Tag Archives: feds

But does Zimbabwe even want him? Via Reuters: “What lion?” acting information minister Prisca Mupfumira asked in response to a request for comment about Cecil, who was at that moment topping global news bulletins and generating reams of abuse for his killer on websites in the United States and Europe. The government has still given no formal response, and on …

Today the Equality Act, a comprehensive federal LGBT rights bill, will be introduced in Congress. The Human Rights Campaign has already brought three major corporations on board. Via press release: STATEMENT BY APPLE – “At Apple we believe in equal treatment for everyone, regardless of where they come from, what they look like, how they worship or who they love. …

Via the Washington Post: Liberty University is not just your average school down the road. The once small Christian college founded in 1971 by the Rev. Jerry Falwell now has the largest student body of any private nonprofit university in the country. With over 70,000 students, the university has become a destination for political candidates seeking the GOP’s more conservative …

“On Friday, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission made a remarkably lawless decision: it unilaterally added ‘sexual orientation’ to the Civil Rights Act of 1964, something wholly unjustified by the text, by the history, or by the plain meaning of the statue, hijacking the civil rights movement in a profound new way. Everyone knows the Civil Rights Act of 1964 does …

Jeb Bush spoke to staffers at a San Francisco tech startup yesterday where he declared that workplace and housing discrimination protections for LGBT Americans should be enacted, but on a state-by-state basis. An employee who identified himself to Bush as being gay asked about Bush’s position on legislation to ban discrimination of LGBT Americans. “I don’t think you should be …

“Where will the assault on biblical marriage end? Now liberal politicians in California want to ban the words ‘husband’ and ‘wife’ from being used in federal law. They say these are ‘gendered terms’ that discriminate against homosexuals. You’re absolutely right they are gendered terms—because marriage was created to be gendered! The One who created marriage defined it as between a …

Via White House press release: As part of the White House Conference on Aging today, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) issued guidance to better serve and help avoid discrimination to LGBT Americans seeking HUD-assisted or HUD-insured housing. The guidance will help clarify the Equal Access to Housing in HUD Programs Regardless of Sexual Orientation or Gender …

“Following the Supreme Court’s historic decision in Obergefell that every couple has the same right to participate in the institution of marriage, whether the partners are of the same-sex or opposite sexes, I directed Justice Department staff to work with the agencies to ensure that the ruling be given full effect across the federal government. Thanks to their leadership and …

Via USA Today: The Obama administration is unveiling long-awaited new rules that would allow more workers to claim overtime pay. Currently, certain workers who make more than $23,660 cannot claim overtime; the new proposal would raise that threshold to $50,440 per year. “Right now, too many Americans are working long days for less pay than they deserve,” President Obama writes …

Via press release: As the U.S. Supreme Court prepares to rule on same-sex marriage, Yahoo News presents a new 30-minute documentary, “Uniquely Nasty: The U.S. Government’s War on Gays,” reported and narrated by chief investigative correspondent Michael Isikoff. The film explores a dark and little-known chapter in America’s recent political past, when gays and lesbians were barred from working for …

CNN Money reports: On Wednesday, U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said a woman will be featured on a redesigned $10 bill in 2020 — the 100th anniversary of the Constitution’s 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote. A decision on who the woman will be won’t be made for several months. The last woman on U.S. paper currency …

Via White House press release: Special Envoy for the Human Rights of LGBTI Persons Randy Berry will travel to Chile from June 1 – 2, Argentina from June 3 – 4, Uruguay from June 4 – 5, Brazil from June 6 – 9, and the Dominican Republic from June 10 – 11 to discuss the human rights of LGBTI persons …

Via the Washington Blade: The Pentagon is preparing to update its Military Equal Opportunity Policy to include sexual orientation as a protected class and the change could be made final as soon as the end of next month, the Washington Blade has learned. A senior defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, confirmed late Friday the Defense Department is …

The federal government has halted a large clinical trial on early HIV treatment because results already in conclusively show that newly diagnosed patients do best if they start on anti-retroviral therapy immediately. Via the New York Times: The study was stopped more than a year early because preliminary data already showed that those who got treatment immediately were 53 percent …

Via press release from the US Department of Labor: Frank Kameny, who for decades fought to end discrimination in the federal workplace, will be honored by the U.S. Department of Labor in June with an induction to its Hall of Honor. Kameny’s legacy as a civil rights leader has made a monumental difference in improving the lives of all workers …

Via USA Today: Charities that claimed their funds were helping patients fighting cancer but were actually spending the bulk of donations on vacations, concerts and other luxurious perks are facing federal charges that they stole more than $187 million from consumers in one of the biggest charity fraud cases ever filed. The Federal Trade Commission, along with law enforcement officials …

Chris Geidner reports at Buzzfeed: On Tuesday morning, Democratic Rep. Ted Lieu of California will introduce a federal bill to ban commercial efforts to change people’s sexual orientation or gender identity — often called conversion therapy. “The public views conversion therapy as quackery, as something that harms people,” Lieu told BuzzFeed News on Monday afternoon, just after landing back in …

Several days ago Gambian President Yahya Jammeh vowed to “slit the throats” of gay men, adding, “If you are a man and want to marry another man in this country and we catch you, no one will ever set eyes on you again, and no white person can do anything about it.” Yesterday US National Security Adviser Susan Rice denounced …

Via the Hill: An Amtrak train that crashed outside of Philadelphia this week may have been the target of an attack. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said on Friday that the FBI had been called in to investigate the possibility that the train was hit by a bullet or some other object. According to the NTSB, an assistant conductor …

On Memorial Day the nation’s first-ever federally approved monument to LGBT veterans will be unveiled at the Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery near Chicago. Via the Windy City Times: The monument, which was spearheaded by Stanley J. Jenczyk, junior board member of the Chicago chapter of the American Veteran’s for Equal Rights ( AVER ), was approved late last year by …