An environmental law clinic that has attracted the attention of celebrities like Mark Ruffalo, the Daily Show and others has employees who claim the organization has a hostile culture to LGBTQ people. E&E News interviewed them. reported Thursday. The leaders of the nonprofit organization are said to have maintained close relationships with a radical environmental group, which has a history making disturbing comments about transphobic remarks. This rhetoric forms a cornerstone for that group’s environmental views.
The Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, (CELDF) was at the forefront of the movement to grant legal personhood for lakes, rivers, watersheds and other ecosystems. This is known as the “The Legal Personhood Movement”. Rights of Nature Movement. Seven of the 15 members of the group’s staff, which includes contract attorneys, have left in recent weeks. Three of the former employees said that E&E had witnessed a toxic work environment, which included a hostile environment for LGBTQ people, as one reason they left. E&E staff members claimed that colleagues had misgender employees at times, even while they were speaking with them in conversation. Staff also said that a coworker once discussed the connection between an increase of transgender people, and an increase chemical in the water. This is a scientifically supported statement. False statement.
CELDF was accused by current and former staff of encouraging transphobia. This statement was posted on its website by the organization in February after E&E reached out to them about the staffers’ allegations. This story is unfounded and false. (We have reached out CELDF to find out if they have any comments on E&Es’ story. If we hear back, we will update this piece.
CELDFs longstanding relationships to the CELDF are also under scrutiny Deep Green ResistanceA group of environmental activists whose leaders have a history of transphobia. An FAQIt claims it isn’t transphobic. However the same FAQ calls trans men men and describes hormone treatment of trans youth as eugenics. E&E has learned that Thomas Linzey (founder of CELDF), broke off ties with the group in 2020. However the same FAQ calls trans women men and describes hormone treatment for trans youth as eugenics. Jensen has a HistoriesHis podcast hosts conversations with public figures, who may not have any ties to environmental causes, but hold transphobic views.
E&E began January 1. Breaking the storyDeep Green Resistance was a key player in a coalition fighting against a proposed lithium mining project in Nevada. The coalition collapsed after transphobic views were revealed. E&E spoke with CELDF staffers, who said that they weren’t made aware of Deep Green Resistances association with the movement to defeat the mine. However, CELDF was supporting their efforts to Nevada and CELDF employees were trying to make the organization more inclusive.
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CELDF’s efforts have attracted a lot of attention in the last decade. Mark Ruffalo, actor, produced and narrated the 2020 CELDFs. FilmCELDFs work was also featured on the Daily Show in 2019. CELDF has also received funding from Patagonia, the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation.
Nearly all mainstream media that has covered the organization’s efforts have not mentioned its ties with Deep Green Resistance. Earther was one of those outlets in 2019, We ran a pieceInterviews with Linzey as well as Will Falk, a member of Deep Green Resistance. Jensen and other Deep Green Resistance leaders, including Max Wilbert, joined Falk in the fight against the lithium mine less than a month after the story ran.Authored an essayFor a Canadian magazine that started with the passage Okay, congratulations to everyone who predicted that Big Brother would arrive wearing a dress, hauling anyone who refuses a woman’s wax before a human right tribunal and shouting Its Maam!
It may seem like a fringe issue to have a left-wing environmental group that holds deeply transphobic views, but it has nothing to do the larger causes they are fighting for. Transphobia, which is a stifling of modern science and medicine, is a cornerstone in some groups’ environmental rhetoric. However, this rhetoric also opens up the possibility for anti-environmental conservatives to take advantage.
Right-wing figures have been eager to find anti-trans left-wing voices in order to say, “Look, this is mainstream issue,” even though most people don’t feel activated by it. Ari Drennen, LGBTQ Program Director at Media Matters, said that right-wing figures were really eager to find these anti trans left-wing voices. In January, Earther was told.
