The Rev. Jimmy Creech of Raleigh, N.C., has once again challenged the Methodist Church’s ban on same-sex unions by uniting Jim Raymer and Larry Ellis in a ceremony this Saturday. Creech was dismissed from the First United Methodist Church in Omaha, Nebraska last year after performing a commitment ceremony for two women and was narrowly […]
Under federal rules that took effect yesterday, doctors and medical technicians who perform mammograms must provide patients with written test results. Patients whose test results are ambiguous or show signs of cancer must be sent a writen notice within 5 business days. Doctors are also required to send written notice to patients whose test results […]
A group of women faculty members at the University of Washington have filed a class-action sex discrimination law suit against the school, charging systematic discrimination against women with regard to pay and advancement opportunities. If the plaintiffs are judged to represent women faculty as a class, they will represent more than 1,000 women at the […]
The National Abortion Federation has sued Atlanta’s MARTA transit agency for violating the group’s First Amendment rights by refusing to post two pro-choice advertisements. Both ads were intended or display in bus and train stations throughout the month of April and included the number of a NAF-sponsored hotline. The first ad indicated that many women […]
Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir has appointed Zeinab Mahmoud Abdel-Kerim to serve as the country’s first woman ambassador. The location of Abdel-Kerim’s post was not immediately disclosed. The Sudanese Women’s Union applauded Bashir’s appointment, saying it “opens all the doors to women” and “reaffirms their role in the renaissance of the land.” Abdel-Kerim has many […]
Dame Christian Howard has died at age 82 after a lifelong struggle to win women’s right serve as priests in the Church of England. Thanks to the tireless work of Howard and others, the Church finally granted women the rights to be ordained as priests in 1992. A member of the Church of England’s General […]
Early this month, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak proposed the repeal of an Egyptian law that allowed one or more rapists to go unpunished if one of the rapists agreed to marry his victim. Egypt’s parliament has now approved Mubarak’s proposal and removed Article 291 from the county’s penal code. Article 291 has been in effect […]
The United Nations Human Rights Commission adopted a resolution condemning “widespread” human rights violations in Afghanistan Friday. The resolution was adopted by consensus and particularly stressed the abuse of women and girls by the fundamentalist Taliban regime. The commission urged warring Afghan factions to end all human rights violations “without delay” and to repeal all […]
Operation Rescue’s week-long “Operation Save America” protests in Western New York ended yesterday. This year’s protests were relatively peaceful, with no arrests, in sharp contrast to the group’s 1992 “Spring of Life” protest, in which 628 arrests were made. Journalists estimated that only about 200-250 of the 60,000 invitees actually participated in this year’s protests, […]
Hyundai Semiconductor America Inc., a subdivision of Korean car company Hyundai, lost a $9.5 million sex and racial discrimination lawsuit Friday. The suit was filed by Jeff Abraham, owner of Technical Resources Inc., a human resources firm that was soliciting prospective employees for Hyundai. Abraham alleged that a manager of Hyundai’s human resources staff, James […]
Women were elected to a record number of posts in Japan’s local elections, held Sunday. Hiroko Uehara was elected as Tokyo’s first woman district mayor. Uehara will have jurisdiction over Kunitachi, a western sector of the city. While the first female district mayor, Uehara is the fourth woman to become a city major in the […]
Nicole Brenner-Kadish and Ruti Brenner-Kadish have acted as mothers to their 3/12-year-old son since birth, and are suing the Israeli government for refusing to recognize them both as mothers. The two mothers are dual U.S.-Israeli citizens and were living in California at the time of their son Matan’s birth. When they tried to register Matan […]
One-third of kids whose parents fail to pay child support are living in poverty, according to a Census Bureau report. Association for Children for Enforcement of Support President Geraldine Jensen commented on the findings, saying “Nonpayment of child support is a crime that causes poverty in America.” Jensen also stated her belief that welfare reforms […]
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 […]
