The US Department of Justice (DOJ) stated support Thursday for a Kentucky wedding photographer who filed suit over an ordinance that bans local businesses from discriminating against gay customers. This case involves the competing interests of an individual’s right to free speech and the government’s interest in combating discrimination in commercial transactions. Louisville-Jefferson County Metro [...]
Rappers Jay Z and Yo Gotti filed a second lawsuit on Tuesday against the Mississippi Department of Corrections, targeting Parchaman Prison, where at least nine inmates have died since the beginning of the year. The class action suit, which the rappers filed on behalf of 152 inmates at the prison, alleges violation of inmates’ Eighth [...]
A bill to abolish the death penalty in Colorado passed the General Assembly on Wednesday in a House vote of 38-27, following the Senate’s 19-13 vote on January 31. The bill, “Concerning the repeal of the death penalty by the general assembly in all circumstances charged on or after July 1, 2020,” would remove the [...]
A UN report published Wednesday found that in 2019, killings of women activists in Colombia increased by 50 percent and a total of 108 human rights defenders were killed. The UN documented specific killings of citizens who defended the rights of their communities. For instance, a woman named Magdelena was killed for defending land allocation and [...]
Virginia’s General Assembly passed a bill that repealed many of the State’s restrictions on abortion on Wednesday. House Bill 980, also known as the Reproductive Health Protection Act, received final passage from the House of Delegates and was sent to Governor Ralph Northam for final approval on Wednesday. HB 980, which had initially passed the [...]
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet called Thursday for “unfettered access” to China’s Xinjiang region in a visit later this year. The region has been under deep criticism for forcibly holding Muslim groups and stripping them of their Islamic heritage. Despite this, the Chinese ambassador has dismissed allegations, stating that estimated to hold [...]
The Gender and Sexuality Alliance, the Campaign for Southern Equality and the South Carolina Equality Coalition, Inc. filed a lawsuit Wednesday for injunctive and declaratory relief against South Carolina over an anti-LGBTQ sex education state statute. The law in question “provides that local public school districts may not include in their health education any ‘discussion [...]
The US Supreme Court ruled Wednesday in Holguin-Hernandez v. United States that petitioner Gonzalo Holguin-Hernandez properly preserved the claim that his 12-month sentence for drug trafficking was unreasonably long. The government asked the court to find that Holguin-Hernandez had violated the conditions of his earlier term, to revoke it, and impose an additional consecutive prison [...]
Plans for a third runway at Europe’s largest airport were blocked by the Court of Appeal on Thursday. The $18 billion plan for a third runway at Heathrow airport was set to permit an additional 260,000 flights per year, the Department for Transportation argued. They further said that the project would boost the British economy, [...]
Virginia lawmakers gave final approval Wednesday to a comprehensive anti-discrimination bill, known as SB 868, which aims to protect LGBTQ people from unequal treatment. Virginia will become the first southern state to successfully add sexual orientation and gender identity to its statewide nondiscrimination law once the bill is approved and signed into law by Governor [...]
