TAG: US

Being transgender in the workplace is difficult in Vietnam or anywhere

The White House’s naming of a transgender person as the new outreach and recruitment director at the Office of Personnel, the first openly transgender person to occupy a senior position in the White House, is ground-breaking. The appointment of Raffi Freedman-Gurspan is a sign of the inclusive leadership of the Obama administration. The fact that […]

Largest Online Male Escort Service Raided

A criminal complaint was unsealed today in federal court in Brooklyn charging the CEO of Rentboy.com, Jeffrey Hurant, and six Rentboy.com employees with conspiring to violate the Travel Act by promoting prostitution. The defendants were arrested this morning and are scheduled to appear before United States Magistrate Judge Marilyn Go at the United States Courthouse, […]

The UN Security Council debates gays and ISIS: Why this is a bad idea

By Scott Long I. Questions On August 18, the Islamic State (also known as ISIS or ISIL or by its Arabic acronym, Da’ish) assaulted history. They beheaded an 82 year-old archaeologist, the resident expert on the ruins in the occupied city of Palmyra. Two days earlier, on August 16, Syrian government warplanes assaulted daily life; Assad’s pilots bombed a crowded […]

Critically examining the US Supreme Court decision on same –sex marriage

Of course I cried. I cried because these nine antiquarian arbiters in funeral garb – five of them anyway, each looking about as forward-thinking and progressive as a constipated grandparent – informed me at last that I am part of this Great Community they help to govern.

This Abortion Rights Billboard Got Taken Down Before Obama Could See It

Reproductive health advocates say they were told Kenyan officials insisted on the removal of the billboard criticizing Obama’s position on a controversial abortion rule. posted on Jul. 24, 2015, at 12:33 p.m. Jina Moore BuzzFeed News World Correspondent A billboard protesting Obama’s strict interpretation of the anti-abortion Helms Amendment was taken down on July 10, […]

Same-sex marriage in June 2015

As we know June is always important for LGBT rights. But this year the month has been especially productive in respect to the same marriage agenda. This trail, in fact, began a month earlier in Ireland, where a referendum has granted these right to those demanding them for a long time. Ireland it should be […]

Abortion Rates Alone Don’t Tell Us What We Need to Know About the State of Reproductive Wellness

by Steph Herold, Sea Change Program June 11, 2015 – 11:33 am While a new Associated Press report suggests the abortion rate is declining in almost all states, we still don’t know whether there’s been an increase in reproductive wellness. Focusing only on a lowered abortion rate as metric of health and well-being is both […]

US Muslim wins hijab case against Abercrombie & Fitch

Supreme Court rules in favour of Muslim woman who said clothing label denied her a job because of her headscarf. 02 Jun 2015 The company denied Elauf the job on the grounds that wearing the scarf violated its “look policy” [Reuters] The US Supreme Court has ruled in favour of a Muslim woman who filed […]

The GOP: Fiddling With Your Uterus While Our Country Burns

by Jodi Jacobson, Editor in Chief, RH Reality Check May 14, 2015 – 4:06 pm At a time when the nation is facing numerous crises, including crumbling and increasingly dangerous infrastructure, the GOP leadership in Congress is deregulating and defunding services and agencies that save people’s lives, while obsessing about abortion bans. And for this […]

White House Takes Stance Against ‘Reparative Therapy’

Taken from Reality Check A letter posted Wednesday to WhiteHouse.gov thanked visitors for signing a petition in support of banning “conversion therapy” for LGBTQ young people. So-called conversion therapy, also known as “reparative therapy,” seeks to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity. It has been found to be psychologically harmful and has been rejected […]

Women Deserve to Know About HIV Prevention Medication Too

by Anna Forbes and Manju Chatani and Dázon Dixon Diallo March 10, 2015 – 1:05 pm In 2012, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the use of the antiretroviral medication Truvada as the first form of PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis), a pill to protect against getting HIV. To date, the United States is the […]

U.S. Push for Abstinence in Africa Is Seen as Failure Against H.I.V.

By DONALD G. McNEIL Jr. FEB. 26, 2015 SEATTLE — The $1.3 billion that the United States government has spent since 2005 encouraging Africans to avoid AIDS by practicing abstinence and fidelity did not measurably change sexual behavior and was largely wasted, according to a study presented on the last day of an AIDS conference […]