Tag Archives: LGBT rights

BRITAIN: Supreme Court Hears Gay Cake Case

The Guardian reports: A bakery run by evangelical Christians is to launch a fresh attempt to overturn a £500 award made against it for refusing to bake a cake promoting same-sex marriage. Ashers bakery, which has branches in Northern Ireland and is financially supported by the Christian Institute, is taking its claim to the Supreme Court on Tuesday, which is …

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Tony Perkins: If Bars Can Refuse To Serve Trump Fans, Christians Should Be Able To Turn Away Gay Customers

Just in from hate group leader Tony Perkins: If Kanye West wears his “Make America Great Again” hat to a New York City bar, beware! He might not be served. When a Trump supporter sued The Happiest Hour for saying he wasn’t welcome, a Manhattan judge sided with the bar. As far as the court is concerned, if a business …

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NYT To SCOTUS Justice Kennedy: Please Don’t Retire

From the editorial board of the New York Times: Dear Justice Kennedy, As you have no doubt heard, rumors of your impending retirement are, for the second year in a row, echoing around Washington and across America. While you and your colleagues on the Supreme Court were listening to the final oral arguments of the term in recent days, those …

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Joy Reid Apologizes For “Hurtful” Blog Posts, Says She “Genuinely Believes” She Didn’t Write Them [VIDEO]

Vox reports: Joy-Ann Reid on Saturday apologized to the LGBTQ community for her past “hurtful” comments, following the resurfacing of homophobic blog posts from the mid-to-late 2000s. The host of MSNBC’s weekend show AM Joy has been under fire for newly uncovered blog posts published on Reid’s now-defunct blog, the Reid Report, in the mid-to late 2000s that repeatedly mocked …

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INDIANA: Anti-Gay Pizza Shop Closes After 2015 Furor For Refusing To Cater Imaginary Same-Sex Wedding

The South Bend Tribune reports: Memories Pizza, the shop that became embroiled in the national debate over religious and civil rights and touched off a national media firestorm in 2015, has closed. A sign in the front window of the pizza shop says it was shuttered last month. Owners Kevin and Crystal O’Connor were the focus of intense criticism and …

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Trump To Roll Back Transgender Health Protections

The New York Times reports: The Trump administration says it plans to roll back a rule issued by President Barack Obama that prevents doctors, hospitals and health insurance companies from discriminating against transgender people. Advocates said the change could jeopardize the significant gains that transgender people have seen in access to medical care, including gender reassignment procedures — treatments for …

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Search For New Amazon HQ Hinges On LGBT Rights

The Washington Post reports: When Amazon executives recently toured the Dallas-Fort Worth area, one of 20 finalists for a second company headquarters, local officials touted its growing workforce and low taxes as perfectly suited to accommodate 50,000 planned Amazon jobs. But the local team also brought an unexpected guest: the Rev. Neil G. Cazares-Thomas, pastor of a predominantly gay megachurch …

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HRC Takes On The “Real” Mike Pence [VIDEO]

“Mike Pence has made a career out of attacking the rights and equal dignity of LGBTQ people, women and other marginalized communities. Now as vice president, he poses one of the greatest threats to equality in the history of our movement. With the world distracted by Donald Trump’s scandal-ridden White House, Mike Pence’s nefarious agenda has been allowed to fly …

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Not One Anti-LGBT Bill Has Passed So Far This Year

The Associated Press reports: In a striking shift from recent years, major legislation curtailing LGBT rights has been completely stymied in state capitols around the country this year amid anxiety by Republican leaders over igniting economic backlash if they are depicted as discriminatory. In the thick of this year’s legislative sessions, LGBT activists were tracking about 120 proposed bills that …

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Theresa May Calls On Commonwealth To Reform Anti-Gay Laws: “I Regret Our Legacy Of Discrimination”

Reuters reports: Prime Minister Theresa May said on Tuesday she regretted Britain’s role in anti-gay legislation across its former colonies, seeking to address criticism of the Commonwealth at its gathering in London. May is looking to reinvigorate the Commonwealth, a 53-country network of mostly former colonies, as Britain seeks new post-Brexit ways to project its influence in the world and …

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TRINIDAD: Three Gay Men Evicted From Homes After Appearing At Rally Celebrating Repeal Of Buggery Law

Trinidad’s Newsday reports: Members of the gay community are calling for calm and tolerance as three young men who were at the forefront of a human rights rally celebrating the historic court ruling on the unconstitutionality of the buggery and serious indecency laws, last Thursday, have been kicked out of their homes. The three men, social worker Luke Sinette confirmed …

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CHINA: Weibo Drops Gay Ban After Massive Outcry

Reuters reports: China’s Sina Weibo’s on Monday reversed a decision to remove gay content after outcry among gay Chinese who say the company had smeared homosexuality by lumping it with pornography as it tried to meet government censorship directives. China’s Twitter-equivalent Weibo said on Friday it would remove pornographic, violent or gay videos and cartoons in a three-month campaign, singling …

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CHINA: #IAmGay Hashtag Floods Social Media Giant Weibo After Government Bans “Homosexual Content”

Agence France-Press reports: China’s Sina Weibo said it would remove “homosexual” content from the popular microblogging platform, prompting a storm of online protests Saturday under the hashtag “I am gay”. Weibo said in a statement Friday it had begun a “clean-up campaign” to remove “illegal” content, including “manga and videos with pornographic implications, promoting violence or (related to) homosexuality”. It …

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NEW YORK CITY: Noted LGBT Rights Attorney Burns Self To Death In “Protest Suicide” Against Fossil Fuels

The New York Daily News reports: A nationally known gay rights attorney and green activist set himself on fire and burned to death in Prospect Park early Saturday in a bizarre ecological protest suicide. The charred remains of David Buckel, 60, were discovered shortly after sunrise when firefighters responded to a report of a fire in the southwest corner of …

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Court Upholds Block On Trump’s Trans Military Ban

Axios reports: A federal judge in Washington ordered Friday that a halt to President Trump’s transgender troop ban remain in place, saying that the government must prove its order “was sincerely motivated by compelling interests, rather than by prejudice or stereotype.” In addition to keeping its injunction in place, the judge overseeing the case said that transgender people represent a …

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Todd Starnes: Cory Booker Is An Anti-Christian Bigot For Asking Pompeo If He Thinks Gay Sex Is Perverted

Canned ham spokesmodel Todd Starnes writes: Mike Pompeo, President Trump’s nominee for secretary of state, faced an offensive line of questioning from Sen. Cory Booker – demanding to know if he opposed same-sex marriage and if he thought gay sex was perverse. It’s becoming increasingly difficult for people of the Christian faith to practice their religion in the public marketplace. …

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Pompeo Withers Under Questioning By Cory Booker, Won’t Say If He Thinks Gay Sex Is Perverted [VIDEO]

Sen. Cory Booker just grilled former CIA director and Secretary of State nominee Mike Pompeo on his anti-LGBT history, demanding to know of Pompeo still believes “gay sex is a perversion.” Pompeo sputtered and flailed, saying only that he has treated gay people with respect. Booker also demanded to know if Pompeo continues to oppose same-sex marriage. Pompeo grimaced and …

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TRINIDAD: High Court Strikes Down Buggery Law

Erasing 76 Crimes reports: Trinidad’s High Court today ruled that the nation’s law against same-sex intimacy is unconstitutional. Justice Devindra Rampersad, who is presiding over the case, stated in his ruling: “The court declares that sections 13 and 16 of the [Sexual Offences Act] are unconstitutional, illegal, null, void, invalid and of no effect to the extent that these laws …

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TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO: Christians March For Buggery Law So God Doesn’t Send More Natural Disasters

Trinidad’s Newsday reports: Over 500 activists, mobilised by T&T Cause – a coalition of local evangelical churches – congregated in front the Parliament building yesterday. It was the starting point of their peaceful march to protest the possibility that the High Court may rule against the constitutionality of buggery laws – all in defense of preserving family values. The protest …

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ALASKA: Anchorage Rejects Anti-Trans Initiative

I held off on reporting this earlier this week because there were still many uncounted ballots. But as of last night, we have a final result. The Anchorage Daily News reports: Anchorage voters have rejected an initiative that would have regulated access to restrooms and locker rooms by a person’s sex at birth instead of gender identity, a local version …

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