Official News Outlet for the Rainbow Round Table of the American Library Association
By John Mack Freeman The Mount Horeb Area School District in Wisconsin has banned readings from I Am Jazz after they were threatened with a lawsuit by the Liberty Counsel. Via PinkNews: The Mount Horeb Area School District had sent a letter to parents of students at the school announcing its plans to read the […]
By Ashley R. Lierman (Image by hobvias sudoneighm via Flickr, used by permission of Creative Commons license.) Thanksgiving is nearly upon us (or was a month ago, for our Canadian friends)! Between that and the fact that I’ve been doing Queer Quest for a little over a year now, this month I’d like to look […]
By Elizabeth Gartley November is Picture Book Month, an international literacy initiative which celebrates print picture books, and picture books are worth celebrating. Picture books are a powerful medium, and they are often the first form of literature that young children enjoy. Even as a middle school librarian who works with young teens, I keep […]
By Peter Coyl The subject of bathrooms has been in the news quite a bit here in Texas. It started a few months ago in the wind up to the election because of a contested ballot measure (the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance or HERO which would have banned discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity). […]
Via press release The Intellectual Freedom Round Table (IFRT) is seeking nominations for its 2016 Eli M. Oboler Memorial Award. The biennial award is presented for the best published work in the area of intellectual freedom and consists of $500 and a citation. Nominations will be accepted through Dec. 1, 2015. Works to be considered […]
By John Mack Freeman US Air Force General Gordon O. Tanner and Congressional Cemetery President Paul Williams unveiled a new grave marker for GLBT rights pioneer Frank Kameny this Veterans Day. Via Washington Blade: The Kameny headstone along with a footstone bearing the slogan, “Gay is Good,” which Kameny coined in 1968, have been placed at […]
By John Mack Freeman This week, the White House formally endorsed the Equality Act. Via Out: “The administration strongly supports the Equality Act,” said Press Secretary Josh Earnest at today’s afternoon White House press briefing. The Equality Act would amend the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and other federal laws to protect LGBT Americans from discrimination […]
By John Mack Freeman The Department of Veterans Affairs opened its first health center specifically dedicated to transgender veterans and service members. The clinic opened in Cleveland this week, and received its first visitors on November 11th. There are approximately 134,000 trans veterans in the United States. Via Huffington Post: Housed within the Louis Stokes Cleveland […]
By John Mack Freeman Late last week, Ukraine passed a law that banned discrimination in the workplace for GLBT people. Via PinkNews: It specifically says workplace discrimination on the basis of “race, colour, political, religious and other beliefs, sex gender identity, sexual orientation, ethnic, social and foreign origin, age, health, disability or suspected presence of […]
By John Mack Freeman A judge in Utah has reversed his order that removed a foster child from a same-sex couple that had been caring for the child. Initially, Judge Scott N. Johansen of Utah’s Juvenile Court this past Tuesday that removed the child from the couple’s home because he stated “it is not in the […]