Tag Archives: civil rights

Reuters reports: An Indonesian city has approved a bylaw to fine gay or transgender people up to 1 million rupiah ($70) for behaviour that could “disturb public order” or be considered immoral, the city’s deputy mayor said on Friday. The regulation is the latest example of a rise in government and public hostility toward the LGBT community in the world’s …

NBC News reports: Cities across the world will glitter with candlelight on Tuesday in honor of Transgender Day of Remembrance. From New York to Sydney, vigils will pay tribute to the many transgender people who have lost their lives to violence. Violence against the trans community has risen steadily in recent years, according to a grim report released Monday by …

The BBC reports: A Chinese writer has been given a 10 year sentence for writing and selling a novel which featured gay sex scenes. The writer, identified as Liu, was jailed by a court in Anhui province last month for producing and selling “obscene material”. Her novel, titled “Occupation”, featured “male homosexual behaviour including perverted sexual acts like violation and …

The right wing Washington Examiner reports: A group of 45 House Republican lawmakers wrote President Trump Friday stating that they were “deeply concerned” by the inclusion of “sexual orientation and and gender identity language” in the U.S.-Mexico-Canada-Agreement on trade. The representatives said the inclusion was “inappropriate and insulting to our national sovereignty” and urged Trump to remove the language. The …

Via press release from the ACLU: “By winning the first statewide popular vote on transgender rights, Massachusetts voters reaffirmed our Commonwealth as a place that fiercely defends our basic values of dignity and respect for everyone. When Massachusetts leads on equality, the nation watches – and often, it follows. Tonight, we sent a message not just to transgender people and …

The Boston Globe reports: If the word Masshole is good enough for the dictionary, it’s surely good enough for a political ad. But this still appears to be a first. A local group is using the colloquialism in an attempt to persuade Massachusetts residents to vote yes on Question 3, the referendum on the state’s transgender anti-discrimination law. “We’re Massholes, …

From the site Business For Trans Equality: We, the undersigned businesses, stand with the millions of people in America who identify as transgender, gender non-binary, or intersex, and call for all such people to be treated with the respect and dignity everyone deserves. We oppose any administrative and legislative efforts to erase transgender protections through reinterpretation of existing laws and …

Bloomberg Law reports: The Justice Department today told the U.S. Supreme Court that businesses can discriminate against workers based on their gender identity without violating federal law. Solicitor General Noel Francisco told the high court that a civil rights law banning sex discrimination on the job doesn’t cover transgender bias. That approach already has created a rift within the Trump …

Teen Vogue reports: In a bizarre and objectively hypocritical turn of events, Trump’s official website is still selling a pro-LGBTQ T-shirt in its online store. The “Trump Pride Tee” is a basic white crewneck shirt emblazoned with watercolor stripes of the colors of the rainbow, over which the words “LGBTQ for TRUMP” are printed. “Show your pride and your support …

I don’t often post these kinds of press releases in full, but reminders of all these past and ongoing actions are worth your attention. From the Democratic National Committee:  This weekend, the New York Times reported that the Trump administration has developed a proposal that would legally define gender as based solely on a person’s genitalia at birth, a significant …

Peter Montgomery reports at Right Wing Watch: The push by the Department of Health and Human Services to impose a trans-denying definition of “sex” onto federal civil rights law “would essentially eradicate federal recognition” of an estimated 1.4 million transgender Americans, according to the Times story. The effort is being led by Roger Severino, who has taken the anti-LGBT agenda …

The New York Times reports: Activists in the L.G.B.T. community mobilized a fast and fierce campaign on Sunday to say transgender people cannot be expunged from society, in response to an unreleased Trump administration memo that proposes a strict definition of gender based on a person’s genitalia at birth. The existence of the memo, the administration’s latest effort to roll …

Reuters reports: Puma is launching a campaign to mark the 50th anniversary of U.S. sprinter Tommie Smith’s black-gloved salute at the 1968 Olympics, shortly after rival Nike scored a hit with an ad featuring a modern-day activist for racial equality. Nike saw a jump in sales after its advertisement with American footballer Colin Kaepernick, who began kneeling during the U.S. …

Posted last night to the ACLU’s blog: President Trump has a record of attacking the rights of protesters, from suggesting that protest be illegal to praising dictators who crush any kind of dissent. Now, the Trump administration proposes to dramatically limit the right to demonstrate near the White House and on the National Mall, including in ways that would violate …

The Twin Cities Pioneer-Press reports: For the first time, Minnesotans have the option to choose a gender other than male or female on their driver’s license. Along with “M” for male and “F” for female, there will be “X” for non-binary when choosing a gender on a license application. The new option to identify as non-binary, a term used by …

The Winston-Salem Journal reports: A federal judge ruled Sunday that a 2017 law replacing the controversial HB2 doesn’t prohibit transgender people from using restrooms and other public facilities that correspond to gender identity. U.S. District Judge Thomas D. Schroeder also allowed a legal challenge to go forward on one part of the new law, known as HB142. The challenge is …

Reuters reports: Texas’ Republican governor said on Friday that legislation limiting transgender people’s access to bathrooms in public schools and government buildings is no longer a priority, signaling a slight change in his stance on a measure seen by critics as discriminatory. Governor Greg Abbott, who is running for re-election, made a “bathroom bill” one of his priority items in …

A glimmer of light in a dark week. Metro Weekly reports: An amendment to a federal appropriations bill that would have allowed child placement agencies to discriminate against same-sex couples has been removed, marking a major victory for LGBTQ and child welfare advocates. On Wednesday, the U.S. House of Representatives agreed to a conference report — ironing out the differences …

The Associated Press reports: Romanian Senators approved a measure that could pave the way for the constitution to be changed to explicitly state that marriage is a union of a man and a woman. Senators on Tuesday voted 107-13 with seven abstentions to allow a referendum that could change the constitution, which currently states that marriage is a union between …

The Indian Supreme Court has just unanimously struck down Section 377, the 1861 penal law that criminalized homosexuality. With India’s population of over 1.3 billion, the ruling finally frees (at least) tens of millions of LGBT Indians from a cursed holdover from British colonial times. The New York Times reports: In a groundbreaking victory for gay rights, India’s Supreme Court …