UPDATE: Late on Tuesday, May 13th, Idaho’s marriage ban was ruled unconstitutional. The governor has vowed to take the case to the Supreme Court. Arkansas state trial judge Christopher Charles Piazza has struck down another ban on marriage equality on the basis of its unconstitutionality. In his 13-page ruling, he wrote, “The exclusion of a minority […]
Category: GLBT News
Wesleyan Students Focus on ‘De-gendering’ Bathrooms
A group called Pissed Off Trans* People is attempting to revolutionize gendered bathrooms at Wesleyan University (Middletown, CT) by replacing traditional signs with non-gendered ones. [sign] Signs that read “Men†or “Women†have been replaced with new ones and a manifesto, “Desegregate Wesleyan Bathrooms.†Although some of the bathrooms have been re-gendered, the group’s actions […]
News From The States: Prom Pants, Marriage Taxes, and Clarifications
Department of Education Protects Trans Students Under Title IX
In a clarification issued last week, the Department of Education said that trans students are protected under Title IX. The statement was released by the Office of Civil Rights and said in part “Title IX’s sex discrimination prohibition extends to claims of discrimination based on gender identity or failure to conform to stereotypical notions of masculinity […]
Boy Scouts Keep Up Gay Discrimination
The Boy Scouts of America just can’t stop discriminating against gay scouts. Last week, 19 year old Garrett Bryant was involved in a dust-up with the BSA. Comments made on one of Bryant’s social media accounts led to the implications that he was gay. Bryant remained closeted during his entire time with the Boy Scouts […]
Pope Francis Calls Vatican Meeting to Discuss Gay Marriage
Senior clerics of the Roman Catholic church will be meeting this fall to discuss many hot-button issues that have long placed the church on the opposite side of progressive forces. Gay marriage, contraception, cohabitation before marriage, remarriage, and divorce will all be on the agenda. The meeting, called by Pope Francis, seeks input from Catholics […]
McDonald’s to Drop Gendered Toys
Antonia Ayres-Brown was just 11 when she first became irritated that the toys given to children at McDonald’s were often predetermined by the supposed gender of the child. Typically, this meant blue and rugged for boys and pink and frilly for girls. Here initial complaints went unheeded, so Ayres-Brown spent the next 6 years compiling […]
New HRC Campaign to Target Deep South
This week, the Human Rights Campaign is launching a new initiative to increase its presence in states that have little or no protections for LGBT people, and they are stating in some of the states that have traditionally been the most hostile to LGBT people. The $8.5 million project will focus on establishing a greater […]
Gay-Friendly Newspaper Confiscated at Christian College
Newspapers of all stripes have had their fair share of issues over the last decade, but rarely have they been banned outright. At Cedarville University in Ohio, the Baptist college’s administration has seized the student-run paper for content that they don’t approve of. Specifically, the paper had started to garner a reputation for having a pro-LGBT […]
19 Members of Congress Seek IOC Change
Nineteen members of Congress have asked the International Olympic Committee to amend its charter later this year to bar anti-LGBT discrimination. This comes after the significant outpouring of anger and anti-Olympics sentiment after the 2014 Winter Olympics were hosted in Russia. Russia’s anti-gay propaganda law has been widely criticized, and it led to a flurry […]