On Tuesday (3-26), the Immigration and Naturalization Service issued a new rule to allow battered spouses and children to apply for permanent residence in the USA on their own. The rule is aimed at preventing abusive husbands or wives from holding the victims of their abuse captive. According to officials, close to 400 applications from […]
Jennifer Sperle and Clark Martin, Virginia anti-abortion activists, were indicted on federal conspiracy and arson charges for fires at two clinics. Each could face 45 years in prison and $250,000 in fines if convicted of causing the 1994 fire at the Newport News clinic and the 1995 fire at the Tidewater Women’s Health Center in […]
On Tuesday (3-26), Texas Attorney General Dan Morales announced he will ask the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a decision made last week by the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals that would wipe out affirmative action programs implemented to increase diversity at the University of Texas. Since the ruling could have dramatic effects on institutions […]
In the first move to ban any form of abortion since the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, the House of Representatives was expected to pass legislation Wednesday (3-27) that would outlaw a rare form of late-term abortion used to save the life of the woman carrying the fetus. The procedure, technically referred to as intact […]
Former GOP fund-raiser Deborah Henson has launched $21.5 million lawsuit against the Republican National Committee amid allegations supported by colleagues that the environment at the RNC headquarters is hostile to women, people of color, and homosexuals. The suit alleges, “The RNC maintains a work place wherein sexual, racial, homophobic, appearance-based and anti-Semitic comments, jokes and […]
On Tuesday (3-26), President Clinton nominated Marine Corps Maj. Gen Carol Mutter, 50, to be the first woman promoted to the rank of lieutenant general in the Marines. If confirmed by the Senate, Mutter would become the first female officer elevated to the rank of three-star general in the Marines. The ranking equals a vice […]
Stating that same-sex unions may deserve legal recognition, Colorado Gov. Roy Romer vetoed a bill that would ban same-sex marriages. It is unlikely that state legislators will have enough votes to override the veto. The legislation is similar to bills in other states where measure supporters hope to exempt the state from recognizing gay marriages […]
A woman using the 1994 federal Violence Against Women Act to sue Virginia Tech and two football players on rape charges will get support from the Justice Department. The Department decided to intervene in the $10 million case; one of the defendants has challenged the constitutionality of the law which allows victims of sexual assaults […]
Close to 200 couples participated in a ceremony Monday (3-25) to publicly acknowledge their status as domestic partners. Although the unions in the nation’s first mass “gay marriage” ceremony are not recognized by state law, couples felt their gestures were symbolic to their relationships and also to members of the California Assembly where a bill […]
Jurors in the New York state Supreme Court deliberated for four hours before finding Mark Hartle, 29, not guilty of first-degree rape and first-degree sexual abuse. Hartle was accused of a gang rape in a restaurant bar in upstate New York the night of October 26, 1991 and had pled guilty to lesser charges in […]
California State Assemblywoman Sheila Kuehl (D-Santa Monica) is authoring Assembly Bill 2204 to create an affirmative defense to California Penal Code Section 273a. Under statute 273a, it is either a felony or a misdemeanor if a parent or guardian fails to protect a child from abuse, but the section allows charges against a battered woman […]
Claiming that the harassing and physically abusive actions of Lance Cpl. W.H. Beckwith do not merit federal charges, federal officials announced they will not pursue charges of civil rights violations for Beckwith’s conduct on January 8. When Beckwith turned on the sirens of his unmarked car and began following motorist Susan Antor or Miami, his […]
Supporters of abortion rights groups and right-to-die groups have been threatened with excommunication by a Roman Catholic Bishop in Lincoln, Nebraska. Members of Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz’ Lincoln diocese must drop their membership in 12 groups by May 15 or they will no longer be able to receive Holy Communion and will be excommunicated one month […]
Having supported the deceptively title “California Civil Rights Initiative” to ban affirmative action programs for months, presidential candidate Bob Dole announced his position publicly for the first time. At a rally sponsored by supporters of the initiative — including Gov. Pete Wilson and businessman and University of California Regent Ward Connerly — Dole announced his […]
A military police officer from California took her place in Army history Friday as the first woman to guard the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. Guarding the tomb is an honor bestowed upon the best of the 3rd U.S. Infantry, the Army’s oldest and one of its most elite units. […]
On Tuesday (3-25), voters in Oakland, California will vote on a city charter amendment that supporters call a “pre-emptive strike” against the anti-affirmative action “California Civil Rights Initiative” on the November ballot to amend the state constitution. Measure G in Oakland would require the city to adjust its race-based and gender-based contracting and hiring programs […]
A top Justice Department official said Thursday that the Department is considering joining an appeal against a federal appeals court decision that ruled a University of Texas affirmative action program was unconstitutional. Calling the ruling “wrong” and an “incorrect decision,” Associate Attorney General John Schmidt said it is likely the Justice Department will back the […]
Nassrine Farhoody runs the Rape Crisis Center of Central Massachusetts and has vowed to keep clients’ rape counseling records confidential even if it puts her in contempt of court. After a judge had ordered her to turn the records over by Wednesday afternoon (3-20), appeals Judge Raya S. Dreben ruled Thursday (3-21) that Farhoody could […]
The first indictments for war crimes allegedly committed against Bosnian Serbs were issued Friday (3-22) by an international tribunal. Three of the four indicted are Bosnian Muslims. The indictment details accounts of murder, torture, and repeated rapes of women at a prison camp in central Bosnia
The Human Right Campaign and Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (P-FLAG) staged a rally on Capitol Hill to ask Congress for a federal law making it illegal to discriminate against homosexuals in the workplace. Some two hundred parents and friends of gays and lesbians attended the event to make the statement that […]
