#marriage-equality

#marriage-equality

After previously announcing he would vacate the seat if elected to serve Zone 3 on the Portland Public Schools Board of Education, former candidate Derrick Peterson may be walking back his plans to quit the race.Last week Peterson made a public statement on his website saying he had withdrawn from the race, noting recent media coverage that served as a "distraction" to PPS students and was taking a toll on his family.

Stanford University's president, Marc Tessier-Lavigne, and the dean of its law school, Jenny Martinez, issued a joint apology Saturday to a federal appeals court judge whose speech Thursday was repeatedly heckled by students in the audience."We write to apologize for the disruption," Tessier-Lavigne and Martinez wrote to Judge Kyle Duncan of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

Stanford Law School has announced its associate dean of diversity is on leave, the latest fallout from an event that brought a Trump-appointed judge and 100 student protestors to the university earlier this month.Stuart Kyle Duncan, a judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, was invited to speak on Guns, COVID and Twitter on March 9 by the law school's Federalist Society, a conservative and libertarian group.

A pivotal Supreme Court case currently being considered in India could lead to the legalization of same-sex marriage in the nation.The plaintiffs, four gay couples, are taking on a government that has been hostile to the idea of marriage equality in the past.Leaked documents acquired by Reuters show that the administration of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been trying to convince the court to decide not to allow LGBTQ+ couples the right to marry.

Students in Iowa today staged statewide walkouts to protest the wave of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation introduced by conservative lawmakers and promoted by Gov. Kim Reynolds (R).Students at 26 public schools and two universities had scheduled walkouts from classes throughout the day, NBC News reported.The "We Say Gay" protest was organized by the Iowa Queer Student Alliance (IQSA), a student advocacy group dedicated to opposing anti-LGBTQ+ legislation.

The Church of England apologized for its past treatment of L.G.B.T.Q.people on Friday, but said it would continue its practice of not allowing same-sex marriages in church, a reflection of a delicate balancing act that has once again highlighted stark divisions in the nearly 500-year-old institution.

President Joe Biden took aim at critics who deride the teaching of past racial and social injustices in American history as woke during his keynote speech at the National Action Network's annual Martin Luther King Day breakfast on Monday.While discussing a whole host of topics and policy items, Biden eventually landed on the topic of civil rights.

Reproductive rights advocates celebrated Friday after Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed legislation expanding protections for abortion patients and health care workers, as well as widening the pool of abortion providers, to help meet the recent spike in demand.The law - which shields patients and providers from legal actions taken by other states - comes as Illinois faces a massive surge in out-of-state abortion patients following U.S. Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade in June.

The Taoiseach has hailed the US as trailblazers on LGBT rights issues as he met vice president Kamala Harris in Washington.Mr Varadkar thanked Ms Harris for her own advocacy and for being a strong ally to the LGBT community as he and partner Matt Barrett attended a breakfast event at her residence on St Patrick's Day morning.

Of the more than 5,300 assembled guests and officials at the White House bill-signing ceremony on Tuesday, one person, the vice president, received a special memento.After signing the Respect for Marriage Act into law, President Joe Biden passed along the pen with which he signed the legislation and handed it to Vice President Kamala Harris.

Photo: Shutterstock Another federal judge appointed by Donald Trump has rejected a challenge to Florida's Don't Say Gay law.The law, passed last year, bans discussions of sexual orientation and gender identity in Kindergarten through third grade and restricts such discussions in older grades.The law has already been used to curtail discussions about LGBTQ+ people and leave students without help if they're being bullied because of their identities.

The proposal is unlikely to pass, as a majority of the state's residents support preserving marriage equality.The Iowa State Capitol building is pictured in Des Moines, Iowa.iStock / Getty Images Plus Republican lawmakers in Iowa have submitted a proposal for a constitutional amendment in the state that would bar the recognition of marriage rights for same-sex couples.

A Christian baker who has spent years fighting for the right to discriminate against LGBTQ+ people has lost his appeal in a case about his refusal to make a cake for someone celebrating their gender transition.In 2021, a Colorado judge in Denver ruled that Jack Phillips of Masterpiece Cakeshop illegally discriminated against Autumn Scardina when he refused to make her a birthday cake because she's transgender, arguing that baking the cake violates his religious beliefs.

By John Lewis-
A few weeks ago, I was with hundreds of other LGBTIQ people and supporters outside the Tokyo District Court building awaiting the court's decision in an historic Japanese marriage equality lawsuit when I received astonishing marriage equality news from nearly 7,000 miles away.The U.S. Senate cleared the way for passage of the Respect for Marriage Act with a super-majority that included an astounding twelve Republican senators.Passage of the Respect for Marriage Act (RFMA) is an extraordinary achievement for the American marriage equality movement after years of struggle and continual hard work.

The U.S. Senate has passed the Respect for Marriage Act, legislation that aims to enshrine federal protections for same-sex marriages in the United States.After that, the bill will move to the desk of President Joe Biden, who has said he will sign the legislation into law.Although the Supreme Court declared same-sex marriage legal in all 50 states in its 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges decision, many warned that the Court's sharp right turn in recent years warranted federal legislation to further protect marriage equality - especially following the Court ruling earlier this year that overturned abortion rights recognized in the 1973 ruling which included a concurring decision from Justice Clarence Thomas  indicating that he believed other decisions based on the right to privacy, including Obergefell , should be reexamined.

After a tumultuous year for individual rights, on Wednesday, November 16th, the Senate advanced a bill that would help protect same-sex and interracial marriages from the same fate met by at the hands of the majority conservative Supreme Court.The bill would protect marriage if the Supreme Court decided to overturn the legal precedents that made them legal in the first place.

A law that would codify federal protections for same-sex marriages cleared a procedural hurdle in the U.S Senate on Wednesday, overcoming the 60-vote filibuster threshold and setting the stage for approval.Senators voted 62-37 in favor of ending debate on the Respect for Marriage Act and advancing it to the floor for an up-or-down vote.