Civil Rights

Arizona State Reps Intro Bipartisan LGBTQ Rights Bill

The Associated Press reports: A bipartisan group of Arizona lawmakers that includes the Republican House speaker announced Monday they were introducing legislation that would for the first time protect gay and transgender people from discrimination by businesses, landlords and employers. The proposal is backed by many business and faith leaders, but opposed by a powerful social conservative group. Even with …

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Gallup: 62% “Satisfied” With Acceptance Of US Gays

USA Today reports: The percentage of Americans who say they are satisfied with the acceptance of gay and lesbian people in the country has reached a new peak at 62%, according to a poll released Wednesday. Gallup’s annual Mood of the Nation poll asks people about their satisfaction with aspects of U.S. life and policy areas, ranging from the overall …

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House Democrats Intro Resolution To Ratify The ERA

Axios reports: Reps. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) and Jackie Speier (D-Calif.) on Thursday introduced a resolution to recognize that the Equal Rights Amendment has met all legal requirements to be considered the 28th constitutional amendment. If the resolution passes in both Congress chambers, the ERA would be officially added to the constitution and would guarantee legal gender equality under the Constitution. …

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TODAY: Trial Begins For Three Other Cops In Floyd Case

The Associated Press reports: The federal trial for three former Minneapolis police officers charged with violating George Floyd’s civil rights as Derek Chauvin pinned the Black man’s neck to the street is expected to begin Monday with opening statements, after a jury of 18 people was swiftly picked last week. J. Kueng, Thomas Lane and Tou Thao are broadly charged …

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Texas Rejects Mail-In Ballot Requests Under New Law

Salon reports: The number of rejected mail-in ballot applications is skyrocketing in Texas counties under new Republican-authored voting restrictions recently signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott. The Texas crackdown on mail-in voting appears to be hitting hardest in the state’s most densely populated counties, which also tend to have more voters of color and predominantly vote Democratic. In Travis …

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TN Christian Adoption Agency Rejects Jewish Couple

The Knox News reports: A Knoxville couple is suing the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services, saying a state-sponsored Christian-based adoption agency refused to help them because they are Jewish. The adoption agency, the Holston United Methodist Home for Children based in Greeneville, Tennessee, denied Elizabeth and Gabriel Rutan-Ram from acquiring Tennessee-mandated foster-parent training and a home-study certification as they attempted …

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Appeals Court Punts Challenge To Texas Abortion Ban

The Texas Tribune reports: The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday sent the legal challenge to Texas’ restrictive abortion law to the state’s Supreme Court, a move that is expected to significantly delay the case and that abortion opponents had hoped would occur. “This decision now keeps the case in limbo — and abortion after 6 weeks in …

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Oscar Winning Actor Sidney Poitier Dies At Age 94

Vanity Fair reports: “As I see myself, I’m just the average Joe Blow Negro,” Sidney Poitier told The New York Times in 1959. “But as the cats say in my area, I’m out there wailing for us all.” That tension, between trying to be an ordinary man and having to serve as a racial exemplar, defined the life of Poitier, …

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Israel Lifts Ban On Surrogacy For LGBTQ Couples

Reuters reports: Israel on Tuesday lifted restrictions barring same-sex couples and single men from becoming parents through surrogacy within the country, upholding a Supreme Court ruling to end the ban. “It is a historic day for the LGBTQ struggle in Israel,” Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz [photo] said at a news conference, announcing the ministry had issued a circular granting equal …

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Schumer: Senate Will Vote On Filibuster Rule Change

The Associated Press reports: Days before the anniversary of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced the Senate will vote on filibuster rules changes to advance stalled voting legislation that Democrats say is needed to protect democracy. In a letter Monday to colleagues, Schumer, D-N.Y., said the Senate “must evolve” and will “debate and consider” …

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ACLU Sues Georgia Over Racist Redistricting Law

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports: Gov. Brian Kemp signed new Georgia political maps into law Thursday, finalizing Republican efforts to solidify their majorities in a rapidly changing state as opponents immediately filed three court challenges. The federal lawsuits allege that both congressional and state maps are racially discriminatory because they reduce the voting strength of people of color who tend to …

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Russian Court Bans Major Human Rights Organizations

The New York Times reports: A Moscow court ordered the closure of one of the country’s most prominent human rights groups on Wednesday, a day after its parent organization was also shut down in verdicts that, for many Russians, served as a painful coda to a year marked by the erosion of civil rights and media freedoms. Moscow’s City Court …

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Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Desmond Tutu Dies At 90

The New York Times reports: Desmond M. Tutu, the cleric who used his pulpit and spirited oratory to help bring down apartheid in South Africa and then became the leading advocate of peaceful reconciliation under Black majority rule, died on Sunday in Cape Town. He was 90. The cause of death was cancer, the Desmond and Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation …

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Chauvin Pleads Guilty In George Floyd Civil Rights Case

Minneapolis’s NBC News affiliate reports: Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin formally changed his plea from “not guilty” to “guilty” Wednesday on federal charges of depriving George Floyd of his civil rights, related to Floyd’s murder in May 2020. Chauvin, who is currently serving a state prison sentence following his conviction for Floyd’s murder, was charged in May 2021 with …

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Canadian Senate Votes Unanimously To Ban Ex-Gay Torture, House Of Commons Did The Same Last Week

CTV News reports: Conversion therapy will soon be banned across Canada, after the Senate agreed to the expedited passage of Bill C-4 on Tuesday. After multiple attempts to pass legislation banning the harmful practice failed in recent years, the bill has now cleared both the House of Commons and Senate without changes, in just over a week. Once it receives …

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Canadian House Of Commons Votes Unanimously To Ban Ex-Gay Torture, Bill Now Goes To Senate [VIDEO]

The CBC reports: The federal government’s updated bill to ban the practice of conversion therapy has been adopted unanimously by the House of Commons. MPs voted to fast track Bill C-4 on Wednesday afternoon. The Commons erupted in applause after the vote and several Liberal MPs walked across the floor to shake hands with and — in some cases — …

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Hungary Approves National Referendum On LGBT Issues

Euronews reports: Hungary’s parliament has approved the government’s plan to hold a national referendum on LGBT issues. The move is the latest step by the Hungarian authorities that critics say is intended to limit minority rights. The decision to call the referendum was approved with 129 votes in favour and none against. Opposition lawmakers abstained from voting on the resolution. …

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Botswana Court Upholds Decriminalization Of Gay Sex

Reuters reports: Botswana’s Court of Appeal on Monday upheld a 2019 ruling that decriminalised gay sex, a decision hailed by gay community as establishing the southern African country as a “true democracy”. Monday’s decision in effect struck off two sections of the penal code that had outlawed homosexuality. Before the 2019 High Court ruling, which was praised by international organisations …

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Chinese LGBT Rights Group Shutters Under Pressure

The South China Morning Post reports: A Chinese LGBT advocacy group has suspended operations indefinitely and closed its social media accounts amid a nationwide tightening of social controls. LGBT Rights Advocacy China, a non-profit providing legal support for the LGBT community, announced the move early on Friday. Its final message on WeChat, one of the country’s leading social media platforms, …

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DOJ To Petition Supreme Court On Texas Abortion Ban

The Washington Post reports: The Department of Justice said Friday that it will go back to the Supreme Court to request that it put on hold Texas’s restrictive abortion law while legal battles continue. In a different case, the Supreme Court last month allowed the law to go into effect on a divisive 5 to 4 vote. The DOJ has …

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