POLICIES

POLICIES

Cheyenne to delay LGBT protections.

August 31, 2017 compassq Comments Off on Cheyenne to delay LGBT protections.

An effort to offer new legal protections to Cheyenne’s LGBTQ residents may be delayed until next year as city councilmen wait for a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in a Colorado religious freedom case before introducing their ordinance. The proposed ordinance, which is still under review by the city attorney’s office, is intended to mirror one Laramie passed in 2015. It would make it illegal to fire employees or refuse to provide housing or other services on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.

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There really is no “freeze” when it comes to the transgender troop ban.

August 30, 2017 compassq Comments Off on There really is no “freeze” when it comes to the transgender troop ban.

Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis is creating a panel of experts to determine how the military should put President Donald Trump’s new guidelines for transgender service members into effect. Mattis said in a statement Tuesday the panel will be made up of people from the departments of Defense and Homeland Security. Members will be tasked with developing a system to “promote military readiness, lethality, and unit cohesion, with due regard for budgetary constraints and consistent with applicable law.”

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It looks like the Southern Baptist Convention doesn’t like the LGBT community.

August 30, 2017 compassq Comments Off on It looks like the Southern Baptist Convention doesn’t like the LGBT community.

Earlier today, the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood (CBMW) released what they’re calling the Nashville Statement, which was adopted at a recent conference sponsored by the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (the public policy arm of the Southern Baptist Convention). It’s a declaration of faith-based bigotry signed by some of the most powerful Christians in the country.

HEALTH

Transgender mental health helpline goes nationwide in the UK.

August 30, 2017 compassq Comments Off on Transgender mental health helpline goes nationwide in the UK.

The UK’s first mental health helpline offering emotional support and information to people who identify as transgender, non-binary or gender-fluid has been rolled out nationwide, with project leaders confident the pioneering scheme will become a permanent fixture as of early 2018. Mindline Trans+, co-run by local mental health charities Bristol Mind and Mind in Taunton and West Somerset, was expanded throughout the UK on August 1 after a successful six-month local pilot in southwest England.

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“Gay panic” defense no longer an option in Illinois.

August 30, 2017 compassq Comments Off on “Gay panic” defense no longer an option in Illinois.

Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner has signed a law prohibiting the use of the “gay panic” defense in murder cases.  SB 1761, which also bars defendants from submitting a “trans panic” defense, was unanimously passed by both the Illinois State Senate and House of Representatives back in June. It bars attorneys from submitting as a defense that their client was threatened by the victim’s real or perceived sexual orientation. Being able to submit it as a defense at trial doesn’t automatically mean a jury or judge will buy it, but it has resulted in defendants being convicted of lesser charges, and been used as a mitigating factor in sentencing.

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Chilean President leading the way for LGBT rights.

August 29, 2017 compassq Comments Off on Chilean President leading the way for LGBT rights.

Chilean President Michelle Bachelet has sent legislation to congress seeking to legalise gay marriage, a move that follows a string of social reforms in one of Latin America’s most conservative nations. The bill submitted on Monday would allow gay couples to adopt children and would denote marriage as a “union between two people” rather than between a man and a woman, according to reports.

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A gutsy strategy for overturning the transgender troop ban.

August 29, 2017 compassq Comments Off on A gutsy strategy for overturning the transgender troop ban.

On Monday morning, the American Civil Liberties Union and Lambda Legal filed separate lawsuits against Donald Trump’s ban on transgender troops, alleging that the policy violates the United States Constitution. Each group filed in federal district court—the ACLU in Maryland, Lambda in Washington state. Two other civil rights groups filed a similar suit earlier in August, meaning there are now three lawsuits in three different courts challenging the ban.