U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy, in his historic June 26, 5-4 majority opinion in Obergefell v. Hodges, used the word “dignity” nine times. The decision ended state same-sex marriage bans in favor of same-sex wedding bands. Media headlined “dignity” across the nation and the world, forever associating the word with the LGBT struggle…
The Texas Supreme Court has suspended the enforcement of the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance (HERO) and ordered the Houston City Council to repeal the ordinance or place it up for a vote in the November city elections. “We agree with the Relators that the City Secretary certified their petition and thereby invoked the City Council’s ministerial…
There’s a Big Gay Loophole in the Civil Rights Act that doesn’t cover LGBTs. The proposed Equality Act would patch it up, but of course, opponents of equality are making up all kinds of crazy claims about why the Big Gay Loophole should stay open forever. Fortunately, their reasons are completely absurd, so it shouldn’t…
Less than a month after the historic marriage equality ruling some Christian colleges have begun responding, favorably. So far, Goshen College, Eastern Mennonite University, and Hope College have amended their policies to include employees in committed, monogamous, same-sex relationships. By also adding “gender identity,” Goshen College and Eastern Mennonite University are opening their door to the…
Earlier this week, Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner signed HB 3930, an enhanced hate crime protections law that explicitly includes crimes against transgender people. The existing hate crimes law, signed in 1990 by Gov. James Thompson, included sexual orientation as a protected category, which had been interpreted to include gender identity. The new law, authored by…
KMPH FOX 26 | Central San Joaquin Valley News Source FRESNO, Calif. — A 66-year-old transgender woman was murdered in Fresno, Calif. Thursday night in what appears to be a brutal premeditated attack. KMPH reports that surveillance video shows Kenton Haggard of Fresno walking down Blackstone near Cornell in central Fresno. An SUV with several…
Today the Equality Act was introduced by Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR) in the U.S. Senate and Representative Cicilline (D-RI) in the U.S. House of Representatives, including co-sponsors Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and Cory Booker (D-NJ), and Representatives Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and John Lewis (D-GA). The Equality Act would protect lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) and…
WASHINGTON – In advance of this afternoon’s introduction of the historic Equality Act in Congress, today 3 major American companies announced their support for comprehensive federal non-discrimination legislation that would establish full, federal equality for all LGBT Americans. Each of the leading corporations – which include Apple, The Dow Chemical Company, and Levi Strauss &…
WASHINGTON – Today, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) released the results of a new Democracy Corps survey from Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research, demonstrating that 59% of likely 2016 voters are less likely to support a candidate who opposes non-discrimination protections for LGBT people. These results come just before a new federal LGBT non-discrimination bill is…
NEW YORK – amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research, today announced the beta launch of its PEPFAR Country/Regional Operational Plan database, a comprehensive, navigable database of PEPFAR’s planned funding of HIV/AIDS activities from 2007 to 2014. The database was unveiled at the 8th International AIDS Society Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention (IAS 2015)…
