Civil Rights

DOJ Files Appeal In Texas Ruling To Ban Abortion Pills

The Huffington Post reports: The Department of Justice filed an immediate appeal following a Texas federal judge’s shocking decision Friday to pull the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of mifepristone, one of two drugs used in medication abortion. The Justice Department appealed directly to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit on Friday night, only a few hours …

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New Map: Where It Remains A Crime To Be LGBTQ

Forbes reports: Over the past thirty years, 49 UN member States have decriminalized consensual same-sex sexual acts, according to a new database by ILGA World. However, laws criminalizing being gay remain a reality for one-third of countries worldwide. It’s still illegal to be LGBTQ in 64 UN member States. In Brunei, Iran, Mauritania, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia and Yemen, the death …

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Florida Dem Party Chair Arrested In Abortion Protest

The Orlando Sentinel reports: Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried, Senate Minority Leader Lauren Book and nine others were released from jail after being arrested Monday night on trespassing charges for protesting a six-week abortion ban that’s poised to pass the Legislature. “We know what we’re fighting for,” Fried said in an interview Tuesday. “If it takes us getting arrested …

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POLL: Majority Oppose Laws Restricting Drag Shows

The Hill reports: The results of an NPR-PBS NewsHour-Marist poll, released Wednesday, show 58 percent of respondents said they oppose laws restricting the performances, while 39 percent said they support them. Democrats are the most likely to oppose such laws, with almost three-quarters of them saying they are opposed, but 57 percent of independents and 37 percent of Republicans also …

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SURVEY: 80% Support Broad LGBTQ Protections

The Freedom From Religion Foundation reports: A new national survey has reassuring findings that Americans of almost all religions and no religion are growing ever more supportive of LGBTQ rights. For instance, eight in 10 Americans (80 percent) in the Public Religion Research Institute survey support laws against discrimination in jobs, public accommodations and housing against gay, lesbian, bisexual and …

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TX College Sued For Banning “Degrading” Drag Show

Law & Crime reports: The president of West Texas A&M University faces a federal lawsuit calling his cancellation of a student group’s drag show to benefit LGBTQ+ suicide prevention “textbook viewpoint discrimination” that violates the First Amendment. Student group Spectrum WT, which scheduled a show titled “A Fool’s Drag Race” for March 31, seeks an injunction forcing the university to …

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Uganda Approves 10-Year Sentence For Coming Out

Reuters reports: Uganda’s parliament on Tuesday passed a law that criminalises identifying as LGBTQ, handing authorities broad powers to target Ugandans who already face legal discrimination and mob violence. More than 30 African countries, including Uganda, already ban same-sex relations. The new law appears to be the first to outlaw merely identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ), …

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TX College Bans Drag Show As “Degrading To Women”

The Texas Tribune reports: West Texas A&M President Walter Wendler is drawing ire for canceling a student drag show, arguing that such performances degrade women and are “derisive, divisive and demoralizing misogyny.” Wendler said drag shows “stereotype women in cartoon-like extremes for the amusement of others and discriminate against womanhood” in a Monday letter. Wendler said the drag show was …

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Uganda Proposes 10-Year Sentence For Coming Out

Human Rights Watch reports: A bill introduced in Uganda’s Parliament criminalizing same-sex conduct and sexual and gender identity, if adopted, would violate multiple fundamental rights, Human Rights Watch said today. Among others, such a law would violate the rights to freedom of expression and association privacy, equality, and nondiscrimination. On March 9, 2023, Asuman Basalirwa, a member of parliament, introduced …

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Meta Study: Children Of LGBTQ Parents Have Outcomes As Good Or Better Than Those Of Heterosexual Parents

The Hill reports: A new study found that children of same-sex parents have home lives and outcomes that are as good or better than those of heterosexual couples. The research, published in the BMJ Global Health journal, analyzed 34 studies across countries where same-sex marriage is legal. In the study, they compared the development of children who were raised by …

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WH To Make Abortion Rights Focal Point In 2024 Race

Reuters reports: The White House is jumping into state-level battles for women’s reproductive rights, lending legal and messaging advice to allies in states pushing restrictions as the Biden administration seeks to make abortion access a rallying cry in next year’s presidential election. By leaning on key local lawmakers and backing legislation to expand abortion rights, the White House is hoping …

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House GOP Disbands Subcommittee On Civil Rights

The Hill reports: The Republican-controlled House Oversight and Accountability Committee has disbanded the Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, which focused on issues including voting rights, freedom of assembly and criminal justice reform policies. In a committee meeting on Tuesday, Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) said this doesn’t mean topics related to these issues can’t be brought before the committee. …

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SC Supreme Court Tosses Six-Week Abortion Ban

The Charleston Post & Courier reports: The state Supreme Court has thrown out South Carolina’s law that bans abortions at roughly six weeks into a pregnancy, calling it unconstitutional. In a 3-2 split decision, justices ruled that privacy rights inserted in the state constitution do extend to a woman’s right to an abortion. The Legislature has the authority to set …

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Eighteen AGs Battle Against FL’s “Don’t Say Gay” Law

Washington DC’s CBS affiliate reports: D.C.’s Attorney General is taking the lead in a fight against Florida’s so-called “Don’t Say Gay” law. Karl Racine is leading a pack of 18 attorneys general who has filed a federal brief saying the law is unconstitutional. They also contend that the Florida Act is causing, by example, significant harm to students, parents and …

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Indian Supreme Court Petitioned On Marriage Equality

Reuters reports: Four gay couples have asked India’s Supreme Court to recognise same-sex marriages, setting the stage for a legal face-off with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government which has in the past refused to legalise such marriages. The pleas have already triggered a debate on prime-time TV news and generated editorials in newspapers whether the time has come for the …

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Barbados High Court Scraps Colonial-Era Buggery Law

Pink News reports: On Monday, 12 December, the High Court of Barbados further undid its colonial-era homosexuality laws by scrapping Sections 9 and 12 of the Barbados Sexual Offences Act. Also known as “buggery” and “serious indecency” laws, which criminalised consensual same-sex intimacy, punishment ranged from life imprisonment under Section 9, and up to 10 years in jail under Section …

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Indonesia Is Set To Criminalize Sex Outside Marriage

Reuters reports: Indonesia’s parliament is expected to pass a new criminal code this month that will penalise sex outside marriage with a punishment of up to one year in jail, officials have confirmed. The legislative overhaul will also ban insulting the president or state institutions and expressing any views counter to Indonesia’s state ideology. Cohabitation before marriage is also banned. …

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Indian Supreme Court To Consider Same-Sex Marriage

Bloomberg News reports: India’s Supreme Court has agreed to examine a petition that seeks legal recognition of same-sex marriage, in a development that could build on a string of rulings expanding protection for the LGBTQ community. The petition, which was filed this month by a couple, evoked India’s Special Marriage Act, a law that originally legalized interfaith unions. The petitioners …

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Belgian Parliament To Criminalize Ex-Gay Torture

The Brussels Times reports: Belgium is banning conversion practices – a pseudoscientific practice of trying to change someone’s sexual orientation or gender identity to align with heterosexual and cisgender norms – for members of the LGBTQ community, announced State Secretary for Gender Equality, Equal Opportunity and Diversity Sarah Schlitz. “Belgium is a pioneer in the field of LGBTQ rights. Numerous …

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Voters Enshrine Abortion Rights In Three States

Axios reports: The first major election of the post-Roe era yielded new protections for abortion rights, as voters in three states approved measures to add constitutional protections guaranteeing access to the procedure. California, Michigan and Vermont backed ballot measures that effectively make it impossible for state lawmakers to enact bans. Kentucky voters are considering a proposed amendment that would say …

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