Associated Press

Anti-Black, gay, Asian bias fuel California hate crime surge

Hate crimes driven by homophobia and racism resulted in a 33% surge in reported incidents in California last year, following a similar spike in hate-driven attacks the year prior and confirming what officials have been hearing anecdotally since the pandemic began, the state’s attorney general said Tuesday. Attorney General Rob Bonta said that crimes against Black people were again the most prevalent in 2021, climbing 13% from 2020 to 513 reported incidents. Hate crimes motivated by sexual orientation bias increased nearly 50% to 303 incidents while crimes against Asian Americans were up 178% to 247 incidents. “One hard truth in […]

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Judge blocks Texas from investigating families of transgender youth

A Texas judge on Friday temporarily blocked the state from investigating families of transgender children who have received gender-confirming medical care, a new obstacle to the state labeling such treatments as child abuse. The temporary restraining order issued by Judge Jan Soifer halts investigations against three families who sued, and prevents any similar investigations against members of the LGBTQ advocacy group PFLAG Inc. The group has more than 600 members in Texas. “I do find that there is sufficient reason to believe that the plaintiffs will suffer immediate and irreparable injury if the commissioner and the (Department of Family and […]

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LGBTQ dating ban at BYU probed in federal investigation

The U.S. Department of Education has opened a civil-rights investigation into how LGBTQ students are disciplined at Brigham Young University, a private religious school. The complaint under investigation came after the school said it would still enforce a ban on same-sex dating even after that section was removed from the written version of the school’s honor code, the Salt Lake Tribune reported. Students can be punished for holding hands or kissing someone of the same sex, harsher discipline than that faced by heterosexual couples at the school operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. BYU removed its written […]

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Jury awards $4 million to Missouri transgender student

A Kansas City-area school district must pay a transgender student $4 million after it refused to let him use the boys’ restrooms or locker rooms, a Jackson County jury decided. The jury on Monday found the Blue Springs school district had discriminated against the student, NBC affiliate KSHB-TV reported. The school district said in a statement that it disagreed with the verdict and would be “seeking appropriate relief from the trial court and court of appeals if necessary.” The student had legally changed his name in 2010 and amended his birth certificate to reflect his new name and gender in 2014, […]

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Kansas City suburb bans LGBTQ conversion therapy

A Kansas City suburb has agreed to ban controversial conversion therapy for LGBTQ youth. The Kansas City Star reports that licensed medical or mental health professionals face a $1,000 fine for trying to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity under the ban that the the Prairie Village, Kansas, City Council approved 11-1 on Monday.  The ban does not prohibit churches or religious leaders from speaking with youth about their sexuality or gender identity. Councilwoman Inga Selders thanked the LGBTQ advocacy group Equality Kansas, which has pushed for an end to the practice, emphasizing the harm conversion therapy does to minors. […]

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Boy Scouts of America reaches pivotal agreement with victims

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The Boys Scouts of America have reached an agreement with attorneys representing some 60,000 victims of child sex abuse in what could prove to be a pivotal moment in the organization’s bankruptcy case. Attorneys for the BSA filed court papers late Thursday outlining a restructuring support agreement, or RSA, with attorneys representing abuse victims. The agreement includes both the official tort claimants committee, which is charged with acting as a fiduciary in the bankruptcy case for all abuse victims, as well as a separate plaintiffs group called the Coalition of Abused Scouts for Justice. It also includes attorneys representing local […]

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Los Angeles, San Francisco Counties Break COVID-19 Records

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The first shipment of COVID-19 vaccine has arrived in Los Angeles County, which again broke a record for coronavirus hospitalizations this weekend as San Francisco County reported its highest number of COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began. Statewide, more than 30,000 confirmed coronavirus cases were reported Sunday, making California’s total at 1,551,766. Millions of Californians in the majority of the state are under stay-at-home orders. In Los Angeles County, the nation’s most populous, more than 4,000 people were hospitalized for COVID-19, according to figures released Sunday afternoon. More than one-fifth of hospitalized patients are in intensive care units. The county’s new figures break the […]

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Haitian Center a Refuge for Transgender People

Prejudice and discrimination against transgender people is common in Haiti, but at least one organization is providing a haven where they can feel welcome. The Kay Trans Haiti center in the capital, Port-au-Prince, provides lodging and care for up to 10 transgender people. Funded by a Spanish health care company and the United Nations Development Program, Kay Trans Haiti is open to transgender people who have been victims of verbal or physical abuse. It provides services including a psychologist free of charge, and allows residents to stay for up to a year. Once people graduate from the center, the program […]

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LGBTQ Rabbi who Confronted AIDS Crisis now Faces Coronavirus

Sharon Kleinbaum was installed in 1992 as rabbi of Congregation Beit Simchat Torah in Manhattan, considered the largest LGBTQ synagogue in the nation. At the time, AIDS was killing thousands of gay New Yorkers each year. “The CBST community knows what it takes to live through a plague,” Kleinbaum says in a message posted on the synagogue’s website after New York became an epicenter of COVID-19. Yet the pandemic poses challenges that weren’t present during the AIDS crisis — notably that she’s fulfilling virtually all her duties without face-to-face contact. She mostly works from her apartment in far-northern Manhattan, where […]

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Attack on Gay Man enough for Asylum Claim, U.S. Appeals Court Rules

An asylum seeker from Ghana who said he was attacked by a mob led by his father because of his sexuality has shown a valid fear of persecution, a U.S. appeals case said in a case argued by two law students. The petitioner, a gay man in his late 20s from Accra, said he had a secret relationship with a friend from his Muslim school days when his father found out in 2016 and flew into a rage. He said he was beaten, doused with kerosene and threatened with being beheaded before escaping, naked and bleeding. Related NBC OUT Group […]

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