Mother Jones: We Asked Cops How They Plan to Enforce North Carolina’s Bathroom Law

...How will the state try to enforce its new law, which is the first of its kind to be enacted in the United States? So I picked up the phone and started calling some North Carolina police departments to find out....
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/04/north-carolina-lgbt-bathrooms-hb2-enforcement

Johns Hopkins Professor Endangers the Lives of Transgender Youth

Once again, Paul McHugh has used the ever more tarnished name of Johns Hopkins to distort science and spread transphobic misinformation. This time, it comes via a position statement from the American College of Pediatricians (ACP) a tiny offshoot of a real professional organization, the American Academy of Pediatrics. The ACP is a group of less than 200 ultra-conservative, mostly Catholic, people (most of whom aren’t even pediatricians) who oppose letting gay people be parents, the HPV vaccine, marriage equality, birth control and medical care for transgender people. They are in favor of reparative therapy and abstinence-only education, though.

The ACP is designated a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, along with organizations such as the Klan and Aryan Brotherhood....
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/brynn-tannehill/johns-hopkins-professor-e_b_9510808.html

No, Transgender Protections Do Not Justify Men In Women’s Restrooms. A State Agency Just Said So.

The most frequently used argument against transgender protections in public accommodations is that it will make it legal for “men” to enter women’s restrooms and other facilities, thus putting women and children at risk. Following a recent stunt by one non-transgender man entering a women’s locker room at a Seattle pool, the Washington State Human Rights Commission has clarified in no uncertain terms that this kind of behavior is not protected under the state’s gender identity law....
http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2016/02/29/3754688/washington-transgender-protections/

It's Now Legal In Mississippi To Discriminate Against Unmarried Couples That Have Sex | ThinkProgress

Mississippi is now in competition with North Carolina for having the most anti-LGBT law on the books. Tuesday morning, Gov. Phil Bryant (R) signed HB 1523 into law, endorsing a veritable catalog of discrimination against LGBT people and even those who have sex before marriage...
http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2016/04/05/3766471/mississippi-governor-signs-anti-lgbt-bill/

PayPal Punishes North Carolina For Anti-LGBT Law By Abandoning 400-Job Expansion

PayPal announced Tuesday morning that it has abandoned its plans for a massive global operations center, which would have brought 400 new jobs to Charlotte, North Carolina. The company was unequivocal that the decision was made because of the state’s passage of HB2, a sweeping law that blocks cities from enacting LGBT nondiscrimination protections and mandates that transgender people use the wrong bathrooms for their gender identities....
http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2016/04/05/3766501/paypal-north-carolina/

Why North Carolina’s New Anti-LGBT Law is a Trojan Horse

When North Carolina lawmakers passed what is widely viewed as the most sweeping anti-LGBT law in the country, supporters said it was needed to fend off a potential wave of local laws like the transgender-friendly bathroom ordinance adopted by the city of Charlotte. Opponents have called the new law a “hostile takeover of human rights.”

But all the attention on who can use toilets and locker rooms has overshadowed what employment rights advocates say is an even more expansive change made by the law — one that could affect all workers in North Carolina, not just those who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender....
https://www.propublica.org/article/why-north-carolinas-new-anti-lgbt-law-is-a-trojan-horse

Mississippi could now legalize discrimination against people who have premarital sex

...But as this bill is actually written, though, a whole lot of people in Mississippi besides sexual minorities could face discrimination, too — like the vast numbers of people who have had sex outside of marriage...
http://www.rawstory.com/2016/03/mississippi-could-now-legalize-discrimination-against-people-who-have-premarital-sex/

ACSJ Presents Professor Sheldon W. Helms: Gay Conversion Therapy

Sheldon will be speaking on the topic of Gay Conversion Therapy, providing us with a brief history of the efforts to alter people’s sexual orientation both through religion and therapy, some evidence of the potential risks these processes pose to victims, as well as an overview of the problem in the social, legal, and political domains. Sheldon Helms is a Professor of Experimental Psychology at Ohlone College in Fremont, CA where he serves as senior faculty member in the psychology department. He holds a master’s degree in psychology, and is currently a doctoral candidate in the School of Education at Alliant International University...
https://youtu.be/1llnklBbfuE

Kansas Bill Would Pay Students A $2,500 Bounty To Hunt For Trans People In Bathrooms

The complementary bills (SB 513 and HB 2737) declare in no uncertain terms that transgender students are going to harm other students just by using the same facility alongside them. “Allowing students to use restrooms, locker rooms and showers that are reserved for students of a different sex will create potential embarrassment, shame, and psychological injury to students,” they read...
http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2016/03/22/3762490/kansas-transgender-ransom-bathrooms/

Transparent Trickery: Claims Of ‘Persecution’ In Idaho Fail To Sway Court

ADF’s stunt was extremely transparent. It had two goals: One, exempt the Hitching Post from having to perform same-sex marriages and two, try to create a case in which a Christian ministry was being persecuted for its beliefs.
https://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/transparent-trickery-claims-of-persecution-in-idaho-fail-to-sway-court

Gay “Cures” Are Harmful And Don’t Work, Says World’s Largest Body Of Psychiatrists

Exclusive: The World Psychiatric Association has condemned so-called conversion therapy and called on governments around the world to decriminalise homosexuality.
http://www.buzzfeed.com/patrickstrudwick/gay-cures-are-harmful-and-dont-work-says-worlds-largest-body

11 Terrible Right-Wing Laws and Ideas Pushed by Far-Right Republicans Near You

It can happen to your town too. 
http://www.alternet.org/tea-party-and-right/11-terrible-right-wing-laws-and-ideas-pushed-far-right-republicans-near-you

The Hinterlands -- the musical

Meet Paul. He's 16. He's into theoretical physics. He lives in the middle of nowhere. And he's gay. Being a scrawny, queer science nerd practically makes him a bully magnet. But life's not easy for anyone in The Hinterlands.
https://youtu.be/QNOs9Ngabm4?list=PLHbimPLlGHECHWlwYeoXUaT9w7jMktvdj

Catholic Bishops Winning “Liberties,” Losing Humans | Religion Dispatches

"Maybe it’s not them, Cardinal. Maybe it’s you. Maybe the pews are empty and the Starbucks are full because the hierarchy is more concerned about the public performance of a very specific type of conservative Catholicism that infringes on the rights of others than on fostering a genuine Christian community that actually creates a sacred space. Where’s the Catholic Sandy Koufax? He’s probably at Starbucks."
http://religiondispatches.org/catholic-bishops-winning-liberties-losing-humans/

Georgia’s GOP governor uses New Testament to reject anti-LGBT ‘religious freedom’ bill

“I think what the New Testament teaches us is that Jesus reached out to those who were considered the outcasts, the ones that did not conform to the religious societies’ view of the world and said to those of belief, ‘This is what I want you to do,'” Deal said after a ribbon-cutting ceremony in Atlanta. “We do not have a belief — in my way of looking at religion — that says we have to discriminate against anybody. If you were to apply those standards to the teaching of Jesus, I don’t think they fit.”
http://www.rawstory.com/2016/03/georgias-gop-governor-uses-new-testament-to-reject-anti-lgbt-religious-freedom-bill/

Real Time with Bill Maher: New Rule – The Empathy Gap (HBO)

In his editorial New Rule, Bill Maher calls out Republicans for refusing to get on the humane side of an issue unless they have been personally affected by it. Original air date: March 4, 2016.
Interview:
https://youtu.be/BVwFmdipfZg

The Real Kasich | Full Frontal with Samantha Bee | TBS

If you think John Kasich is your moderate answer to the crazy pile atop the South Carolina primary, think again.
https://youtu.be/p6y_AeJXUdM

Georgia gov: ‘I don’t perceive this bill allows discrimination’

Georgia’s business community has mobilized against the bill, bolstered by high-profile opponents including Marc Benioff, founder of technology company Salesforce...
http://www.lgbtqnation.com/2016/02/georgia-gov-i-dont-perceive-this-bill-allows-discrimination/

Coalition of 400 companies fight Georgia's proposed 'religious liberty' bill

One major company is already leaving the state over the law, which would allow individuals and organizations to discriminate against same-sex couples...
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/feb/28/georgia-religious-liberty-bill-first-amendment-defense-act

The Republican Party's Double Secret Probation Plan For Transgender Students | ThinkProgress

The Republican National Committee (RNC) recently took a brash position opposing transgender equality — and didn’t tell anyone about it. Weeks after its passage at the RNC’s winter meeting last month, Time Magazine’s Zeke Miller found the resolution urging lawmakers to discriminate against transgender people...
http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2016/02/26/3754170/republicans-transgender-students/