three images. 1. american flag and rainbow flag waving in breeze, 2. man smiling, wearing suit, 3. main with gray hair raising right hand

LGBTQIA Legislative News Roundup

three images. 1. american flag and rainbow flag waving in breeze, 2. man smiling, wearing suit, 3. main with gray hair raising right handBy Jeremy Selvidge

On Wednesday, Jeff Sessions was confirmed as Attorney General of the United States. His confirmation has prompted statements of concern from leading LGBTQ+ activists, including HRC’s Chad Griffin and Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, who claim that Sessions’ record of opposition to LGBTQ+ protections and civil rights makes him unfit for the nation’s top law enforcement post.

The Arkansas Supreme Court is considering whether a Fayetteville city ordinance extending anti-discrimination protections to LGBT persons violates state law. In 2015, Arkansas passed a law barring any anti-discrimination ordinances that afforded protections “on a basis not contained in state law.”

Also in Arkansas, a state senator has proposed legislation calling for a constitutional convention “for the purpose of proposing an amendment prohibiting the United States Constitution or the Constitution or Laws of any state from defining or construing the definition of ‘marriage’ to mean anything other than the union of one man and one woman.” At least two-thirds of the states would need to agree for the constitutional convention to take place; three-fourths of the state would have to approve the amendment before it became law.

As the new year gets underway, state legislatures across the country are taking on proposed measures intended to limit or harm LGBTQ rights. Diana Tourjee at Broadly (VICE) has compiled a list of 57 such measures, with links and descriptions of each.

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