National

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Gay Spouses Entitled to Social Security Survivors Benefits, Court Rules

Michael Ely met his husband, James Taylor, at a Sunset Beach bar in 1971. Taylor, known as “Spider” to his friends, played guitar in a band, and Ely got involved as a singer. The couple lived in California until the emotional toll of the AIDS epidemic became too great. In the early ‘90s, they relocated to Tucson, Arizona, where Taylor worked as a jet mechanic for Bombardier and Ely took care of their home. In 2007, Ely and Taylor had a commitment ceremony but could not be legally married in Arizona. Then in November of 2014, shortly after the state […]

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Campuses Shutter for Coronavirus, Leaving Some LGBTQ Students with Nowhere to go

When she heard that her university campus would be shutting down after spring break due to the coronavirus pandemic, Alexis feared her life could fall apart. She wasn’t able to afford campus housing this semester and is living instead in a nearby homeless shelter. But she depended on her school’s health and fitness center for daily showers and her school’s library for quiet study time. “My whole life revolves around the university, and the university is closed,” said Alexis, a 34-year-old trans woman and student at the University of Eastern Michigan. (A university spokesperson told Vox that campus dining halls are still […]

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How COVID-19 Impacts Black LGBTQ+ People

The National Black Justice Coalition and Black Policy Lab, a project of Pink Cornrows, has announced a new initiative to gather data on one of the most vulnerable populations in the COVID-19 pandemic, Black LGBTQ+ and same gender loving (SGL) people. COVID while Black and Queer will find crucial data on how Black LGBTQ/SGL people are weathering the pandemic at a time when data shows that Black communities make up 60% of the COVID-19 deaths in the United States. “Existing data from this crisis has already proven what many of us have already known: Black communities continue to be the […]

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LGBTQ People Locked Out of the Spaces They Need

Emma thought that going off to Carleton College would be the beginning of a new life. The 18-year-old trans girl had struggled to come out in high school after repeated outings to her strict Italian Catholic parents in New Jersey. “Those were difficult,” she told Vox. “I like to say that I negotiated my way back into the closet” to finish high school. She thought college would become her salvation and chose the liberal arts school of about 2,000 students in Northfield, Minnesota, because of a visit, during one of her tours, to the on-campus LGBTQ center. While Emma’s dad […]

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Religious Exemptions are Gutting Civil Rights Protections, Advocacy Groups Warn

The Trump administration’s expansion of religious exemptions is undermining civil rights protections and codifying discrimination against marginalized groups — particularly LGBTQ people — according to a report released Monday by three research and advocacy groups. Using a combination of new rules, legal interventions and newly created divisions, the departments of Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, Justice, Labor and State have all taken steps to advance “religious liberty,” often at the expense of LGBTQ rights, the American Civil Liberties Union, the Center for American Progress and the Movement Advancement Project argue in their report. “When you connect the dots, you […]

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Joe Biden Slams Trump for Giving ‘Safe Harbor to Hate’ Against LGBT+ People

Presumptive Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden has accused Donald Trump of giving “safe harbour” to anti-LGBT+ hate. In a message marking the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia, Biden called out the Trump administration’s “odious” agenda on LGBT+ issues. He wrote: “The Trump-Pence administration has done everything it can to undermine LGBT+ rights: giving safe harbour to hate and rolling back protections for LGBT+ persons, blocking the ability of transgender individuals to openly serve their country, denying LGBT+ people access to critical health care, and failing to address the epidemic of violence against transgender people, among other odious policies. “Today, many […]

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Supreme Court Leans Toward new Religious Carve-outs in LGBTQ-related Case

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The U.S. Supreme Court seems poised to grant religious schools an expanded ministerial exemption in employment decisions based on oral arguments Monday in litigation that could have significant bearing on LGBTQ teachers at these institutions. The cases, Our Lady of Guadalupe School v. Morrissey-Berru, Agnes and St. James School v. Darryl Biel, were brought by Catholic schools seeking immunity under the law to conduct employment practices for non-ministerial jobs — such as the hiring and firing of teachers — consistent with their religious beliefs under the exemption granted by the First Amendment. The schools raised the claims in response to […]

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Anti-LGBT+ Group Tries to Remove Judge who Wouldn’t Let Them Misgender Trans Kids in Court

An anti-LGBT+ hate group is attempting to get a judge disqualified from hearing their case because he has refused to permit them to misgender trans people in the courtroom. Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), a hardline evangelical group which has filed countless lawsuits seeking to undermine and roll back LGBT+ rights, had launched action against the state of Connecticut in February over trans-inclusive rules for high school sports. However, the case being heard before US district judge Robert N Chatigny has turned extremely ugly – after ADF’s lawyers insisted on repeatedly misgendering transgender children. The judge had requested that the lawyers use correct […]

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After Coronavirus Forced Gay Bar to Close it is Stepping up to Feed Frontline Workers

Amazon is paying a gay bar $200,000 to make and deliver meals to first responders in Virginia during the coronavirus crisis. The online retail giant recently moved its headquarters to Arlington in Virginia. In a bid to support the state through the pandemic, it has enlisted a local queer eatery, Freddie’s Beach Bar and Restaurant, to provide 10,000 free meals for police, firefighters and frontline healthcare workers. “During this unprecedented time, Amazon is working to not only support our frontline workers and first responders across the Arlington area, but also our most vulnerable neighbours in immediate need,” a spokesperson for Amazon in a […]

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Joe Biden Pledges to Make Sure PrEP; Gender Affirming Surgeries are Covered by Insurance

Joe Biden has reaffirmed his commitment to LGBT+ healthcare, vowing to make PrEP and gender affirming surgeries covered by insurance plans. The presumptive Democratic nominee described gender affirming surgeries as “medically necessary” as he vowed to reverse Donald Trump’s attacks on trans and non-binary people during a virtual town hall event with the Human Rights Campaign on Wednesday (May 6). He also pledged to remove the price barrier which prevents many people from accessing PrEP. “As president, I’m going to protect and build on Obamacare with a public option,” Biden said. “That’s the fastest way to get to universal coverage. Reverse Trump’s […]

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