Trump expected to embrace bold use of Twitter
By The Associated Press Incoming White House press secretary Sean Spicer says he expects President-elect Donald Trump will boldly use Twitter to make major policy announcements.
Category Archives: Transgender
John Kerry
Secretary of State John Kerry apologized Monday for past discrimination against gay and lesbian people at the State Department , an unusual acknowledgment that members of the diplomatic corps were hounded out for their sexual orientation. "In the past - as far back as the 1940s, but continuing for decades - the Department of State was among many public and private employers that discriminated against employees and job applicants on the basis of perceived sexual orientation," Kerry wrote in a brief statement published on the department's website.
Deep divide stops effort to repeal North Carolina LGBT law
A supposedly bipartisan deal to repeal North Carolina's anti-LGBT law collapsed when both sides balked and started blaming each other, likely meaning their state will keep being shunned by corporations, entertainers and high-profile sporting events. After more than nine hours of backroom discussions and sporadic public effort, Republican state legislators quit trying to repeal the law called House Bill 2 and went home Wednesday night.
Hope for the rebellion: A 2016 L…
"Rogue One," the latest movie in the "Star Wars" franchise, opened last week. Without leaking any spoilers, trailers have revealed a key line as protagonist Jyn Erso rallies the beleaguered rebels: "We have hope.
Top StoryWatch Live: North Carolina lawmakers meeting to consider HB2 repeal
North Carolina's legislature is reconvening to see if enough lawmakers are willing to repeal a 9-month-old law that limited LGBT rights, including which bathrooms transgender people can use in public schools and government buildings. House and Senate members planned to meet in the capital Wednesday for a special session two days after the Charlotte City Council gutted an ordinance that in March led the Republican-controlled General Assembly to pass House Bill 2, known by some as the "bathroom bill."
North Carolina lawmakers meeting to consider HB2 repeal
North Carolina's legislature is reconvening to see if enough lawmakers are willing to repeal a 9-month-old law that limited LGBT rights, including which bathrooms transgender people can use in public schools and government buildings. House and Senate members planned to meet in the capital Wednesday for a special session two days after the Charlotte City Council gutted an ordinance that in March led the Republican-controlled General Assembly to pass House Bill 2, known by some as the "bathroom bill."
Gov-elect: End near for North Carolina’s ‘bathroom bill’
In a stunning development, the North Carolina law widely derided as the "bathroom bill" appeared to be on its way out after it tarnished the state's reputation, cost it scores of jobs and contributed to the Republican governor's narrow loss. Democratic Gov.-elect Roy Cooper announced Monday that legislators will hold a special session to repeal the law known as HB2 that limits protections for LGBT people.
N. Carolina governor sticks with GOP, diminishing successor
The last significant act of outgoing Republican Gov. Pat McCrory 's tempestuous administration has been to go along with GOP legislators and sign into law at least one quickly put together bill that will diminish the power of his Democratic successor. McCrory must still decide whether to sign a second bill passed by a Republican-dominated General Assembly that has repeatedly tugged the man who campaigned in 2012 as Charlotte's moderate former mayor into hard-right turf.
Federal court rules Ohio school must allow transgender student to use girls’ restroom
A federal appellate court has denied a request by an Ohio school district to stop a transgender child from using the restroom of her choice while school officials appeal an earlier ruling in the student's favor. The U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Thursday in a 2-1 decision that an 11-year-old biological male who identifies as female may continue using a girls' restroom in the Highland Local School District north of Columbus.
The Folly of Opening Female Restrooms To Men
A sexual predator could be coming to an office-building restroom stall near you, because America and much of the world is flushing itself straight down the common-sense toilet. In addition to news of so-called bathroom bills and directives coming out of North Carolina, Illinois, Fort Worth, and Houston, the pre-filing of a bill for the 2017 Texas legislative session would give special protections on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.
Utah denies it has anti-gay school laws
The state of Utah has denied it has anti-gay school laws as it defends itself from a lawsuit challenging restrictions on talk about homosexuality in the classroom. The case quotes selectively from state law and school rules, which don't contain the phrase "anti-gay laws," state attorneys said several times in court documents filed Tuesday.
GOP sweep heightens anxiety for many transgender Americans
This Wednesday, Nov. 16, 2016 photo provided by Denverite.com shows spray painted anti-transgender graffiti on the car of Amber Timmons, a transgender woman, in Denver.
Donald Trump’s attorney general pick Jeff Sessions brings racially charged past to light
The Senate confirmation hearing of Sen. Jeff Sessions, President-elect Donald Trump 's pick for attorney general, is likely to rehash racially charged allegations that derailed his efforts to become a federal judge and made him a symbol of black-voter intimidation under the Reagan administration. The expected focus on Sessions' record on race, policing and immigration comes as the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division has surged in prominence under the Obama administration.
Tinder Adds 37 New Gender Options
The most popular cellphone dating app, Tinder, has expanded its gender options to include 37 choices of trans and non-conforming genders. Before the change, added on Tuesday, users could opt to identify as only male or female on the app.
How Trump could shift the Supreme Court’s agenda
Even before Donald Trump chooses a Supreme Court nominee, the new president can take steps to make several contentious court cases go away. Legal challenges involving immigration, climate change, cost-free contraceptive care and transgender rights all could be affected, without any help from Congress.
Trump’s presidential pen could remake Supreme Court’s agenda
Even before Donald Trump chooses a Supreme Court nominee, the new president can take steps to make several contentious court cases go away. Legal challenges involving immigration, climate change, cost-free contraceptive care and transgender rights all could be affected, without any help from Congress.
LGBT law, hurricane jostle close N. Carolina governor’s race
Republican Gov. Pat McCrory has been unable to quash the firestorm over his signing of a law limiting protections for LGBT people, while trying to focus his re-election bid on North Carolina's economy, taxes, teacher pay and his recent response to historic flooding. That legislation has reinforced this election as a referendum on North Carolina's conservative shift under McCrory and the Republican-led legislature.
Car explodes in eastern Libya, killing activist, 5 others
A tense protest over the Dakota Access pipeline subsided at least temporarily after some protest leaders urged activists to leave a barricade near a state highway bridge. Protesters trying to block the Dakota Access oil pipeline urged unity on Saturday while gathering near the burned-out construction vehicles that served as a barricade between activists and officers a day earlier.
Supreme Court to tackle transgender bathroom rules
The US Supreme Court unexpectedly announced Friday it will take up a case on transgender bathroom rights for the first time next year. In this Monday Aug. 22, 2016 file photo, transgender high school student Gavin Grimm poses in front of his home in Gloucester, Va.
Supreme Court to hear case of transgender bathroom policy
AP FILE PHOTO In this Aug. 22, 2016 file photo, transgender high school student Gavin Grimm poses in Gloucester, Va. The Supreme Court will take up transgender rights for the first time in the case of a Virginia school board that wants to prevent a transgender teenager from using the boys' bathroom at his high school.