Tag Archives: LGBT youth

Florida Politics reports: Equality Florida is launching a new, two-part ad campaign to address GOP legislative priorities the group says target — and could potentially harm — marginalized students, including those within the LGBTQ community. One proposal (SB 1834, HB 1557), dubbed by critics as the “don’t say gay” bill, would closely regulate LGBTQ instruction in the classroom and conversations …

The Associated Press reports: France has a new law that bans so-called conversion therapies and authorizes jail time and fines for practitioners who use the scientifically discredited practice to attempt to change the sexual orientation or gender identity of LGBTQ people. The National Assembly approved the new law unanimously, voting 142-0 on Tuesday evening. The legislation includes criminal penalties for …

Florida Politics reports: The Florida Department of Education has removed an anti-bullying portal from its website, including links to LGBTQ advocacy groups. The removal comes following changes to the DOE webpage for the Office of Safe Schools, created under the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act. According to the Florida Capital Star, DOE removed the anti-bullying page …

The CBC reports: The federal government’s updated bill to ban the practice of conversion therapy has been adopted unanimously by the House of Commons. MPs voted to fast track Bill C-4 on Wednesday afternoon. The Commons erupted in applause after the vote and several Liberal MPs walked across the floor to shake hands with and — in some cases — …

Boston’s CBS News affiliate reports: A tense exchange at the Franklin School Committee meeting has a student and officials calling for acceptance and tolerance. Franklin High School senior Mackenzie Atwood is still trying to process Tuesday night’s meeting, when she was addressing another speaker about protected classes against bullying. “I am gay,” Atwood told the committee Tuesday. “Call me what …

Atlanta’s Fox News affiliate reports: Police said they have arrested three people almost a month after a disturbing social media post was brought to investigator’s attention. Jordan Jarrode Richards-Nwankwo, 18, Lorkeyla Jamia Spencer, 19, and Brittney Monique Mills, 35, were all charged with cruelty to children. Investigators said the video which was posted in June shows a young man with …

MetroWeekly reports: Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey (R) has signed a bill into law reforming the state’s sex education standards, removing anti-LGBTQ language that previously required teachers to condemn homosexuality and portray it in a negative light. It removes the requirement that teachers must tell students that homosexuality is “not a lifestyle acceptable to the general public” and that “homosexual conduct …

The Bismarck Tribune reports: Gov. Doug Burgum on Wednesday vetoed a bill restricting transgender girls in K-12 sports. The bill had passed the House 69-25 and the Senate 27-20 after conference committee amendments. House Bill 1298, brought by Rep. Ben Koppelman, R-West Fargo, sought to prohibit public elementary and secondary schools from “knowingly” allowing a student to participate on a …

The Arizona Republic reports: Gov. Doug Ducey vetoed a controversial sex education bill but issued an executive order requiring public notice of any such curriculum before it can be used in Arizona classrooms. The dual actions appeared to be a compromise between the provisions of Senate Bill 1456 and critics who said it would marginalize LGBTQ children by, among other …

PBS reports: The rights of transgender Americans has been a growing topic of debate on sports fields, in state capitols and in Congress. The Human Rights Campaign, an LGBTQ advocacy organization, says more than 30 state legislatures have proposed more than 115 bills that would limit transgender rights, from participation on sports teams to access to medical care. But two-thirds …

NBC News reports: The NCAA Board of Governors released a statement Monday that it will not host championships in places that discriminate against transgender athletes. “The NCAA Board of Governors firmly and unequivocally supports the opportunity for transgender student-athletes to compete in college sports. This commitment is grounded in our values of inclusion and fair competition,” the statement read in …

Nashville’s ABC News affiliate reports: Tennessee’s Republican-dominant Senate on Monday advanced legislation that would require school districts to alert parents of any instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity, as well as allow them to opt their students out of such instruction. According to the bill, school districts would have 30 days to alert parents or guardians of upcoming instruction …

The Hill reports: The Department of Justice (DOJ) has told federal agencies that gay and transgender students are protected from discrimination under civil rights laws, reversing Trump administration guidance that limited the impact of a landmark Supreme Court decision last year extending employment discrimination protections to LGBT workers. In an memo to federal agencies, Pamela Karlan, the head of the …

Knoxville’s NBC News affiliate reports: A bill in the Tennessee legislature would prohibit the state from approving textbooks and instructional materials that contain LGBTQ+ content. The bill, H.B. 0800, was introduced by Representative Bruce Griffey [photo] and will be considered by the Education Instruction Subcommittee on March 30. It says that public schools should focus on teaching subjects like reading, …

CBS News reports: Conversion therapy is currently still legal in Indiana, the home state of Vice President Mike Pence, who has long been criticized for his anti-LGBTQ positions. But this week, state legislators formally introduced a bill to ban the discredited “therapy” for minors. Democratic State Senator J.D. Ford has authored Senate Bill 32, which would prohibit mental health counselors …

The Jesuit magazine America reports: Pope Francis told a group of parents of L.G.B.T. children yesterday that “God loves your children as they are” and “the church loves your children as they are because they are children of God.” He did so in a brief encounter with some 40 Italian parents (both mothers and fathers) of L.G.B.T. children after the …

The Christian Post reports: A professional psychotherapist who specializes in counseling those with unwanted same-sex attraction has denounced a recent social media ban on posts promoting “conversion therapy.” Recently, Instagram and its owner, Facebook, announced that they were going to ban content that promoted the controversial practice of sexual orientation change efforts therapy, or what critics call “conversion therapy.” Christopher …

Pink News reports: On Thursday evening, May 7, the Bundestag passed a law which completely bans any so-called “therapy” that aims to change the sexual orientation of minors, and the crime will carry a prison sentence of up to one year. According to Badische, conservative German health minister Jens Spahn [photo] stressed: “Homosexuality is not a disease. Therefore the term …

The Washington Post reports: Gov. Ralph Northam has signed a bill banning conversion therapy for minors, the first LGBT rights measure to reach the Democrat’s desk this year. Virginia will become the 20th state — and the first in the South — to outlaw the therapy, a widely discredited practice that purports to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender …

The Colorado Sun reports: A 9-year-old Lone Tree boy who joined Pete Buttigieg on stage at a campaign rally in Aurora on Saturday night and who asked for advice on telling the world he is gay told The Colorado Sun he was proud to talk about his sexuality in front of thousands of people. Zachary Ro’s question came as the …