Tag Archives: LGBTQ rights

NBC News reports: At least 22 Republican-led states are suing the Biden administration over its new rules to protect LGBTQ students from discrimination in federally funded schools. Attorneys general in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia who sued the administration in separate lawsuits last week argued that the …

Reuters reports: Iraq’s parliament passed a law criminalising same-sex relationships with a maximum 15-year prison sentence on Saturday, in a move it said aimed to uphold religious values but was condemned by rights advocates as the latest attack on the LGBT community in Iraq. The law aims to “protect Iraqi society from moral depravity and the calls for homosexuality that …

The New York Times reports: The Biden administration announced expansive new protections on Friday for gay and transgender medical patients, prohibiting federally funded health providers and insurers from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. The new rule reverses a policy instituted by the Trump administration and helps to fulfill part of President Biden’s vow to restore …

The Associated Press reports: A top court in the eastern Caribbean island of Dominica has struck down colonial-era laws criminalizing gay sex. It’s the latest nation to repeal such laws in the socially conservative region, joining Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, St. Kitts and Nevis, and Antigua and Barbuda. While the laws stemmed from the British colonial period, they were strengthened …

Roll Call reports: The Biden administration on Friday finalized new rules designed to bolster legal protections at colleges and universities for LGBTQ+ and pregnant students and victims of sexual misconduct. The new rules do not address the politically contentious issue of transgender athletes competing on women’s sports teams, however. The rules released Friday update Title IX, the 1972 law that …

The Cleveland Plain Dealer reports: About 100 people squeezed into City Council chambers Monday night (April 15) to express their views on BBH Pride Fest, which is scheduled for June 8 on the City Hall campus. Most of those who spoke were against the LGBTQ+ event and scolded Broadview Heights officials for allowing it on city property. “We are Broadview …

The Christian Post reports: Parental rights activists nationwide held prayer rallies at each of the 50 state capitols and in Washington this weekend as part of an ongoing effort to turn individual states and the United States as a whole “back to God.” The Her Voice Movement is encouraging the formation of prayer hubs of two to 10 concerned women …

Honolulu Civil Beat reports: The state Senate today easily approved House Bill 2802, which will ask voters in November to rescind a provision in the Hawaii Constitution that gives the Legislature the authority to limit marriage to opposite-sex couples. Article 1, Section 23 reserves to the Legislature the authority to define marriage, even as same-sex marriage has been federal law …

The Hill reports: President Biden’s reelection campaign on Wednesday launched Out for Biden-Harris, a new national initiative aimed to mobilize LGBTQ voters. The launch includes a series of virtual organizing and training events focused on reaching new volunteers, especially in battleground states, by engaging surrogates from the community. “LGBTQ+ voters are a force to be reckoned with. They were critical …

Yahoo Finance reports: Anti-trans advocates failed to pass a measure at Disney’s annual shareholder meeting Wednesday amid the company’s largest, most expensive and contentious proxy contest in recent history. Today, Chloe Cole, a 19-year-old who has spent much of the last two years testifying in support of legislation to ban gender-affirming care for minors, urged Walt Disney Co. shareholders to …

Via press release from the White House: On Transgender Day of Visibility, we honor the extraordinary courage and contributions of transgender Americans and reaffirm our Nation’s commitment to forming a more perfect Union — where all people are created equal and treated equally throughout their lives. I am proud that my Administration has stood for justice from the start, working …

Politico Europe reports: The draft legislation, set out by the governing Georgian Dream party on Monday, aims to prohibit people from changing their gender, as well as outlaw same-sex couples from adopting children. According to Georgian Dream’s executive chair Mamuka Mdinaradze, Georgia’s constitution should be amended to allow marriage only of “a union of a single genetic male and a …

The Associated Press reports: Lawmakers in Thailand’s lower house of Parliament overwhelmingly approved a marriage equality bill on Wednesday that would make the country the first in Southeast Asia to legalize equal rights for marriage partners of any gender. The bill passed its final reading with the approval of 400 of the 415 members of the House of Representatives in …

The New York Post is very unhappy about it: Most of the $640 million in new charitable donations Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’ ex-wife MacKenzie Scott is dishing out will go to nonprofits pushing extreme left-wing causes. Scott will provide 67 migrant-advocacy organizations a combined $122 million for legal aid and other assistance, according to an analysis of 361 awards she …

The Independent reports: A quartet of Republicans want the Department of Veterans Affairs to explain a recent decision to offer In Vitro Fertilisation services to veterans who are unmarried or in same-sex relationships, citing “a plethora of ethical concerns and questions” raised by the announcement. In a letter to VA Secretary Denis McDonough, Representatives Matt Rosendale, Bob Good, Mary Miller …

The Moscow Times reports: Russian authorities have arrested employees of a gay club as part of the country’s first criminal “extremism” case against members of the LGBTQ+ community, a court in the city of Orenburg said Wednesday. Kremlin-aligned conservative activist Yekaterina Mizulina earlier this week announced criminal charges in connection with the LGBTQ+ club Pose’s activities. Nationalist, pro-war activists said …

Gallup Polling reports: LGBTQ+ identification in the U.S. continues to grow, with 7.6% of U.S. adults now identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or some other sexual orientation besides heterosexual. The current figure is up from 5.6% four years ago and 3.5% in 2012. Bisexual adults make up the largest proportion of the LGBTQ+ population — 4.4% of U.S. …

Truthout reports: At 2:27 p.m. on Friday, March 8, the Florida Legislature adjourned sine die. With this adjournment, 21 of 22 anti-LGBTQ+ bills were effectively killed, leaving an anti-diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in education bill as the lone piece of legislation to pass this session. This session featured some of the most severe bills ever proposed against transgender individuals, …

The New York Times reports: Ghana’s Parliament on Wednesday passed a bill that imposes jail terms on people who identify as L.G.B.T.Q. or organize gay advocacy groups, measures that Amnesty International called among the harshest on the African continent. The legislation, if signed into law by President Nana Akufo-Addo [photol, would mean that people convicted of identifying as gay could …

The Associated Press reports: South Florida prosecutors dropped criminal charges on Tuesday against a couple and their adult son who had been accused of severely beating a man who had been in a relationship with the son. Yevhen Makarenko, his wife, Inna, and their son Oleh had each been charged with attempted murder, burglary and kidnapping in the August 2021 …