The D.C.-based National LGBTQ Task Force was part of a coalition of more than 15 national civil rights and progressive advocacy groups that launched a campaign last week to encourage members of marginalized communities to make sure they are counted in the 2020 U.S. Census. In a development that LGBT activists view as a positive(…)
The number of anti-LGBT hate crimes reported in D.C. in 2018 nearly doubled from the number of reported cases in 2016, according to recently released data by D.C. police. The data show there were a total of 97 reported hate crimes in the nation’s capital in 2018 based on the victims’ sexual orientation or gender(…)
‘No one wins when we don’t dig in, grow, and demonstrate a desire to honor everyone’s humanity,’ said NBJC Executive Director David Johns. (Photo courtesy NBJC) The National Black Justice Coalition, a D.C.-based civil rights organization that advocates for black LGBT people, issued a statement last week calling for “courageous and life-saving conversations during the(…)
A West Virginia judge who twice won election to the bench in a section of the state near the Maryland border has discontinued performing all marriages rather than face possible disciplinary action for refusing to perform same-sex marriages. Fairness West Virginia, a statewide LGBT rights group, said it filed a complaint against Judge Lynn A.(…)
‘Gun violence is a major public concern, and violence against LGBT people is all too common,’ said Adam Romeroof the Williams Institute. An estimated 18.8 percent of lesbian, gay, and bisexual adults in the United States say they have guns in their home compared to 35.1 percent of heterosexuals, according to a recently released study(…)
A professor at the University of Kentucky’s College of Public Health who is credited with bringing millions of dollars in federal research funds to the university for projects he initiated has accused university officials of removing him as a department chair because of his status as a non-binary male who identifies as transgender. In a(…)
The ashes of gay University of Wyoming student Matthew Shepard, who was murdered in one of the nation’s most infamous anti-gay hate crimes in 1998, will be interred at the Washington National Cathedral on Oct. 26, according to an announcement on Thursday by his parents. The announcement came one day before the 20th anniversary of Shepard’s(…)
Longtime LGBT rights advocate Nancy Russell, a retired U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel, was hopeful that the three 11-foot-tall black granite panels designated as the centerpiece of a National LGBT Veterans Memorial would be installed in D.C.’s Congressional Cemetery in time for a Memorial Day dedication in 2015 or 2016. Russell, who’s 80 years old and(…)
Activist David Hogg is among those participating in the U.S. Conference on AIDS. (Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key) The annual 2018 United States Conference on AIDS, one of the nation’s largest gatherings of experts involved in HIV prevention and treatment efforts, is expected to draw more than 3,000 participants on Sept. 6-9 to(…)
Two national litigation groups that specialize in lawsuits seeking to overturn LGBT rights laws issued a joint statement last week denouncing the National LGBT Bar Association for calling on the nation’s lawyers and law firms to refuse to provide free legal services for the two groups. The Alliance Defending Freedom, which represented the Colorado baker(…)