Top Stories

/ /

New Study Finds LGBT Vote Was Decisive in Several Close Races in 2014 Election

A new study released today by the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law finds that Virginia Senator Mark Warner and Vermont Governor Peter Chumlin would have both been defeated by their Republican challengers in the 2014 election if LGB people had not voted. “LGB voters are one of the most consistently Democratic voting blocks in the nation,” said Williams Institute Public Opinion Project Director Andrew R. Flores. “When Democrats are elected by close margins, overwhelming support for their candidacies from LGB voters plays a decisive role in explaining their victories as was the case in this midterm election.” Exit […]

/ /

Equality California Launches Campaign to End the FDA’s Discriminatory Blood Donation Ban

Equality California, the largest statewide lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender civil rights organization in California, today launched a mobilization campaign to urge the Department of Health and Human Services and the Food and Drug Administration to end the discriminatory lifetime ban on blood donations from men who have sex with men. EQCA’s campaign called “Every Drop Counts” will mobilize the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community and its allies, including elected officials and community leaders, to advocate for the end of the ban through direct, public advocacy. Established in 1983 during a time of great fear and little knowledge about […]

/ /

Criminalization of LGBT People and Those Living With HIV Threatens Global Progress Against AIDS

,

When Uganda President Yoweri Museveni visited the White House during the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit last month, a high court had just overturned his country’s widely reviled “Anti-Homosexuality Law” which penalized “aggravated homosexuality” with life in prison, and criminalized the provision of services and support to gay people, threatening progress in that country’s long battle against HIV. The elimination of the law, which President Barack Obama had warned Museveni would “complicate” the relationship between their two countries, allowed Museveni to focus on the summit, centered around growth, economic development, and the theme of “investing in the next generation.” In many sub-Saharan […]

/ /

Egypt Arrests Group Of Men For Participation In Same-Sex Wedding

   Egypt has reportedly arrested as many as nine men who were identified as participating in a same-sex wedding. A video of the ceremony was uploaded back in April, but after it went viral recently, police identified nine of the 16 participants, though some reports suggest there were only seven arrests. Though Egyptian law does not explicitly prohibit homosexuality, the men were held in custody under charges of “incitement to debauchery” and “publishing indecent images.” Gay Egyptians have also been previously prosecuted under charges such as “scorning religion” and “sexual practices contrary to Islam.” The prosecution is describing the celebration […]

/ /

Campus Pride releases 2014 Top 50 List of LGBT-friendly Colleges & Universities

Campus Pride announced today the annual Campus Pride 2014 Top 50 LGBT-Friendly Colleges & Universities. The listing highlights the positive efforts to improve safety and academic life for LGBT students as well as the top institutions leading the way. “More than ever colleges today want to be viewed as LGBT-friendly and a welcoming place for all students. LGBT students and their safety impacts the recruitment efforts of the entire campus,” said Windmeyer. “Upper-level administrators are now understanding how LGBT-friendliness is key to future institutional success. This Top 50 list is proof.” This is the first year Campus Pride has released […]

/ /

Arizona State Football Player Chip Sarafin Comes Out As Gay

  Arizona State football player Edward “Chip” Sarafin has publicly come out as gay. The redshirt senior made his announcement in an interview with Compete magazine. The 6’6″, 320-pound backup offensive lineman is believed to be the first active college football player at a Division I program to publicly come out as gay, according to Outsports. Like openly gay NFL rookie Michael Sam, Sarafin came out to his teammates before the public. Sarafin revealed to the magazine that he began telling his teammates that he was gay last spring. Unlike Sam, who came out publicly after finishing his final season […]

/ /

Transgender Woman Says Immigration Detention Officials Told Her To Pretend Her Rape Was Consensual

  Marichuy Leal Gamino is a 23-year-old transgender woman who has spent more than a year living in an immigration detention facility, housed with men. Though she spent most of her life growing up in Arizona, she was born a Mexican citizen, making her an undocumented immigrant. After repeatedly experiencing harassment and threats of abuse, she says she was sexually assaulted last week by her cellmate. When she reported the abuse to the staff of the for-profit facility, they allegedly responded by asking her to sign a statement claiming that she had consented. A number of LGBT and immigrant rights […]

/ /

Wisconsin Supreme Court Upholds Registry For Same-Sex Couples

The Wisconsin Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a 2009 law that establishes a registry for same-sex couples, saying it does not violate an amendment to the state’s constitution banning gay marriage. The registry gives registered same-sex couples the right to hospital visits, family medical leave to care for a stricken partner, health benefits under a partner’s insurance and the right to inherit assets when a partner dies. The court said the ban on same-sex marriage did not include a ban on certain rights for same-sex couples. The gay marriage ban was approved by Wisconsin voters in 2006. Three years later, […]

/ /

Obama Signs Executive Order On LGBT Job Discrimination

President Barack Obama on Monday signed an executive order banning workplace discrimination against millions of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender employees of federal contractors and the federal government. The executive order has two parts: It makes it illegal to fire or harass employees of federal contractors based on their sexual orientation or gender identity, and it explicitly bans discrimination against transgender employees of the federal government. The part targeting federal contractors affects 24,000 companies employing roughly 28 million workers, or about one-fifth of the nation’s workforce. “America’s federal contracts should not subsidize discrimination against the American people,” Obama said during […]

/ /

Oklahoma’s Same-Sex Marriage Ban Overturned

A federal appeals court on Friday ruled Oklahoma must allow gay couples to wed, marking the second time it has found the U.S. Constitution protects same-sex marriage. The decision from a three-judge panel in Denver upholds rulings that struck down Oklahoma’s gay marriage ban. The 2-1 ruling comes after the same panel ruled June 25 that Utah’s ban on same-sex marriage violates the Constitution. It was the first time an appellate court determined last year’s U.S. Supreme Court decision striking down the Defense of Marriage Act means states cannot deny gays the ability to wed. The 10th U.S. Circuit Court […]

«‹ 703 704 705 706›