Tag Archives: LGBT rights

NEBRASKA: Bill To Protect LGBT Workers Fails After GOP Reps Claim “Reverse Discrimination” Against Christians

The Lincoln Journal Star reports: It wasn’t exactly a vote on the bill that would give protections to LGBTQ workers, but it was a vote that ended debate and the bill’s chances of passing this session. The bill (LB627) that would ensure workers couldn’t be fired or discriminated against because of their sexual orientation or gender identity will be put …

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FLORIDA: GOP Bill Would Undo All Local LGBT Rights

The Orlando Sentinel reports: Just when advocates for a statewide LGBTQ civil-rights appear to have more support than ever — including from a growing number of Republicans — another bill in the Florida Legislature is threatening to eliminate anti-discrimination measures already enacted by cities and counties. On its face, House Bill 3 would preempt local governments from imposing new regulations …

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Soccer Banner: “Keep Warsaw Free From Faggots”

Gay Star News reports: Less than two weeks after its mayor signed a historic accord recognizing the rights of LGBTI people, homophobes unfurled an anti-gay banner at a soccer match in Warsaw. Fans of the team Legia Warsaw unfurled the massive banner which read, ‘keep Warsaw free from faggots’ on Friday night. The banner also featured the LGBT acronym with …

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Georgia GOP Attempts Another “Religious Liberty” Bill

Georgia Republicans are taking another shot at an anti-LGBT “religious liberty” bill similar to the one vetoed in 2016 by then-Gov. Nathan Deal after major corporations threatened to boycott the state. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports: “Georgians need to be fully protected under the First Amendment,” said state Sen. Marty Harbin [left in photo above], a Republican from Tyrone who introduced …

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LGBT Issues Threaten To Split United Methodist Church

The New York Times reports: The United Methodist Church on Tuesday voted to strengthen its ban on gay and lesbian clergy and same-sex marriages, a decision that could split the nation’s second-largest Protestant church. After three days of intense debate at a conference in St. Louis, the vote by church officials and lay members from around the world doubled down …

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Indiana Strips LGBT And Race From Hate Crimes Bill

The Indianapolis Star reports: The Indiana Senate voted to amend a hate crimes proposal Tuesday, scrapping from the bill all protected characteristics, including gender identity, race and sexual orientation. The amendment to Senate Bill 12 removed the list of specific characteristics and added that judges can consider bias more generally as an aggravating circumstance when weighing a stricter sentence for …

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GERMANY: US Ambassador Richard Grenell To Lead Campaign To Decriminalize Homosexuality Worldwide

NBC News reports: The Trump administration is launching a global campaign to end the criminalization of homosexuality in dozens of nations where it’s still illegal to be gay, U.S. officials tell NBC News, a bid aimed in part at denouncing Iran over its human rights record. U.S. Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell, the highest-profile openly gay person in the Trump …

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GREECE: Trolls Attack Over Pro-LGBT Valentine’s Ad

Reuters reports: When Chloe Kritharas Devienne was asked to photograph 28 couples kissing and cuddling in Greece while holding a bar of Lacta chocolate, she did not expect to be attacked by trolls. The Valentine’s Day adverts for the popular chocolate brand were the first to feature same-sex and interracial couples in Greece, a conservative country where the Orthodox Church …

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JAPAN: 13 Gay Couples File Valentine’s Marriage Suit

The Kyodo News reports: Thirteen same-sex couples demanding marriage equality filed lawsuits against the government at district courts across Japan on Valentine’s Day on Thursday, arguing that its refusal to allow them to marry is unconstitutional and discriminatory. Each of the 26 plaintiffs is seeking 1 million yen ($9,000) in compensation, claiming that the government’s failure to recognize same-sex marriage …

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Brazil To Excise LGBT References From Textbooks

The Associated Press reports: President Jair Bolsonaro is taking his anti-leftist ideological war to Brazil’s classrooms and universities, causing angst among teachers and education officials who say the government wants to fight an enemy that doesn’t exist. Bolsonaro and top officials have announced plans to revise textbooks to excise references to feminism, homosexuality and violence against women, say the military …

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Exclusive First Look: Edith Windsor’s Coming Memoir

Our friends at St. Martin’s Press have provided JMG readers with an exclusive first look at the coming memoir of late LGBT activist and marriage equality champion Edith Windsor: Edie Windsor became internationally famous when the Supreme Court ruled in her favor in her case seeking recognition from the US government for her marriage to her partner Thea Spyer. The …

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Actress Ellen Page Delivers Impassioned Rebuke Of Trump And Pence’s Attacks On LGBTQ Rights [VIDEO]

“If you are in a position of power and you hate people and you want to cause suffering to them, you go through the trouble, you spend your career trying to cause suffering — what do you think is going to happen? Kids are going to be abused, and they’re going to kill themselves and people are going to be …

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ARKANSAS: State Supreme Court Strikes Down LGBT Rights Law Opposed By Famous Christian Child Molester

The Associated Press reports: Arkansas’ highest court says a city can’t enforce an ordinance banning discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity, saying it’s already ruled the measure violates a state law aimed at preventing local protections for LGBT people. The state Supreme Court on Thursday reversed a Washington County judge’s decision to allow Fayetteville to continue enforcing its …

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TEXAS: Wedding Venue Rejects Gay Couple Because Same-Sex Marriage Isn’t In “God’s Design” [VIDEO]

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports: Aaron Lucero and Jeff Cannon wanted a country wedding. They say they still do, even after what they thought was their dream venue turned them away. “It’s still the idea,” Lucero, 29, told McClatchy. “Planning your wedding is supposed to be this joyous, happy moment in your lives, and this was so jarring because it …

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Angola Drops Anti-Gay Laws, Bans Discrimination

The Jurist reports: Angola’s parliament approved a new penal code Wednesday that drops provisions widely interpreted to criminalize homosexuality. The new penal code is Angola’s first since it gained its independence from Portugal in 1975. The prior code contained many holdover provisions from the colonial era, including a ban of “vices against nature,” which was understood to criminalize same-sex relationships …

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Tulsi Gabbard’s Father: I’m Still Anti-LGBT But I’m Sorry That I Traumatized Her With My “Aggressive Advocacy”

“I’d always known that as a child, Tulsi had been deeply affected by the conflict between myself and the gay community. But after seeing her video the other day, what she said broke my heart. I never realized how much trauma I put her through because of my overly aggressive advocacy for traditional marriage. We continue to have a very …

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EGYPT: TV Host Imprisoned For Interviewing Gay Man

Agence France-Presse reports: An Egyptian court on Sunday sentenced a television host to one year in prison for interviewing a gay man last year, a judicial source said. Mohamed al-Gheiti, who has expressed his stance against homosexuality on several occasions, was accused of promoting homosexuality and contempt of religion. The misdemeanors court in Giza also fined him 3,000 Egyptian pounds …

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CHINA: Activists Launch Nationwide Truck Billboard Campaign Against Ex-Gay Torture Clinics [VIDEO]

The South China Morning Post reports: On a hazy day this week, a convoy of three white trucks is making its way through the streets of Nanjing, in eastern China. They are covered in huge red banners with black lettering that look like billboards from a distance. “Treating a ‘disease’ that doesn’t exist,” reads one. “Chinese classification of mental disorders …

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CHECHNYA: Activists Say Authorities Have Ordered People To Kill LGBT Family Members And Pay Ransoms

The Daily Beast reports: Russian campaigners have told The Daily Beast that Chechen authorities have ordered people to kill LGBT members of their own families, and have demanded ransoms for the release of detained LGBT relatives. According to reports, at least 40 people have been arrested in the last two to three weeks, many of them tortured, in a new …

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Court Rules Against Lesbian Couple In Housing Lawsuit Because Their Marriage “Isn’t Understood In The Bible”

NBC News reports: A federal court on Wednesday ruled against a lesbian couple who brought a lawsuit against a Missouri retirement home that rejected the women’s apartment application because their marriage is not “understood in the Bible.” Bev Nance, 68, and Mary Walsh, 72, married a decade ago in Massachusetts and have been in a committed relationship for roughly 40 …

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