Human Rights Campaign files FOIA with Trump administration over elimination of LGBTQ data

WASHINGTON — Today, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request with the Department of Commerce for communications related to the Trump Administration’s exclusion of “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” recommendations regarding data collection in the American Community Survey. Materials produced from this request will help determine how this shameful…

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HRC calls on pro-equality senators to vote ‘No’ and filibuster Neil Gorsuch

WASHINGTON — Today, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) continued their historic opposition to the nomination of Neil Gorsuch to the U.S. Supreme Court by calling on every pro-equality member of the U.S. Senate to vote “no” and filibuster his nomination. “Last week, Neil Gorsuch refused to answer basic questions regarding his alarming history of opposing…

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Trump administration omits LGBTQ people from 2020 Census and American Community Survey

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Today, the Trump Administration submitted to Congress a report of the list of categories of data it plans to collect for the 2020 Census and the American Community Survey (ACS). In this morning’s version of the Administration’s report, while it conspicuously excluded lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBTQ) people on the list of “planned…

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White House proposes cuts to AIDS assistance worldwide of $300 million

Donald Trump’s administration has proposed cutting $1.23 billion this fiscal year from research funded by the National Institutes of Health, reports Bloomberg. Most of the proposed reductions at NIH would come from research grants, with $50 million specifically taken from a program meant to support biomedical research. PEPFAR, the worldwide initiative to help people with…

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Major child welfare organizations urge Georgia lawmakers to reject anti-LGBTQ amendment to adoption bill

WASHINGTON — Today, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) released an open letter from major child welfare organizations — including the Child Welfare League of America, The Donaldson Adoption Institute, FosterClub, North American Council on Adoptable Children, and Voice for Adoption — urging Georgia lawmakers to reject a discriminatory, anti-LGBTQ amendment to an adoption-related bill, HB 159, currently…

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SDHDF ‘improperly used monies from restricted funds,’ forensic financial review reveals

SAN DIEGO — Friday, The San Diego Human Dignity Foundation (SDHDF) released parts of the “forensic” financial review undertaken of the Foundation by an independent certified public accountant. The review was conducted at the behest of members of the organization’s board of directors and its Finance Committee, who were concerned about “irregularities” and possibly missing…

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New report: HB2 will cost North Carolina more than $3.76 billion over 12 years

North Carolina’s deeply discriminatory HB2 will cost the state more than $3.76 billion in lost business over a dozen years. That is according to a new analysis just published by the Associated Press. Over the past year, states the report, North Carolina has suffered financial hits ranging from scuttled plans for a PayPal facility that…

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New bill gives workers new protections against worksite raids

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. – Amid escalating reports of the Trump Administration’s indiscriminate raids on immigrants’ homes and heart-wrenching stories of parents being snatched away from their children, Assemblymember David Chiu (D – San Francisco) was joined by workers from the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) California and the California Labor Federation to unveil legislation that…

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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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