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LGBT Americans Don’t Identify with Faith Groups, but Most still Believe in God

A new analysis has found that three-quarters of lesbian, gay and bisexual Americans believe in God, but many don’t identify as part of an organised religion. The finding comes from a Pew Research Center analysis of data from the 2014 Religious Landscape Study. According to the survey data, 77 percent of lesbian, gay and bisexual adults in America say that they believe in God, compared to 89 percent to straight adults. But despite three-quarters of gay adults believing in God, only 59 percent of LGB respondents identify as a Christian or another non-Christian faith, compared to 78 percent for heterosexuals. Although lesbian, gay […]

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Texas Sues San Antonio Over Airport Chick-Fil-A Ban

The Statesman reports: Escalating the fight over Chick-fil-A’s religious rights, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued San Antonio on Monday as part of his investigation into the city’s decision to reject the chicken chain as an airport vendor. The lawsuit, filed in state district court in Travis County, seeks a court order requiring San Antonio to turn over emails and other internal communications in which council members and city employees discussed the Chick-fil-A contract with each other and outsiders. On Monday, Paxton repeated allegations that San Antonio politicians had engaged in religious discrimination, adding that Chick-fil-A’s leaders are “well-known for their […]

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Trump Administration Restricts HIV Testing and Research with New Policy

On Wednesday (5 June), the Trump Administration implemented a new policy ending research done by government scientists using fetal tissue. This severely limits research done on HIV. According to the Washington Post, the Administration also canceled a university’s multi-million dollar laboratory contract. The university used fetal tissue in testing new HIV treatments. ‘Promoting the dignity of human life from conception to natural death is one of the very top priorities of President Trump’s administration,’ the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said in a statement. The tissue used in such research comes from elective abortions. Many scientists and researchers say there are no other alternative approaches […]

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Democrats Are Hoping to Ban the Gay and Trans Panic Defense – Again

Two Democrats, Sen. Edward Markey (D-MA) and Rep. Joe Kennedy III (D-MA)introduced the Gay and Trans Panic Defense Prohibition Act of 2019 on Wednesday (5 June). This is the politician’s second attempt at banning the use of gay and transgender panic defenses in the court system. They introduced the same bill last year, but it never received a vote in the Senate or House. Consequently, it never had a chance to become law. Markey and Kennedy are trying again with the same bill to amend title 18 of the United States Code. In a tweet, Markey wrote: ‘So-called “gay and trans panic” defenses can excuse […]

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New York City Council Speaker Corey Johnson Calls On NYPD To Apologize For 1969 Raid On Stonewall Inn

New York City’s WINS radio reports: It’s been fifty years since police officers raided the Stonewall Inn — the legendary Christopher Street gay bar — and Corey Johnson thinks it’s about time that the NYPD apologize to the LGBTQ community for the raid, which gave birth to the modern-day LGBTQ rights movement. “The NYPD in the past has apologized for other incidents that have occurred, so I think the NYPD apologizing on this would be a very, very good thing, and it’s something they should do,” Johnson, who is openly gay, told 1010 WINS. “I would love for it happen this […]

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YouTube Says Anti-gay Slur ‘Does Not Violate’ Harassment Rules

YouTube have insisted that a right-wing influencer who targeted a journalist for years with homophobia did not violate the website’s hate speech policies. Carlos Maza, a videographer for US news site Vox, publicly complained about the persistent abuse from a right-wing YouTuber, Steven Crowder. The Twitter thread went viral, prompting the Google-owned platform to review Maza’s claims. However, the company concluded that Crowder’s comments did not violate guidelines. What happened? In a winding Twitter thread posted last week (31 May), Maza sketched out a situation that has spanned years involving homophobic and racist epithets thrown in videos. This included when the host attacked […]

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‘We Are Concerned’: Dallas Police Chief Says of Second Transgender Woman’s Death in a Month

The body of a black transgender woman pulled from White Rock Lake in northeast Dallas on Saturday evening “showed obvious signs of homicidal violence,” the Dallas police chief said. The victim, identified as Chynal Lindsey, 26, is the second black transgender woman to be found dead in Dallas in less than a month. “We are concerned,” Dallas Police Chief U. Reneé Hall told reporters at a news conference Monday. “We are actively and aggressively investigating this case and we have reached out to our federal partners to assist us in these efforts.” Police released photos of Lindsey, who was also known […]

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Philippines President: I Was Gay But I Cured Myself

Newsweek reports: Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has claimed he was once gay but “cured” himself of homosexuality in controversial remarks made during a trip to Japan. According to Rappler, a Filipino news publication, Duterte mocked his political opponent Senator Antonio Trillanes IV by saying his movements show he is homosexual. Duterte also reportedly “confessed” that he was gay before he met his ex-wife Elizabeth Zimmerman. “Good thing Trillanes and I are similar. But I cured myself,” Duterte said during a speech on Thursday, Rappler reported. “When I began a relationship with Zimmerman, I said, this is it. I became a man […]

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Caster Semenya Can Temporarily Compete without Medication

Caster Semenya will be allowed to run in races of all distances without taking testosterone-reducing medication until at least June 25, a Swiss court has ruled. Semenya, 28, is appealing an International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) decision that required her to take medication to suppress her hormone levels for races between 400m and a mile, according to her lawyer. As part of her appeal, her legal team asked for a suspension of the IAAF ruling while they appeal it. The Swiss Federal Supreme Court granted this request and has temporarily suspended the IAFF regulation made on 1 May 2019 that limited the testosterone […]

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Colorado Governor Signs Gay Conversion Therapy Ban

Therapy that seeks to change minors’ sexual orientation or gender identity is now illegal in Colorado. Gov. Jared Polis, the first openly gay man ever elected governor in the U.S., signed the ban into law on Friday. “Colorado has joined a growing list of states that have banned so-called conversion therapy. It’s a horrific practice that has long been widely-discredited by medical and mental health professionals and has scarred many survivors for life,” Polis said in a statement emailed to NBC News. “Today Colorado took an important step forward in recognizing our diversity as a strength. These bills truly underscore […]

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