Official News Outlet for the Rainbow Round Table of the American Library Association
By John Mack Freeman The Oakland Athletic’s have planned their first LGBT Pride Night on June 17. This led to a small firestorm among some season ticket holders who threatened to sell their tickets for that night’s game. Eireann Dolan (girlfriend of A’s pitcher Sean Doolittle) has called their bluff. In an open letter on […]
By John Mack Freeman Probably the biggest legislative news in GLBT issues this week has been the firestorm surrounding RFRAs (or state Religious Freedom Restoration Acts). These bills would ostensibly allow workers to deny service to others based on the worker’s religious beliefs. There are numerous problems with these laws: what constitutes a burden or […]
By Ashley R. Lierman According to a recent press release, Roland Emmerich’s documentary on the Stonewall riots will be released this fall by Roadside Attractions, according to the Advocate: “I was always interested and passionate about telling this important story, but I feel it has never been more timely than right now,” Emmerich said in […]
By John Mack Freeman This week, California Attorney General Kamala Harris stated that she would ask the California Supreme Court to relieve her of the duty of having to write a summary and title for a citizen-proposed initiative that would call for vigilante executions of homosexuals. Harris is in the process of beginning her campaign […]
By John Mack Freeman Russia’s bid to block same sex benefits at the United Nations failed this week. Secretary General Ban had previously extended benefits to all same sex partners that worked for the United Nations. Previously, the benefits had been at the discretion of the employing country. When Russia called for a vote of […]
By John Mack Freeman The official dictionary of Sweden has been updated to include a gender-neutral pronoun for the first time. Though the pronoun “hen” has been in use for decades, this is the first time it has been included in the language’s official dictionary. Via Pink News: The Swedish trans community began using it, […]
By John Mack Freeman Although all sorts of anti-GLBT legislation comes up every year, 2015’s special flavor so far has been the so-called “religious freedom” bills. These bills seek to give business owners and government employees the right to refuse services to GLBT people based on the service providers religious beliefs. Numerous states are pursuing […]
By John Mack Freeman This week, Governor Mike Pence (R) of Indiana signed into law a religious freedom bill. Opponents of the law claim that it will allow businesses throughout the state the ability to refuse service to GLBT people based on religious grounds. The backlash against the law has been swift and vocal. Cloud […]
As many of you know, GLBTRT has many liaisons to other parts of ALA and other organizations. In an effort to help share their knowledge of what is going on in these other organizations, the News is now offering a space for these reports, tentatively planned for every 2-3 months. We would like to extend […]
By Tess Goldwasser What is your role in the GLBTRT? I am currently the Chair of the Membership Committee. What does the GLBTRT mean to you? GLBTRT has given me the opportunity to meet some great people who are truly passionate about the library profession and providing outstanding library service to all people. It has […]