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☆ Women living in states with abortion bans suffer greater economic insecurity
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( Vanessa Yurkevich | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

New York CNN —Women living in states that restrict or ban abortion face greater economic insecurity than those living in states where they have access, new research finds. “In many of these states, especially the states which have banned abortion, many of the women who are facing economic challenges already are also women of color,” she said. Raising the minimum wage is a powerful tool that has been known to have significant impact on closing racial income gaps. But nearly two-thirds of abortion restrictive states have a $7.25 minimum wage, the lowest legal hourly wage for most workers in the United States. The average minimum wage across the 26 states is $8.17, lower than the average $11.92 for states with no restrictions.

☆ Britain vows new law to ban conversion therapy for LGBTQ people
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-17 | by ( ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON — Britain will seek to ban conversion therapy targeting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, cracking down on so-called treatments that claim to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity. Culture minister Michelle Donelan said on Tuesday the government would publish draft legislation soon, setting out proposals to ban conversion practices in England and Wales. “The Bill will protect everyone, including those targeted on the basis of their sexuality, or being transgender,” Donelan said in a statement. A 2017 national LGBTQ survey people found that 5% of respondents had been offered conversion therapy and 2% had undergone it, with over half of it done by religious groups. Many advocates have long called for a ban on conversion therapy, but others have argued that any ban should not outlaw conversations with clinicians or therapists helping people with gender issues.

☆ Pornhub is requiring viewers in Louisiana to verify their age with a government ID as part of a new state law
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-04 | by ( Aaron Mok | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Pornhub is making users in Louisiana verify their age with a form of government ID, Vice reported. The move is part of the state's new law requiring porn sites to vet minors with age-verifying tech. But some experts say the law can increase surveillance and potentially hurt certain communities. The law considers minors as anyone under the age of 18. So far, Louisiana users can reportedly still access porn sites XVideos and XHamster without age verification, according to Vice, though OnlyFans is stuck on a loading page.

The proposals have alarmed voting rights activists and state Democrats, who tried and failed last year to block a GOP-backed overhaul of election laws — a priority of Gov. The 62 voting rights-related bills Texas lawmakers have already prefiled represent nearly all prefiled voting rights legislation across the country, according to a review of prefiled bills by Voting Rights Lab and NBC News. An election police forceRepublican-authored Texas bills, such as HB 549 and SB 220, propose creating a system of state “election marshals,” who would investigate allegations of violations of election and voting laws, and file criminal charges when warranted. Harsher penaltiesLegislation such as HB 39, HB 52, HB 222, HB 397 and SB 166 aims to raise the penalty for election and voting rights crimes to a felony from a misdemeanor. “All my bill does is restore the felony punishment for illegal voting,” Texas Rep. David Spiller, the author of HB 52, said in an interview.

☆ Russia's Human Rights Council was warned not to make Putin mad with questions about the war in Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-07 | by ( John Haltiwanger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Russia's Human Rights Council was told not to upset Putin with questions about Ukraine. The chair of the council was told not to address the "toxic" issue of Russia's death toll. The war in Ukraine has gone poorly for Russia, which is estimated to have suffered approximately 100,000 casualties since Putin launched the invasion in late February. Putin in November booted a number of members from the council, including xenophobia researcher Alexander Verkhovsky and anti-torture campaigner Igor Kalyapin. At the meeting, Putin said the war in Ukraine could be a "long process" and denied plans for a second mobilization.

☆ Indonesia’s Parliament passes law criminalizing adultery
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-06 | by ( The Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +4 min

JAKARTA, Indonesia — Indonesia’s Parliament passed a long-awaited and controversial revision of its penal code Tuesday that criminalizes extramarital sex for citizens and visiting foreigners alike. After ratification, the new criminal code must be signed by the president, according to Deputy Minister of Law and Human Rights Edward Hiariej. The criminal code will not apply immediately. Widodo had instructed Law and Human Rights Minister Yasonna Laoly to get input from various communities while lawmakers discussed the articles. “These laws let police extort bribes, let officials jail political foes, for instance, with the blasphemy law,” Harsono said.

The new laws significantly broaden the scope of a 2013 law which banned the dissemination of LGBTQ-related information to minors. The new iteration extends the ban on promoting such information to adults as well. Under the new law, it will be banned across the internet, media, books, audiovisual services, cinema, and advertising. The European Court of Human Rights ruled in 2017 that the 2013 law is discriminatory, promotes homophobia and violates the European Convention on Human Rights. A new, expanded version of the 2012 law on foreign agents came into effect last week.

At face value, this act seems like a step forward by codifying federal same-sex and interracial marriage rights. At best, it is a preemptive Band-Aid should the Supreme Court try to overturn Obergefell v. Hodges, which cited the Fourteenth Amendment to legalize same-sex marriage. But in no way does this act federally legalize “marriage equality” across the United States. The protections to religious liberty were late additions to the bill, in order to secure the support of Senate Republicans like Utah’s Mitt Romney. Of course, the irony in this situation is that federal marriage equality isn’t even guaranteed under the Respect for Marriage Act.

☆ Rising star Hakeem Jeffries announces bid to lead U.S. House Democrats
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-18 | by ( Richard Cowan | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

He would build on Pelosi's historic accomplishments as the first female House speaker and the first woman to lead a party in either chamber of Congress. Jeffries satisfies the demand of many House Democrats that younger blood replace the 82-year-old Pelosi, who has had a grip on leadership for the past two decades. 2 position of Democratic whip and moderate Representative Pete Aguilar was expected to seek the job heading the Democratic caucus, which Jeffries now holds. If Jeffries wins the Nov. 30 leadership election, Democrats will be placing party power squarely with New Yorkers. While he is a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, Jeffries at times has had strained relations with some progressives, who have questioned his ties to corporate America.

A new documentary about the killing of Mexican American soldier Vanessa Guillen provides an inside look at the tenacious pursuit her family embarked to spark change in the military justice system. Christy Wegener, director of the “I am Vanessa Guillen” documentary available on Netflix Thursday, said this is “not a traditional crime documentary by any means.”“It has a bigger mission,” she told NBC News. Vanessa Guillen, at center. As her fight for further and more permanent military reform continues, Mayra Guillen said she has considered becoming a congresswoman. Mayra Guillen, center, in "I Am Vanessa Guillen."

Audiences will see how the battle in the Texas Legislature over gender-affirming care for trans children is far from a mere partisan philosophical argument or campaign talking point for me. That’s the year a flood of anti-LGBTQ bills were introduced in the Texas Legislature — the majority of which directly targeted trans kids and their families. This year dealt Texas trans families a double blow when state Attorney General Ken Paxton delivered a nonbinding legal opinion that gender-affirming care for children was child abuse — followed by a directive from Gov. We acted quickly as a family, breaking the news of our pending out-of-state move to Noah over an unforgettably sad dinner. Despite it all, Texas is where our hearts reside, no matter how many miles might separate us and how directly damaging Republican rhetoric has been.

☆ The pro-choice movement is jubilant after the midterms turned the anti-abortion tide
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-13 | by ( Bethany Dawson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

The midterms proved that voters want to defend abortion access. Smith told Insider that, like many others, while she eagerly awaited the midterm results, the young man popped into her head. Timmaraju told Insider that they'd shifted resources over the summer into getting out the vote. "I think the moral of the story is young voters and women voters saved the day, saved Democrats." Melissa Fowler, the chief program officer of the National Abortion Federation, told Insider that, "Now the country has heard loud and clear that people support abortion access.

(Reuters) - The shooting death of teenager Michael Brown by a Ferguson, Missouri, police officer prompted the U.S. Justice Department's most significant investigation of policing practices since the beginning of the Black Lives Matter movement. The DOJ also pointed out that “police departments in surrounding municipalities and the County” have practices similar to Ferguson, although that issue was “beyond the scope” of the investigation. In fact, federal officials even considered opening another investigation of the St. Louis police department for similar problems, Reuters reported in October 2020. Ferguson officials expressed concerns that the reforms required to stop exploitative policing in their city would “cripple city finances,” Reuters reported in March 2016. (A measure to institute a modest property tax increase to fund the reforms didn't get the required two-thirds majority vote.)

“We are seeing more litigation in 2022 relating to elections and election administration and the like than we have ever seen before,” Elias said. Consovoy McCarthy, a 20-lawyer Washington law firm that represented Trump in lawsuits over congressional subpoenas, is playing an especially active role on the Republican side. The lawyers' real test may come after election day, when close or contested results are likely to spark fresh lawsuits, attorneys said. Whatever shape those cases take, "you have to be ready,” said Adam Bonin, an election lawyer who has represented Democrats in Pennsylvania. Opinion polls show Republicans are set to win back control of the House of Representatives and perhaps also the Senate at the midterm elections.

“I didn’t want to hide anymore and I wanted to show everyone who Josh Cavallo the person is. It’s just absolutely phenomenal that it’s had that impact.”"To see that we're heading to a country (Qatar) that's criminalizing people like myself ... It's quite concerning," says Cavallo of the 2022 World Cup. CNN has reached out to Qatar’s World Cup organizers for comment on Cavallo’s comments, but did not get a response. Earlier this year, former England international David Beckham become one of the most high-profile ambassadors for the World Cup in Qatar.

☆ After Buffalo mass shooting, New York urges a nationwide crackdown on livestreamed carnage
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-18 | by ( Laura Italiano | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

New York leaders are urging federal and state reforms after the Buffalo mass shooting. They also recommend making it easier to sue streaming platforms like Twitch and Discord. There is currently no law on the books in New York or elsewhere criminalizing the act of livestreaming oneself committing a homicide. In the case of the Buffalo mass shooting, the alleged gunman had been radicalized by racist posts that ran rampant and uncensored on sites including 4chan, Reddit and 8chan, the report said. Twitch, the Amazon-owned video-streaming service stopped the Buffalo live-stream approximately two minutes after the first person was shot, the report said.

☆ Michigan GOP gubernatorial nominee Tudor Dixon says 'single women working' lead 'a pretty lonely life'
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-16 | by ( John L. Dorman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Dixon said that the incumbent governor's "dream for women" is to have "single women working." Gretchen Whitmer of not providing support for families in the state, arguing that the governor favored "single working women" who have "a pretty lonely life." Single women working. Single women working. I think that's pretty twisted," Dixon told the newspaper.

☆ Turkey’s New Media Law Criticized by Free-Speech Advocates
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-14 | by ( Jared Malsin | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is at risk of defeat in next year’s election, partly due to the struggling economy. ISTANBUL—Turkey’s parliament passed a law criminalizing the spread of alleged disinformation and forcing social-media platforms such as WhatsApp to hand over users’ personal information, raising alarm among free-speech advocates. Turkish journalists and media watchdogs say the legislation, passed late Thursday, will have a chilling effect on speech in the run up to Turkey’s national election scheduled for next year. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is at risk of defeat in the election partly due to Turkey’s struggling economy.

☆ ‘Chaos and Confusion’ in States Where Abortion Is On Again, Off Again
▼ + stars: | 2022-08-11 | by ( Allison Mccann | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +12 min

In some of these states, whether abortion is legal has changed from week to week. The state’s trigger ban has been blocked and reinstated three times in the course of six weeks. On July 14, a federal judge lifted an injunction on Kentucky’s 15-week abortion ban, allowing it to take effect. On July 14, a federal judge lifted an injunction on Kentucky’s 15-week abortion ban, allowing it to take effect. But even though abortion remained legal in those states, providers said that patients and medical professionals did not always know what was going on.

☆ A Texas woman is being charged with murder after police say she performed a 'self-induced' abortion
▼ + stars: | 2022-04-09 | by ( Yelena Dzhanova | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

KVEO reported that Texas police arrested a 26-year-old woman for allegedly performing a self-induced abortion. Abortion clinics in Texas have tried to block the law in court, arguing it would prohibit care for "at least 85% of Texas abortion patients." The Starr County Sheriff's Office did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment asking for more information on the incident. "This is a developing story and we don't yet know all the details surrounding this tragic event," Gonzalez told Texas Public Radio. When SB 8 was introduced, abortion clinics in states neighboring Texas told Insider they were flooded with requests for reproductive healthcare from people who could no longer acquire it in Texas.

☆ Girls behind bars tell their stories
▼ + stars: | 2015-03-26 | by ( Ashley Fantz | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

“I say, ‘What’s gone on in your life?’ “The result of that tenderness and patience is Ross’ latest collection of photos, “Girls in Justice.”The images are unflinching. But the girls also tell their stories alongside the images. Photographer Richard Ross Richard RossOne photo shows a girl in a tan jumpsuit, hand on her head, sitting alone in a drab, cavernous room. Many of the stories are bleak, reflecting adults who endangered the girls or, at the very least, failed repeatedly to protect them. Ross seems to be saying the shame isn’t the girls’ – it’s ours as a society for jailing children.

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