A day after the Taliban announced that it will agree to peace talks with the United States and Afghanistan, the Afghan government has announced it will not participate until Afghanistan plays a larger lead role. Senior US officials confirmed that two key conditions of the negotiations would be that the Taliban breaks ties with al-Qaeda […]
Gay Marriage is About to Have Its Golden Moment, But What About the Rest of Us?
As we await the SCOTUS ruling on Proposition 8, I can’t help but be bothered that there are many more urgent, pressing issues facing the LGBTQ community.
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House Passes 20 Week Abortion Ban
Yesterday, the House of Representatives approved a nationwide abortion ban after 20 weeks gestation in a vote of 228 to 196.
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Pakistani Women’s University Closed Indefinitely
In the wake of a bomb attack on Saturday, the Sardar Bahadur Khan (SBK) Women’s University has shut its doors indefinitely. The Bolan Medical Complex, which was attacked while Doctors treated victims of the university bombing, is also closed indefinitely. The target of the bomb was a bus transporting female students and teachers from Sardar […]
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Supreme Court Strikes Down Proof of Citizenship Voter Requirements
On Monday, the United States Supreme Court struck down an Arizona law requiring voters to provide proof of citizenship before being allowed register to vote.
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Pakistani Women’s University Bus, Hospital Bombed
A bus for a women’s university in Pakistan and the hospital that treated victims from the blast were bombed on Saturday, killing 14 students and 24 others at the hospital. The bus was transporting female students and teachers from Sardar Bahadur Khan Women’s University in Quetta, located in the southwestern part of Pakistan. A homemade […]
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Taliban Attack In Afghan Capital As NATO Transfers Power
Yesterday, NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) transferred responsibility for the country’s security forces to the Afghan government after a bomb blast targeting a political official left three civilians dead in Kabul. The blast, which occurred in front of the Afghan Independent Human Rights Watch, was targeting Afghanistan’s second vice-president Mohammed Mohaqiq, who is also a […]
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NASA Selects 8 New Astronauts, Half are Women
On Monday, the National Aeronautics and Space Association (NASA) announced eight new astronaut trainees. The trainees, half of whom are women, will train to explore low-Earth orbit, an asteroid, and Mars starting in August.
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Texas Air Force Recruiter Sentenced to 27 Years in Sexual Assault Scandal
Technical Sergeant Jaime Rodriguez was sentenced Friday to 27 years in prison for sexually assaulting over 20 women during his 13-year tenure in the Air Force.
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Indian Women’s Rights Activists Arrested
Police arrested and detained 13 women’s rights activists Thursday after anti-rape protests swelled in West Bengal, India. The protests were centered on two recent high-profile rape cases in the state. The Indian National Crime Records Bureau released statistics Thursday related to crime against women, spotlighting West Bengal as having the highest concentration of such crime […]
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Women of Senate Vow to Continue Fight Against Military Sexual Assault
Speaking to MSNBC Wednesday, Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) said, “You know, for 20 long years, various secretaries of defense have said these words: ‘We have zero tolerance for this kind of activity in the military and were not going to allow it.’ And every single secretary of defense never made the changes. We have to make the changes.”
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Teacher Fired for Being a Survivor of Domestic Violence
Second-grade teacher Carie Charlesworth was fired by Holy Trinity School in San Diego because of the events that followed her reporting her husband’s domestic abuse. Her termination, which took full effect in April, has prompted her to speak out against the district’s decision.
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Virginia Healthcare Center Challenges State’s TRAP Laws
Falls Church Healthcare Center filed an appeal Monday against the Virginia Board of Health, the Department of Health, and Virginia State Health Commissioner Cynthia Romer over the TRAP regulations that were approved in April requiring clinics performing over five abortions a year to meet new building regulations.
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WI Senate Advances Transvaginal Ultrasound, TRAP Bill
After intense but brief debate, the Wisconsin state Senate approved a bill that could mandate transvaginal ultrasounds before an abortion and impose unnecessary regulations on abortion clinics. The bill, SB 206 [PDF] was approved in a vote of 17 to 15 along party lines.
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House Committee Advances Nationwide Abortion Ban
Yesterday, the House Judiciary Committee voted 20 to 12 along party lines to approve a bill that would ban abortion after 20 weeks nationwide. The bill now goes before the full House of Representatives, and could be brought up for debate as early as next week.
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Russian Lower Parliament Approves Ban On “Gay Propaganda”
On Tuesday, Russia’s Lower Parliament called the Duma unanimously passed a bill outlawing the distribution of LGBT “propaganda” to minors, essentially banning any form of support for LGBT rights in the country. 436 deputies voted in favor the bill, only one deputy abstained from the vote. The bill bans “propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations” from […]
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Senate Armed Services Committee Removes Provision Challenging Military Sexual Assault
Senate Armed Service Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-MI) announced that he will remove a provision from the defense spending bill that would take military sexual assault cases out of the chain of command.
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Planned Parenthood, ACLU File Lawsuit Against AL TRAP Law
On Tuesday, the American Civil Liberties Union and Planned Parenthood filed a lawsuit to prevent an anti-abortion law that could threaten to close three out of the five clinics in the state from going into effect July 1.
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Women’s Rights Advocate Wins Virginia Primary
Dr. Ralph Northam from Norfolk, Virginia, has won the Democratic primary for the Virginia Lieutenant Governor race with 56% of the vote.
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Plan B One-Step To Be Sold Over-The-Counter Without Age Restrictions
The Obama administration Monday officially ended its opposition to over-the-counter sales of “Plan B One-Step,” also known as the morning-after pill.