Tag Archives: Obama administration

Joe Biden Officiates Same-Sex Wedding

ABC News reports: Vice President Joe Biden officiated his first wedding ever — and it was for a same sex couple. Biden officiated over the wedding of two longtime White House staffers, Brian Mosteller and Joe Mahshie, at the Naval Observatory on Monday, his office said. Posting a photo of the ceremony on Twitter, Biden wrote, “Proud to marry Brian …

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Washington Leads 12 States In Filing Court Brief In Support Of Obama’s Transgender Rights Directive

Dominic Holden reports at Buzzfeed: A federal judge should not halt enforcement of Obama administration policies that advance protections for transgender students and workers under existing civil rights laws, according to a dozen states that will file a brief in federal court on Wednesday. “The bottom line is that the federal guidance at issue here threatens no imminent harm,” reads …

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BREAKING: Fourth Circuit Court Lifts Stay On Order Granting Transgender Student Restroom Rights

A three-judge panel from the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals just denied the stay motion filed Wednesday by Virginia’s Gloucester County School Board, which seeks to thwart the federal mandate on transgender student rights. That filing two days ago had triggered an automatic stay on the pro-trans April order while the Court considered their demand. The vote today was 2-1. …

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White House Issues Track Record On LGBT Rights: DOMA, DADT, Hate Crimes Law, HIV/AIDS, And More

The White House today issued a lengthy recounting of the many, many advances in LGBT rights seen during the Obama administration. The “fact sheet” – which I’ve posted in its entirety below – serves both as a very well-earned bragging point and as a stark reminder of how tenuous many of these advances remain with the specter of a Republican …

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BREAKING: Fourth Circuit Court Stays Pro-Transgender Rights Ruling Pending Possible Review By SCOTUS

NOTE: An important clarification is below. Earlier: That was amazingly fast. Patch.com reports: A stay has been issued in the case of a Virginia school’s transgender bathroom policy, meaning the case will go before the Supreme Court of the United States, according to a report. The Gloucester County School Board passed a policy restricting students to restrooms reflecting their “biological …

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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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American Family Association: Don’t Fund HIV/AIDS Research, Just Tell Gays To Stop Having Sex [VIDEO]

The AFA is ever so unhappy with President Obama’s recent Pride Month proclamation, which included mention of his administration’s work to reduce new HIV infections. Via Miranda Blue at Right Wing Watch: In the video, AFA’s president, Tim Wildmon, it’s executive vice president, Ed Vitagliano, and Abe Hamilton, a public policy analyst, discuss the proclamation while standing in the group’s …

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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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TEXAS: Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick Orders Public Schools To Defy Feds On Transgender Student Guidelines

From the Associated Press: The fight over bathroom rights for transgender students escalated in Texas on Tuesday as the state’s lieutenant governor urged schools to defy the Obama administration while parents of transgender children accused Republican leaders of stoking intolerance and making their kids targets for bullying. Few states are as publicly and persistently pushing back on transgender rights as …

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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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Alliance Defending Freedom: Meet The Moms Suing The Feds Over Transgender Student Rights [VIDEO]

From Alliance Defending Freedom: Don’t mess with my kids. That’s the message two North Carolina moms want the Obama Administration to hear. They are part of the nonprofit organization North Carolinians for Privacy, which – with the help of Alliance Defending Freedom – is suing the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the U.S. Department of Education (DOE). The lawsuit …

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AFA Radio Shrieker Sandy Rios: Trans Rights Will Mainstream Pedophilia And Create Chaos [VIDEO]

Brian Tashman recaps Sandy Rios’ latest radio rant for Right Wing Watch: “What a hypocrite Obama and his evil cronies are at the Department of Education and Justice that they would take lunch money from children,” she said, before alleging that the number of transgender people in the population has been significantly exaggerated. Rios claimed that the push for transgender …

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BREAKING: Eleven State Coalition Led By Texas Sues Obama Administration Over Transgender Guidelines

Dominic Holden reports at Buzzfeed: Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and officials in 10 other states on Wednesday filed a lawsuit in federal court resisting the Obama administration’s guidance that instructs schools to let transgender students use bathrooms that correspond with their gender identity. Among the defendants in the case, filed in federal district court in Northern Texas, are the …

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TEXAS: Indicted Attorney General Ken Paxton To Sue Obama Administration Over Transgender Guidelines

From the Dallas Morning News: Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is expected to announce a legal challenge to President Barack Obama’s directive instructing school districts to allow transgender students to use the bathrooms that match their gender identity. The attorney general has scheduled a 2 p.m. news conference Wednesday in Austin. WFAA-TV (Channel 8) reported Tuesday evening that Paxton would …

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OKLAHOMA: GOP Declares Bathroom “Emergency”

From World Net Daily: Lawmakers in Oklahoma, alarmed by the chaos that’s been generated from President Obama’s pressure on schools to open bathrooms to both sexes – else face loss of federal funding – have introduced a bill that declares the matter an “emergency” and allows the state’s attorney general to provide legal representation for those who come under fire …

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PENNSYLVANIA: 97 GOP Lawmakers Send Obama Letter Expressing “Extreme Outrage” At Trans Guidelines

Nutcase Daryl Metcalfe is at it again. Via Newsworks: Ninety-seven Republican state representatives in Pennsylvania — including several from the Philadelphia region — have signed off on a letter to President Barack Obama, calling the new federal directive to make public schools transgender-inclusive “unconstitutional” and an “extreme outrage.” Led by state Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, R-Butler, lawmakers argue in their letter …

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73 House Republicans Issue Letter “Demanding Answers” On Federal Transgender Rights Guidelines

From the right wing Heritage Foundation: The largest conservative congressional caucus is calling into question the legality of President Barack Obama’s transgender bathroom directive for schools. Chairman Bill Flores, R-Texas, is encouraging Republican Study Committee members to sign on to a letter, pushing the Departments of Education and Justice to detail how, and on what authority, they plan to enforce …

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Senate Confirms Eric Fanning As Army Secretary, First Openly Gay Leader Of Any US Military Service

Finally. Via the Associated Press: In another historical moment for the Obama administration, the Senate on Tuesday evening confirmed the long-stalled nomination of Eric Fanning to be Army secretary. Fanning thus becomes the first openly gay leader of any U.S. military service. The voice vote came after Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., dropped his opposition in a dispute over Obama administration …

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SCOTUS Rejects Appeal To Case That Set Precedent For Fourth Circuit Court’s Ruling On Transgender Rights

This is a major setback for supporters of North Carolina’s hate law: The Supreme Court announced Monday, over the dissent of one conservative justice, that it will not review a legal precedent key to an appeals court ruling last month requiring public schools to allow transgender students to use bathrooms corresponding to their gender identity. The justices declined to take …

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Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick: We Won’t Yield To Obama’s Blackmail On Transgender Rights [VIDEO]

From the Dallas-Fort Worth NBC affiliate: Top Republicans in America’s largest conservative state are ready to take on the issue of transgender rights and public restrooms, as thousands of party activists gather in Dallas for the Texas GOP convention. An Obama administration directive issued late Thursday amid a court fight between the federal government and North Carolina says public schools …

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