Tag Archives: Human Rights Campaign

Islamophobic Smear Campaign Against ‘Historic’ Judicial Nominee Condemned

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“We urge senators to assess Mr. Mangi’s nomination based on his credentials and qualifications for the job, not his religion, race, or ethnicity.”

By Jessica Corbett. Published 4-2-2024 by Common Dreams

Adeel Mangi speaks at his U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on December 13, 2023. (Photo: Graeme Sloan/Sipa USA/via Wikipedia/CC BY-SA 4.0)

A coalition of over 125 rights groups on Tuesday urged the U.S. Senate to vanquish an onslaught of Islamophobic attacks and confirm Adeel Mangi, who would be the first Muslim American to serve on a federal appeals court.

As some right-wing Democrats consider joining with Republicans to block his nomination to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit, the groups explained in a letter to senators that they came together to support the Oxford- and Harvard-educated attorney, “highlight Mr. Mangi’s tremendous qualifications, and condemn the baseless and bigoted attacks being waged against this exceptional and historic nominee.”

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Florida House Republicans Advance Bill to ‘Deny the Legal Existence’ of Trans People

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“Rest assured that the passage of this discriminatory bill would have a detrimental and real-life impact on the trans community,” said one Florida ACLU leader.

By Brett Wilkins. Published 3-1-2024 by Common Dreams

Capital Pride Parade in, Washington, DC 2018. Photo: Ted Eytan/CC

The ACLU of Florida on Friday led condemnation of a bill passed by the Republican-controlled lower chamber of the state Legislature that “seeks to deny the legal existence of transgender individuals by requiring individuals to identify as their sex assigned at birth instead of their gender on their driver’s licenses and ID cards.”

Dubbed the Trans Erasure Bill by opponents, H.B. 1639 passed by a vote of 75-33. The ACLU notes that the legislation “also requires health plans to cover the widely discredited practice of conversion therapy and creates additional obstacles for health plans to cover gender-affirming care.”

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AP Psychology Effectively Banned in Florida Over Lesson on Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity

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“Sadly, it’s all part of the DeSantis playbook of eroding rights, censoring those he disagrees with, and undermining access to knowledge,” said one critic.

By Brett Wilkins. Published 8-3-2023 by Common Dreams

Students and their supporters rallied at the Florida state Capitol in Tallahassee on March 7, 2022 as the state Senate began debating a so-called “Don’t Say Gay” bill. (Photo: MoveOn/Twitter)

The Republican-controlled Florida Board of Education on Thursday effectively banned Advanced Placement Psychology by notifying school district superintendents that teaching about sexual orientation and gender identity—key subjects in college-level psychology curricula—is prohibited under the state’s so-called “Don’t Say Gay or Trans” law.

That means class schedules for the fall semester—which begins next week in most Florida school districts—are in limbo for thousands of students. Last year, around 28,000 pupils in more than 500 Florida high schools took AP Psychology.

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GOP Utah Gov. Signs Ban on ‘Lifesaving Medical Care’ for Trans Youth

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“It undermines the health and well-being of adolescents, limits the options of doctors, patients, and parents, and violates the constitutional rights of these families,” the ACLU of Utah’s executive director.

By Jessica Corbett.  Published 1-28-2023 by Common Dreams.

We Won’t Be Erased – Rally for Trans Rights, Washington, DC on 10-22-2018 Photo: Ted Eytan/flickr/CC

Defying the guidance of the nation’s leading medical organizations, Republican Utah Gov. Spencer Cox on Saturday signed into law a bill banning gender-affirming care for minors in the state.

Passed by the Utah House of Representatives on Thursday and the state Senate on Friday, S.B. 16 prohibits gender-affirming surgeries for trans youth and bars hormonal treatment for new patients who were not diagnosed with gender dysphoria before the bill’s effective date, May 3. Continue reading →

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‘This Is Deadly’: Trump HHS Scraps Protections for Transgender Patients and Those Seeking Abortions

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“The Trump administration has made a mission out of putting politicians and religious beliefs above a patient’s healthcare.”

By Jessica Corbett, staff writer for Common Dreams. Published 6-14-2020

LGBTQ Americans and allies rallied outside the White House to protest President Donald Trump’s effort to ban trans people from military service. (Photo: Ted Eytan/Flickr/cc)

In a move widely decried by LGBTQ, reproductive, and human rights advocates, the Trump administration late Friday finalized a healthcare rule that revokes Obama-era nondiscrimination protections for transgender and nonbinary people, patients seeking abortions, and those who do not speak English.

“This is deadly and all of us should be outraged,” declared ACLU deputy legal director Louise Melling. “This is beyond heartless.” Continue reading →

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‘Insulting, Inhumane, and Unacceptable’: LGBTQ Rights Advocates Blast Trump’s Latest ‘Reckless Attack’ on Trans Americans

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“The cruelty and bigotry of this administration truly has no limit.”

By Jessica Corbett, staff writer for Common Dreams. Published 10-21-2018

LGBTQ Americans and allies rally outside the White House to protest President Donald Trump’s effort to ban trans people from military service. (Photo: Ted Eytan/Flickr/cc)

Sparking immediate outrage among LGBTQ Americans and allies on Sunday, the New York Times reported on a memo revealing that “the Trump administration is considering narrowly defining gender as a biological, immutable condition determined by genitalia at birth, the most drastic move yet in a governmentwide effort to roll back recognition and protections of transgender people under federal civil rights law.”

In a move that “would essentially eradicate federal recognition of the estimated 1.4 million Americans who have opted to recognize themselves—surgically or otherwise—as a gender other than the one they were born into,” the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), is currently considering a legal definition that “would define sex as either male or female, unchangeable, and determined by the genitals that a person is born with,” according to the Times. Continue reading →

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