain states in the union…

… READ THE FULL STORY HERE.

Jodi Rave Spotted Bear

Jodi Rave Spotted Bear is the founder and director of the Indigenous Media Freedom Alliance, a 501-C-3 nonprofit organization with offices in Bismarck, N.D. and the Fort Berthold Reservation. Jodi spent 15 years reporting for the mainstream press. She's been awarded prestigious Nieman and John S. Knight journalism fellowships at Harvard and Stanford, respectively. She also an MIT Knight Science Journalism Project fellow. Her writing is featured in "The Authentic Voice: The Best Reporting on Race and Ethnicity," published by Columbia University Press. Jodi currently serves as a Society of Professional Journalists at-large board member, an SPJ Foundation board member, and she chairs the SPJ Freedom of Information Committee. Jodi has won top journalism awards from mainstream and Native press organizations. She earned her journalism degree from the University of Colorado at Boulder.