Tag Archives: civil rights

NORTH CAROLINA: Trump Flip-Flops On Anti-LGBT Hate Bill, Says “I’m Going With The State” [VIDEO]

Back in April, Donald Trump surprised everybody on the right and the left when he denounced North Carolina’s HB2. His quote from that day: “North Carolina did something that was very strong and they’re paying a big price. And there’s a lot of problems. Leave it the way it is. North Carolina, what they’re going through, with all of the …

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NORTH CAROLINA: State Senate Moves $500K From Disaster Relief Fund To Defend Anti-LGBT Hate Bill

The Associated Press reports: North Carolina lawmakers took steps Thursday to set aside a half-million dollars for the legal defense of a law limiting protections for LGBT people as a judge sought to streamline a cluster of lawsuits it has inspired. Republican lawmakers were mapping out the end of the session, including possible changes to the law known as House …

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NBA Slams North Carolina’s Attempt To Fix Hate Law

Earlier this week LGBT activists denounced the attempt by North Carolina Republicans to “refine” the anti-transgender section of HB2. This afternoon the NBA and the Charlotte Hornets joined in. Their message: “We have been engaged in dialogue with numerous groups at the city and state levels, but we do not endorse the version of the bill that we understand is …

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NORTH CAROLINA: State House GOP Seeks To “Refine” Anti-Trans Hate Bill, Activists Leap To Denounce

From the Charlotte Observer: New legislation drafted by leadership in the N.C. House of Representatives seeks to walk back portions of a controversial bill passed during a special session this spring restricting the rights of transgender individuals to use the bathroom of their gender identity. Among the draft bill’s biggest changes is the creation of an official document that would …

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MISSISSIPPI: Federal Court Strikes Down Law That Allows Clerks To Refuse Gay Marriage Licenses

Another win for DOMA champion Roberta Kaplan. Chris Geidner reports at Buzzfeed: A federal judge on Monday ruled that Mississippi’s recently passed law that allows county clerks to recuse themselves from issuing marriage licenses based on their religious beliefs was, effectively, an impermissible attempt to get around the Supreme Court’s marriage decision. “[T]he Supreme Court’s ruling will be enforced,” U.S. …

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PHILADELPHIA: Public School System Adopts Sweeping Pro-Transgender Student Rights Policy

Morning Call reports: The governing body of Philadelphia public schools has adopted a new policy that would allow transgender students to use restrooms and join groups — including athletic teams — that correspond with their gender identity. The Philadelphia School Reform Commission adopted the new policy Thursday night. It also allows students to be referred to by a pronoun of …

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VIRGINIA: Haters Take Trans Case To SCOTUS

Last month the Fourth Circuit Court refused to revisit its ruling, so we knew this was coming. Chris Geidner reports at Buzzfeed: A case challenging the Obama administration’s interpretation of existing civil rights laws as providing protections from discrimination for transgender people will be headed to the Supreme Court this summer. Because the court is soon recessing for the summer, …

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Obama Praises Muhammad Ali As “The Greatest, Period”

President Obama has issued a heartfelt statement on the passing of Muhammad Ali. He writes: Muhammad Ali was The Greatest. Period. If you just asked him, he’d tell you. He’d tell you he was the double greatest; that he’d “handcuffed lightning, thrown thunder into jail.” But what made The Champ the greatest – what truly separated him from everyone else …

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Muhammad Ali Dies At Age 74

NBC News reports: Muhammad Ali, the silver-tongued boxer and civil rights champion who famously proclaimed himself “The Greatest” and then spent a lifetime living up to the billing, is dead. Ali died Friday at a Phoenix-area hospital, where he had spent the past few days being treated for respiratory complications, a family spokesman confirmed to NBC News. He was 74. …

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Pat McCrory: I’m Not Budging On Anti-LGBT Hate Law

From the Winston-Salem Journal: Gov. Pat McCrory said he will continue to fight for a “respect for privacy” in the face of a U.S. Department of Justice lawsuit over the state’s controversial “bathroom bill.” McCrory was speaking at North Carolinians for Home Education’s annual conference, being held this week at the Benton Convention Center. McCrory praised the several hundred families …

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NBA Again Warns North Carolina About All-Star Game: We Need A Resolution By The End Of Summer

USA Today reports: If there isn’t satisfactory resolution to North Carolina House Bill 2 by the end of summer, Charlotte risks losing the 2017 All-Star Game, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said before Game 1 of the NBA Finals on Thursday. Silver has expressed the league’s opposition to the controversial bill, which nullified local ordinances that gave protections and rights to …

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BREAKING: Massachusetts House Approves Transgender Rights Bill, Republican Gov. Charlie Baker To Sign It

From GLAD: “This is an incredible moment. After years of brave and steadfast work by transgender people, family members, allies, businesses, faith leaders, and community organizations, we are inches from full equality for transgender people in our state. This bill will not only ensure fair and long overdue protections for transgender people, but enshrine in law a recognition of the …

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LIVE VIDEO: Massachusetts House Hears Trans Bill

The Massachusetts House is currently hearing debate on the transgender rights bill that passed in the state Senate last month. Watch live here. As noted in the post below this one, GOP Gov. Charlie Baker has promised to sign the bill should it reach his desk.

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Democrats Slam Vague “So-Called Religious Freedom Laws” In 2016 LGBT Pride Month Proclamation

Via press release from Democratic National Committee chair Debbie Wasserman Shultz: As we begin LGBT Pride Month, members of the LGBT Community and their allies have many victories to celebrate. Our nation has made enormous progress in recent years in the fight for equality – the result of courageous individuals and dedicated groups in every corner of our country standing …

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NORTH CAROLINA: Human Rights Campaign Petitions FAA To Cut Airport Funding Over Anti-LGBT Law

The Charlotte Observer reports: The Human Rights Campaign is asking the Federal Aviation Administration to consider whether House Bill 2 is causing North Carolina airports to violate grant requirements. If the FAA joined the U.S. Department of Justice’s position that HB2 violates the Civil Rights Act, the move could jeopardize millions of dollars in federal funding that helps operate and …

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Woman In NYC’s First Gay Marriage Dies At Age 90

The New York Times reports: Connie Kopelov [seated], whose wedding to Phyllis Siegel in 2011 was the first legal same-sex marriage in New York City, died in Manhattan on Saturday. She was 90. Her death was confirmed by Ms. Siegel, who said Ms. Kopelov had been in the late stages of Alzheimer’s disease. Ms. Kopelov and Ms. Siegel had been …

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Fourth Circuit Court Rejects Rehearing Of Case That Granted Bathroom Rights To Transgender Student

Big news via the ACLU: The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit will not rehear the case of a Gloucester County transgender high school student suing his school board over discriminatory bathroom policies. The court today denied the Gloucester County School Board’s request for an en banc review of an April decision which held that Title IX …

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Kentucky To Join Anti-Transgender Suit Against Feds

Law Newz reports: On Friday, Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin promised his state would join several others in a lawsuit fighting the Obama administration’s transgender bathroom guideline. “The federal government has no authority to dictate local school districts’ bathroom and locker room policies,” he said in a statement. “The Obama Administration’s transgender policy ‘guidelines’ are an absurd federal overreach into a …

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NORTH CAROLINA: State University System Tells Federal Court It Won’t Enforce Anti-LGBT Hate Law

From the Associated Press: The University of North Carolina system told a federal court Friday that it won’t enforce a law requiring transgender students to use restrooms corresponding to the sex on their birth certificates. The declaration came in a motion asking a federal court to halt civil legal proceedings against the university system while a higher court decides a …

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NOM Money Begs On House LGBT Battle

Just in from hate group leader Brian Brown: In the latest betrayal by Republicans who campaign as conservatives but vote with LGBT extremists, 43 GOP members of the House of Representatives have voted to cement Barack Obama’s insane transgender “discrimination” policies in law, prohibiting any entity from contracting with the federal government unless they endorse the administration’s radical gender-bending agenda. …

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