BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) | After 19-year-old Emily Scheck’s mother discovered she was a lesbian, the college student said, she lost the support of her parents, financial and otherwise; gained the support of thousands of others; and nearly had to choose between the generosity of strangers and her college running career.
Heading into the holiday season, she said she has learned something.
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Gay-rights advocates are divided on whether to cheer or bemoan a potential marriage between the state of North Carolina and one of the global corporations most friendly to LGBTQ workers and causes.
Feelings remain raw over North Carolina’s so-called bathroom bill, which prompted a boycott campaign. Many advocates remain frustrated that a legislative compromise that put an end to the controversy still allows discrimination against them.
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Voters in Alaska’s largest city are on track to becoming the first in the U.S. to defeat a so-called bathroom bill in a referendum that asked them to require people using public bathrooms and locker rooms consistent with their gender at birth.
The initiative asked Anchorage’s voters to repeal an ordinance passed in 2015 that prevented discrimination based on sexual orientation and added a clause that would have prevented transgender people from using bathrooms and locker rooms corresponding to their gender identities.
AUSTIN, Texas (AP)- Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott for the first time Tuesday endorsed a “bathroom bill” and breathed new life into North Carolina-style efforts that businesses and LGBT rights groups hoped had stalled with time running out to sign into law.
Abbott’s sudden public support following months of silence is significant. By now calling on the Republican-controlled Legislature to send him a bill before the end of May, Texas is thrust closer to joining North Carolina as the only states in the U.S. with so-called “bathroom bills” that critics condemn as discriminatory.
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.”
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) – The latest member of the Kennedy clan in Congress is urging the NCAA to continue steering championship sporting events away from North Carolina over the refusal of politicians to allow local laws that protect LGBTQ residents from discrimination.
U.S. Rep. Joseph P. Kennedy III of Massachusetts said April 3 he’s speaking up because he says last week’s law repealing House Bill 2 still violates civil rights for transgender people.
The National Collegiate Athletic Association has decided to restore games to North Carolina in the aftermath of the state reaching a deal to replace anti-LGBT House Bill 2 with another measure that civil rights groups say is also discriminatory.
The league announced its decision Tuesday, saying the conclusion was reached after the board of directors evaluated the replacement signed by North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper after negotiations with Republican leaders.
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.
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP)- Four athletes from North Carolina’s Atlantic Coast Conference schools have written a letter urging state lawmakers to repeal a law that limits the protections of LGBT people.
The letter was signed by North Carolina fencer Ezra Baeli-Wang, Duke football player Chris Taylor, North Carolina State diver Gabi McDermott and Wake Forest men’s golfer Tanner Owen. They’re members of the ACC’s student-athlete advisory committee.
NEW YORK (AP) – Duke and North Carolina State were among the top 16 projected seeds the NCAA revealed Feb. 6 for the women’s basketball tournament in March, making them potential hosts in a state that’s lost several sports events because of a divisive law.
The NCAA pulled seven championships from North Carolina in September, including the first two rounds of the 2017 men’s basketball tournament, because of the law that limits protections for LGBTQ people.
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) – Texas knows how to throw a party, and for the Super Bowl in Houston, a new 29-story luxury hotel with a rooftop pool shaped like a meandering “lazy river” is the kind of glitzy welcome mat that keeps big events coming back. But that status may soon be put to the test.
Undaunted by the NCAA and NBA punishing North Carolina over bathroom laws that target transgender persons, powerful Texas Republican lawmakers are pushing to pass similar measures by June, and in doing so are daring leagues to boycott some of the biggest cities and stadiums in the U.S.
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