Courts LGBTQ

Supreme Court Rules Federal Civil Rights Law Protects LGBTQ+ Workers

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday that existing federal civil rights protections forbids job discrimination against LGBTQ+ workers. The decision said that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which makes it illegal for employers to discriminate based on a person’s sex, also covers sexual orientation. Twenty-two states plus the District of Columbia […]

Election LGBTQ

First Openly Transgender Official Wins City Council Seat in West Virginia

Tuesday was Election Day in West Virginia and Rosemary Ketchum, a community organizer and activist, was among those elected to office. Ketchum will represent Wheeling, West Virginia’s Third Ward in the Wheeling City Council and has made history by becoming West Virginia’s first openly transgender elected official. Ketchum announced her candidacy for Wheeling City Council […]

LGBTQ Violence Against Women

Transgender Woman Nina Pop Murdered in Missouri

On Sunday, May 3rd, the body of 28-year-old transgender woman Nina Pop was found in her apartment in Sikestown, Missouri. She had been stabbed multiple times, according to police. While police have not determined a motive, they are looking into the possibility of a hate crime. The LGBTQ advocacy group Human Rights Campaign reported that […]

Courts LGBTQ

Masterpiece Cakeshop Owner Faces Second Lawsuit for LGBTQ Discrimination

Autumn Scardina is the plaintiff in the second lawsuit against Masterpiece Cakeshop Owner Jack Phillips for LGBTQ discrimination. The lawsuit argues that the business unlawfully refused service to Scardina, a transgender woman, who requested a trans-themed birthday cake. Scardina had previously filed a complaint against Phillips when the refusal happened in 2018, but Phillips sued […]

Courts LGBTQ Sports

ACLU Files Lawsuit Over Idaho Transgender Athlete Ban

The ACLU has filed a complaint in Boise federal court on Wednesday, April 14 following Idaho Governor Brad Little’s signing of a bill banning the participation of transgender women and girls from women’s public and university sports into law on March 30. The lawsuit challenges the new law, set to go into effect on July […]

LGBTQ

Activist Phyllis Lyon Passes Away at Age 95

LGBTQ+ rights pioneer, Phyllis Lyon, died at age 95 yesterday of natural causes. Lyon co-founded the Daughters of Bilitis, the United States’ first lesbian organization in 1955. She and her wife, Del Martin, were the first couple to married in San Francisco’s “Winter of Love” in 2004, a time when the mayor of San Francisco […]

Activism LGBTQ Violence Against Women

Young Transgender Activist Shot and Killed in North Carolina

Monika Diamond, a 34-year-old transgender LGBT+ activist and businesswoman, was shot and killed on Wednesday, March 18 in Charlotte, North Carolina. Multiple shots had been fired before police and ambulance were dispatched in response to a disturbance call. After attempting to revive her, Diamond was pronounced dead at the scene. According to Maya Oppenheim, Women’s […]

Health LGBTQ

Trans Community Uniquely Affected by COVID-19 Pandemic

The spread of the COVID-19 virus will affect everyone in the country in a number of tangible ways, such work closures, shelter in place mandates, and empty toilet paper aisles in grocery stores. Marginalized communities are particularly affected by this pandemic, and the trans community is no different. Closures and strained health care systems make […]

Courts LGBTQ

Transgender Minors in NY Now Allowed to Change Their Gender Marker

Transgender individuals born in New York can now change their gender marker on their birth certificate before their 18th birthday thanks to a lawsuit by a 14-year-old trans boy, known only as M.H.W.   “Effective immediately, transgender individuals born in New York will have the right to make this deeply personal decision without the government’s […]

Global Health LGBTQ

Canada Proposes Comprehensive Nationwide Conversion Therapy Ban

In a landmark move, Canada’s federal government has proposed legislation to criminalize forced conversion therapy for LGBTQ people. The legislation would also prohibit conversion therapy for minors. “Conversion therapy” is a range of abusive practices performed to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity or expression. These practices, based on the antiquated idea that […]