By the time Sunday, June 11, rolled around in Washington, D.C., the weekend of celebration took a more political turn, as was planned.
“Shame! Shame! Shame!” hundreds of thousands screamed as they walked past the White House. The Human Rights Campaign and the ACLU were heavily present, and the pomp of a parade gave way to the circumstance of a march. That march ended up on the Washington Mall, where speakers screamed down history and screamed up civil rights.
Many LGBT advocates breathed sighs of relief after learning that a long-awaited “religious freedom” executive order issued by President Trump on Thursday did not include specific anti-LGBT provisions that media reports said were included in an earlier draft of the order.
But officials with several national LGBT advocacy organizations expressed concern that the two-page executive order, called “Promoting Free Speech and Religious Liberty,” gives U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions authority to interpret existing federal laws and regulations in a way that could result in discrimination against LGBT people.
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP)- The NCAA has awarded coveted men’s basketball tournament games and other events to North Carolina, effectively ending a boycott that helped force the state to repeal parts of a law that limited protections for LGBTQ people.
The governing body announced decisions Tuesday for events through 2022, two weeks after the NCAA said it had “reluctantly” agreed to consider North Carolina again for hosting duties. It had stripped North Carolina of seven championship events for the past sports season, including opening-weekend men’s basketball tournament games, and said it could relocate more events if there wasn’t a change in the “bathroom bill.”
With the NCAA’s threat looming of no championship games for the state for years to come, North Carolina lawmakers came to an agreement Wednesday night with Gov. Roy Cooper on a deal to undo anti-LGBT House Bill 2 — and LGBT rights supporters are outraged over a proposal they say doubles-down on discrimination.
In exchange for repeal HB2, Republican leaders of the legislature and the governor agreed during a behind-the-doors meeting to a different measure that still precludes efforts to prohibit discrimination against LGBT people.
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP)- An Arkansas lawmaker wants to expand the state’s indecent exposure law in a move that opponents say could criminalize transgender people’s use of bathrooms.
Republican Rep. Bob Ballinger’s proposal would make it a crime for people to knowingly expose their sex organs to someone of the opposite sex in a public place under circumstances likely to cause alarm. Ballinger said the measure was needed to protect children in situations such as when a father takes his daughter into the men’s restroom. The bill would make it a crime for the men to deliberately expose themselves to the child.
CORAL GABLES, Fla. (AP)- The American Civil Liberties Union staged a nationwide training event Saturday to make sure people are aware of their rights as protesters and urge organized, public resistance by those opposed to policies of President Donald Trump.
Organizers said the event at a sports arena on the University of Miami campus was live-streamed to locations in all 50 states. ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero said 200,000 people had signed up to attend one of an estimated 2,000 local events.
The ACLU and the cast of “Transparent” have partnered together for a PSA in support of Gavin Grimm and for the inclusion of transgender rights in Title IX, which prohibits sex discrimination.
Although Grimm’s lawsuit against Gloucester High School’s school board over their refusal to allow him to use the boys’ restroom was sent back to the federal appeals court, the ACLU is encouraging people to continue to support transgender individuals.
ORLANDO – Local leaders are rallying behind transgender youth in Central Florida in response to the Trump administration’s recent attacks on transgender rights. There’s already been an onslaught of Trump executive orders seeking to limit the rights of immigrants, Muslims, women, the poor and now transgender and gender nonconforming youth.
President Trump’s Feb. 22 executive order, rolling back Obama-era protections, leaves trans students across the country at the mercy of local school board politics yet again.The anti-LGBTQ policy has also effectively stalled the Gavin Grimm vs. Gloucester County School Board lawsuit – a highly-anticipated, transgender rights case that until recently was headed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Above: Lourdes Ashley Hunter (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)
Longtime transgender activist Lourdes Ashley Hunter on Wednesday sued four D.C. police officers and the D.C. government in federal court on grounds that the officers improperly arrested her at her apartment in Northwest Washington last November without a warrant on a charge of misdemeanor simple assault.
In a lawsuit filed on her behalf by the ACLU of the National Capital Area, Hunter charges that the officers’ actions violated her rights under the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and amounted to a false arrest under the laws of the District of Columbia.
Oral arguments in Gavin Grimm’s case before the Supreme Court are more than one month away, but his lawyers shot their initial salvo Thursday making the case he should be allowed to use the restroom in his school consistent with his gender identity.
In its opening brief before the court, the American Civil Liberties Union makes seven key arguments for why Gloucester County Schools in Virginia should be required to allow Gavin to use the boys’ room. The argument are based on Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, which bars schools from discriminating against students on the basis of sex.
After more than three years of litigation on behalf of students represented by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), administrators at Carver Middle School in Lake County have approved the application of a gay-straight alliance (GSA) student group at the school.
This will allow the club to meet on campus and be recognized by the school.
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. (AP) – Google has created a crisis fund that could raise up to $4 million for four immigrant rights organizations.
Google has confirmed a USA Today report that it is funding an initial $2 million for the fund that can be matched with up to $2 million in donations from employees. The money will go toward the American Civil Liberties Union, the Immigrant Legal Resource Center, the International Rescue Committee and the U.N. Refugee Agency.
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