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Transgender Woman in Supreme Court Case is ‘Happy Being Me’

Aimee Stephens lost her job at a suburban Detroit funeral home and she could lose her Supreme Court case over discrimination against transgender people. Amid her legal fight, her health is failing. But seven years after Stephens thought seriously of suicide and six years after she announced that she would henceforth be known as Aimee instead of her given name, she has something no one can take away. “I’m happy being me,” she said in an interview with The Associated Press. “It’s taken a long time.” The Supreme Court will hear Stephens’ case Oct. 8 over whether federal civil rights […]

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Facebook has Earned $500,000 Promoting Anti-LGBT Hate Groups since 2018

Facebook has made more than half a million dollars in advertising revenue from listed anti-LGBT+ hate groups in just over a year, according to reports. Analysis of Facebook’s advert transparency data by Sludge revealed that the social media giant took a total of $1.6 million from groups defined by the Southern Poverty Law Center extremism watchdog as hate groups. A total of $541,977, just under a third of the total hate group ad spend, came from organisations designated as anti-LGBT+ hate groups. The spending only covers the period from May 2018 when the company began to publish some data on ad spending, meaning […]

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Beirut Pride Concert Cancelled after Religious Protests against ‘Debauched and Immoral’ Festival

Beirut Pride organisers say they have been forced to cancel their opening concert after religious authorities raised objection to the “debauched and immoral” event. It is technically legal to be gay in Lebanon, but the annual Pride festival in the country’s capital has faced repeated crackdowns, with its lead organiser arrested in 2018. The 2019 event now also appears to be under threat, with organisers announcing the cancellation of a planned opening concert. A statement said: “Upon the announcement of the Opening Night of Beirut Pride 2019 at [arts venue] The Palace, religious institutions called for the cancellation of the concert, linking it to […]

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LGBTQ and Black Passengers Face more Rideshare Cancellations, Study Finds

Though rideshare apps were intended to be a more egalitarian transportation option than traditional cab services, they have a demonstrated history of bias against minority passengers before pickup. Numerous studies have established that black passengers, for instance, faced longer wait times and were subject to more frequent cancellations than white riders. In recent years, platforms responded to reports of the bias by removing information about riders’ gender and race from the ride requests presented to drivers. Yet, a recent study shows that these adjustments have not diminished bias across the board and that black riders, riders perceived to be lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer, and […]

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Justice Department Backs Catholic Church in Firing Openly Gay Teacher

The U.S. Justice Department is supporting Catholic Church leaders in Indianapolis who are being sued over the firing of a teacher in a same-sex marriage. Recommended NOWFelicity Huffman says she just wanted to give her daughter ‘a fair shot’ U.S. NEWSPresident Donald Trump is an ‘idiot’ — says Florida middle school teacher Assistant Attorney General Eric Dreiband says the First Amendment protects the free exercise of religion and gives faith-based schools the right to associate with some people and not others. The government filed a statement Friday in Marion County court. Joshua Payne-Elliott says the Archdiocese of Indianapolis illegally interfered […]

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Michigan Adoption Agencies Can Turn away LGBTQ Couples, Judge Rules

Religious-based adoption agencies that contract with the state of Michigan will be allowed to refuse to place children in LGBTQ homes under a preliminary injunction issued by a federal judge Thursday. District Judge Robert Jonker in Grand Rapids blocked Democratic state Attorney General Dana Nessel, Michigan’s first openly gay statewide officeholder, from barring the faith-based agencies from excluding LGBTQ couples from services. He said her action conflicted with state law, existing contracts and established practice. Nessel had, through a legal settlement between same-sex couples and the state Department of Health and Human Services, reversed the state’s stance earlier this year. […]

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Activists Call for ICE to Release all LGBT Asylum Seekers because They Can’t Provide Proper Healthcare

Human rights activists have filed a complaint calling for US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to release all LGBT+ migrants from custody because they say it cannot provide adequate healthcare. 14 groups demanded the release on Wednesday, September 25, which as well as LGBT+ detainees included any migrants living with HIV, because of poor medical and mental health care. According to the Boston Globe, the director of legal services at the Los Angeles LGBT Center, Roger Coggan, told reporters on Wednesday afternoon: “We know that lack of medical and mental health care, including lack of HIV care, is the norm. “By the […]

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Unequal HIV Prevention Pill Use Puts Minority Men at Higher Risk

Fewer minority men who are at risk for HIV take a prevention pill or discuss it with their doctors, U.S. researchers say. Awareness of a pill for “preexposure prophylaxis,” or PrEP, is high for all groups of men who have sex with men. But lower proportions of black and Hispanic men, compared with white men, have actually gotten prescriptions for the drug, which is 99 percent effective at preventing HIV transmission, the study team found. Based on interviews, researchers found the disparities emerge at the point of having a discussion about PrEP with a healthcare provider. This suggests doctors can […]

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Study Dispels Stereotypes of Rural LGBTQ People of Color

Despite stereotypes about rural residents as exclusively white and straight, rural America is home to millions of LGBTQ people of color, and a new report from the Movement Advancement Project, an LGBTQ think tank, shines a spotlight on their lives, their experiences and the unique issues they face. “Rural communities have always been home to people of color and LGBT people of color, but their lives and needs are often unexamined or overlooked,” Ineke Mushovic, the organization’s executive director, said in a statement. “LGBT people of color are more likely to live in poverty, more vulnerable to discrimination and less able to […]

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International Olympic Committee Scientists Fail to Agree on Trans Athlete Guidelines

Plans by the International Olympic Committee to tighten guidelines for trans athletes ahead of the Tokyo 2020 Games have stymied because scientists are struggling to agree over the “tricky political and emotive issue”. Scientists involved in the decision were expected to recommend halving the permitted testosterone levels for trans women competing in elite sport, opening up the field to more trans-inclusive races. But sources confirmed to The Guardian that the IOC have pinned discussions because the subject is so divisive, and consensus is not likely before the games begin next year. Trans advocates have long argued that current regulations  –established in 2015 – have […]

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