WASHINGTON – Friday, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), Equality North Carolina and the National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE) sent a letter to Charlotte Mayor Jennifer Roberts and the seven City Council members who voted to advance city-wide LGBT non-discrimination protections on February 22, 2016. The letter comes amid reports of a possible deal on HB2 that could…
A new anti-transgender bill has been introduced in the Oklahoma State Legislature. The proposal would force schools to make accommodations for students who purport to have religious objections to sharing a sex-segregated space with transgender students. Going a step further, the legislation also strangely states that allowing students with religious objections to use a single-user…
WASHINGTON, DC—The National LGBTQ Task Force Action Fund is describing yesterday’s passage of an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act — that would strip non-discrimination protections from the millions of employees of federal contractors— as “designed to destroy people’s livelihoods.” “It’s an absolute disgrace that the House Majority Leadership would push this outrageous amendment…
NEW YORK — The news in recent months has been filled with coverage of new laws being proposed and/or passed in many American states in an attempt to preserve religious rights or individuals’ safety at the possible expense of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender rights. When asked about their familiarity with some of these laws, most…
WASHINGTON – Following House passage of the National Defense Authorization Act (FY17 NDAA) – which included a provision to overturn basic workplace protections for LGBT Americans – Representative Sean Patrick Maloney (D-NY) introduced an amendment to the Military Construction, Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies Appropriations Act of 2017 (MilCon-VA) to prevent taxpayer dollars from going…
LOS ANGELES— Equality California has endorsed California Attorney General Kamala Harris for U.S. Senate in 2016. “Among the candidates running for U.S. Senate this year, we were fortunate to choose from two strong LGBT allies, Attorney General Kamala Harris and Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez,” said Rick Zbur, executive director of Equality California. “However, Harris has an…
WASHINGTON – Today, Representatives Joe Kennedy III and Bobby Scott introduced the “Do No Harm Act.” The Act clarifies that the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) is intended to protect religious freedom without allowing the infliction of harm on other people. The Do No Harm Act would amend RFRA and restore the original intent of…
WASHINGTON – Today, the House Republican Leadership prevented a debate and vote on an amendment to remove an anti-LGBT provision from the Fiscal Year 2017 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). Rep. Charlie Dent (R-PA) offered the bipartisan amendment to strike the provision, which would allow, under the guise of religious liberty, taxpayer-funded discrimination in contracts…
The Senate has confirmed Eric Fanning to serve as Secretary of the U.S. Army. Fanning is the first openly-gay leader of a U.S. military service, and is now the highest-ranking, Senate-confirmed openly-LGBT appointed official. Fanning was nominated by President Barack Obama in September, and the nomination was reported by the Senate Armed Services Committee in…
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Following the introduction of over two dozen bills to curb LGBT rights at the state and federal level, and in observation of International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia (IDAHOT), the Congressional LGBT Equality Caucus released a video campaign, led by Co-Chair Representative Sean Patrick Maloney (NY-18), to show support for the LGBT community. …
