Tag Archives: civil rights

Michigan Democrats Try Again On LGBT Protections

Michigan Live reports: Michigan lawmakers have reintroduced legislation to expand Michigan’s civil rights law by including protections against discrimination for LGBT people. Sponsored by Rep. Laurie Pohutsky [photo], House Bill 4297 would add sexual orientation and gender identity or expression to the list of protected classes under the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination based on several factors when …

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Letter Implicates NYPD And FBI In Killing Of Malcolm X

New York City’s ABC News affiliate reports: Fifty-six years after the death of Malcolm X, lawyers revealed what they called new evidence of a conspiracy, perpetrated by the NYPD and the FBI to assassinate the Civil Rights activist in Harlem. Ray Wood was an undercover police officer at the time – his family and their attorney now claim Wood wrote …

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LIVE VIDEO: Biden Speaks On Racial Equality Policies

CNN reports: President Biden is delivering remarks on his racial equity policy and will sign a series of executive actions focused on nondiscrimination policy, prison reform and public housing. Biden has specifically asked the office, which plays a role in crafting the administration’s annual budget proposals, to evaluate opportunities to allocate funding “more equitably to target groups who have been …

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DOJ Axes “Parting Shot” Anti-LGBTQ Trump Directive

Politico reports: The Justice Department has taken its first major step under President Joe Biden to reverse the Trump administration’s resistance to expansion of rights accorded to LGBTQ Americans. Greg Friel, the lawyer just named to oversee the Justice Department’s civil rights division on a temporary basis, issued a directive Friday revoking a 22-page memorandum a Trump appointee released earlier …

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Biden Signs Sweeping LGBTQ Rights Executive Order

Chris Johnson reports at the Washington Blade: The executive order implementing the decision in Bostock v. Clayton County comes nearly six months after the Supreme Court issued the ruling, which found anti-LGBTQ discrimination is a form of sex discrimination, thus illegal in the workplace under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The ruling has wide-ranging implications and …

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DOJ Launches Move To Roll Back Minority Rights

The New York Times reports: The Trump administration has embarked on an 11th-hour bid to undo some civil rights protections for minority groups, which could have a ripple effect on women, people with disabilities and L.G.B.T. people, according to a draft document, in a change that would mark one of the most significant shifts in civil rights enforcement in generations. …

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NC Court Strikes Down Law Banning Same-Sex Partners From Getting Domestic Violence Orders Of Protection

The Raleigh News & Observer reports: LGBTQ people in North Carolina can no longer be prevented from getting domestic violence protective orders, the N.C. Court of Appeals ruled Thursday. North Carolina had been the only state in the country to withhold emergency protections from people seeking protection from abuse by a same-sex partner. That kind of protection is offered to …

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AP: Biden Plans Fast Action On LGBTQ Rights Issues

The Associated Press reports: As vice president in 2012, Joe Biden endeared himself to many LGBTQ Americans by endorsing same-sex marriage even before his boss, President Barack Obama. Now, as president-elect, Biden is making sweeping promises to LGBTQ activists, proposing to carry out virtually every major proposal on their wish lists. Among them: Lifting the Trump administration’s near-total ban on …

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SCOTUS To Hear LGBTQ Foster Care Rights Case Today

Reuters reports: In a case pitting LGBT rights against religious rights, the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday is set to hear arguments in a dispute over the city of Philadelphia’s refusal to place children for foster care with a Catholic Church-affiliated agency that excludes same-sex couples from serving as foster parents. It will be the first major case to be …

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NC Cops Pepper-Spray Voters Marching To Polls [VIDEO]

The Daily Beast reports: On the final day of early voting in North Carolina, police in Alamance County pepper-sprayed a group of voters who were marching to the polls, leaving demonstrators injured and vomiting in the streets. At least one journalist was arrested in the chaotic showdown on Saturday in Alamance County, a red county but one that may decide …

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Support For Same-Sex Marriage At Record High 70%

From the Public Religion Research Institute: The vast majority of Americans (70%) favor allowing gay and lesbian couples to marry legally, compared to 28% of Americans who oppose it. Majorities of Democrats (80%) and independents (76%), as well as half of Republicans (50%), support same-sex marriage. White evangelical Protestants stand out as the only major religious group in which a …

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Obama Urges “Peaceful, Strategic, Purposeful” Protests

ABC News reports: Former President Obama on Friday called for “peaceful, sustained” demonstrations for racial justice as the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wis., has ignited a new round of protests and demands for reform across the nation. The tweet came as thousands of people congregated in Washington, D.C., in a march against police brutality and systemic racism …

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LIVE VIDEO: 57th Annual March On Washington

The Washington Post reports: Thousands of protesters gathered Friday at the Lincoln Memorial to call for criminal justice reform and racial equality while honoring the 57th anniversary of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” address from the same location. Planning began in June after the funeral of George Floyd. Organizers say they want to highlight the …

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GOP Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee Signs Bill That Will Punish Some Protesters With Loss Of Their Right To Vote

The Associated Press reports: Tennessee protesters will face harsher penalties, including losing the right to vote, for breaking certain laws during demonstrations under a new law enacted by Gov. Bill Lee. The Republican quietly signed off on the bill Thursday. Lee has previously conceded there were portions of the bill he “would have done differently” but ultimately agreed to sign …

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Cops Probe Swatting Incident At Home Of BLM Leader

Courthouse News reports: The Los Angeles Police Department is investigating a possible prank call Wednesday that triggered a heavily armed police response at the home of leading Black Lives Matter activist Melina Abdullah, who livestreamed the incident as her three children were inside the home. Abdullah, co-founder of Black Lives Matter LA and a professor at California State University, Los …

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Obama Delivers Rousing Tribute To John Lewis [VIDEO]

NBC News reports: Former president Barack Obama gave a soaring eulogy for John Lewis, urging Americans to honor the legacy of a civil rights giant by engaging in the “good trouble” that leads to a more perfect democracy in the face of powerful institutions that seek to oppress. The former president spoke on the current threat to voting rights in …

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LIVE VIDEO: Obama Delivers Eulogy For John Lewis

CBS News reports: Three former presidents will honor Congressman John Lewis at his funeral in Atlanta, Georgia, on Thursday at 11 a.m., completing a week of memorial services for the longtime lawmaker and civil rights icon. Former President Barack Obama will deliver the eulogy for Lewis, who died earlier this month at age 80. Former Presidents Bill Clinton and George …

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TODAY: Obama To Deliver Eulogy For Rep. John Lewis

CNN reports: Former President Barack Obama will give the eulogy at US Rep. John Lewis’ funeral on Thursday and former Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush will attend the service, according to sources familiar with the former presidents’ plans. The sources added that Clinton and Bush will also participate in the funeral, which will be held Thursday morning at …

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Rep. John Lewis Urges Action In Posthumous Op-Ed

Politico reports: The late congressman and civil rights leader John Lewis revealed Thursday that he had been “inspired” in his final days by nationwide protests against racial injustice and police brutality. In an op-ed authored shortly before his death and published on the day of his funeral by The New York Times, the Georgia Democrat reflected upon his own calling …

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John Lewis’s Motorcade Stops At Atlanta’s Rainbow Crosswalks In Tribute To His Support For LGBTQ Rights

Atlanta’s ABC News affiliate reports: The late Rep. John Lewis arrived back home in Atlanta today, following four days of tributes and services that have taken the congressman and Civil Rights hero back to his native Alabama and then to Washington, D.C. As he did at the Alabama and U.S. capitols, Lewis will lie in state at the Georgia State …

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