LGBT News

Moments ago the Mississippi Senate voted 31-17 along party lines to approve a sweeping bill that legalizes anti-LGBT discrimination in housing, employment, and public accommodations. The bill’s chief Senate sponsor, Sen. Jenifer Branning [photo], faced some tough questioning, most of all from black Democrats, but the haters once again simply outnumbered the good guys. The bill now goes back to …

The vote is starting. Dominic Holden reports at Buzzfeed: Mississippi lawmakers are scheduled to take a final vote Wednesday on what critics believe is the most sweeping anti-LGBT legislation in the United States. The bill passed in the state House in February, and opponents are hoping to kill it in the Senate by delaying a possible vote until after a …

North Carolina’s openly gay Replacements LTD founder Bob Page today issued a statement in reaction to his state’s hate law. His message in full: Today, I take the unusual step of sending you a personal message. Perhaps you, like millions of others, have heard that North Carolina’s recent passage of House Bill 2 – which has been called the worst …

We love this. From Atlanta’s ABC affiliate: Atlanta Council members are calling on the NBA to move the All-Star game to Atlanta. Next year’s game is set for Charlotte, North Carolina. But North Carolina just passed a state law that requires people to use the bathroom associated with the gender of their birth, not the gender with which they identify. …

BOOM. The Washington Blade reports: Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe on Wednesday vetoed a religious freedom bill that critics said would have allowed anti-LGBT discrimination. McAuliffe said in a statement that Senate Bill 41 is “nothing more than an attempt to stigmatize.” “This legislation is also bad for business and creates roadblocks as we try to build the new Virginia economy,” …

And the list just keeps getting longer. From the Associated Press: Washington Gov. Jay Inslee has joined other government officials in banning anything but most publicly funded travel to North Carolina because of the state’s law halting anti-discrimination rules. In making the announcement, Inslee praised Washington’s law that requires buildings open to the public to allow transgender people to use …

From Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin: “The law passed in North Carolina is an absolute disgrace. Vermont has a proud tradition of protecting the rights of LGBT individuals. I’m making this decision in that tradition. I’m proud to join with New York in taking this action. I hope other states will join us in applying pressure on North Carolina to recognize …

North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory this afternoon posted a ranting clip in which he claims his state has been “demonized for political gain” and wrongly “been made the target of a vicious nationwide smear campaign.” Watch below. According to McCrory, the avalanche of criticism comes from those are “promoting conflict to advance their political agenda.” Below are some tweeted reactions …

Via press release: Senate Leader Phil Berger (R-Rockingham) responded Tuesday to Attorney General Roy Cooper’s announcement that he will not defend a state law passed with bipartisan support stopping men from entering public bathrooms and locker rooms with young girls and women. “Roy Cooper’s refusal to defend the law makes clear he wants the ACLU to win by default in …

From a Facebook post by the NC Safe Coalition: “While business owners in other states have received criticism and have even been forced out of business for standing up for common sense, hundreds (334) of North Carolina business owners have signed on to a letter thanking Governor Pat McCrory and the General Assembly for passing a law affirming the privacy …

In April 2013, Orange County elementary school teacher Rebecca Friedrichs sued the California Teachers Association, arguing that her mandatory union fees meant that she had been unwillingly forced into financially supporting the union’s advertising campaign against the passage of Proposition 8. Friedrich’s suit was joined by the Christian Educators Association International. Which brings us to today. Via The Atlantic: The …

From the Knoxville News Sentinel: The state must pay more than $2 million in legal fees to three couples who successfully challenged Tennessee’s same-sex marriage ban, a federal judge in Nashville ruled Friday. Judge Aleta Trauger awarded $1.98 million in attorneys’ fees and $59,916 in expenses to the plaintiffs, which include Knoxville veterinarians Valeria Tanco and Sophy Jesty. The award, …

The LGBT religious group Faith In America gets to the core of North Carolina’s hate bill: Yet again, the religious right has hijacked religious narratives to justify their anti-LGBT bigotry. Ill-informed and misguided religious beliefs are being used against the transgender community in North Carolina. “North Carolina revoked a basic human right for their transgender community — to use public …

North Carolina’s High Point Market Week bills itself as the world’s largest home furnishings industry trade show and mere days after the state’s anti-LGBT bill was signed into law, the show’s organizers say they are being deluged with attendee cancellations for next month’s convention, which delivers an estimated $5.4B to the local economy with its spring and fall events. Via …

Add New York state to New York City, San Francisco, and Seattle. From Gov. Cuomo’s edict: Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today signed an executive order banning all non-essential state travel to North Carolina. The order requires all New York State agencies, departments, boards and commissions to immediately review all requests for state funded or state sponsored travel to the state …

North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory is a very unhappy with the lawsuit filed yesterday. From a statement issued by his office: “The governor respects the right of any legal challenges; however, he does not respect the continued distortion of the facts by the groups challenging this law and by many members of the state and national media,” said Graham Wilson, …

Yesterday a press conference was held at which the plaintiffs in the federal lawsuit against North Carolina appeared. Watch below. The Associated Press reports: The plaintiffs are two transgender people, a lesbian law professor, the American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina and Equality North Carolina. Defendants include McCrory and the University of North Carolina system, where two of the …

And for Georgia too, should today’s veto be overridden. Capital New York reports: Mayor Bill de Blasio said Monday he is instituting a ban on “non-essential travel” by New York City employees to the state of North Carolina following the passage of a law there that overturns anti-discrimination protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. De Blasio said he …

Just in via press release: The devil has gone to Georgia again, but this time it was in the form of Big Business and cowardly politicians. In a staggering announcement this morning, the two-term governor of the Peach State has capitulated to big business and decided to give the government a blank check to punish Georgia’s men and women of …

Last month I launched a twice-monthly column for the website of Britain’s Pride Life magazine, a quarterly LGBT rights and lifestyle magazine. Today’s fourth installment is titled This Week In US Politics: Things Get Ugly All Around. Hit the link for my update on the GOP race and the situation in North Carolina. DISCLOSURE: Pride Life is owned by the …