Civil Rights

CBS News reports: An Arkansas judge on Friday blocked the state from issuing any birth certificates until officials are able to comply with a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that the state’s birth certificate law illegally favors heterosexual parents. Pulaski County Circuit Judge Tim Fox on Friday set aside his orders requiring the state and three same-sex couples go into mediation …

SPONSORED POST from Open To All: In the context of a nation rocked by racial discrimination at levels unseen in decades, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on December 5th in a case that could gut not only state nondiscrimination laws but also erode the Civil Rights Act—and turn back the clock to a time when businesses could tell …

This morning the US Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Masterpiece Cakeshop Vs Colorado Civil Rights Commission, a case which has the potential to upend decades of public accommodation laws that offer business discrimination protections to numerous classes of American citizens. As noted in my earlier posts about today’s proceedings, all eyes will be on Justice Anthony Kennedy, whose questions …

The Washington Post reports: The Supreme Court seemed closely divided Tuesday over whether the First Amendment protects a Colorado baker who refused to create a wedding cake for a same-sex couple, with Justice Anthony M. Kennedy likely to cast the deciding vote. Kennedy, during a nearly hour-and-a-half oral argument, gave both sides reason for hope and concern. He worried that …

The Associated Press reports: Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy is suggesting skepticism of the arguments of a Colorado baker who defended his refusal to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple by citing the First Amendment’s free speech clause. During the first half of oral argument in the case Tuesday, the justices questioned Kristen K. Waggoner, an attorney for …

The Washington Post reports: When is a wedding cake not just a cake, but a statement of profound religious beliefs? That’s the question being debated today at Supreme Court as it hears oral arguments about LGBT rights yet again. This fight is much different than the one settled two years ago in Obergefell v. Hodges, which declared that states cannot …

The Austin Statesman reports: The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday let stand a Texas ruling that said the right to a marriage license did not entitle same-sex couples to spousal benefits under employee insurance plans. The city of Houston asked the high court overturn last June’s Texas Supreme Court decision that determined all marriage-related matters were not decided when the …

CBC news reports: The Trudeau government has earmarked more than $100 million to compensate members of the military and other federal agencies whose careers were sidelined or ended due to their sexual orientation, The Canadian Press has learned. The money will be paid out as part of a class-action lawsuit settlement to employees who were investigated, sanctioned and sometimes fired …

Via State Department press release: On Transgender Day of Remembrance, the United States honors the memory of the many transgender individuals who have lost their lives to acts of violence. Transgender individuals and their advocates, along with lesbian, gay, bisexual and intersex persons, are facing increasing physical attacks and arbitrary arrests in many parts of the world. Often these attacks …

The Washington Post reports: Taiwan could soon become the first place in Asia to legalize same-sex marriage, while Hong Kong this month won its bid to host the Gay Games in 2022, another Asian first. But in mainland China, LGBT people are still being subjected to forced confinement, medication and even electric shock therapy to “convert” them into heterosexuals. The …

Yahoo Sports reports: Fans angry with the NFL and its protesting players called for a boycott on Veterans Day weekend. But other fans showed up to Sunday’s games, and in greater numbers than they had averaged all season. Many fans have said they would boycott the NFL, and loosely organized movements on Twitter and Facebook sought to flex patriotic muscle …

A Facebook group with 200,000 members has called on its followers to boycott the NFL today. The mass boycott was scheduled to coincide with Veterans Day weekend. Fox News reports:  “We will be not be watching or listening to NFL games on November 12th in solidarity with veterans around the country, as football players have continued to disrespect the national …

Via press release: HRC has learned that the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) has removed sexual orientation and gender identity from their Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) statement. Under the Civil Service Reform Act and the Executive Orders signed by Presidents Clinton and Obama, sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination is prohibited in federal employment. Earlier this year, the Department of …

The Hill reports: Senate Democrats are demanding that the Justice Department reinstate discrimination protections for transgender individuals that Attorney General Jeff Sessions rolled back last month. In a letter to Sessions dated Nov. 2 and signed by 44 Democratic and independent senators, the lawmakers write that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964’s prohibition against sex discrimination applies …

The New Orleans Times-Picayune reports: Gov. John Bel Edwards cannot protect the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people working for state government from discrimination, harassment and firing, Louisiana’s First Circuit Court of Appeal ruled Wednesday (Nov. 1). The decision hands Attorney General Jeff Landry, a Republican who challenged the Democratic governor’s policy, a notable victory. “We do not live under …

Politico reports: Former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton on Saturday blasted the Trump administration’s record on civil rights for gay, lesbian and transgender people during its first nine months, telling an audience of LGBT advocates in Washington “we have some tough battles ahead.” Clinton took aim at the White House’s efforts to roll back the Affordable Care Act and ban …

Pink Sixty reports: MP Ryad Abdel Sattar [photo] on Wednesday introduced to the parliament’s speaker Ali Abdel Aal a draft law entailing five main articles of the criminalisation of homosexuality. The draft law would pave the way for strict punitive measures against the LGBT community in Egypt, in addition to restricting the presence of LGBT People inside Egyptian society, Abdel …

From the right wing Townhall: The Trump Administration asked the Supreme Court Wednesday for permission to speak during December 5th oral arguments in the case of Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission which began when Colorado Christian baker Jack Phillips refused to create a wedding cake for a gay couple’s wedding because he disagrees with same-sex marriage. “The United …

Via press release from Lambda Legal: Yesterday Kentucky Family Court Judge W. Mitchell Nance notified Governor Matthew G. Bevin and the Commonwealth of Kentucky Judicial Conduct Commission of his resignation. In May, Lambda Legal, the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Kentucky, Kentucky’s Fairness Campaign, and University of Louisville Law Professor Sam Marcosson filed a complaint against Judge Nance …

The Washington Post reports: This week, a government journal in the former Soviet republic of Tajikistan announced that the country’s interior ministry had compiled a registry of “proven” gays and lesbians. The list named 319 men and 48 women, whom Tajik federal prosecutors identified in operations they called “Morality” and “Purge.” A purge — likely in the form of mass …