Facebook Continues To Block, Restrict And Suppress Trinity Mount Ministries - Part II

 Image: ECPAT-ICMEC | 103 Certificate | ICMEC

This Certificate of Completion is awarded to: Brett Fletcher to mark your successful completion of the course: ECPAT-ICMEC | 103: Agents of Change Tools for Frontline Workers to End Sexual Exploitation of Children.

Being on #Facebook is becoming anti-productive with all of the negative attacks on the content that Trinity Mount Ministries shares, which focuses on helping missing and exploited children. I'm in the process of dedicating more time on X (Twitter), that doesn't discriminate against Trinity Mount Ministries. As my activity decreases on Facebook, it will increase on X (Twitter). Please follow. 👍❤️🙏

Brett Fletcher - Founder of Trinity Mount Ministries 

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DOJ - CELEBRATING ACCESS TODAY: ENFORCING ACCESSIBILITY IN YOUTH SPORTS

Twenty-five years ago, with the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), our nation committed itself to the elimination of discrimination against people with disabilities.  In honor of the 25th anniversary of the ADA, each month, the Department of Justice is highlighting efforts that are opening gateways to full participation and opportunity for people with disabilities.  This month, we spotlight the story of a child named Brahm and how the Department of Justice’s work enforcing the ADA is improving full and equal access to youth athletics in Colorado.  Participating in athletic competition is a formative experience for children across this country, and children with disabilities are entitled to participate equally in youth sports.

Nine-year-old Brahm has bone dysplasia, also known as dwarfism, which makes him smaller and lighter than other children his age.  In the fall of 2013, when he was seven years old and weighed approximately 34 pounds, Brahm joined a wrestling club in his hometown of Colorado Springs, Colorado.  His doctor had cleared him to wrestle children of a similar weight.  Wrestling tournaments were run by Pikes Peak Wrestling League (PPWL), a youth wrestling league that serves approximately 4,000 children across the state of Colorado.  Initially, for the regular season tournaments, PPWL allowed Brahm to wrestle in the six and under age division, even though he was seven years old, so that he could wrestle with children of a similar weight.  Brahm’s parents explained that Brahm has a disability, dwarfism, and it would be unsafe for him to wrestle children in the eight and under division weighing up to 45 pounds.  When it came to the State Wrestling Championship, however, PPWL refused to allow Brahm to compete in the six and under division.  Consequently, Brahm left the tournament and did not compete.

The United States recently reached a settlement agreement with PPWL that will ensure that, in the future, children with disabilities like Brahm will not be excluded from PPWL’s events.  Under the agreement, which must be approved by the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado, PPWL will adopt and publicize a disability nondiscrimination policy, including procedures for handling requests to modify policies for wrestlers with disabilities.  PPWL will also train employees on ADA requirements and invite coaches affiliated with PPWL and USA Wrestling Directors to attend this training, free of charge.  In addition, PPWL will pay compensatory damages to Brahm and report to the department on its compliance with the agreement.

Title III of the ADA requires public accommodations, including youth sports leagues like PPWL, to reasonably modify their policies, practices or procedures, when such modifications are necessary to afford their goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages or accommodations to individuals with disabilities and when such modifications would not fundamentally alter the nature of their goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages or accommodations.  For more information about the ADA, call the department’s toll-free ADA Information Line at 800-514-0301 (TDD 800-514-0383) or access the ADA website at www.ada.gov.  ADA complaints may be filed by email to ada.complaints@usdoj.gov

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Civil Rights Division

Civil Rights - Disability Rights

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Lawsuit Against the City of San Jacinto, California, Alleging Discrimination Against Persons with Disabilities:

Department of Justice

Office of Public Affairs

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Justice Department Files Civil Rights Lawsuit Against the City of San Jacinto, California, Alleging Discrimination Against Persons with Disabilities

  The Justice Department has filed a lawsuit against the city of San Jacinto, Calif., alleging violations of the Fair Housing Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act based on its treatment of group homes for persons with disabilities.   This lawsuit is part of the Justice Department’s continuing effort to enforce civil rights laws that require states and municipalities to end discrimination against, and unnecessary segregation of, persons with disabilities.

The lawsuit, filed on Friday in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, alleges that the city has impermissibly restricted the ability of group homes for people with disabilities to operate within the city.   Under the city’s zoning code, group homes that are not required to be licensed by the state, as well as some licensed homes, are not permitted uses in any zoning district within the city, and their ability to operate in multi-family zones is restricted.   The United States’ lawsuit further alleges that the city targeted housing for persons with disabilities for enforcement actions, including a November 2008 sweep in which city and county officials, including armed and uniformed police officers and sheriff’s deputies, appeared at homes unannounced and interrogated residents with disabilities from a prepared questionnaire that included intrusive questions targeted to persons with mental disabilities.   The complaint also alleges that the city has conditioned the grant of reasonable accommodations on the adoption of unwarranted limitations on the residents of homes for persons with disabilities.

This lawsuit arose as a result of complaints filed with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) by the operators of group homes who were impacted by the city’s discriminatory enforcement activities.

The suit seeks a court order preventing the city from enforcing its laws in a way that unlawfully discriminates on the basis of disability, and prohibiting the city from failing to make reasonable accommodations.   It also seeks monetary damages to compensate victims and a civil penalty.     

“No person should be denied an equal opportunity for housing in his or her community, or suffer harassment or intimidation, because he or she is a person with a disability,” said Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division. “The Justice Department is committed to preventing discriminatory treatment of people with disabilities.”

“This suit is part of my office’s continuing efforts, in partnership with DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, to ensure that all residents of the Central District are accorded the rights to which they are entitled under the law,” said André Birotte Jr., U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California.  “Under the law, people with disabilities, including mental disabilities, must be given the opportunity to live in our community, free from discriminatory efforts to exclude them.  This suit seeks to ensure that this opportunity is fully and fairly provided.”

 “Local governments may not zone out people with disabilities from the opportunity to live in mainstream communities,” said John Trasviña, HUD Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity. “HUD and DOJ are united in our efforts to combat unlawful interference with the rights of people with disabilities, whether in the form of  unfair zoning restrictions, selective enforcement of ordinances, or otherwise.”

The federal Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination in housing on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status and disability.   Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act requires that State and local governments give people with disabilities an equal opportunity to benefit from all of their programs, services and activities.   More information about the Civil Rights Division and the laws it enforces is available at www.usdoj.gov/crt .  Individuals who believe they have been victims of housing discrimination or have information related to this lawsuit can call the Housing Discrimination Tip Line at 1-800-896-7743, e-mail the Justice Department at fairhousing@usdoj.gov , or contact the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) at 1-800-669-9777.

The complaint is an allegation of unlawful conduct.   The allegations must still be proven in federal court.

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DOJ Blog Update - It is Right to Fight Discrimination in Lending:

It is Right to Fight Discrimination in Lending

September 6th, 2011 Posted by Tracy Russo

The following post appears courtesy of Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division. It originally appeared as a letter to the editor of the Wall Street Journal.

Mary Kissel’s “Justice’s New War Against Lenders” (op-ed, Aug. 31) accuses the Justice Department of politicized enforcement of fair lending laws and claims that the department’s fair lending enforcement practices would create another housing crisis.

Contrary to Ms. Kissel’s assertion, the Justice Department’s focus on fair lending enforcement is precisely what is needed to ensure that all qualified borrowers have equal access to fair and responsible lending, as is required by law. Common-sense consumer protection and promoting a sound climate for lending go hand in hand and are inextricably intertwined. The absence of effective consumer protections and the dearth of meaningful federal enforcement in recent years not only hurt communities across the country, but also brought about staggering losses in the industry and undermined the safety and soundness of so many lending institutions.

The suggestion that the department, as part of its settlements, is forcing banks to lower their underwriting standards and make loans to unqualified borrowers is simply wrong. Our settlement agreements repeatedly refer to extensions of credit being made to “qualified applicants” only and make clear that no provision in the agreements require banks to make an unsafe or unsound loan.

What Ms. Kissel and other critics refuse to acknowledge is that the failure of some lending institutions to offer credit to qualified borrowers—who were disqualified for loans not because of their creditworthiness but solely based on race—in minority neighborhoods on the same basis as qualified borrowers in non-minority neighborhoods, was one of the factors that contributed to the sub-prime lending boom and subsequent crisis. When good lenders fail to serve entire communities, it creates a vacuum ready to be filled by predatory players.

All qualified home buyers should have access to sustainable credit without being subject to illegal discrimination. The Justice Department will unapologetically continue to ensure they can do so.