SEATTLE, Wash.– Today, Pride Foundation announced $507,000 in grants to 81 organizations in Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington—investing vital resources into local organizations working to ensure that lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people and their families can live fully and safely in their home communities. This year’s award amount is the highest…
SALEM, Ore. — Oregon Gove. Kate Brown has signed into law House Bill (HB) 2673 — legislation that streamlines the process for transgender people to update their birth certificate. HB 2673 updates existing Oregon law to ensure that transgender Oregonians have access to a safer, more affordable and streamlined process for obtaining corrected birth certificates…
Aaron and Melissa Klein, owners of Sweet Cakes bakery have filed a reply brief with the Oregon Court of Appeals. The Oregon couple were fined $135,000 for refusing to bake a cake for a same-sex couple. In the brief, the attorneys challenge the Bureau of Labor and Industries argument that the government can compel citizens…
The Oregon bakery that denied service to a same-sex couple have finally paid their fine. After holding out for nearly six months the co-owner of the Portland-area bakery Sweet Cakes by Melissa, Aaron Klein dropped off a check Monday for $136,927.07 which included accrued interest, reported the Associated Press. Klein also paid $7,000 earlier this…
Today, San Diego-based LGBT advocacy group Canvass for a Cause was one of 10 LGBT advocacy organizations that received a cake from Sweet Cakes Bakery in Oregon. Together with the cake, which was inscribed “We really do love you!” on a red heart, the package included a letter from Sweet Cakes’ owners Aaron and Melissa…
SALEM, Ore. —Today, the Oregon State Senate passed HB 2307, a bill that will protect lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) youth from the dangerous and discredited practice of conversion therapy. The bill was overwhelmingly approved by the State House on March 17 and is now heading to the desk of Gov. Kate Brown who…
Portland, ORE.— Ooligan Press has announced that Oregon native Karelia Stetz-Waters has been nominated for a Lambda Literary Award for her young adult novel Forgive Me If I’ve Told You This Before, published October 2014. Forgive Me If I’ve Told You This Before has been nominated in the LGBT Children’s/Young Adult category. The book tells…
The country’s first openly bisexual governor took office today. Oregon Supreme Court Chief Justice Thomas Balmer administered the oath of office to Kate Brown during a ceremony that took place on the floor of the state House of Representatives, reports the Washington Blade. Brown, who had been Oregon’s secretary of state, officially took office at…
An Oregon bakery discriminated against a same-sex couple when they refused to sell them a wedding cake the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI) announced Monday. KGW.com reported that the owners of Sweet Cakes by Melissa bakery in Gresham, Ore. will have to pay the couple up to $150,000, BOLI spokesman Charlie Burr said….
Democratic Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon has proposed legislation in Congress that would significantly expand civil rights for the LGBT community. According to PortlandTribune.com, Merkley plans on “[introducing] legislation to bar discrimination not only in employment but extending to financial transactions, housing and public accommodations.” Merkley, who was just elected to a second six-year term…
