Cannabis Banking Working Group to meet in Oakland after Trump administration signals marijuana crackdown

OAKLAND, Calif. – State Treasurer John Chiang and the Cannabis Banking Working Group will meet Monday, March 27 in Oakland City Hall to discuss solutions that provide greater access to banking to California’s future $7 billion legal cannabis industry. The conflicts between state and federal laws have forced cannabis firms to deal almost entirely in…

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Virginia governor vetoes anti-LGBTQ ‘License to Discriminate’ bills

Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe has  vetoed Senate Bill (SB 1324) and House Bill (HB) 2025 — discriminatory legislation seeking to give taxpayer-funded agencies and service providers a license to discriminate against LGBTQ people under the guise of religion. SB 1324 and HB 2025 sought to allow taxpayer-funded organizations, like homeless shelters and adoption agencies, a…

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Academics and experts respond and debunk go-to anti-equality ‘Expert’

Yesterday, nearly 600 academic and medical experts responded to essays written by Dr. Paul McHugh, an psychologist who has never performed any research on gender and sexual orientation, but who has become the go-to “expert” for anti-equality forces. McHugh’s writings have been cited by anti-LGBTQ, and in particular anti-transgender, activists in courthouses and state legislatures….

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Obamacare achievements celebrated as Republican-led Congress considers hastily concocted Trumpcare

WASHINGTON, D.C.,—The National LGBTQ Task Force Action Fund is celebrating the 7th anniversary of the enactment of Obamacare with a call to action urging members of Congress to stop Trumpcare, the so-called American Health Care Act, a bill that if made law would deprive tens of millions of quality affordable health care. “The Affordable Care…

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LGBT data collection legislation passes first committee

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Assembly Bill 677, a proposal by Assemblymember David Chiu (D-San Francisco) that would help ensure California public policy meets the needs of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) communities, Wednesday passed unanimously out of the Assembly Accountability and Administrative Review Committee. “We need real data to better understand the obstacles facing…

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HB2 one year later: NC GOP Leadership refuse to allow clean up or down vote on full HB2 repeal

WASHINGTON — The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) and Equality North Carolina have slammed North Carolina’s Republican leadership for their continued refusal to allow a clean up or down vote on the full repeal of HB2. Signed into law a year ago tomorrow by former Governor Pat McCrory — who lost his bid for re-election over…

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HRC: Is Mike Pence ‘Working for Women’? (VIDEO)

As Vice President Mike Pence received a “Working for Women” award from the Independent Women’s Forum, a conservative women’s organization on whose board Kellyanne Conway serves, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) released a video highlighting Pence’s “achievements.” “What would we do without Mike Pence and his tireless efforts to ban women from making decisions about…

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Anti-LGBTIQ hate bus tours the United States

The so-called FreeSpeechBus, is currently spreading its hateful message through the streets of New York City. The organizers behind the bus include the International Organization for the Family, labeled a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, and the notoriously anti-LGBTIQ group National Organization for Marriage. The bright orange bus is covered in the…

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20 states could ban dangerous anti-LGBTQ conversion efforts

Equality Federation is supporting legislation in 20 states to protect youth from the harmful, unscientific, disproven practice of sexual orientation and gender identity conversion efforts that are shockingly still in practice today. “In a sea of anti-LGBTQ legislation and attacks, this is an area where our movement has momentum and broad bipartisan support because this…

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Gorsuch hearings open as serious concerns, questions mount about rulings, philosophy, independence

WASHINGTON, D.C.,  –  Monday, Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch offered an opening statement on the first day of his confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, maintaining that throughout his judicial career he treated all who came before him fairly. However, pro-justice and pro-civil rights organizations who have researched Gorsuch’s record point to evidence that Judge Gorsuch…

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