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 […]
On Wednesday (3-20), the University of California Berekley released a report stating that a federal investigation cleared the school of seven-year-old charges that its admissions policies discriminated against whites. The probe also found that academic performance improved under the campus’ affirmative action program, and did not decline, as alleged by critics. The report came two […]
On January 8, 1996, Sandra Antoine Antor was stopped, pulled from her car and abused by South Carolina state trooper Lance Cpl. W.H. Beckwith. A black woman from Miami, Antor says a white woman would not have been treated in the same manner by the white Beckwith, and her lawyers say they expect to file […]
Stating “we know women love to clean,” Gen. Yuri Glazkov predicted that female astronaut American Shannon Lucid will clean up and brighten up the Russian space station Mir during her five month stay expected to begin Saturday (3-22). Speaking at a NASA news conference, Glazkov, deputy commander of the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center, then stated […]
A judge denied a 12-year-old girl’s plea to be allowed to join the Boy Scouts while her legal case against the group process. Katrina Yeaw of California applied to the Boy Scouts in April 1995 because she, like her twin brother, wanted to learn canoeing, camping, and other outdoor skills. She was upset to be […]
On Monday (3-19), the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a University of Texas admissions policy is unconstitutional and that public universities may not justify affirmative action programs based on the benefits of racial diversity. The decision will affect virtually all institutions of higher education taking racial diversity in account in admissions. The […]
In a 3-2 decision Tuesday (3-19), the state Supreme Court of Connecticut ruled that the military cannot recruit at the University of Connecticut Law School because its “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy violates a state anti-discrimination law. Citing the military’s “current discrimination against gay men and lesbians,” the ruling upheld a 1994 Superior Court judge’s […]
University of California Santa Cruz professor Angela Davis called “outrageous” claims made by UC regent and California businessman Ward Connerly. In a letter mailed to Davis and faxed to reporters, Connerly, also chair of the self-titled “California Civil Rights Initiative” to ban affirmative action in the state, accused Davis of using her position at the […]
Inaugurated February 14, 1996, the Emergency Contraception Hotline had received over 6000 calls in its first three week, according to a March 8 update by its sponsors. The hotline provides callers with information about emergency contraception and the names and telephone numbers of health care providers who can prescribe it. Operated by the Reproductive Health […]
After an admission last week that well-connected status plays a role in who gets accepted into the University of California system, officials said yesterday (3-18) that a campus fund-raising officer plays an important role in reviewing applications from such candidates at UC Berkeley. A story in Saturday’s Los Angeles Times (3-16) indicated that UCLA has […]
The Supreme Court decided Monday (3-18) to Review Limits on Anti- Abortion Protests. The Court also sent a case back to a federal appeals court in which Arkansas officials attempted to deny Medicaid-funded abortions for women impregnated by rape or incest. The 8th Circuit Court had wrongly invalidated all of an amendment to the Arkansas […]
