LGBTQ rights
Monopoly men: GOP legislative leaders continue to extend their power in all directions
Is there any aspect of life in modern North Carolina for which the Republican majority of the General Assembly doesn’t see itself as the font of all wisdom and rightful final arbiter? That’s not a facetious question. GOP pols and their pals on the religious right and in the business and gun lobbies love to […]
Is this really the North Carolina we want?
There are few days that go by that I don’t have a moment of appreciation for the beauty around us in North Carolina. The trees, the hiking trails, the flowers… It’s quite amazing. I seem to notice it even more lately, as Spring has taken its time. As I had another of these moments recently, […]
N.C. House passes transgender sports ban
A bill barring transgender female athletes from female sports teams passed the state House by a 73-39 vote Wednesday. The bill, which expands the originally proposed ban from middle and high school teams to include college athletes, moved swiftly through two committees Tuesday and Wednesday to a floor vote in the afternoon. All Republicans who […]
New bill would criminalize public drag performances
Public drag performances could become illegal under a bill filed Tuesday in the N.C. House. H673 would classify as “adult live entertainment” any “male or female impersonators who provide entertainment that appeals to a prurient interest,” making it illegal for drag performances to take place on public property in the presence of anyone under age […]
Rep. Tricia Cotham’s party switch gives the House GOP a veto-proof majority
Rep. Tricia Cotham formally announced she is switching parties to become a Republican, giving the GOP a veto-proof majority in the state House. Cotham bashed Democrats at a news conference Wednesday morning where Republicans welcomed her to the GOP. Cotham said Democrats had bullied her, shunned her, tried to tell her what to do, and […]
Trump criticizes DeSantis, calls for national ‘school choice’ at first 2023 Iowa event
DAVENPORT, IOWA — Former President Donald Trump, in his first Iowa stop as an official presidential candidate, took aim at a potential rival, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. Trump said if DeSantis joins the 2024 presidential race, his track record on ethanol and Social Security could cost him the Iowa caucuses. “I don’t think you’re gonna be […]
How the judge who could ban the abortion pill won confirmation in the U.S. Senate
WASHINGTON — The U.S. District Court judge who could end more than two decades of legal access to medication abortion underwent extensive questioning about LGBTQ equality at his December 2017 confirmation hearing — and very little about his views on abortion. Matthew Joseph Kacsmaryk, appointed by former President Donald Trump earlier in 2017, spent much […]
Monday numbers: Facing hostile legislation, rising generations are more LGBTQ than ever
Last week Gallup released its latest study of how Americans identify their own sexuality. The result: 7.2% of US adults identified as LGBTQ in 2022, double the percentage who identified that way when Gallup began measuring a decade ago. Younger generations — millennials and adult members of Generation Z — were the most likely to identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, pansexual or asexual, according to the study.
Monday numbers: North Carolina and the national wave of anti-LGBTQ legislation
Last week, Policy Watch delved into the stories of LGBTQ youth as new bills legislating their education, healthcare and identities work their way through the North Carolina General Assembly. The bills are part of a continuing wave of hundreds of new anti-LGBTQ measures filed across the country in the new year, many targeting transgender young people.
Republican lawmakers to NC schoolchildren and teachers: The attacks will continue until morale improves
In case you hadn’t noticed, North Carolina public schools, along with the children and teachers who inhabit them, are suffering mightily these days. The Public School Forum of North Carolina reports that the number of youth suicides in our state has doubled in recent years and that there’s been a 46% increase in the number of kids who have suffered with one or more “major depressive episodes” since the start of the pandemic. Meanwhile, thousands of educators are voting on the state of our public schools with their feet.
LGBTQ kids need protection from bullies and violence, not adults targeting and bullying them too
I grew up in a struggling, post-industrial Ohio town in the 1990s where ignorance and intolerance often reigned. I stood up to bullies my whole life, and when put under physical threat, I fought them. No bully can intimidate me, and so even though I was definitely a weird kid, I was also funnier, smarter, […]
LGBTQ rights, the UNC System and Christian nationalism: Three stories we’ll be watching closely in 2023
“It is difficult to make predictions,” Dutch politician Karl Kristian Steincke once wrote. “Especially about the future.” But if you’re a reporter who carefully follows a few issues, you don’t need a crystal ball to have a fairly good idea of what to look for in the new year. Here are some stories we're certain we’ll be following and reporting on in 2023: 1. Renewed legislative assaults on LGBTQ people