Official News Outlet for the Rainbow Round Table of the American Library Association
The First Circuit Court of Appeals in a 2-1 ruling upheld a 2012 decision that classifies gender-confirming surgeries as necessary medical care. As such, transgendered inmates should have access to this care due to the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment. The refusal by a Portland, Oregon area bakery to refuse to bake […]
Judges have found both Utah and Oklahoma’s gay marriage bans to be unconstitutional. This has led many to believe that the writing is on the wall for gay marriage bans nationwide. Indeed, many lawsuits are currently working their way through, challenging gay marriage bans in several states. In Kentucky, a case challenging that state’s gay […]
In the past few weeks, judges in both Utah and Oklahoma have found those countries anti-marriage equality amendments unconstitutional. Higher courts have stayed both rulings, but the march of progress seems to continue unabated. But, looking only at the United States can give a false view of where LGBTQ people stand around the world. Problems […]
Breaking News (5:30 PM EST): From The New Civil Rights Movement: “Federal U.S. District Judge Terence Kern has just ruled that Oklahoma’s ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional. The judge also stayed his ruling pending possible appeal, so same-sex couples cannot yet marry in Oklahoma.” For more information, click here. From the HRC Blog
U.S. schools had 53 percent more book banning incidents in 2013 than in the previous year, according to the National Coalition against Censorship. A project called The Kids’ Right to Read Project investigated three times the average number of problems, according to Coordinator Acacia O’Connor. The Coalition provides resources on its website including a Book […]
Last spring 32-year-old Lucy Meadows of Accrington (England) committed suicide after the press hounded her for the supposed “devastating effect” that she would wreak on her students by transitioning genders. Seven-year-old Daisy Moreton wrote this poem that was read at a march for Lucy Meadows: Makes you happy in high spirits smiles said kind things […]
Earlier this year, a San Francisco-based group called HACKmarriage put stickers on books in libraries and bookstores that changed the definitions of marriage from being a union of a man and a woman to being a union of ‟two people.” But activists aren’t the only people changing dictionaries. Several wordsmith are reevaluating their current definitions. […]
Research from the UCLA Williams Institute through surveys, polls, and wage data indicates that employment discrimination against LGBT people is persistent and pervasive. In addition, enforcement of anti-discrimination protections is not overly burdensome, and businesses general support these policies. Further research shows that a majority of people in every Congressional district supports laws protecting against […]
The AFL-CIO, the country’s largest labor federation, amended its constitution in September, banning discrimination based on gender identity or gender expression. The constitution now states: “To encourage all workers without regard to race, creed, color, sex, national origin, religion, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression to share equally in the full benefits of […]
Since the U.S. Supreme Court legalized federal same-sex marriage, several agencies have ruled that all same-sex married couples have federal rights even if the states where they live do not recognize these couples as married. Here are some of the agency changes that have already gone into effect: IRS: all same-sex marriages will be recognized […]