National Roundup

New Mexico
State to ask about sexual orientation in public surveys
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico will begin routinely collecting demographic data about sexual orientation and gender identity during government surveys under an executive order signed by Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham.

The order on Monday responds to growing concerns that basic demographic information about lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender populations is being left out of an array of studies that shape public policy and governmental planning decisions.

California lawmakers in 2015 approved similar survey requirements at four health and well-being agencies. Officials at the National Institutes of Health are developing guidelines for collecting data on sexual orientation and gender identity to better serve unmapped LGBTQ populations.

Lujan Grisham said survey responses will be voluntary as all state agencies begin collecting self-identification information. The order prohibits the public release of any personal identifying information.

The governor called the order a step toward identifying and addressing inequities in access to public resources.

The executive order was applauded by several advocates for the LGBTQ community at a news conference in the governor’s cabinet room.

“If you really look at us as a community, we’ve never been asked who we are, ever,” said Democratic state Sen. Leo Jaramillo of Espanola, who is gay. “Now we’re included in a conversation and data-collecting that will then help in ways that we may not even see or think of.”

Marshall Martinez, executive director of the Equality New Mexico Foundation, said that public health officials have asked questions for decades about sexual orientation in the context of prevention and treatment of sexually transmitted diseases, slowing the progress of HIV in the process.

At the same time, silence on many other questionnaires about sexual orientation and gender orientation has reinforced harmful social stigmas.

North Carolina
Court: Firing of worker running for office upheld
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Officials acted properly when they fired a North Carolina probation and parole officer who had been accused of campaigning for elected office while on community service leave and other misconduct, the state Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday.

The three-judge panel upheld the decision of an administrative law judge who determined just cause existed for the state Department of Public Safety to dismiss Eric Erickson, who ran unsuccessfully for Charlotte City Council in 2017. He was also found to have sought special treatment for his personal vehicle.

According to the opinion, evidence shows Erickson used community service leave in September 2017 to campaign and run errands. Erickson was granted leave for volunteering at the local elections board, but state personnel policy says that leave may be used to work at a polling site to help people vote.

An auto inspection garage owner said that Erickson, on a leave day, asked if he could place his campaign yard sign outside of the business, and attempted to get a law enforcement exemption for window tinting on his personal vehicle by suggesting it was used for undercover work. Erickson’s supervisors also testified that he had failed to report his secondary work with a security firm.

Erickson appealed his firing. He questioned whether the judge improperly allowed hearsay evidence and whether there was enough evidence to warrant the firing.

Court of Appeals Judge Jeff Carpenter, writing the unanimous opinion, rejected the hearsay argument, saying such challenges must be made at the time the evidence is presented.

The panel said there was “substantial evidence” to support the administrative law judge’s findings and final decision, Carpenter said. The window-tinting request and failure to report secondary employment “were acts and omissions reflecting upon petitioner’s integrity and honesty,” he wrote, and the evidence showed the community service leave was used “for improper campaigning purposes.”

Erickson finished third out of four candidates in the 2017 Democratic primary for a council seat, according to election results.

Massachusetts
Workers at veterans’ home at center of COVID-19 outbreak sue
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (AP) — Employees of the Massachusetts veterans’ home at the center of a devastating COVID-19 outbreak in the spring of 2020 have sued several members of the facility’s former leadership team, alleging they were forced to care for sick and dying veterans, sometimes after testing positive themselves, in “inhumane conditions.”

The federal class-action suit filed last week says administrators at the Holyoke Soldiers’ Home initially ignored Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance for containing the virus and lied to state officials about measures they were taking to protect residents and staff once the first veteran tested positive on March 15, 2020, Masslive.com reported.

“The employees watched in horror as the veterans they cared for suffered horrible deaths,” the suit says.

The lead plaintiff in the lawsuit is certified nursing assistant Kwesi Ablordeppey.

The four defendants include former home Superintendent Bennett Walsh and former Medical Director Dr. David Clinton.

An attorney for Clinton said his client denies the allegations.

Clinton is a “wonderful person” who has dedicated his life to serving veterans and cared deeply for his coworkers, John Lawler wrote in an email to The Associated Press.

An attorney for Walsh declined comment in an email.

Both men have previously pleaded not guilty to criminal neglect charges. Their lawyers allege they have been used as scapegoats by the state.

At least 77 veteran residents of the home died of the disease — 76 of them in the spring of 2020 in one of the worst outbreaks at a long-term care facility in the nation. Another resident died last winter at an offsite location.

The first resident of the home known to have contracted the virus, referred to as Veteran One in the suit, was allowed to wander the facility and remain outside a recommended isolation room, the suit says.

He continued to sleep in a room with three other veterans, was allowed to mingle with other residents and was treated by employees who were provided with inadequate personal protective equipment, according to the complaint.

Employees who were symptomatic or who had tested positive for the virus were forced to continue working, according to the complaint, and were disciplined by Walsh if they called out sick, according to the lawsuit.