Posts Tagged LGBT rights

By Maya Dusenbery • 9 years ago

New Jersey school bans trans girl from school unless she dresses as a boy

A New Jersey middle school is refusing to allow 13-year-old Rachel Pepe to return to her school unless she dresses and identifies as a boy.

As reported by the Asbury Park Press, Thorne Middle School in Middletown, New Jersey informed Rachel’s mom, Angela Peters, that she must come back to school prepared to dress like and act like a boy as well as use the name on her birth certificate. No accommodations would be made for her gender identity; Peters suggested letting Rachel use the bathroom in the nurse’s office, but the school rejected that idea.

Peters believes sending Rachel to a new private school that is accepting would be the ideal solution, but Middletown School District is also not willing to ...

A New Jersey middle school is refusing to allow 13-year-old Rachel Pepe to return to her school unless she dresses and identifies as a boy.

As reported by the Asbury Park Press, Thorne Middle School in Middletown, New ...
By Jos Truitt • 9 years ago

Watch President Obama sign an executive order protecting against LGBT employment discrimination

This morning, President Obama is set to sign an executive order banning workplace discrimination against LGBT federal employees. The executive order will not contain additional religious exemptions as the current text of ENDA does – something advocates had feared. This executive order will expand protections for federal employees to include gender identity, as well as barring federal contractors from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.

You can watch from the White House live here:

This morning, President Obama is set to sign an executive order banning workplace discrimination against LGBT federal employees. The executive order will not contain additional religious exemptions as the current text of ENDA does – ...
By Sesali B. • 9 years ago

In aftermath of Hobby Lobby decision, major LGBT groups withdraw support for ENDA

In the fallout of the Hobby Lobby decision, seven major LGBT organizations withdrew their support for the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. ENDA is not new to much-needed criticism, but the religious exemption established by the SCOTUS ruling that allows companies to deny birth control coverage was the straw that broke the camels back for these groups. 

In the fallout of the Hobby Lobby decision, seven major LGBT organizations withdrew their support for the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. ENDA is not new to much-needed criticism, but the religious exemption established ...
By Jos Truitt • 9 years ago

What does Hobby Lobby mean for LGBT employment discrimination?

Editor’s Note: This is a guest post by Elizabeth Deutsch. Elizabeth Deutsch is a student at Yale Law School. She holds an MSc in Gender from the London School of Economics. She enjoys long walks on the elliptical.

We’ve all read a lot about the big picture of what the Court decided in the contraceptive mandate case, Burwell v. Hobby Lobby. A few things are clear from the court’s language: some for-profit corporations can exercise some religious beliefs under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA). Specifically, closely held corporations like Hobby Lobby with religious objections to contraception can get out from under the Affordable Care Act’s contraceptive mandate. But it’s much less clear what the Court’s language spells ...

Editor’s Note: This is a guest post by Elizabeth Deutsch. Elizabeth Deutsch is a student at Yale Law School. She holds an MSc in Gender from the London School of Economics. She enjoys long walks on ...
By Sesali B. • 9 years ago

Study finds LGBT applicants 23 percent less likely to get a job interview

A new study, conducted by the Equal Rights Center and Freedom to Work, compared the responses to 100 pairs of fictional applications for jobs with government contractors. Each pair included an “LGBT application” that listed experience at an LGBT organization, and a “non LGBT application” that names similar roles in organizations that are not LGBT-focused. It played out something like this:

“‘Jennifer’ and ‘Michelle’ filled out applications for a job as an administrative assistant at ExxonMobil. The applications show they attended the same high school and college but ‘Jennifer’ had better grades in both schools and a stronger work history. ExxonMobil calls ‘Michelle’ for an interview — twice. She does not respond. They follow up with an ...

A new study, conducted by the Equal Rights Center and Freedom to Work, compared the responses to 100 pairs of fictional applications for jobs with government contractors. Each pair included an “LGBT application” that listed ...
By Sesali B. • 9 years ago

Pennsylvania becomes 19th state where same-sex marriage is now legal

In a ruling last night, U.S. District Judge John E. Jones III struck down Pennsylvania’s ban on same-sex marriages — and joined the ranks of peers in other states, like Idaho and Oregon, who have expertly defended the constitutional right of all people to marry. 

In a ruling last night, U.S. District Judge John E. Jones III struck down Pennsylvania’s ban on same-sex marriages — and joined the ranks of peers in other states, like Idaho and Oregon, who ...
By Katherine Cross • 10 years ago

In the Name of Our Humanity: The Failure of Tolerance for LGBTQ People

There’s been an instructive imbroglio flaring between a few men in the middle echelons of the American commentariat. The New York Times’ Ross Douthat wrote about the “terms of surrender” that he and other opponents of LGBT  marriage equality were currently negotiating against what he sees as gay rights’ relentless march, Slate’s Mark Joseph Stern forcefully declaims the dissembling disingenuousness inherent to the piece, and then a couple of other men from The Week have a go on the merry go round, with Michael Brendan Dougherty making a pluralist-inspired paean for “religious liberty,” and Damon Linker going further and asseverating that same sex marriage supporters are “the real bigots” in this debate.

There’s been an instructive imbroglio flaring between a few men in the middle echelons of the American commentariat. The New York Times’ Ross Douthat wrote about the “terms of surrender” that he and other opponents ...
By Verónica Bayetti Flores • 10 years ago

Breaking: Senate passes Employment Non-Discrimination Act

With a vote of 64-32, earlier today the Senate passed the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), which bans workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, making it the first time in history the institution has voted to include LGBT people in a non-discrimination law.

Though legislating equality has incredibly valid critiques, and it might be difficult to get this bill through the House (Speaker Boehner has openly opposed ENDA), this remains, as VP Biden would say, a big fucking deal.

Veronica is an immigrant queer writer, domestic artist, and music video enthusiast.

With a vote of 64-32, earlier today the Senate passed the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), which bans workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, making it the first time in history the institution has ...

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