Tag Archives: civil rights

President Biden Posthumously Pardons Marcus Garvey

ABC News reports: President Joe Biden on Sunday posthumously pardoned Black nationalist Marcus Garvey, who influenced Malcolm X and other civil rights leaders and was convicted of mail fraud in the 1920s. Also receiving pardons were a top Virginia lawmaker and advocates for immigrant rights, criminal justice reform and gun violence prevention. Congressional leaders had pushed for Biden to pardon …

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120 Anti-LGBTQ Bills Filed For 2025 Legislative Year

Truthout reports: After a record-breaking year for anti-trans legislation, 2025 is shaping up to be even more challenging for transgender and queer people across the United States. A legislative tracker maintained by Erin In The Morning and other volunteers has found that nearly 120 anti-trans and anti-LGBTQ+ bills have already been filed in states nationwide ahead of the 2025 legislative …

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Statue Of John Lewis Replaces Confederate Monument

The Associated Press reports: A large bronze statue of the late civil rights icon leader and Georgia congressman John Lewis was installed Friday, at the very spot where a contentious monument to the confederacy stood for more than 110 years in the town square before it was dismantled in 2020. Work crews gently rested the 12-foot-tall (3.7-meter-tall) statue into place …

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North Carolina Outlaws Wearing Masks At Protests

ABC News reports: North Carolina’s contentious restrictions on public mask-wearing became law on Thursday after GOP lawmakers successfully overrode a veto by the state’s Democratic governor. The Senate gave its final stamp of approval in a 30-14 override vote along party lines. The state House initiated the process Wednesday when it voted to override Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto during a …

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CO Group Has Signatures For Abortion Ballot Measure

CBS News reports: A Colorado campaign that’s trying to enshrine abortion rights into the state’s constitution has gathered enough signatures to put the issue on the ballot this November, CBS News has learned. To amend Colorado’s constitution, petitioners must gather 124,238 signatures from the state’s voters, including 2% of the total registered voters in each of Colorado’s 35 Senate districts, …

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MacKenzie Scott Donates $72M To LGBTQ Groups

The New York Post is very unhappy about it: Most of the $640 million in new charitable donations Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’ ex-wife MacKenzie Scott is dishing out will go to nonprofits pushing extreme left-wing causes. Scott will provide 67 migrant-advocacy organizations a combined $122 million for legal aid and other assistance, according to an analysis of 361 awards she …

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Texas State Bar Suspends License Of County Prosecutor Who Pursued Murder Charge Over Woman’s Abortion

The Texas Tribune reports: A Texas prosecutor has been disciplined for allowing a murder charge to be filed against a woman who self-induced an abortion in 2022. Starr County District Attorney Gocha Ramirez reached a settlement with the State Bar of Texas following an investigation. Ramirez agreed to pay a $1,250 fine, and his license will be held in a …

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Tennessee Town To Pay $500K For Banning Pride Event

The Washington Post reports: A Tennessee city must pay $500,000 as part of a settlement with the American Civil Liberties Union and other groups over an ordinance designed to ban drag performances from taking place on public property, attorneys announced Wednesday. Last year, the Tennessee Equality Project — a nonprofit that advocates for LGBTQ+ rights — filed a federal lawsuit …

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MI Wedding Venue Hit With Complaint For LGBTQ Ban

The Holland Sentinel reports: A formal complaint has reportedly been filed after a West Michigan wedding venue sparked controversy for its anti-LGBTQ marriage policy. The venue, the Old Wooden Barn, was hand-built in 1905. It was converted into a wedding venue over the past decade. The business, owned by Mitch and Kelli VanOverloop, states its marriage policy clearly online. “Because …

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PA Supreme Court Rules Abortion Access Is A Right

The Philadelphia Inquirer reports: Pennsylvania’s highest court on Monday recognized for the first time that access to abortion is a right guaranteed by the state’s constitution, a significant finding in the wake of the 2022 U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning nationwide abortion rights. The finding came in a case focused on a much narrower issue — whether Medicaid should cover …

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FL Abortion Petition Has Enough Names To Make Ballot

Miami’s PBS affiliate reports: Groups behind the push to put abortion rights on the Florida ballot next year have reached a major milestone: They believe they have collected all the signatures needed to put it to a vote. The petition aims to place a state constitutional amendment to protect the right to an abortion on the 2024 ballot. It would …

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Leading LGBTQ Groups Endorse Biden For Reelection

ABC News reports: The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) PAC, the National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE) Action Fund and Equality PAC, representing three of the nation’s leading LGBTQ+ organizations, endorsed President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign on Tuesday — the eve of National Coming Out Day. “Without question, the Biden Administration has been the strongest advocate for the needs of transgender …

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Haley: Obama Set Minorities Back, Made Them Victims

The Guardian reports: Barack Obama has criticized two Republican presidential hopefuls, the South Carolina senator Tim Scott and the former UN ambassador Nikki Haley, over their stances on race relations in America. In a podcast interview, Obama, who became the first Black US president when he was elected in 2008, said that while presenting a hopeful message on race relations …

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2023 Global Survey: 9% Of Adults Identify As LGBT+

From Ipsos Polling: The Ipsos LGBT+ Pride 2023 survey finds that an average of 9% of adults in 30 countries identify as LGBT+, with sharp generational differences. The survey was conducted by Ipsos on its Global Advisor online platform in February and March 2023 among more than 22,500 adults under the age of 75. On average, across the 30 countries …

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Activist, Actor, Singer Harry Belafonte Dies At Age 96

The New York Times reports: Harry Belafonte, who stormed the pop charts and smashed racial barriers in the 1950s with his highly personal brand of folk music, and who went on to become a major force in the civil rights movement, died on Tuesday at his home on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. He was 96. The cause was …

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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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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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USPS To Issue Stamp Honoring Late Rep. John Lewis

From the United States Postal Service: This stamp celebrates the life and legacy of civil rights leader and U.S. Rep. John Lewis (1940-2020) of Georgia. Devoted to equality and justice for all Americans, Lewis spent more than 30 years in Congress steadfastly defending and building on key civil rights gains that he had helped achieve in the 1960s. Even in …

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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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Kentucky Voters Reject Constitutional Ban On Abortion

Frankfort’s CBS News affiliate reports: Kentucky voters rejected a ballot measure aimed at denying any constitutional protections for abortion, handing a victory to abortion-rights supporters who have seen access to the procedure eroded by Republican lawmakers in the deeply red state. The outcome of Tuesday’s election highlighted what appeared to be a gap between voter sentiment and the expectations of …

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