Editor Brian Harrod Provides Comprehensive up-to-date news coverage, with aggregated news from sources all over the world from the Roundup Newswires Network
The city's annual Mummers Parade quieted critics who raised concerns about racially or culturally insensitive displays in previous years, with marchers putting on a family friendly New Year's Day show that still entertained spectators crowded along the milelong route. Philadelphia has hosted the Mummers Parade since 1901, making it the oldest continuous folk parade in the country, with string bands, comic brigades, elaborate floats and plenty of feathers and sequins.
A funny thing happened on the way to the Donald Trump inauguration - liberals suddenly became champions of people being allowed to decline participating in something if it violated their conscience. Surprising, indeed, after years of Christian bakers and pizza parlors being targeted for destruction by the gay left for refusing to participate in something because it opposed their conscience and faith.
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.
"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.
Opponents of House Bill 2 hold signs outside the House chambers gallery as the North Carolina General Assembly convenes for a special session at the Legislative Building in Raleigh, N.C., Wednesday, Dec. ... . State Sen. Jay Chaudhuri, D-Wake, speaks on the senate floor during a special session of the North Carolina General Assembly called to consider repeal of NC HB2 in Raleigh, N.C., Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2016.
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'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."
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.
North Carolina Gov.-elect Roy Cooper said Thursday he's ready to fight in court against Republican legislation moving through a surprise General Assembly session that would undercut his powers as he takes office next month. The outgoing attorney general was already headed to a rough relationship with the Republican-led legislature before lawmakers convened themselves into a special session Wednesday and launched attacks on the Democrat's powers.
The fairy-tale story of irreversible progress in LGBT rights is a very white American story. Americans of color have long known that progress is not linear.
The Senate should take a hard look at ExxonMobil's record on gay rights when it considers the nomination of Rex Tillerson for secretary of state, a leading advocacy organization says. The Human Rights Campaign, which ranks corporations on how they treat LGBTQ employees, has consistently given Exxon poor grades.
The Arkansas Supreme Court ruled late last week that birth certificates for children of same-sex couples will not be allowed to list the names of both parents. According to Reiters , the ruling puts an end to the fairly brief amount of time that same-sex couples were allowed the same parental rights as the children of heterosexual couples.
The Arkansas Supreme Court on Thursday overturned a 2015 decision that would have given same-sex parents the right to be listed on their children's birth certificates. But the state may still change its laws.
The owners of a video company have filed a legal challenge to Minnesota's gay marriage law because they want to shoot weddings for heterosexual couples only. Carl and Angel Larsen said they will be punished for refusing wedding services to same-sex couples.
The Human Rights Campaign , the nation's largest LGBT rights advocate, has criticized three of President-elect Donald Trump's cabinet picks. Trump has picked Georgia Rep. Tom Price as Secretary of Health and Human Services, Betsy DeVos as Secretary of Education and Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions as Attorney General.
On gay rights, America has come a great distance in a short time. Remember the days, not so long ago, that gays stayed in the closet, sodomy was a crime, same-sex marriage was banned and people could be fired from their jobs because of their sexual orientation? Actually, you don't have to try to remember that last.
Texas Rep. Bill Flores is offering his support for Chip and Joanna Gaines, the stars of the HGTV home improvement show, "Fixer Upper," after they were targeted by a hit piece published at BuzzFeed, the liberal activist news outlet. Flores was responding to an attack piece published earlier this week by BuzzFeed reporter Kate Aurthur.
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.
Nearly 1,000 people marched from Long Island City across the Queensboro Bridge to Manhattan to protest the election of president-elect Donald Trump on Saturday. Led by Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer, the march was an opportunity for residents to voice concerns about Trump's views and to make a statement about the borough's values.