LGBT News

The Arizona Republic reports: Two gay-rights organizations are suing Arizona over its so-called “No Promo Homo” law, which bans public district and charter school HIV/AIDS instruction that “promotes a homosexual lifestyle.” The National Center for Lesbian Rights and Lambda Legal filed the lawsuit Thursday in federal court on behalf of Equality Arizona, a nonprofit that advocates for LGBT residents. An …

Axios reports: Google is pulling a controversial app that LGBTQ rights groups say engages in a form of conversion therapy, joining Apple, Amazon and Microsoft, all of which banned the app months ago. Google had refused to ban the app from Living Hope Ministries, saying it didn’t clearly violate its Play Store terms of service. The change comes less than …

The Texas Tribune reports: Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is investigating the city of San Antonio for potential First Amendment violations after the City Council voted to prevent Chick-fil-A — a franchise known for opposing same-sex marriage — from opening a location in the city’s airport. “The Constitution’s protection of religious liberty is somehow even better than Chick-fil-A’s chicken,” Paxton, …

Dominic Holden reports at Buzzfeed News: The Justice Department has grown increasingly hostile toward its own LGBT workers, causing top talent to quit as they experience discrimination and “declining morale,” according to a group of LGBT employees who confronted Attorney General Bill Barr in a letter this week. Other workers cited in the letter said the FBI academy discriminates against …

George Clooney writes for Deadline Hollywood: The nation of Brunei will begin stoning and whipping to death any of its citizens that are proved to be gay. Let that sink in. In the onslaught of news where we see the world backsliding into authoritarianism this stands alone. At the head of it all is the Sultan of Brunei who is …

NBC News reports: Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, D-N.Y., a co-chair of the Congressional LGBT Equality Caucus, on Thursday introduced a bill that would ban the use of Medicaid funding for conversion therapy by cracking down on “misleading billing tactics.” Maloney, who is gay, introduced the Prohibition of Medicaid Funding for Conversion Therapy Act with 63 co-sponsors. According to a press …

The Washington Blade reports: The U.S. House voted Tuesday morning to rebuke President Trump’s transgender military ban by approving a non-binding resolution with bipartisan support. The resolution, which was introduced by Rep. Joseph Kennedy III (D-Mass.), was approved by a vote of 238-185 after an hour of debate on the House floor in which lawmakers denounced the Trump administration’s policy …

Fortune reports: Google lost an endorsement from the Human Rights Campaign, the largest U.S. LGBTQ group, over an app tied to the practice of so-called “conversion therapy” to change a gay person’s sexual orientation or gender identity. Alphabet Inc.’s Google, which had previously scored a perfect 100 on the annual Corporate Equality Index, will have its rating withheld until the …

The New York Times reports: The governor of Puerto Rico signed an executive order on Wednesday banning so-called conversion therapy for gay or transgender minors on the island. The decision came after Puerto Rico’s House of Representatives refused to vote on a bill that would have prohibited conversion therapy, a discredited practice that proponents claim can change a person’s sexual …

Courthouse News Service reports: The case of the New Yorker whose nightmarish experience on Grindr sparked national headlines and federal litigation will disappear with neither a trace nor a precedent. An attorney for Matthew Herrick, whose ex-boyfriend used the hook-up app to send about 1,100 suitors Herrick’s way, had choice words Wednesday after the Second Circuit affirmed dismissal of their …

Amnesty International reports: Cruel and inhuman punishments such as death by stoning for same-sex sexual acts and amputation for robbery will come into effect in Brunei next week, Amnesty International said today. “Pending provisions in Brunei’s Penal Code would allow stoning and amputation as punishments – including for children, to name only their most heinous aspects,” said Rachel Chhoa-Howard, Brunei …

Reuters reports: Chinese gaming company Beijing Kunlun Tech Co Ltd is seeking to sell Grindr LLC, the popular gay dating app it has owned since 2016, after a U.S. government national security panel raised concerns about its ownership, according to people familiar with the matter. The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) has informed Kunlun that its …

Just in via press release: Today, Democratic National Committee Chair Tom Perez announced the appointment of Joe Solmonese to be Chief Executive Officer of the 2020 Democratic National Convention Committee. Solmonese just recently served as the Transition Chair of Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA), and previously served as the President of the Human Rights Campaign and the Chief Executive …

The Austin Statesman reports: Opening what promises to be one of the most contentious fights of the 2019 legislative session, a Senate committee on Monday approved a bill to give state-licensed professionals — including doctors, lawyers, pharmacists and barbers — broad protection for actions taken according to their religious beliefs. Opponents said the bill, and more than a dozen similar …

The Denverite reports: A bill banning conversion therapy across Colorado is a step closer to becoming law after the Senate on Monday voted to pass the bill, which would ban licensed professional from the discredited practice of attempting to “cure” LGBTQ youth. The bill is headed back to House, which already approved it in February, for approval after the bill …

The Desert Sun reports: Police are looking for a person who shot two people at a Palm Springs night club early Sunday. The shooting was reported just before 2 a.m. at Toucans Toucans Tiki Lounge, 2100 N. Palm Canyon Drive. Neither victim’s injuries were life threatening, Palm Springs police Sgt. Ryan Raso said. The incident began when two people got …

New Music Express reports: Adele and Jennifer Lawrence have surprised fans by appearing together at a New York City gay bar. The two, who have been friends for several years, unexpectedly appeared at Pieces in Greenwich Village yesterday evening (March 22). Adele can be seen on stage after being called up by the bar’s host and was asked to introduce …

NBC News reports: The NAACP, the country’s oldest African-American civil rights organization, publicly endorsed the Equality Act, a federal LGBTQ anti-discrimination bill. “We support what it does — and we support it now,” Hilary Shelton, the organization’s D.C. bureau director, told NBC News on Friday. “It’s important that it gets through.” Shelton said the group had previously endorsed the bill …

The Detroit Free Press reports: Michigan will no longer financially support adoption and foster care agencies that refuse to work with same-sex couples and LGBTQ individuals because of religious beliefs under the terms of a settlement of a lawsuit negotiated by Attorney General Dana Nessel. The settlement, which was announced Friday, sets up a battle with the Republican-led Legislature, which …

The Tennessean reports: A bill opposed by LGBTQ advocates that would prevent state or local government entities in Tennessee from discriminating against a business based on the company’s internal policies has advanced in the House. House Bill 563, sponsored by Rep. Jason Zachary, R-Knoxville [photo], passed in the House on a 68-22 vote. The legislation seeks to prohibit the state …