LGBTQ

Alabama Mayor Mark Chambers Post Violent Anti-LGBT Rhetoric Faces Calls for Resignation

This week, Hometown Action and Equality Alabama have started petitions calling for the resignation of Mark Chambers, Mayor of Carbon Hill, Alabama following his comments posted on June 4th on his personal Facebook page advocating for the “killing” of the LGBTQ community. This statement has caused backlash from his constituents and the LGBTQ Community. Chambers […]

LGBTQ

Supreme Court Will Hear Cases on LGBTQ+ Rights in the Workplace

The Supreme Court announced yesterday that they have agreed to hear a group of high profile cases regarding the rights of gay and transgender individuals in the workplace. These cases are aimed to determine if existing federal laws banning sex-based discrimination applies to cases of sexual orientation or gender identity. In particular, the case will […]

LGBTQ

New Jersey Providing Gender Neutral Option on Birth Certificates

Starting tomorrow, a New Jersey law, named after New Jersey resident Babs Siperstein who was the first transgender woman to join the Democratic National Committee, goes into effect, providing a gender neutral option on birth certificates. Previously, New Jersey law only allowed a person to change the gender on their birth certificate if they had […]

LGBTQ

Trump Defies Science to Attack Transgender Americans

The Center for Disease Control’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report found that nearly 2% of all high schoolers identify as transgender; this report also confirms that transgender students need to be protected in and out of school. In school, transgender students are more likely to be victims of bullying, whether in person or online. They […]

Global LGBTQ

Japan’s Supreme Court Upholds Law Requiring Sterilization to Legally Change Gender

The Japanese Supreme Court unanimously upheld Law 111, which requires transgender people looking to officially change their gender to undergo sterilization by removing their original reproductive organs, causing human rights and LGBT activists to immediately denounce the ruling. The Supreme Court denied Takakito Usui, a transgender man, an appeal against the 2004 law, citing that […]

Global LGBTQ

LGBTQ Migrants are the First to Reach US Border

This week LGBTQ members from the migrant caravan were the first to reach the U.S. border in Tijuana, Mexico. LGBTQ members arrived at the border before the rest of the caravan because they were escaping discrimination and harassment from within the caravan itself as well as the dangers members faced traveling through Mexico. While fleeing […]

LGBTQ Politics

Election Night 2018 Historic for LGBTQ+ Candidates

A week after the midterm election, Kyrsten Sinema was declared the winner of the Arizona Senate election, making her the first openly bisexual person elected to Congress and Arizona’s first female Senator. After Tuesday’s election, the total number of LGBTQ+ members of Congress is now eleven, the first time that the number has reached double […]

Global LGBTQ

Scotland Will be the First Country with LGBTGI-Inclusive School Curriculums

Scotland’s government recently accepted 33 recommendations on LGBTQI+ inclusive education and [tackling] LGBTQ+ bullying in schools, created by the Time for Inclusive (TIE) campaign. As a result, Scotland will be the first country in the world to include LGBTQI+ issues and history in school curricula. In a statement, Deputy First Minister John Swinney said, “our […]

LGBTQ Politics

Massachusetts Upholds a Law Protecting Transgender Residents

Massachusetts residents yesterday voted to uphold a law passed in 2016 that prohibited discrimination against gender identity in public spaces. This is the first state-wide vote to protect transgender individuals and the measure was upheld with over 67 percent of the vote. In 2016, an emergency law passed that immediately went into effect to outlaw […]

Global LGBTQ

Tanzania Governor Launched Anti-Gay Surveillance Team

Yesterday, the LGBTQ+ community in Tanzania went on high alert after Paul Makonda, a governor in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, announced the creation of a surveillance team dedicated to hunting down LGBTQ+ people. According to Governor Makonda, the operation was launched to find, arrest, and “educate” gay people. The Independent reported that 1000 names have […]

LGBTQ

DOJ Attacks Protections for Transgender Employees

This past Wednesday, The Department of Justice (DOJ) wrote in a brief to the Supreme Court that the 1964 Civil Rights Act federal workplace protections do not apply to transgender employees, arguing it is legal to discriminate based on gender identity. The DOJ submitted this brief as the Supreme Court decides if it will hear […]

Education LGBTQ

Trump Administration To Attack Protections for Transgender Individuals

“The Trump Administration is once again doing everything in its power to carry out a mean-spirited attack on transgender individuals who deserve and need civil rights protections,” read a statement by the Feminist Majority Foundation. “This overt attack on trans lives is at odds with scientific fact, multiple federal court rulings, and the lived experiences of millions of Americans.”