LOS ANGELES — Addressing an LGBTQ community fearful that their gains in equality are slipping, Democratic presidential candidates on Thursday promised an aggressive agenda to end workplace discrimination, improve health care and ensure protections for people who face threats, or worse, because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. At...
Is America Ready for Gay President? Iowa Casts First Votes
DES MOINES, Iowa — The question posed to Pete Buttigieg — gay, married and running for president — came from a supporter at an Iowa campaign stop: What should he tell friends who say America isn't ready to elect a gay man as president? That prompted a woman in the...
Big Business to Supreme Court: Defend LGBTQ From Bias
NEW YORK — More than 200 corporations, including many of America's best-known companies, are urging the U.S. Supreme Court to rule that federal civil rights law bans job discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. The corporations outlined their stance in a legal brief released Tuesday by...
House Set to Approve Sweeping Bill to Expand Gay Rights
WASHINGTON — Democrats in the House approved sweeping anti-discrimination legislation Friday that would extend civil rights protections to LGBT people by prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. The protections would extend to employment, housing, loan applications, education, public accommodations and other areas. Called the Equality Act, the...
'Sesame Street' Wants to Clarify: Bert and Ernie Aren't Gay
NEW YORK — The producers of "Sesame Street" want you to know that Bert and Ernie are not, in fact, gay. Sesame Workshop tweeted a statement Tuesday that the characters are best friends and have many human traits but "remain puppets, and do not have a sexual orientation." In a follow-up tweet,...
Trump Orders Abstinence-Only Sex Ed in Midst of Stormy Battle
Last month, while President Trump and his legal team battled an adult film star in court to prevent her from sharing details about their alleged affair, the Trump administration quietly overhauled the federal government’s approach to teen pregnancy to focus entirely on abstinence-only programs. Previously restricted to locally driven, evidence-based...