In an East Room ceremony today, President Obama signed a bill that includes the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes act, reports Washington Post’s SwampPolitics blog. The measure extends the existing federal hate crimes law, which was passed in 1968 and covered race, religion, or national origin. It will now also cover people who are attacked because of sexual orientation, gender, or gender identity. It will also enable the Justice Department to prosecute crimes in places where local laws don't offer the same protections. Obama hailed the hate crimes measure in the bill as a step toward change to “help protect our citizens from violence based on what they look like, who they love, how they pray,” CNN reports. Full story...
Lt. Dan Choi and Capt. Jim Pietrangelo lead a crowd of protesters away from an HRC-sponsored rally and toward an act of civil disobedience at the White House photo via CNN by AmericaBlog
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::: A Dallas Baptist church recently made a slight change to its website which now declares that the church is “a vibrant mosaic of varied racial identities, ethnicities, sexual orientations, and denominational backgrounds.
A second major report focusing on aging LGBT people was released today. Yesterday, the LGBT advocacy group SAGE released a report that addresses the needs of older populations in general, including members of the WWII generation who now face issues with care facilities.
::: The Episcopal Church gave final approval Wednesday to the election of Mary Glasspool to become a bishop for the Diocese of Los Angeles.
southeastern Africa
A group of major donor nations and international bodies that supports Malawi, said in a report released Tuesday that its members are was concerned by rights abuses in the poor southern African country, particularly a crackdown on LGBT people.
The Catholic church has offered up enough spit-take news items in the past week that we were grateful to see it all summarized by the only ones who could really do it all justice: Jon Stewart and the crack staff of the Daily Show.
LGBT senior citizens face unique social and financial problems, and lawmakers could help them by modifying Social Security and Medicaid rules, according to a national report released Wednesday in Chicago at a national conference on aging.
Constance McMillen
Last week’s cancellation of the high school prom by Itawamba County (MS) Board of Education was “shortsighted”, said the editorial board for the regional newspaper that serves the area in northwestern Mississippi.
Source: National Catholic Reporter, KUSA 9News, Boulder Daily Camera, Public Eye The Boulder lesbian couple whose children have been barred from enrolling next year at their parish grade school agreed to an interview this week with National Catholic Reporter and also released a statement on the case to all media.
::: A key committee of the Pennsylvania state senate is expected to vote tomorrow on bill that could start the process of amending the commonwealth’s constitution to define marriage as a special right of heterosexual couples, PennLive reports.
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