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The 6-3 decision, authored by conservative Chief Justice John Roberts, upheld a 2022 ruling by the North Carolina Supreme Court against the Republican legislators. Another state court replaced that map with one drawn by a bipartisan group of experts, and that one was in effect for the November 2022 elections. They contended that the state court usurped the North Carolina General Assembly's authority under that provision to regulate federal elections. The plaintiffs argued that the map violated the North Carolina state constitution's provisions concerning free elections and freedom of assembly, among others. Democratic President Joe Biden's administration argued against the Republican position when the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in the case in December.

Persons: John Roberts, Roberts, Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Donald Trump's, Joe Biden's, Andrew Chung Organizations: U.S, Supreme, Republican, North Carolina Supreme Court, Conservative, . House, North Carolina Supreme, Democratic, North Carolina's Republican, North, North Carolina Republicans, North Carolina General, Thomson Locations: North Carolina, Legislative, U.S, American, North Carolina's

☆ LGBTQ community celebrates Pride in the face of online and offline attacks
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-11 | by ( Christina Anagnostopoulos | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

[1/5] Parents and pro-LGBT counter protesters face off outside of an elementary school over a Pride Day assembly in Los Angeles, California, U.S., June 2, 2023. REUTERS/David SwansonJune 11 (Reuters) - Millions of LGBTQ Americans are taking part in this year’s Pride celebrations against a backdrop of increasing attacks, both online and offline. LGBTQ advocacy organization GLAAD has already recorded eight instances of 2023 Pride events that had to modify their plans due to threats of violence by June 1, said spokesperson Angela Dallara. Online, slurs like “groomer” – a trope that LGBTQ people are “child groomers” or pedophiles – have traveled from the fringe into mainstream discourse. “An event, like the ‘Don’t Say Gay bill,’ can increase the online chatter.

Persons: David Swanson, Jay Ulfelder, Jen Kuhn, Angela Dallara, Ron DeSantis’s, groomers ”, –, Ilan Meyer, Joel Day, Kimberly Balsam, Brigitte Bandit, she’s, “ They’re, I’m, ”, we’re, Pride, Christina Anagnostopoulos, Claudia Parsons Organizations: Pride, REUTERS, Reuters, Harvard University, GLAAD, FBI, ACLU, Republican, Center, UCLA, Princeton University, Palo Alto University, Thomson Locations: Los Angeles , California, U.S, Columbus , Ohio, Florida, Glendale , California, Austin , Texas, New York City

☆ Voting Rights Act survives at US Supreme Court but more challenges loom
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-09 | by ( John Kruzel | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

Election law expert Ned Foley of Ohio State University's Moritz College of Law called the ruling "a hugely important development for both the Voting Rights Act and the Supreme Court more broadly." The decision requires Alabama to draw a second U.S. House of Representatives district where Black voters comprise a majority or close to it. The Voting Rights Act was passed at a time when Southern states including Alabama enforced policies blocking Black people from casting ballots. Nearly six decades later, the Supreme Court continues to hear cases involving Black voters suing over electoral maps they argue diminish their influence. Thursday's ruling centered upon Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, a provision aimed at countering measures that result in racial bias in voting even absent racist intent.

Persons: John Roberts, Brett Kavanaugh, Ned Foley, Roberts, Kavanaugh, Foley, Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas, Amy Coney Barrett, Neil Gorsuch, Terri Sewell, Marc Elias, Elias, Brennan, Alabama, Deuel Ross, Ross, Gotell Faulks, Faulks, John Kruzel, Moira Warburton, Will Dunham Organizations: U.S, Supreme, Conservative, Republican, Ohio State University's Moritz College of Law, Alabama, U.S . House, Representatives, Black House Democrat, Democratic, Black voters, Black, Brennan Center for Justice, New York, American Civil Liberties, Thomson Locations: Alabama, U.S, Black, Louisiana, Constitution's, Montgomery, Jackson, Baton Rouge

WASHINGTON, May 15 (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear a bid by South Carolina officials to revive a Republican-crafted voting map that a lower court said had unconstitutionally "exiled" 30,000 Black voters from a closely contested congressional district. In this case, the Republican legislators were accused of racial gerrymandering to reduce the influence of black voters. South Carolina's Republican-controlled legislature adopted a new voting map last year following the 2020 U.S. census. The Republican map resulted in a 1st congressional district with a larger percentage of white, Republican-leaning voters. The judges – all three appointed by Democratic presidents – ruled that no elections can take place in the 1st district until it has been redrawn, prompting the South Carolina Republican officials to appeal to the Supreme Court.

☆ Speaker McCarthy is not calling on Santos to resign.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Annie Karni | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who has made no move to penalize or marginalize Representative George Santos even in the face of mounting allegations of misconduct and lies by the first-term New York Republican, has signaled that Mr. Santos will be allowed to continue to serve in Congress even after being indicted on federal charges. “I’ll look at the charges,” Mr. McCarthy told reporters on Tuesday, before an indictment charging Mr. Santos with wire fraud, money laundering, theft of public funds and lying to Congress was unsealed. “If a person is indicted, they’re not on committees. “He was already removed from all his committees,” Representative Steve Scalise, Republican of Louisiana and majority leader, said during a morning news conference. “In America, there is a presumption of innocence but they’re serious charges.

☆ Picasso: Love Him or Hate Him?
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( Deborah Solomon | April | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +14 min

It is not hugely cool to profess a love for Picasso these days. This is what Picasso’s detractors — like Hannah Gadsby, the Australian comedian and Picasso basher, who will help curate a Picasso show at the Brooklyn Museum opening on June 2 — often miss. Picasso, by contrast, brought the weight of lived experience into his work, even when he was tethered to archetypal subjects. “The Mother” (1901), an early painting by Picasso, shows a view of motherhood purged of Renaissance idealization. The conventional view of the painting holds that the women are “dolled-up cocottes,” as John Richardson glibly put it in his biography of Picasso.

☆ Gavin Newsom says he's taking a road trip through red states to fight the policies and 'anger machine' of DeSantis and other GOP governors
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-04 | by ( Kimberly Leonard | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

California Gov. Gavin Newsom is traveling to red states to tout the progressive agenda. Gavin Newsom of California already had a plan in the works to go on offense against Republican governors. California Gov. California Gov.

☆ A drag queen who survived the Orlando Pulse shooting says Florida's LGBTQ community is 'scared' of further hate following DeSantis' push to revoke a hotel's liquor license
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-20 | by ( Lloyd Lee | Chris Panella | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

A drag queen who survived the 2016 Pulse club shooting said it only further demonizes LGBTQ people. "Not just in terms of limiting opportunities for drag entertainers, but by demonizing the art of drag as a whole," she wrote. Fine told Insider his motivation for pursuing the bill came after he found out a drag queen show was hosted in a public space in his district last year. However, the representative also said he would not support a bill that eliminates drag shows for consenting adults. In Florida, there have been at least nine demonstrations against the LGBTQ community, the organization found.

☆ A rash of proposed Florida laws use 'genocidal rhetoric' to attack trans people, legal experts say
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert | Katie Balevic | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

If passed, the bills would restrict access to gender-affirming care and classify it as child abuse. Experts told Insider the bills are posturing ahead of the 2024 presidential race. New legislation 'short circuits existing law'The proposed new bills go further to expand anti-trans legislation than others across the nation, disrupting established custody and health care precedent, legal experts told Insider. "I think that's important, just to note how brazen the language has become — it's genocidal rhetoric," Caraballo told Insider. "This is all about politics, and this is all about bolstering DeSantis is run for the presidency," Caraballo told Insider.

☆ South Dakota lawmaker quotes MLK Jr. out of context during her vote to restrict health care for trans youth
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-03 | by ( Taiyler Simone Mitchell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

South Dakota is seeking to restrict gender-affirming care for trans youth. The portion Schaefbauer quoted is as follows: "It may be true that you can't legislate integration, but you can legislate desegregation. The bill, House Bill 1080, would prevent transgender youth from access to gender-affirming care. South Dakota is a notably conservative state. Last year, South Dakota limited the teaching of Critical Race Theory in schools by restricting "inherently divisive concepts" such as discussing how a person can be "racist, sexist or oppressive," CNN reported.

☆ Pope Francis says homosexuality is a sin but not a crime and criticizes 'unjust' anti-gay laws
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +5 min

Pope Francis criticized laws that criminalize homosexuality as “unjust,” saying God loves all his children just as they are and called on Catholic bishops who support the laws to welcome LGBTQ people into the church. “Being homosexual isn’t a crime,” Francis said during an interview Tuesday with The Associated Press. Experts say even where the laws are not enforced, they contribute to harassment, stigmatization and violence against LGBTQ people. Declaring such laws “unjust,” Francis said the Catholic Church can and should work to put an end to them. Fine, but first let’s distinguish between a sin and a crime.”“It’s also a sin to lack charity with one another,” he added.

☆ Homosexuality not a crime, Pope Francis says
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Pope Francis criticized laws that criminalize homosexuality as "unjust," saying God loves all his children just as they are and called on Catholic bishops who support the laws to welcome LGBTQ people into the church. "Being homosexual isn't a crime," Francis said during an interview Tuesday with The Associated Press. Declaring such laws "unjust," Francis said the Catholic Church can and should work to put an end to them. On Tuesday, Francis said there needed to be a distinction between a crime and a sin with regard to homosexuality. when he was asked about a purportedly gay priest, Francis has gone on to minister repeatedly and publicly to the gay and trans community.

☆ Martin Luther King Would Choose Reflection Over ‘Intersectionality’
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-16 | by ( Rodney Stevens | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

What in the world is “intersectionality”? Womankind Worldwide, a British organization, defines it as follows: “Intersectionality is the acknowledgement that everyone has their own unique experiences of discrimination and oppression and we must consider everything and anything that can marginalize people—gender, race, class, sexual orientation, physical ability, etc.” Google has an “intersectional workforce” page counting its employees by race and sex. I’m black and in my 60s and don’t feel the need for an “intersectional” coming out. The authors of a 2013 academic article, “Toward a Field of Intersectional Studies,” inform us: “Both in its earliest articulations and in its subsequent travels, praxis has been a key site of intersectional critique and intervention.”

☆ Blinken vows US support for Israel despite unease over govt
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-04 | by ( The Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Sunday the U.S. will not shrink from its unwavering support for Israel despite stark differences with Prime Minister-elect Benjamin Netanyahu and concerns the Biden administration may have about potential members of his incoming right-wing government. Blinken said the Biden administration would engage with Netanyahu’s government based on its policies and not on personalities, including potential senior Cabinet ministers who have expressed vehement anti-Palestinian and anti-Arab views in the past. He said those would be detrimental to Israel’s long-term security or future as a Jewish democratic state. We will hold it to the mutual standards we have established in our relationship over the past seven decades,” Blinken said. He lauded the recent completion of a maritime border accord between Israel and Lebanon.

☆ Malaysia's new prime minister Anwar Ibrahim vows to unify the country and fight corruption
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-25 | by ( Su-Lin Tan | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

watch nowNew prime minister Anwar Ibrahim has pledged to make "Malaysia for all Malaysians," fight corruption and reiterated that he won't be taking a salary as Malaysians battle rising costs of living. International relationsCongratulations poured in from leaders from all over the world including Indonesian President Joko Widodo and Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. Malaysia's Anwar Ibrahim takes his first press conference after being appointed prime minister. Perikatan Nasional won 73 seats and was runner-up to Anwar's Pakatan Harapan which won 82 seats. Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim swron in by Malaysia's King Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah on Thursday Mohd Rasfan | Afp | Getty Images

☆ The Black vote in Louisiana elections has been diluted by the GOP redefining Blackness
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-03 | by ( Max Burns | Max Burns Is A Democratic Strategist | Founder Of Third Degree Strategies. Find Him On Twitter | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +7 min

Louisiana Republicans are trying to minimize the number of Black voters who count as, well, Black. To overcome this remaining hurdle, Louisiana Republicans are trying to minimize the number of Black voters who count as, well, Black. They claim that those who identify as multiracial — say, Black and Latino or Black and Asian — were wrongly used to bolster the calculations for Black minority opportunity zones. “This is Jim Crow-era stuff — a state with a Black population of over 30% has a single Black member of Congress. “Southern states with large Black populations want to control where the Black voters are represented and how.

Newly elected Iraqi President Abdul Latif Rashid has named Mohammed Shia al-Sudani as prime minister-designate and tasked him with forming a new government in Baghdad, Iraq, October 13, 2022. Rashid, 78, was the Iraqi minister of water resources from 2003-2010. Sudani, 52, previously served as Iraq’s human rights minister as well as minister of labour and social affairs. Under a power-sharing system designed to avoid sectarian conflict, Iraq's president is a Kurd, its prime minister a Shi'ite and its parliament speaker a Sunni. Rashid’s election raises concerns about escalating tensions between the KDP and PUK, who fought a civil war in the 1990s.

☆ More than 1,600 books banned during 2021-22 school year, report finds
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-19 | by ( Jo Yurcaba | Jo Yurcaba Is A Reporter For Nbc Out. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +8 min

More than 1,600 books were banned in over 5,000 schools during the last school year, with most of the bans targeting titles related to the LGBTQ community or race and racism, according to a new report. PEN America, a nonprofit that advocates for free expression in literature, released a report Monday, the start of Banned Books Week, that shows the sweeping scope of efforts to ban certain books during the 2021-22 school year. Books were banned in 5,049 schools with a combined enrollment of nearly 4 million students in 32 states, the report found. Friedman pointed to a case in Walton County, Florida, where a popular children’s book called “Everywhere Babies” landed on a banned books list last spring. The most frequently banned books were “Gender Queer: A Memoir,” by Maia Kobabe, followed by “All Boys Aren’t Blue,” by George M. Johnson and “Out of Darkness” by Ashley Hope Pérez, the report found.

☆ World AIDS Day: 5 ways you can make a difference
▼ + stars: | 2018-12-01 | by ( Lauren Lee | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

CNN —December 1 is World AIDS Day, an annual event raising awareness and money to fight AIDS around the world. According to the World Health Organization, an “estimated 38.4 million people were living with HIV at the end of 2021.”CNN Impact Your World spoke with two high-profile AIDS activists about five ways we all can play a role preventing HIV and AIDS. Courtesy Above All PhotographyActivist Deondre Moore, HIV Plus Magazine’s 2022 Person of the Year, tested HIV-positive when he was 19. Courtesy Ashley Rose Murphy24-year-old Ashley Rose Murphy was born with HIV, exposed by her infected birth mother in the womb. 3.Educate yourself and spread the wordWhile in high school, Murphy traveled the world speaking about HIV and AIDS.

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