This week LGBTQ members from the migrant caravan were the first to reach the U.S. border in Tijuana, Mexico. LGBTQ members arrived at the border before the rest of the caravan because they were escaping discrimination and harassment from within the caravan itself as well as the dangers members faced traveling through Mexico. While fleeing […]
Election Night 2018 Historic for LGBTQ+ Candidates
A week after the midterm election, Kyrsten Sinema was declared the winner of the Arizona Senate election, making her the first openly bisexual person elected to Congress and Arizona’s first female Senator. After Tuesday’s election, the total number of LGBTQ+ members of Congress is now eleven, the first time that the number has reached double […]
Harsh Anti-Abortion Laws in El Salvador Criminalize Survivors
On Monday, a criminal trial against Imelda Cortez, a 20-year-old woman charged with attempted murder after she gave birth to her abuser’s baby in El Salvador, began. Cortez has been in custody since April 2017 and may face up to 20 years in jail because doctors believe she attempted an abortion. The court ruling is […]
Democrats’ First Legislative Priority is Voting Rights Reform
Democrats announced this week that their first legislative vote will be a sweeping voting reform act, H.R. 1, that Democrats believe will increase public trust in the government and strengthen democratic institutions. The legislation aims to reform redistricting, create automatic voter registration, revive the Voting Rights Act, overturn the Citizen’s United ruling, and expand the […]
The 2018 Gender Gap
The 2018 midterm election had the highest gender gap since 1992, a 23 point difference between men’s and women’s voting preferences, because a majority of women voted for Democrats. While this may not seems like a large increase from the 2016 election’s 22 point gender gap, the numbers are skewed because more men voted for […]
Kavanaugh’s First Abortion Case May be an Indiana Law that Mike Pence Signed
Recently, Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill appealed to the Supreme Court to review a lawsuit against an Indiana anti-abortion law that restricts abortion access as well as enforces regulations on how to dispose fetal tissue. This could be the first case on abortion restrictions that the Supreme Court rules on since Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation, and […]
Scotland Will be the First Country with LGBTGI-Inclusive School Curriculums
Scotland’s government recently accepted 33 recommendations on LGBTQI+ inclusive education and [tackling] LGBTQ+ bullying in schools, created by the Time for Inclusive (TIE) campaign. As a result, Scotland will be the first country in the world to include LGBTQI+ issues and history in school curricula. In a statement, Deputy First Minister John Swinney said, “our […]
Feminist Candidates Find Support in Battleground Districts
A recent poll in eleven battleground districts, including districts in Kentucky, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Virginia, New York, Arizona, and Minnesota, revealed that about half of voters support electing feminist candidates. In Kentucky’s sixth district, 47 percent of voters supported electing more feminist candidates, while more than 50 percent of voters supported feminist candidates in Pennsylvania, […]
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Federal Court Rules Against Immediately Ending DACA
On Thursday, the US court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled against the Trump administration’s efforts to end DACA, a two-year program protecting young immigrants who entered the United States as minors, from deportation. The 3-judge panel unanimously concluded that DACA was not illegal but rather a “permissible exercise of executive discretion.” Moreover, the […]
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Mass Shooting at a California Bar Kills 12 People
12 people died in Thousand Oaks, California last night when a gunman entered the Borderline Bar & Grill and opened fire. Approximately 15 people were injured during the attack and were taken to nearby hospitals. Among the victims killed during the attack was Sheriff Deputy Sergeant Ron Helus, a 29-year-old veteran who was due to […]
Massachusetts Upholds a Law Protecting Transgender Residents
Massachusetts residents yesterday voted to uphold a law passed in 2016 that prohibited discrimination against gender identity in public spaces. This is the first state-wide vote to protect transgender individuals and the measure was upheld with over 67 percent of the vote. In 2016, an emergency law passed that immediately went into effect to outlaw […]
Women Win Across the Country in 2018 Midterms
Women won more seats in Congress yesterday than ever before, with over 110 women elected, including the first Muslim women, first Native American women, and two women in their twenties. The women who were elected include the former Teacher of the Year, small business owners, former military helicopter pilots, activists, a former CIA officer, and […]
Election Day 2018
Today is Election Day in the United States and the first nationwide election since Donald Trump was elected president in 2016. Voters heading to the polls will be able to cast their ballots for their House Representative, ballot measures, local elections and, in some states, their Senator or governor. Early voting numbers predict that the […]
50th Anniversary of Shirley Chisholm’s Election
Today is the 50th anniversary of Shirley Chisholm’s election to Congress as the first African American woman. Chisholm represented Brooklyn, New York in a district that was newly reapportioned and was majority African American and Hispanic. She served seven terms in Congress and ran for president. Shirley Chisholm was born in Brooklyn, NY in 1924 […]
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113 Organizations Denounce Federal Proposals to Redefine Gender
Last week, 113 organizations that work with survivors of sexual violence and advocate for the rights of survivors wrote a letter to the US Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Education, the Department of Justice, and the Department of Labor regarding a recent Trump administration proposal to define gender as an “immutable […]
Indonesian Woman Executed in Saudi Arabia for Killing Employer in Self-Defense
The Indonesian government is filing an official protest against Saudi Arabia after Tuti Tursilawati, a female Indonesian migrant worker, was executed in Saudi Arabia on October 29 for allegedly killing her employer in self-defense. Tursilawati claimed she was being sexually abused by her employer and has spent the past seven years on death row in […]
Ethiopia Appoints Women’s Rights Champion to Head Supreme Court
On Thursday, Ethiopia’s parliament unanimously approved and appointed Meiza Ashenafi to head its Supreme Court. Meiza was nominated by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who has taken numerous measures to increase women’s roles in Ethiopia. In response to Meiza’s appointment, Prime Minister Abiy’s Chief of Staff tweeted, “Ethiopia’s march towards gender parity in key leadership positions […]
UK Military Allowing Women to Serve in all Units
On Thursday, the UK government announced that all military units, including elite units such as the Special Air Service (SAS) and the Royal Marines will now be open to women. Women who already serve in the military can immediately transfer to elite combat units whereas new recruits will be able to apply starting December and […]
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Google Employees Around the World Protest Sexual Harassment in the Workplace
On Thursday, Google employees around the globe walked out of their offices to protest the manner in which the company has dealt with sexism, racism, and sexual assault allegations. The walkouts began in Asia and were quickly followed by other offices around the world, including San Francisco and New York. Each protest was staged for […]
Tanzania Governor Launched Anti-Gay Surveillance Team
Yesterday, the LGBTQ+ community in Tanzania went on high alert after Paul Makonda, a governor in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, announced the creation of a surveillance team dedicated to hunting down LGBTQ+ people. According to Governor Makonda, the operation was launched to find, arrest, and “educate” gay people. The Independent reported that 1000 names have […]