5 THINGS TO KNOW

US govt. removed condom images from HIV-awareness fliers.

The Department of Health and Human Services stripped from a government website HIV/AIDS educational material that featured condoms, calling the images “unapproved,” according to official correspondence obtained by Kaiser Health News. The images had been included in a 2017 fact sheet…

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DOJ backs Kentucky photographer who won’t do gay weddings.

The Department of Justice is backing a Kentucky wedding photographer who is suing the city of Louisville over an ordinance banning local businesses from discriminating against gay customers. The DOJ’s “statement of interest,” filed this week in federal court…

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Five GOP lawmakers voted to keep an outdated sodomy law.

Maryland’s House has voted to repeal the state’s long-defunct sodomy law, but five Republican lawmakers voted against doing so. The Maryland House of Delegates voted on February 20 to repeal the state’s sodomy law, which punished sex “against the order of nature”…

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Republican: Create a record of people’s sexual preferences.

In a stunning and downright creepy display of government overreach, one Iowa Republican lawmaker wants to create a state record of married people’s sexual preferences. State Sen. Dennis Guth, R-Klemme, is sponsoring Senate File 2130, which would require Iowans applying for a…

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VA to be first Southern state banning LGBT discrimination.

This week, Virginia’s Democratic-lead legislature passed the Virginia Values Act, a law that adds sexual orientation and gender identity to the state’s pre-existing civil rights protections banning discrimination in employment, housing, and public accommodations. The state’s House and Senate must…