DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

After much preparation, the 12-year-old's small scene turned into a big problem among school officials in Wheatland, Wyoming. Located on the eastern Wyoming plains, Wheatland is a small farming and ranching community with about 3,500 residents. There are few restaurants, no department stores — not even a local Walmart — and few performance venues besides Wheatland High School. "Unless you’re super closed-minded, I don’t see why you would do that.”Drama coach Stephanie Bradley, who also attended the high school, challenged the decision. “Most people in this part of Wyoming don’t come out early," Bradley said of LGBTQ+ teens on the state's rural plains.

Persons: — Oliver Baez, ” Baez, Matthew Shepard, ”, Cassie Baez, Oliver, Lu Lay, John Weigel, hadn't, belittling, Baez, ” Weigel, Robert Daniel, ” Daniel, Erica Biggs, ” Biggs, Sara Burlingame, “, ” Burlingame, Melissa Rukavina, Stephanie Bradley, Bradley Organizations: University of Wyoming, Walmart, Wheatland High School, Platte County Players, Wyoming Equality, Hate, Gay and Lesbian Fund of Colorado, Prevention Locations: WHEATLAND, Wyo, Wheatland , Wyoming, Wheatland, Wyoming, . Wyoming, South Carolina, Platte, Cheyenne

☆ What is a hate crime?: Officials investigate if suspect who shot 3 Palestinian students can be charged with a hate crime
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-29 | by ( Chandelis Duster | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

CNN —The shooting of three Palestinian college students in Vermont has prompted calls for the suspect to be charged with a hate crime. “When you add a hate crime enhancement that changes things,” George said at a news conference Monday. Crimes based on gender identity accounted for 4% of hate crimes, 1.5% were based on disability and less than 1% on gender. The Justice Department began prosecuting federal hate crime cases after the Civil Rights Act of 1968 was signed into law. Their murders shocked the nation and later moved Congress to pass a new hate crimes statute.

Persons: Jason J, Eaton, Jon Murad, Murad, Jason Eaton, Sarah George, ” George, “, Elliot Williams, ” Williams, Williams, CNN’s Erin Burnett, Elie Honig, ” Honig, Honig, James Byrd , Jr, White, Matthew Shepard, CNN’s Eric Levenson, Elizabeth Wolfe, Tori Morales Pinales, Melissa Alonso Organizations: CNN, Burlington Police, Vermont . Burlington Police Department Authorities, Hamas, Justice Department, DOJ, FBI, feds, Civil, Department of Justice Locations: Vermont, Israel, Chittenden, New Jersey, Chittenden County, Jasper , Texas, Wyoming

☆ In photos: The queer ‘renegades’ of 1990s San Francisco
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-19 | by ( Suyin Haynes | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

CNN —Photographer Chloe Sherman had rarely used social media, until a chance discovery by her daughter prompted her to revisit her work documenting the queer community in 1990s San Francisco. Although she had previously exhibited some photographs from her time in San Francisco, the majority of her work, which she shot on 35-millimeter film, only existed as negatives. So, after Sherman’s daughter and a friend helped create an Instagram account for her, she began digitizing and uploading her photos onto the platform. In this context, San Francisco was widely seen as a safe haven, with a long history of welcoming LGBTQ people. For Sherman, who had grown up making photographs and later studied at the San Francisco Art Institute, it felt important to document the moment.

Persons: Chloe Sherman, Sherman’s, ”, ” Sherman, Sherman, Paula, Carmen, San Francisco, Brandon Teena, Matthew Shepard, Castro, America’s, Harvey Milk, Chloe Sherman Sherman, “, ’ ”, Anna Joy, lounging, isn’t, —, San Francisco — Organizations: CNN, “ Renegades, San Francisco’s Mission, Fair, San Francisco Art Institute, Anna Joy Post, Sherman, Mission Locations: San Francisco, City, San, Schlomer, Berlin, Germany, San Francisco’s, Francisco, Folsom, Folsom St, California, Portland , Oregon, ”, Mission

His death has been memorialized as an egregious hate crime that helped fuel the LGBTQ+ rights movement over the ensuing years. In 2011, the military scrapped the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy that kept gay, lesbian and bisexual service members in the closet. Several activists interviewed this week by The Associated Press evoked Matthew Shepard as they discussed broader developments. The act expanded the federal hate crime law to include crimes based on a victim’s sexual orientation, gender identity or disability. It is a popular choice for high school theater productions but has faced opposition due to policies resembling Florida's “Don't Say Gay” law that have surfaced in various states and communities.

Persons: It's, Matthew Shepard, we've, Kevin Jennings, “, you've, they're, we’ve, ”, Ron DeSantis, “ We’re, ” Shannon Minter, Rodrigo Heng, Lehtinen, ” Heng, James Esseks, Esseks, ” Esseks, Kelley Robinson, —, James Byrd Jr, Barack Obama, Shepard, Shepard's, Judy, Matthew Shepard’s, Shelby Chestnut, Chestnut, Cathy Renna Organizations: of Wyoming, U.S, Supreme, Republican, Lambda, GOP, National Center for Lesbian Rights, National Center for Transgender Equality, American Civil Liberties, HIV, Human Rights, Associated Press, Matthew Shepard Foundation, Transgender Law, New, National, Task Force Locations: Vermont, Texas, Colorado, Florida, Laramie , Wyoming, New York City

NEW YORK (AP) — It has been 25 years since the body of Matthew Shepard was discovered in Laramie, Wyoming. “The Laramie Project” is a poignant mix of real news reports, and actors portraying friends, family, police officers, killers and other Laramie residents. “The Laramie Project,” one of the most frequently performed plays in high schools, has been performed in more than 20 countries and translated into more than 13 languages. “Precisely because it wasn’t about Matthew Shepard, precisely because it was about the town of Laramie is why it continues to resonate,” says Kaufman. Hate crimes all over our nation are at much higher rates than they were when Matthew Shepard was killed."

Persons: Matthew Shepard, Moisés Kaufman, Kaufman, Shepard, ” Kaufman, “, ”, James Byrd Jr, Barack Obama, ___ Mark Kennedy Organizations: Laramie, University of Wyoming, Cardinal High School, Putnam, Lansing Board of Education Locations: Laramie , Wyoming, York, Laramie, America, Florida, Middlefield , Ohio, Kansas

☆ The Texas town where James Byrd Jr. was dragged to his death in 1998, sparking national outrage and new federal hate crime legislation, wants to 'move on'
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-26 | by ( John L. Dorman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

People in Jasper are in many ways still dealing with the aftermath of James Byrd Jr.'s 1998 murder. Louvon Byrd Harris, Byrd's younger sister, told The Post that many people simply "want to forget what happened." A section of Huff Creek Road in Jasper, Texas, where James Byrd Jr., was dragged to his death. While Byrd's murder prompted the Texas legislature's 2001 passage of the James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Act, along with the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr.

Persons: James Byrd Jr, Byrd's, Byrd, George Floyd's, haven't, Louvon Byrd Harris, Poor Jasper, David Shultz, Jasper, Anderson, Juan Lozano, Betty Lane, Matthew Shepard, Tod Lawlis Organizations: Post, Service, Washington, Lone Star State, Historical Museum, Jasper City Council, Anderson Land, AP, Congress, Byrd Foundation, Racial, Byrd Locations: Jasper, Wall, Silicon, East Texas, Minneapolis, Huff, Jasper , Texas, Texas, Austin

☆ Opinion | The Lines Between Red and Blue America Are Blurring, Not Hardening
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-22 | by ( Jesse Nathan | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

We canned our own tomatoes and turned ice cream by hand but also traveled to the East Coast for b’nai mitzvah. This summer a little town of a few thousand near my family’s farm held a Pride parade — for the fourth time. There’s even a small queer community at the little high school I attended. These so-called red states are their home, and many of them will raise families there. Kansas was, after all, the first state to reject — resoundingly — an effort to roll back abortion access after Roe was struck down.

Persons: peck, —, John Prine, “, George Eliot, Rosa Luxemburg, Abraham Joshua Heschel, Angela Davis, Pete Seeger, I’d, Matthew Shepard’s, Kris Kobach, Roe Organizations: University of California, Columbia Law School, United Farm Workers, Oakland, Mennonite, for Rural Culture Locations: Oakland, Berkeley, Kansas, California, East Coast, There’s, Kansas , Texas , Ohio, New York

But under a Colorado public accommodations law, she said she cannot post the statement because the state considers it illegal. The ruling – rooted in free speech grounds – will pierce state public accommodation laws for those businesses who sell so-called “expressive” goods. It is the latest victory for religious conservatives at the high court and will alarm critics who fear the current court is setting its sights on overturning the 2015 marriage case. When the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case in February 2022, the justices sidestepped whether the law violated Smith’s free exercise of religion. In court, Waggoner said that the law works to compel speech in violation of the First Amendment.

Persons: Justice Neil Gorsuch, John Roberts, Samuel Alito, Amy Coney Barrett, Brett Kavanaugh, Clarence Thomas, Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, Ketanji Brown Jackson, Lorie Smith, Gorsuch, ”, Smith’s, ” Gorsuch, Sotomayor, “, ’, Kristen Waggoner, Matthew Shepard, ” Sotomayor, Bostock, Trump, Kelley Robinson, Ritchie Torres, ” Torres, Waggoner, Smith, Smith –, –, ” Smith, ” Waggoner, Eric Olson Organizations: CNN, Chief, U.S, Supreme, Pride Month, Civil, American Civil Liberties Union, ”, Democratic, Twitter, Appeals Locations: Colorado, United States, Clayton County

Indiana University says an 18-year-old student was targeted and stabbed on a bus in Bloomington for being Asian. An 18-year-old Carmel, Indiana, woman told investigators that while waiting for the doors of the bus to open, another passenger began to strike her repeatedly in the head, police said in a statement. Police did not respond to a question about whether the attack is being investigated as a hate crime. The university's Asian Culture Center called the attack "a horrific and targeted anti-Asian hate crime." Indiana's hate crime law, enacted in 2019, allows judges to consider harsher sentences where “bias” factors, including “color, creed, disability, national origin, race, religion,” motivated the crime, according to the Matthew Shepard Foundation.

Search resuls for: "Matthew Shepard"

9 mentions found