LGBTQ rights
Monday numbers: Lawmakers try to punish LGBTQ allies
A record number of anti-LGBTQ bills were filed and passed in states across the country this year. From criminalizing public drag shows and standard health care for transgender people to banning books and dictating school curricula, they collectively have the effect of marginalizing LGBTQ people and driving even their mention from the public square. As […]
Federal judge blocks Georgia from enforcing ban on hormone therapy for transgender minors
Georgia families contemplating hormone therapy for their minor transgender children will have more time to make a decision after a federal judge temporarily blocked Georgia’s ban on the treatments Sunday. Georgia’s Senate Bill 140 went into effect July 1, preventing doctors from prescribing estrogen or testosterone to transgender people under 18, with exceptions for minors […]
Attacks on LGBTQ rights and reproductive freedom are from the same cynical playbook
When the Dobbs decision came down last June, overturning nearly 50 years of legal precedent and taking away a previously established right, our partners in the LGBTQ+ community were standing shoulder to shoulder with us to protest the ruling. Together, we mourned this loss and braced for the intense and escalating backlash against bodily autonomy […]
LGBTQ project funding in two states stripped by U.S. House Republicans from spending bill
WASHINGTON — In a tense meeting marked by Democratic charges of hatred and bigotry, Republicans on the U.S. House Appropriations Committee voted Tuesday to strip funding for three LGBTQ community projects, just weeks after they included the money in the annual transportation and housing spending bill. At one point, Rep. Andy Harris, a Maryland Republican […]
Weekend reads: Monumental rulings from abortion to higher ed, and parental rights for some not all
1. NC abortion restrictions begin with one requirement in the new law put on hold By Lynn Bonner A federal judge decided that North Carolina legislators’ bill resolving discrepancies and inconsistencies in the new law restricting abortion adequately addressed many of the problems abortion providers identified in a lawsuit this month. U.S. District Court Judge […]
“Parents’ Bill of Rights” is headed to governor’s desk for a likely veto
The state House on Wednesday gave final approval to Senate Bill 49, the so-called “Parents’ Bill of Rights” that requires educators to notify parents if a student uses a different name or pronoun. SB 49 also requires school officials to notify parents about their child’s mental and physical health, obtain written consent from parents before […]
‘Lobbying for my right to exist’: US Senate panel examines how states target trans kids
WASHINGTON — Harleigh Walker wants U.S. senators to understand she is a typical 16-year-old girl. She likes Taylor Swift. She enjoys being on her school’s debate team. And she listens way too loudly to music in her room. “I’m just trying to be a teenager in America,” she told senators on the U.S. Senate Judiciary […]
NC bill would require special elections in some party-switchers’ districts. (Think Tricia Cotham)
The bill might as well be called the No More Cothams Act. Democrats from Mecklenburg County who voted for Rep. Tricia Cotham last year and say she betrayed them when she became a Republican are backing a bill that would force new elections in some party-switchers’ districts. A Senate bill filed this week inspired by […]
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 […]