The New Hampshire Legislature voted by a 18-6 margin to repeal a 1987 law that prohibited lesbian and gay citizens from adopting children or acting as foster parents. The law also required heterosexual couples to sign a document stating that their households did not include gay inhabitants. Gov. Jeanne Shaheen has said she will support […]
For the past 11 days, 22 University of Pittsburgh students have stopped eating in protest of their school’s refusal to extend medical benefits to the gay and lesbian partners of its employees. At news conference held yesterday, the 22 students wore T-shirts that said “Hunger Strike for Human Rights” and explained that they will continue […]
Six men who have confessed to smuggling women and girls over the Mexican border for use as prostitutes were ordered to pay a total of $1 million to their victims and to serve between 2 1/2 and 6 1/2 years in prison. The group’s leader, Rogerio Cadena, was sentenced to 15 years in prison and […]
The Screen Actors Guild recently reported that women age 40 and over are still “significantly underrepresented” on television and in film, and that roles for older Americans, both male and female, “seem to be vanishing, instead of increasing as in real life.” The Screen Actors Guild is a union that represents more than 96,000 actors […]
A man who mimicked shooting a security guard and protesters was arrested by police at the site of the “Operation Save America” protest near Genessee Hospital in Rochester, NY yesterday. The man allegedly drove through lines of protesters, shaped his hand into an imaginary gun, aimed the “gun” at a hospital security guard, and then […]
An amendment which would have required convicted violators of FACE and other abortion clinic protection laws to pay court-ordered damages was defeated yesterday in the House Judiciary Committee. The vote was split by party line, with Democrats favoring the amendment and Republicans opposing it. The amendment, offered as part of a larger package of bankruptcy […]
Former Domino’s Pizza mogul Tom Monaghan’s Ave Maria School of Law is continuing to gain more support from ultra-conservative, right-wing forces. Scheduled to open in the year 2000, the school has already attracted many high-profile political leaders. Conservative legal scholar and former U.S. Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork has agreed to teach. Rep. Henry Hyde […]
Peng Peiyun, the former Chinese Minister of Family Planning and current vice chairwoman of the national Legislature, said the number of female babies who are being abandoned in China is increasing at an alarming rate. The country’s high rates of child abandonment are primarily due to China’s strict rules on family size, and cultural misogyny […]
In a speech delivered at the awards ceremony, Rape Education and Prevention Coordinator Deb Schipper said, “The Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance (FMLA) is a new student organization on campus this year, and has quickly made itself known as an extraordinary, energetic group of women…We are constantly encouraged by the willingness of these young women to […]
Radcliffe College has announced that it will fully merge with Harvard University and transform its undergraduate program for women into the “Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study” — a coed center for research and graduate-level studies on women, gender and society. Although Radcliffe’s undergraduates have taken courses through Harvard for year, they had always received diplomas […]
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has been charged with racial and/or sexual discrimination in five current or proposed class action lawsuits. In addition, more that 1,500 individual discrimination complaints are currently pending. Among the current complaints include allegations that graffiti in a USDA bathroom included the words “now apes are called people” written beneath the […]
Pending expected approval by the U.S. House of Representatives and by President Clinton, Rosa Parks will be awarded a Congressional Gold Medal, Congress’ highest honor. Sens. Spencer Abraham (R-MI), Carl Levin (D-MI), and Jeff Sessions (R-AL) sponsored the measure, which was approved by a unanimous Senate vote yesterday. Parks sparked a yearlong boycott of Montgomery, […]
The Ms. Foundation’s – annual “Take Your Daughter to Work Day 1999” will take place this Thursday, April 22nd. The theme for this “The Future Is Me” and includes a special focus on “dads and daughters.” According to the Ms. Foundation Web site, “While some people mistakenly believe Take Our Daughters To Work Day is […]
TransScan Medical, Inc.’s T-Scan TS-2000 breast imaging system was approved by the F.D.A. yesterday for use in cases where a mammogram has produced inconclusive results. The device consists of a hand-held probe which is attached to a computer. The probe is placed on a patient’s breast and sends a small electrical signal through the breast […]
Erie County District Attorney Frank C. Clark has announced that his investigation into the murder of abortion provider Dr. Barnett Slepian may go before a state grand jury as soon as next week. Clark said that the recent discovery of a rifle believed to be the murder weapon played a large role in his decision. […]
In a public ceremony watched by thousands, an Afghan woman and her mother were lashed for “immoral behavior.” The daughter was convicted of “immoral behavior” for having a sexual affair and received 100 lashes. Since she was unmarried, the daughter was spared the Taliban’s punishment for adultery, which is stoning to death. The mother was […]
Operation Rescue’s “Operation Save America” protests began yesterday in Buffalo, NY with a church service, news conference, and evening meeting. Today, abortion opponents will hold protests at schools and bookstores and will hold signs and distribute literature along two popular roadways. A 24-hour bible reading will begin, and a reunion dinner will be held for […]
In a unanimous ruling, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled that police officers are not exempt from the Domestic Violence Offenders Gun Ban, a law which prohibits people convicted of domestic violence misdemeanor offenses from purchasing or possessing guns. In the court’s opinion, Judge Stephen F. Williams asserted that community […]
Yale, Harvard, Stanford, and Kent State Universities each hosted labor conferences this weekend, building on recent pro-labor activities on those campuses. In a joint effort, students at Harvard, Stanford, and Kent State universities convened on their respective campuses to discuss the possibility of starting a nationwide alliance of student activists and members of the union […]
Massachusetts’ State House was packed with pro-choice and anti-choice demonstrators yesterday as House Representatives heard arguments for and against a proposed bill which would prevent protesters from coming within 25 feet of clinic entrances and driveways. If passed, Massachusetts will become the first state in the nation to mandate buffer zones for abortion clinics. Although […]
