POLICIES

POLICIES

Fighting Jeff Sessions for LGBT rights.

August 15, 2017 compassq Comments Off on Fighting Jeff Sessions for LGBT rights.

“We write to you to express deep disappointment regarding the brief the Department of Justice filed in the case of Zarda v. Altitude Express which is pending before the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, arguing that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 does not protect lesbian, gay or bisexual people from discrimination, we believe this action is not only contrary to existing law, but violates our nation’s ideals of liberty and justice for all,” sixty-two US senators and members of the US House of Representatives said in an August 7 letter to Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

HEROES

Gay-Straight Clubs in Catholic schools are taking hold.

August 14, 2017 compassq Comments Off on Gay-Straight Clubs in Catholic schools are taking hold.

Whether named Gay-Straight Alliance, Inclusivity Club, or something else, Catholic schools in Ontario now allow lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) acceptance student groups because they have to, but many districts are proactively supporting gay-straight alliances, and many students find their school to be a much more empathetic place.

5 THINGS TO KNOW

Transgender rights find support from some religious conservatives.

August 14, 2017 compassq Comments Off on Transgender rights find support from some religious conservatives.

Transgender rights activists emphasize that they belong to a minority that’s defined by a gender identity that is different from that typically associated with their assigned sex at birth. This transgender identity presupposes that ‘masculinity’ and ‘femininity’ are innate psychological states that are intrinsic in the human subject, conceptualized as things akin to hair color or skin pigmentation.

5 THINGS TO KNOW

High school student’s yearbook quotes are “straightwashed”.

August 14, 2017 compassq Comments Off on High school student’s yearbook quotes are “straightwashed”.

When two openly gay students at Kearney High in Missouri flipped through their yearbooks to their photos, rather than finding the inspirational quotes they’d chosen to go below their pictures, there was nothing but blank space because school officials removed the pro-gay quotes out of concern that other students could be offended, according to KCTV.

5 THINGS TO KNOW

The President’s weakening authority over the military.

August 13, 2017 compassq Comments Off on The President’s weakening authority over the military.

“Our opponents, the media, and the whole world will soon see, as we begin to take further actions, that the powers of the president to protect our country are very substantial and will not be questioned,” presidential adviser Stephen Miller told the nation on February 13. Rarely has a prophecy been quite this wrong.

5 THINGS TO KNOW

A history of the gay marriage debate in Australia.

August 12, 2017 compassq Comments Off on A history of the gay marriage debate in Australia.

It’s been quite a week in Australian politics. You might have heard that the Turnbull government (a coalition of the centre-right Liberal Party and slightly further-right-but-mostly-rural National Party) have been debating marriage equality and have launched something called a postal-plebiscite. To understand why this is a Big Complicated Deal, we have to go back to 2004. Before 2004, the Marriage Act (1961) of Australia did not take note of gender when establishing the federal definition of marriage. In 2004, long term Liberal Prime Minister John Howard passed the amendment to the Marriage Act with the express purpose of ‘[ensuring] that same sex marriages are not recognised as marriage in Australia’. At the time, no major Australian political party endorsed marriage equality, and no […]