Civil Rights

Last night openly gay US Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney finally succeeded in pushing through an amendment that would put President Obama’s executive order on federal contractors into law. Today Maloney and his fellow Democrats vowed against the underlying spending bill. The Hill explains: Most Democrats voted against the bill due to its spending levels and policy riders. Taken together with …

This is what an ally looks like. From Talking Points Memo: During a House Judiciary Committee hearing Wednesday, Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) railed against a witness who testified against the Obama administration’s recent guidance for schools on how to accommodate transgender students. Lofgren read aloud part of the testimony from Gail Heriot, a member of the United States Commission on …

But check out the amendments. Politico reports: The House late Wednesday night passed a spending bill amendment that would ban federal contractors who discriminate against lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender people, putting into law a 2014 executive order. Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-N.Y.) had attempted to attach a similar amendment to a Veterans Affairs appropriations bill last week, but House …

From Alliance Defending Freedom: Don’t mess with my kids. That’s the message two North Carolina moms want the Obama Administration to hear. They are part of the nonprofit organization North Carolinians for Privacy, which – with the help of Alliance Defending Freedom – is suing the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the U.S. Department of Education (DOE). The lawsuit …

Brian Tashman recaps Sandy Rios’ latest radio rant for Right Wing Watch: “What a hypocrite Obama and his evil cronies are at the Department of Education and Justice that they would take lunch money from children,” she said, before alleging that the number of transgender people in the population has been significantly exaggerated. Rios claimed that the push for transgender …

From the Dallas Morning News: Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is expected to announce a legal challenge to President Barack Obama’s directive instructing school districts to allow transgender students to use the bathrooms that match their gender identity. The attorney general has scheduled a 2 p.m. news conference Wednesday in Austin. WFAA-TV (Channel 8) reported Tuesday evening that Paxton would …

Via press release from the Liberty Counsel: The Alabama Republican Party Executive Committee passed a resolution Saturday calling on the unelected Alabama Court of the Judiciary to drop the charges by the unelected Judicial Inquiry Commission (JIC) against Chief Justice Roy Moore. The JIC has charged Chief Justice Moore with six counts. The Chief Justice has been suspended with pay …

The Hill reports: House Democrats will try again this week to pass legislation promoting equal rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people after being thwarted in a dramatic vote last week. The office of Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, who sponsored the anti-discrimination provision, confirmed Tuesday that the New York Democrat will offer his amendment again as part of …

Charlotte’s WBTV reports: The San Francisco 49ers are calling for a repeal of House Bill 2. The team’s CEO, Jed York, made the announcement, along with a “gift” of $75,000 to the Equality North Carolina Foundation to “further their work.” York met with advocates and transgender North Carolinians to learn more about how the bill has impacted them. York is …

Billboard Magazine reports: Dave Matthews Band still plans to perform in Charlotte, N.C., on May 27, despite North Carolina’s controversial “bathroom bill,” but said they will donate a portion of the proceeds from the show to five charitable organizations. Equality groups American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Lambda Legal, ACLU of North Carolina, Equality NC and Time Out Youth will all …

Whoa. From the Charlotte Observer: Mecklenburg County has suffered an economic blow of $285 million and a loss of as many as 1,300 jobs as a result of House Bill 2, a new Charlotte Chamber report says. The report also says inquiries about new economic development are down 58 percent since lawmakers passed the bill in March, and client visits …

Amazing. The Age reports: Peter McEwan was just 17 when the police caught him caressing another man behind some bushes on Brighton beach in 1967. It was enough for him to receive a criminal conviction while he was still finishing year 12. He said police had written a confession for him and he agreed to sign it. “I was an …

Agence France-Presse reports: Romanian campaigners said Monday they had collected three million signatures on a petition to block same-sex unions in the EU member state. Several groups linked to the Orthodox Church and united under the umbrella Coalition for Family are seeking a constitutional amendment to narrowly define marriage as the “union between a man and a woman”. It is …

Kyle Mantyla at Right Wing Watch has Glenn Beck’s reaction to Hershey Park’s announcement: “If you don’t stand up now,” Beck declared, “I guarantee you the next thing that will be mainstreamed” will be pedophilia. The push for transgender equality is “not normal,” Beck insisted, unlike the fight for gay marriage, which was something he claimed that the American public …

Via press release: “Every year, the employees of Hershey Entertainment & Resorts (HE&R) welcome over 6 million guests from down the street and around the world. We recognize that the more perspectives we have within our company, the more welcoming we are to all those who visit and seek employment here. In fact, our company has four core values, one …

Via press release from the American Family Association: On a media call last, week Target CEO Brian Cornell was asked if the boycott had an effect on their sales or stock price. He responded by saying “To date we have not seen a material or measurable impact on our business. Just a handful of stores across the country have seen …

The Charlotte Observer reports: As the Charlotte City Council prepares for a possible vote Monday on repealing its own nondiscrimination ordinance, the Human Rights Campaign has mounted an intense lobbying effort to keep it in place and has accused the Charlotte Chamber of being an “anti-LGBT bully.” The Washington-based HRC, a gay rights group that helped the city write the …

Via press release from GLAAD: Multi platinum-selling recording artist Demi Lovato wore her support for the transgender community during the 24th Annual Billboard Music Awards on Sunday, once again taking a strong stand against North Carolina’s anti-LGBT law known as HB2. During her performance, the GLAAD Vanguard Award recipient wore a T-shirt featuring an inclusive bathroom symbol. A replica of …

The Liberty Counsel is VERY UPSET with Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin, who on Friday vetoed a bill which would have made it a felony to perform an abortion. Via press release: SB 1552 was authored by Sen. Nathan Dahm. Yet this legislation was initiated by a local pastor, Paul Blair, with the support and guidance of Liberty Counsel. Mat Staver …

Lambda Legal’s Jon Davidson put it in context for what’s happening today: To quote late New York Yankee baseball great Yogi Berra, “it’s déjà vu all over again.” Today marks the 20th anniversary of the groundbreaking U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Romer v. Evans, Lambda Legal’s successful challenge, in partnership with the ACLU and some of Colorado’s top lawyers, to …