Case dismissed against baker over refusal to make gender-transition cake
The Colorado Supreme Court declined to rule whether a Christian baker can refuse to make a gender-transition themed cake for a transgender customer. A technicality led to the case getting dismissed.
It all started when Autumn Scardina sued Jack Phillips in 2017 after the Denver-area baker said he would not make the celebratory pink cake with blue frosting.
The case was among several in Colorado involving LGBTQ rights versus First Amendment rights.
In 2018, Phillips received a partial victory before the U.S. Supreme Court after turning down a gay couple’s wedding cake request. Justices ruled he could refuse to make the cake because of his religious beliefs.
Scardina filed a complaint against Phillips with the state and the Colorado Civil Rights Commission, before filing a lawsuit, which found probable cause he discriminated against Scardina.
In 2019, lawyers for the state and Phillips agreed to drop both cases under a settlement Scardina was not involved in. That’s when Scardina pursued a lawsuit against Phillips and his cakeshop.
Turns out Scardina didn’t file the lawsuit correctly, which is where the technicality came in.
Justices say Scardina should have challenged the state’s settlement with Phillips directly to the state’s Court of Appeals.
Scardina’s attorney said they are evaluating if there are any other legal options they can take.
Phillips’ attorney said his client has been mocked for years by those who don’t agree with him and that it is time to leave him alone.
Windows in gender-neutral bathrooms at school boarded up after complaints
Complaints over a Pennsylvania school board’s approval to put windows in gender-neutral bathrooms, may have already resulted in a reversal of that decision. The South Western School District school board approved the construction in August.
The openings could be seen earlier this week at Emory H. Markle Middle School in Hanover.
But, by Thursday, Oct. 3, the openings in the walls were closed. A local group called “Citizens of South Western’s Future” posted the update.
The openings made the inside of the bathrooms, but not the stalls, visible from the school hallway.
The board’s president said they made the decision to install the openings so it would be easier to monitor “prohibited activities such as any possible vaping, drug use, bullying or absenteeism.”
Many parents expressed concern over the decision for the privacy of their children.
Some also said it was discrimination toward LGBTQ students.
The project cost $8,700, which critics said was a waste of taxpayer money.
The school board has not confirmed why the windows were boarded up, but some residents suspect it’s due to the backlash.
In recent years, book banning has once again become a hot topic in the U.S., with more than 10,000 books banned in public schools in the 2023-24 school year alone, according to a new survey from PEN America. That’s almost triple the number of books that were banned in the 2022-23 school year.
PEN America says about 8,000 of the books banned last school year were in Florida and Iowa, two states that recently put in place laws targeting classroom material, in particular.
During the first eight months of this year, the ALA recorded 414 challenges, with 1,128 titles called into question. During the same time last year, it recorded 695 cases involving 1,915 books.
Hezbollah blames Israel for deadly pager explosions
Hezbollah is blaming Israel after pagers used by the militant group exploded killing at least nine people and injuring thousands. And former President Donald Trump holds his first campaign event since the second apparent assassination attempt on his life. These stories and more highlight your Unbiased Updates for Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024.
Hezbollah blames Israel for deadly pager explosions
Multiple explosions in Lebanon have killed at least nine people and left nearly 3,000 injured. Explosives inside pagers used by the militant group Hezbollah were set off Tuesday afternoon, Sept. 17.
The Iran-backed group blames Israel for the attack. Hezbollah said an 8-year-old was among those killed and Iran’s envoy to Beirut was among the injured.
Sources told Reuters Israel’s Mossad spy agency had planted the explosives inside 5,000 pagers. An American source and other officials confirmed to the New York Times that Israel was behind the operation.
The pagers appeared to be from Taiwan-based Gold Apollo. In a statement released Wednesday, Sept. 18, Gold Apollo said they were manufactured by another company based in Budapest that was authorized to use Gold Appollo’s brand.
Hezbollah fighters have been using pagers to bypass Israeli location-tracking following a warning by group leaders earlier this year saying cell phones were more dangerous than Israeli spies.
Hezbollah has vowed to retaliate against Israel.
Hezbollah and Israel began exchanging strikes shortly after Hamas’ deadly terrorist attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. Tuesday’s blasts add to the growing concern over a larger war in the Middle East.
Secretary of State of Antony Blinken will be in Egypt Wednesday to work on securing a cease-fire agreement to put an end to the conflict between Israel and Hamas and see the release of the hostages who remain in Gaza.
Trump, Harris both use assassination attempt to highlight policy proposals
Former President Donald Trump was back on the campaign trail Tuesday, holding his first event since the second apparent attempt on his life over the weekend. During a town hall in Flint, Michigan Trump told Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders the assassination attempts are proof his policy proposals are powerful.
“It’s a dangerous business however, being president,” Trump said. “It’s a little bit dangerous. It’s, you know, they think racecar driving is dangerous. No. They think bull-riding, that’s pretty scary, right? No, this is a dangerous business and we have to keep it safe.”
He later added, “You know, only consequential presidents get shot at.”
Trump also said both President Joe Biden and, his opponent in the 2024 presidential race, Vice President Kamala Harris called him after the assassination attempt, saying it was “very nice” and he appreciated it.
“Not everybody has Secret Service,” Harris said, “and there are far too many people in our country right now who are not feeling safe. I mean, I look at Project 2025 and I look at the ‘don’t say gay laws’ coming out of Florida. Members of the LGBTQ community don’t feel safe right now. Immigrants or people with an immigrant background don’t feel safe right now. Women don’t feel safe right now.”
Both candidates are focusing on swing areas that could decide the election, which is expected to be a close one.
Trump is set to campaign in New York, Washington, D.C., and North Carolina this week. Harris will also stop in Washington as well as Michigan and Wisconsin in the coming days.
Speaker Johnson to bring spending bill up for vote
House Speaker Mike Johnson is expected to put his short-term spending plan up for a vote Wednesday, though there are signs it will not get the GOP support needed to pass.
Johnson previously pulled a stopgap bill that was coupled with the SAVE Act — which would require proof of citizenship to vote in federal elections — after it became clear it was unlikely to get enough Republican approval to pass. House Democrats also opposed the plan, though it would keep the government funded through most of March.
Congress has until the end of September to pass at least a temporary measure keeping the government open, otherwise a shutdown looms Oct. 1.
Federal Reserve expected to cut interest rates for first time since 2020
The Federal Reserve is expected to cut interest rates for the first time since 2020. However, it’s not yet known by how much.
Straight Arrow News Business Correspondent Simone Del Rosario has a closer look here.
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs denied bail in racketeering, sex trafficking case
Sean “Diddy” Combs has been denied bail and will remain in custody as he faces serious charges, including sex trafficking, racketeering, conspiracy, and transportation to engage in prostitution.
Authorities say Combs will be held by himself at a “special housing unit” in a detention center in Brooklyn.
In a federal courtroom in New York City on Tuesday, Combs pleaded not guilty to the charges he’s facing. Prosecutors allege that Combs used his business empire to force women into engaging in sexual acts with professional sex workers and himself.
Prosecutors allege that in late 2023, following public accusations of these crimes, Combs and his associates attempted to pressure victims into silence through bribery.
If convicted on all charges, Combs faces decades in prison.
Billie Jean King to make history as Congressional Gold Medal recipient
Tennis hall of famer Billie Jean King is being recognized with a prestigious Congressional Gold Medal for her efforts on and off the tennis court.
The measure had already passed the Senate and on Tuesday night, it passed the House, making Billie Jean King the first individual female athlete to ever receive the congressional honor.
🚨 History made! 🚨 The House just passed my bipartisan, bicameral bill to award my friend, @BillieJeanKing, legendary athlete, and ardent advocate, the Congressional Gold Medal, making her the first female athlete to ever receive this honor—yet another iconic trailblazing moment… pic.twitter.com/kbkkym0aVN
“Mister speaker, it is now time to enshrine Billie Jean King’s legacy as not only a champion of tennis, but a champion of equality whose impact will continue to inspire women and girls and people across America and across the world,” Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) said before the measure was passed.
After receiving the news that she would receive the Congressional Gold Medal, King took to X to say, “Thank you. I am deeply humbled and honored.”
Sweet Briar College cites more than 120-year-old will to bar transgender women
An all-women’s college in Virginia is out with a new admission policy reported on Friday, Aug. 30, that bars transgender women from enrolling next school year, citing a document from more than 120 years ago. Sweet Briar College’s President and Chair of the school board Mary Pope Hutson said the rule stems from the legally binding will of its founder, Indiana Fletcher Williams, who died in 1900.
Hutson said the document requires the liberal arts school to “be a place for girls and young women.” She wrote in a letter that the phrase “must be interpreted as it was understood at the time the will was written.” The policy now requires applicants to “confirm that her sex assigned at birth is female, and that she consistently lives and identifies as a woman.”
However, the new rule sparked criticism. Many faculty members fear the guidelines will hurt already diminishing enrollment numbers. Women’s colleges have reportedly seen a decline in enrollment since the 1960s, and Sweet Briar College nearly shuttered in 2015 due to financial problems and falling enrollment.
Opponents of the new requirement also cited the board’s original interpretation of the will, which excluded non-white students. The institution had to get permission from a federal judge to accept Black students after Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Faculty voted overwhelming on Monday, Sept. 2, to rescind the admission policy.
Sweet Briar College’s Student Government Association called the policy “alienating” and “unnecessary.” The association’s president, who is nonbinary, said at least 10% of students use different pronouns and would not fit within the new policy. However, it is unclear how the admission rules would impact current students.
Hutson responded, saying that the college works to “ensure” all students “feel welcome,” adding, a “broader policy is a slippery slope toward co-education.”
Women’s colleges began to admit transgender women around a decade ago. However, at least three now bar transgender women. Private undergraduate colleges are exempt from Title IX, so, Sweet Briar College is not required to follow new rules from the Biden administration, banning discrimination based on gender identity.
NH state representative to pay drag queens $200k to settle defamation lawsuit
A New Hampshire state lawmaker was forced to apologize and payout $200,000 to two drag queens on Monday, Aug. 26, as part of a defamation lawsuit settlement. The pair will get $100,000 each after suing Rep. David Love, R-N.H., for falsely accusing one of being a sex offender and another of acting inappropriately with kids.
“After being provided with inaccurate information, information that I failed to verify, I publicly accused Robert Champion aka Monique Toosoon of being a registered sex offender and Michael McMahon aka Clara Divine of ‘rubbing butts’ with children,” Love said in a statement. “I have since learned that those assertions were completely false. I wish to publicly retract those statements and apologize to Robert and Michael.”
Love made the remarks in 2022 as he introduced a now-failed bill that would have required library employees and volunteers to get background checks. He told his colleagues he became motivated after claiming to see a drag queen dancing with children in a sexual manner in 2021 and saying another performer at drag queen story hour in 2019 was a “convicted sex offender.”
Love continued to spread the false claims even after local officials told him they were untrue. Love claimed he’d seen an article about Champion being a sex offender but could not recall where he read it.
Champion said following Love’s false accusations, protesters showed up at his event at a local library in 2019, and he received death threats. He added that he’s committed to doing everything in his power to make sure Love doesn’t get reelected.
McMahon said that he hopes Love and other politicians take this case as a lesson to not throw around falsehoods recklessly.
Missouri now requiring proof of surgery to change gender on IDs
A quiet move just made it harder for Missouri residents to change their gender on their driver’s license. Previously, all residents had to do was fill out a gender designation change request form and get it approved by a physician, therapist or social worker — but that has changed.
Under the new Department of Revenue rule, residents will have to prove they’ve had transitioning surgery or they’ll have to get a court order to make the change.
The move comes after some Republican state lawmakers questioned the old policy on gender identifications. This follows protests and counterprotests in August over a transgender woman’s use of women’s changing rooms at a suburban St. Louis gym.
Biden pardons veterans convicted under military gay sex ban
In a move that impacts potentially thousands of former U.S. service members, President Joe Biden pardoned all those convicted of violating a now-repealed ban on consensual gay sex. The action, which comes as Pride month winds down, grants a pardon to service members convicted under the uniform code of military justice’s former article 125, which criminalized sodomy.
The law had been in place since 1951. Congress rewrote it in 2013 to ban only forcible acts.
Those covered by the pardon will be able to apply to get proof their conviction has been erased, petition to have their discharges from the military upgraded and move to recover lost pay and benefits.
In a statement, the president said he was “righting a historic wrong.”
The White House estimates the change will impact several thousand service members, with the majority convicted before the military instituted the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy in 1993. It allowed LGBTQ troops to serve, as long as they did not disclose their sexual orientation. That policy was repealed in 2011 when Congress allowed for their open service in the military.
Supreme Court to hear challenge to ban on gender-affirming care for minors
On Monday, June 24, the U.S. Supreme Court announced it will review the constitutionality of Tennessee’s prohibition on gender-affirming care for minors. This case marks the first opportunity for the high court to decide on such restrictions, which have been enacted in 23 states since 2021.
Additionally, some states limit care for transgender adults, and several conservative states have pending legislation to completely ban gender-affirming care. The central question is whether these bans constitute sexual discrimination.
Tennessee’s ban on puberty blockers, hormone therapy, and transgender surgeries for adolescents and teens has led to numerous legal challenges, prompting the Biden administration to encourage the Supreme Court to address the issue.
The White House highlighted that inconsistent rulings in lower courts have created significant uncertainty for approximately 100,000 transgender minors.
A federal appeals court allowed the bans in Tennessee and Kentucky to proceed, while Florida is contesting a federal judge’s decision that prevents the enforcement of state restrictions on gender-affirming care.
“The absence of the Court’s intervention means that families in Tennessee and other states where laws like SB1 are in effect will be deprived of critical medical care,” the Justice Department said in its appeal to the Supreme Court.
Advocacy groups supporting transgender youth have urged the Supreme Court to invalidate Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming care.
“The matter is clear: All individuals are entitled to the medical care they require, and this includes transgender and non-binary youth,” Kelley Robinson, the president of the Human Rights Campaign, told CNN. “Politicians should not interfere with decisions that should be made by families and doctors, especially when such care is necessary and considered best practice.”
Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti said that he looks forward to defending the law at the Supreme Court, adding that the decision will provide “much-needed clarity” on whether the Constitution provides “special protections for gender identity.”
Judge blocks Biden’s Title IX LGBTQ+ protections in 4 states
A federal judge has blocked the Biden administration’s new Title IX rule expanding protections for LGBTQ+ students in four states: Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana and Idaho. The Louisiana judge said the rule overstepped the Education Department’s authority.
In a preliminary injunction granted Thursday, June 13, the judge called the new rule an “abuse of power” and a “threat to democracy.”
Louisiana is among several Republican states with laws requiring students to use bathrooms and locker rooms based on their sex assigned at birth, restricting transgender students from using facilities that align with their gender identity.
President Joe Biden’s rule clashes with those laws and claimed to supersede them. The Education Department said it’s standing by its rule and reviewing the judge’s order.
This case is among at least seven backed by more than 20 Republican-led states fighting the Biden administration’s Title IX expansion.
The rule, which is set to take effect in August, expands Title IX civil rights protections to LGBTQ+ students, expands the definitions of sexual harassment at schools and colleges, and adds safeguards for victims.
Judges in at least six other cases are still weighing whether to put similar holds Biden’s Title IX rule, which was announced in late April. They include one federal lawsuit led by Tennessee and West Virginia that was joined by Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana and Virginia.
Alabama, Florida, Georgia and South Carolina also filed suit in a federal court in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and Texas filed a similar suit in federal court in Amarillo.
The Louisiana judge expressed concern that the rule could require schools to allow transgender women and girls to compete on female sports teams. Several Republican states have laws forbidding transgender girls from competing on girls’ teams.
The Biden administration has proposed a separate rule that would forbid such blanket bans but has said the Title IX rule change at the center of these lawsuits does not apply to athletics.