discrimination

North Carolina Governor Revises Anti-LGBT Law To Be Slightly Less Anti-LGBT

Rich Juzwiak · 04/12/16 04:45PM

Citing “misinformation, misinterpretation, confusion, a lot of passion and frankly, selective outrage and hypocrisy,” North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory has issued an executive order amending his state’s outrageous House Bill 2, which, among other things, requires transgender people to use bathrooms that correspond to the gender listed on their birth certificates in government buildings, and kills local anti-discrimination ordinances. So if you said, “Hey, that’s fucked up!” when you read about this law, well, you were just misinformed and here’s some new information to digest. This how McCrory delivers “common-sense solutions to complex issues.”

Logic and Human Decency Don't Seem To Matter Much in North Carolina

Rich Juzwiak · 03/24/16 03:04PM

Trans people are not a threat, but they are threatened. There are no recorded incidents of trans people attacking cisgender people in bathrooms. In fact, trans people experience hate violence at rates disproportionate to their cisgender counterparts, and sometimes these anti-trans attacks occur in bathrooms. It’s counterintuitive for someone who presents as female to use a restroom designated for males (and vice versa), and all the proof of the resulting absurdity you need is captured in the picture above, which transgender woman Kelly Lauren posted on Facebook in November in response to the public’s voting down of the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance: “Houston, do you REALLY want me in the same restroom as your husband or boyfriend?”

Catskills Town Accused of Preventing 160 Hasidic Jews From Voting

Allie Jones · 02/02/16 04:04PM

Last January, the board of elections in the tiny Catskills village of Bloomingburg, New York, attempted to cancel the voting registrations of 160 Hasidic residents, claiming that they needed to provide more proof of residency to vote. Ten of those residents filed a federal lawsuit against the board claiming voter discrimination, and today, the Sullivan County Board of Elections settled for $575,000.

22 Trans/Gender Non-Conforming People Were Found Murdered in 2015: Were There More Murders or Better Reporting?

Rich Juzwiak · 12/28/15 01:12PM

The Anti Violence Project responded to 22 homicides of transgender/gender-nonconforming people in America in 2015. In 2014, the number was 12, as Zach Stafford pointed out in The Guardian in November. He wasn’t alone in highlighting that astronomical number this year, especially in accordance with the Trans Day of Remembrance on Nov. 20. The New York Times, The Melissa Harris Perry Show, The Advocate, Mother Jones, MTV.com, Fusion, and the Daily Dot are just a few of the outlets that have highlighted this epidemic.

A Dirty Corner of Warren Buffett's Empire

Hamilton Nolan · 12/28/15 10:49AM

Despite controlling Scrooge McDuck-levels of wealth, Warren Buffett enjoys a reputation as a caring, down-home fella who is better than most other Scrooge McDucks. A new report may put at least a slight ding in that reputation.

County Clerk in Kentucky Filmed Denying Gay Couple Marriage License

Rich Juzwiak · 07/08/15 12:10PM

The footage above is incredible, perhaps era-defining. Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis refused to issue a marriage license to a man named David V. Moore and his male partner of 17 years when they went to the Rowan County Clerk’s Office in Morehead, Kentucky on Monday. The pair were made to wait around while others cut ahead of them. When they finally were acknowledged by those working in the office, they were told to go to another county courthouse to obtain their license.

Local Jails Are Insatiable Monsters

Hamilton Nolan · 02/11/15 12:12PM

It has become increasingly clear to mainstream America that our nation's decades-long experiment with mass incarceration is fundamentally a bad idea. And though state prisons loom large in the public mind, it's actually local jails where most of the (bad) action happens.

Target's Dumb Internal Guide to Millennials (and Other Generations)

Hamilton Nolan · 01/09/15 12:27PM

Retail monster Target has more than 360,000 employees. Some of them are oldies; some of them are Gen Xers; and some of them are the dreaded millennials. Fortunately, the company has a neatly stereotyped training guide for managers to navigate this generational minefield.

Texas Student Says Frat Didn't Give Him a Bid Because He's Gay

Allie Jones · 10/07/14 10:25AM

University of Texas student Diwu Zhou says the Asian interest fraternity Lambda Phi Epsilon didn't give him a bid this fall because he's openly gay. In the wake of this allegation, LPhiE headquarters has suspended the chapter. Zhou says brothers asked him a "derogatory" question during the interview process.

Fired Editor Sues for His Religious Freedom to Write About "Gaystapo"

Adam Weinstein · 07/24/14 09:58AM

Back in May, the Newton Daily News of Iowa fired its editor-in-chief for comments he'd made on his personal blog. This week, the editor filed a discrimination lawsuit claiming he was fired for his sincere religious beliefs, which compel him to fight "the LGBTQXYZ crowd and the Gaystapo" to the last.