Via press release from Lambda Legal: Today Lambda Legal announced the resolution of its lawsuit against the Social Security Administration (SSA) brought on behalf of Kathy Murphy, a Texas widow denied spousal benefits after the death of her wife, and the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare (the National Committee). “The Social Security Administration has finally adjusted Kathy’s …
Read More »Monthly Archives: March 2016
MISSOURI: Senate Democrats Have Been Filibustering Anti-LGBT RFRA Bill All Night Long [AUDIO]
Holy cow! From the Riverfront Times: How to stop a piece of a legislation that would codify the right to discriminate against same-sex couples? For Missouri Democrats, the answer may be to just keep talking. Last night at 4 p.m., the Senate Democratic caucus began filibustering a joint resolution aimed at bringing a constitutional amendment to Missouri voters that would …
Read More »MISSISSIPPI: Ted Cruz Says He’s Too Sick To Attend Rally With Hate Group Crackpot Bryan Fischer
Yesterday Ted Cruz was supposed to share the stage with raving loon Bryan Fischer, but his campaign canceled the event, saying Cruz is “very very ill.” The Biloxi Sun-Herald reports: “I got a call from the national campaign chairman and he said he’s known Cruz for a long time and he’s very very ill,” State Sen. Chris McDaniel, Cruz’s Mississippi …
Read More »TAIWAN: Christian Groups Call For Boycott After McDonald’s Goes Viral With Coming Out Ad [VIDEO]
From the Shanghaiist: A new advertisement by McCafé featuring a heartwarming coming-out scene has created something of a firestorm in a coffee cup in Taiwan, with religious fundamentalists up in arms, calling for a boycott against the chain. In the 90-second video, titled Acceptance, the third and latest video in the More Warmth in Conversations campaign by McCafé which started …
Read More »CALIFORNIA: Ninth Circuit Court To Hear Appeal Of Man Arrested For Nudity At 2011 San Diego Pride
You may recall that in 2011 a gay man was arrested for “nudity” at San Diego Pride. On Friday the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals will hear the case. The San Diego Reader reports: Do San Diego police officers interpret public nudity laws differently for a gay man at a Gay Pride event than, say, a woman in a g-string …
Read More »ATLANTA: City Council Resolution Unanimously Denounces Georgia’s Pending Anti-LGBT RFRA Law
The Georgia Voice reports: The Atlanta City Council on Monday voted to pass a resolution in opposition to House Bill 757, Senate Bill 129 or any other legislation that would discriminate against the state’s LGBT community. The resolution, proposed by Councilmembers Mary Norwood [photo] and Alex Wan, passed unanimously. It was co-signed by Councilmembers Yolanda Adrean, Natalyn Archibong, Michael Julian …
Read More »INDIANA: Kokomo City Council Advances LGBT Rights Bill By 5-4 Vote After Heated Public Discussion [VIDEO]
The Kokomo Tribune reports: In front of a crowd filling both council chambers and the City Hall lobby, Kokomo’s Common Council voted Monday to approve legislation that would protect lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender citizens from various forms of discrimination. After the 5-4 vote in favor of the ordinance’s first reading, the council will hold a second reading at 6 …
Read More »Precrime: China Goes Minority Report
Bloomberg reports: China’s effort to flush out threats to stability is expanding into an area that used to exist only in dystopian sci-fi: pre-crime. The Communist Party has directed one of the country’s largest state-run defense contractors, China Electronics Technology Group, to develop software to collate data on jobs, hobbies, consumption habits, and other behavior of ordinary citizens to predict …
Read More »Justin Trudeau Breaks The Internet
If you have an internet machine, you’ve surely seen the above photo tweeted out over the weekend by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Satirist Andy Borowitz writes for the New Yorker: The photo, taken at the Toronto Zoo and showing Justin Trudeau cuddling with two panda cubs, was “the last thing this country needed,” Harland Dorrinson, the executive director of …
Read More »Tony Perkins Vs Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal
Hate group leader Tony Perkins is furious with Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal, who last week denounced his state’s pending RFRA bill by quoting from the bible. Perkins rants: Georgia Governor Nathan Deal (R) used to be a Democrat, and on Thursday, it was easy to see why. The longtime congressman-turned-governor sounded a lot like his old party last week when …
Read More »VIRAL VIDEO: The Trouble With Transporters
800K views overnight. Redshirts Always Die recaps: Perhaps Lt. Reginald Barclay was right all along and you should be afraid of the transporter! This hilarious, but informative video breaks down the problems with Star Trek’s transporters. It seems they may not be quite as safe as the Federation would have you believe. (I think Section 31 is behind this!)
Read More »Rubio Advisers: Drop Out Before Florida Primary
CNN reports: A battle is being waged within Florida Sen. Marco Rubio’s campaign about whether he should even remain in the Republican presidential race ahead of his home state primary on March 15, sources say. Rubio himself is “bullish” on his odds of winning the critical primary, despite some advisers who are less hopeful and believe a loss there would …
Read More »Michael Bloomberg: I’m Not Running For President Because Doing So Would Benefit Trump Or Cruz
Via the New York Times: Michael R. Bloomberg, who for months quietly laid the groundwork to run for president as an independent, will not enter the 2016 campaign, he said Monday, citing his fear that a three-way race could lead to the election of a candidate who would imperil the security and stability of the United States: Donald J. Trump. …
Read More »JAMAICA: Newly-Elected Prime Minister Likely To Back National Referendum On Anti-LGBT “Buggery” Laws
From the Jamaica Gleaner: Prime Minister Andrew Holness says the government will put key constitutional and social issues to a referendum. Holness made the commitment in his inauguration speech yesterday. However, he did not name the issues which will be put to a vote by Jamaicans. The JLP has strongly opposed Jamaica’s departure from the United Kingdom-based Privy Council to …
Read More »TRAILER: Mapplethorpe: Look At The Pictures
From HBO’s press materials: “Look at the pictures,” said Senator Jesse Helms, denouncing the controversial art of Robert Mapplethorpe, whose photographs pushed boundaries with frank depictions of nudity, sexuality and fetishism, igniting a culture war that rages to this day. More than 25 years later, the HBO Documentary Films presentation MAPPLETHORPE: LOOK AT THE PICTURES does just that, taking an …
Read More »Caitlyn Jenner: Hillary Doesn’t Care About Trans Rights, Unlike The GOP Which “Doesn’t Hate Trans People”
Oh brother. Via Pink News: Caitlyn Jenner has claimed that Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton only cares about herself. The former Olympian, who is a staunch Republican, made the claim on her reality show I Am Cait, which has just begun its second season. During the show, Jenner is discussing politics with her transgender friends, when she insists that the …
Read More »New Trump Ad: Marco Rubio Is Corrupt [VIDEO]
From the New York Times: Donald J. Trump released a savage attack ad about Senator Marco Rubio that’s set to air in his home state of Florida, a 60-second takedown that calls the legislator “corrupt” and accuses him of intentionally misusing a Republican party credit card to line his pockets. The ad is one of the most brutal of a …
Read More »Log Cabin Republicans Hit Trump On Marriage [VIDEO]
David Badash writes at New Civil Rights Movement: The Log Cabin Republicans today posted an ad demanding Donald Trump tell them where he stands on same-sex marriage. The gay GOP group as recently as December had been supportive of the Republican frontrunner, with their president proclaiming the brash billionaire is “one of the best, if not the best, pro-gay Republican …
Read More »WISCONSIN: Gov. Scott Walker’s State Supreme Court Appointee Once Mocked “Queers With AIDS”
From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Newly appointed state Supreme Court Justice Rebecca Bradley in student newspaper columns 24 years ago said she had no sympathy for AIDS patients because they had effectively chosen to kill themselves, called gays “queers” and said Americans were “either totally stupid or entirely evil” for electing President Bill Clinton. In one column, she wrote people …
Read More »Former Anti-Defamation League Head Abe Foxman: Trump’s Loyalty Oath Is A Deliberate Fascist Gesture
From the Times Of Israel: Former Anti-Defamation League director Abe Foxman excoriated Donald Trump for urging his supporters at a weekend rally to raise their right hands and promise to support him, a gambit Foxman said evoked echoes of Hitler salutes from Nazi rallies in the 1930s and ’40s. For Foxman, who was born in Poland in 1940 and was …
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