Brooke Sopelsa

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North Carolina Catholic school didn’t violate the law by firing gay teacher, appeals court rules

A Roman Catholic high school in Charlotte, North Carolina, did not violate federal civil rights law by firing a gay teacher after he announced that he would marry his same-sex partner, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday, overturning a lower court ruling.  Lonnie Billard, a longtime teacher at Charlotte Catholic High School, shared a post on Facebook in 2014, shortly after the state legalized same-sex marriage, saying that he and his partner were engaged. He was fired several weeks later. Billard then sued the school for sex discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, and a district court judge ruled in […]

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Best Buy offers to screen LGBTQ nonprofit donations after conservative pressure, filing shows

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Best Buy offered to screen donations from its employee resource groups going to LGBTQ causes following pressure from a conservative think tank that holds shares in the company, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing made public this week. The SEC filing contains a monthslong email exchange between the National Center for Public Policy Research, which describes itself as a “nonpartisan, free-market conservative think tank,” and Best Buy. The dialogue, which hasn’t been previously reported, shows how the center said it would make “a splash” unless the consumer electronics giant moved in favor of its demands.  In some of the last correspondence […]

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Texas lesbian bar denied insurance for hosting drag shows, owner says

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The owner of Houston’s only lesbian bar says her business is in jeopardy after it was denied insurance coverage, and she’s putting the blame, in part, on an anti-drag bill moving through the Texas Legislature. “They outright denied us, the underwriters, because we host drag shows,” Julie Mabry, the owner of Pearl Bar, said in an interview with NBC affiliate KPRC of Houston.  Mabry has insurance through December, but she decided to switch agents a few months ago and shop around for a new policy, she told KPRC. It was during that process that her agent received the denial email, which […]

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Idaho governor signs bill banning transition care for minors

Idaho has joined a dozen states across the country in banning or restricting transition-related care for minors. The state’s governor, Brad Little, a Republican, signed the “Vulnerable Child Protective Act” into law Tuesday evening. The measure prohibits transgender people under 18 from accessing puberty blockers and hormones. It also prevents them from undergoing transition-related surgery, though there is no evidence to suggest minors are getting this type of surgery in Idaho, according to KTVB-TV, an NBC affiliate in Boise.  “In signing this bill, I recognize our society plays a role in protecting minors from surgeries or treatments that can irreversibly damage their healthy […]

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21 most popular LGBTQ news stories of 2021

From an-depth look at transgender men’s experiences in prison to Olympic diver Tom Daley’s viral knitting, here are 21 of our most clicked on LGBTQ news stories of the year. Meet the queer teacher behind Bernie Sanders’ viral mittens Vermont educator Jen Ellis uses her mittens to raise money for LGBTQ youth and show people the power of generosity. (Jan. 30) Click for full story Former WWE star Gabbi Tuft comes out as transgender  Tuft said she wants to “create empathy” by talking openly about her transition on social media and in a new podcast. (Feb. 5) Click for full […]

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FDA approves first injectable HIV prevention drug

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The Food and Drug Administration has approved the first long-acting injectable medication for use as pre-exposure prevention, or PrEP, against HIV, the agency announced Monday.  Apretude, the new drug, is an injectable given every two months as an alternative to HIV prevention pills, like Truvada and Descovy, which have been shown to reduce the risk of HIV by 99 percent when taken daily.  Two FDA trials analyzing the safety and efficacy of the novel drug found that Apretude was more likely to reduce HIV than the daily oral medications — by 69 percent for cisgender men and transgender women who have […]

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Ohio to allow transgender people to change birth certificate gender

Ohio will soon join nearly every other state in the country in allowing transgender people born in the state to change the gender markers on their birth certificates. Tennessee will soon be the lone holdout. The Ohio Department of Health will not appeal a federal court rulingissued in December that found the state’s ban on birth certificate gender changes is unconstitutional. The department is instead working on a process for people to request the change and expects to have it in place by June 1, The Cincinnati Enquirer reported Monday, citing a court filing made Thursday. The December ruling by the U.S. District Court for the […]

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Anti-gay Nonprofits, Businesses Received Millions in Covid-19 Aid

A number of organizations, schools and businesses with either a history of anti-LGBTQ advocacy or policies that explicitly discriminate against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer individuals have received millions in pandemic relief funding, according to an NBC News analysis of data released last week by the Small Business Administration. The Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) — which was intended to help small businesses amid the Covid-19 crisis — gave nearly $5.3 billion in the potentially forgivable loans to 5,160,000 recipients, with the average loan being $101,409. Seven of the organizations that received funding — the American College of Pediatricians, American Family Association, Center […]

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Victory for Trans Advocates as Supreme Court Rejects Bathroom Policy Appeal

The Supreme Court declined Monday to take up an appeal from Oregon parents who want transgender students in their school district to use locker rooms and bathrooms based on their sex assigned at birth. The decision lets stand a federal appeals court ruling that upheld the district’s policy of permitting trans students to use facilities that align with their gender identity. “A policy that allows transgender students to use school bathroom and locker facilities that match their self-identified gender in the same manner that cisgender students utilize those facilities does not infringe Fourteenth Amendment privacy or parental rights or First […]

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Conservative Group Releases Anti-transgender Political Ads in Michigan

“All female athletes want is a fair shot at competition,” a young woman can be heard saying over a video of several athletes preparing to run a race. “But what if that shot was taken away by a competitor who claims to be a girl but was born a boy?” That controversial digital ad — which then shows a teen boy outrunning his female competitors and shrugging at them with indifference afterwards — is one of three released this week by the American Principles Project, a Virginia-based conservative think tank, and its PAC. The group issued a statement Thursday saying the political ads are […]

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