LGBT and civil rights advocacy groups condemn confirmation of Jeff Sessions

Following yesterdays Senate vote to confirm Sen. Jeff Sessions as U.S. Attorney General, LGBT and civil rights groups were quick to condemn his confirmation. The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) said that Donald Trump’s choice of Jeff Sessions to lead the United States Department of Justice places civil rights and equality in jeopardy. “It’s deeply disturbing…

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HRC calls on senators to oppose Sessions’ nomination

WASHINGTON — Ahead of this week’s confirmation of President-elect Donald Trump’s choice for United States Attorney General, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC),  released a report detailing Jeff Sessions’ alarming record on LGBTQ equality. The report was delivered to Members of Congress with an attached letter from Chad Griffin, President of the Human Rights Campaign, calling…

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ACLU legal director to testify at Sessions’ confirmation hearing

WASHINGTON — The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) announced today that its new national legal director, David Cole, will testify at Sen. Jeff Sessions’ confirmation hearing for attorney general Jan. 11. The ACLU is nonpartisan, and as a matter of longstanding policy does not support or oppose nominees for federal office. As a result, the…

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Sessions’ Senate Judiciary Questionnaire still incomplete

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Sen. Jeff Sessions has supplemented his original Dec. 9 Senate Judiciary Questionnaire (SJQ)—admitting that he had initially omitted hundreds of items—but there are still dramatic gaps in his record, according to a new report compiled by the National Council of Asian Pacific Americans, People For the American Way, and Alliance for Justice. Fully…

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Trump offers Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions attorney general position

President-elect Donald Trump has offered Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions the position of attorney general, the nation’s top law enforcement officer. Sessions, an early Trump backer, is an immigration hard-liner who has been in the Senate since 1997 and previously served as attorney general for the state of Alabama. In 1986 Sessions was rejected as a…

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Anti same-sex marriage Florida Republican named ‘Loser of the Year’

Florida’s Attorney General Pam Bondi, who has spent most of the year trying to stop the progress of marriage equality has been named ‘Loser of the Year’ by the Tampa Bay Times this week. Twice-divorced Bondi was re-elected in November 2014, previously claimed in a legal brief that “disrupting Florida’s existing marriage laws would impose…

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Attorney General Holder issues report outlining Obama administration’s work to extend federal benefits to same-sex married couples

WASHINGTON—Following the Supreme Court’s historic decision striking down Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act, Attorney General Eric Holder on Friday issued a formal report on the yearlong effort by the Justice Department and other federal agencies to implement the decision smoothly across the entire government. “I am pleased to report that agencies across the federal…

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Attorney General Eric Holder slams Boy Scouts’ ban on gay Scout leaders

WASHINGTON – Tuesday, Attorney General Eric Holder  harshly condemned a Boy Scouts of America (BSA) policy that prohibits gays and lesbians from serving as Scout Leaders.  While the group’s National Council recently voted to end a longstanding ban on gay youth in Scouting, it left in place a policy that bars gay and lesbian adults,…

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Attorney General of North Carolina describes United Church of Christ lawsuit as ‘complex and significant’

CHARLOTTE, N.C.,  — Defendants in the case, General Synod of the United Church of Christ v. Cooper, filed motions for a 30-day extension of time to respond to the lawsuit today in U.S. District Court in Charlotte. The Attorney General of North Carolina, Roy Cooper, on behalf of himself and all Defendant District Attorneys, specifically…

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Kentucky attorney general won’t defend state’s ban on marriage equality

Today Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway announced he will not appeal a judge’s order to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states or jurisdictions.  Instead, Governor Steve Beshear will hire outside counsel to appeal the ruling.  Last month U.S. District Court Judge John G. Heyburn II ruled that Kentucky ’s marriage amendment violates the constitutional…

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