Leaders Craft a ‘Black Agenda’ for President Obama
Reverend Al Sharpton, president and founder of the National Action Network addresses the media after meeting with more than 40 leaders on a “Black Agenda” in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Freddie...
View ArticleBlacks Don’t Have Same Views on Same-Sex Marriage
by Maya Rhodan NNPA Washington Correspondent Rev. Amos Brown supports same-sex marriage. Rev. Anthony Evans opposes same-sex marriage. WASHINGTON (NNPA) – Rev. Amos Brown, pastor of the Third Baptist...
View ArticleEveryone is Hopping on the Gay Rights Bandwagon
By Lee A. Daniels NNPA Columnist You can call it the “bandwagon effect,” or “political opportunism,” or, the “wake-up-call effect,” or, less cynically, an old American tradition. Whatever you call it,...
View ArticleHeterophobia is the New Black
By Raynard Jackson NNPA Columnist Last week, I had to make one of the most difficult announcements of my life—I told my family that I liked women, err, love women. Not knowing how my mother would...
View ArticleBUSINESS EXCHANGE: Obama’s Gay Advocacy Agenda
By William Reed NNPA Columnist Due to Supreme Court rulings that were occurring in the United States, President Barack Obama’s advocacy for gay rights took place in Africa within 24 hours of arriving...
View ArticleObama is a ‘Do-Nothing’ (For Blacks) President
By Raynard Jackson NNPA Columnist In the 2008 presidential election, Blacks were the largest voting bloc for Obama (as a percentage)—96 percent. In 2012, Obama received 93 percent of the Black vote,...
View ArticleReport: Obama Used Word ‘Gay’ 272 Times in 5 Years
WASHINGTON (AP) — Which recent president has used the word “gay” most often in a public speech, statement or proclamation? And who used it the least, or not at all? The Human Rights Campaign, the...
View ArticleProposed Kansas Bill Would Allow Religion-Based Discrimination Against Gays
[Towel Road] Kansas lawmakers are considering a bill from Kansas state Rep. Charles Macheers (pictured) that would protect businesses, groups, and individuals who don’t want to serve gay married...
View ArticleArizona Worried Legislation Could Cost State Super Bowl XLIX
[USA Today] With the clock ticking for Gov. Jan Brewer to veto, ignore or sign SB 1062, local business leaders are expressing fear that Super Bowl XLIX may be pulled from Arizona next year. The...
View ArticleMichael Dunn Verdict and the Civil Rights Schism Between Blacks and Gays
[The Washington Post] The reaction to the mistrial in the Michael Dunn case on the first-degree murder charge for the 2012 killing Jordan Davis was predictable in a lot of ways. Another unarmed black...
View ArticleWhy ‘Religious Freedom’ Laws Could be a License to Discriminate
[MSNBC] Conservatives insist the so-called religious freedom bills that would allow a right to refuse to serve same-sex couples don’t do what liberals and gay and lesbian rights activists say they...
View ArticleArizona Senate: Business Owners Can Cite Religion to Refuse Service to Gays
[Arizona Daily Star] PHOENIX — State senators voted Wednesday to let businesses refuse to serve gays based on owners’ “sincerely held” religious beliefs. The 17-13 vote along party lines, with...
View ArticleArizona Governor’s Veto Aimed at Own Party’s Right
BOB CHRISTIE, Associated Press PHOENIX (AP) — Republican Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer slapped down the right wing of her own party, vetoing a bill pushed by social conservatives that would have allowed...
View ArticleUganda Slapped With Aid Cuts Over Anti-Gay Law
RODNEY MUHUMUZA, Associated Press KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — Uganda’s government has been hit with substantial aid cuts after the president enacted a severe anti-gay measure over which some Western...
View ArticleSupreme Court Rejects Appeal Over Gay Bias Case
JERI CLAUSING, Associated Press ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — The U.S. Supreme Court rejected an appeal Monday from a studio that refused to photograph a lesbian couple’s commitment ceremony, letting stand...
View ArticleUMass Basketball Player Announces He’s Gay
HOWARD ULMAN, AP Sports Writer Derrick Gordon had kept his secret for too long. He couldn’t be himself. He considered giving up the sport he loved. Because he was gay, he distanced himself from...
View ArticleJudge Considers Staying Ohio Gay Marriage Ruling
AMANDA LEE MYERS, Associated Press CINCINNATI (AP) — A federal judge who ordered Ohio to recognize the marriages of same-sex couples performed in other states says he’s inclined to issue a stay of...
View ArticleObama Moves to Ensure Sick Leave for Gay Couples
JOSH LEDERMAN, Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration will work to ensure that gay and lesbian Americans are eligible to take leave from their jobs to care for a same-sex spouse,...
View ArticleBiden: Gay Rights Take Precedence over Culture
Jim Kuhnhenn, ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON (AP) — Seeking to mobilize a global front against anti-gay violence and discrimination, Vice President Joe Biden declared Tuesday that protecting gay rights...
View ArticleActivists Want Gay Rights on Africa Summit Agenda
DAVID CRARY, AP National Writer Human rights and gay rights activists on Tuesday urged President Barack Obama to ensure that the issue of anti-gay discrimination in Africa is on the agenda at next...
View ArticleUS Removes Gambia from Trade Agreement
Associated Press DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Activists have praised the U.S. government’s decision to remove Gambia from a trade agreement in response to human rights abuses, including a law signed in...
View ArticleTake a Page from Gay Rights Activists
By Lauren Victoria Burke NNPA Columnist When it comes to the issue of gay rights in America, sometimes you can see the tide of a movement change in front of you. There was a time not so long ago when...
View ArticleGay Marriage in Alabama
By Lee A. Daniels NNPA Columnist It’s entirely appropriate that the bigoted antics of Alabama’s conservative, publicity-hound Chief Justice Roy S. Moore in unsuccessfully trying to block the right...
View ArticleUgandan Gay People ‘Abused by Police’
(BBC) – Ugandan police harass and physically abuse gay people in custody, a report by a human rights group has said. Chapter Four Uganda documented several cases of men suspected of being homosexual...
View ArticleSame-Sex Marriage: Why People Really Oppose It
(USA Today) – Why do you oppose same-sex marriage? Indiana University sociologist Brian Powell posed this question to hundreds of people across the nation as part of a research project. He was...
View ArticleBen Carson: Prisons Prove Being Gay is a Choice
Washington (CNN) – Ben Carson says homosexuality is a choice because many people “go into prison straight — and when they come out, they’re gay.” The neurosurgeon and potential Republican candidate...
View ArticleBarney Frank: Aaron Schock Should be ‘Exposed’
(Politico) – Former Rep. Barney Frank, who wrote in POLITICO Magazine this month about the dilemmas he faced as a gay member of Congress who kept his sexuality private for 32 years, says that if...
View ArticleGovernor in a Political Firestorm Over Indiana Law
STEVE PEOPLES, Associated Press TOM DAVIES, Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Just a week ago, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence was considered one of the few Republican presidential prospects who could unite...
View ArticleQ&A: Issues, Possible Legal Outcomes in Gay Marriage Cases
Mark Sherman, ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON (AP) — Just two years ago, the Supreme Court struck down part of the federal anti-gay marriage law that denied a range of government benefits to legally...
View ArticleCarson: Gay Rights Aren’t the Same as Civil Rights
Washington (CNN) – Ben Carson said Wednesday night that he was “irritated” by the comparison between the fight for same-sex marriage rights and the Civil Rights Movement because there’s no overt...
View ArticleNigeria Poll Suggests 87% Oppose Gay Rights
(BBC) – A new opinion poll suggests that 87% of people in Nigeria support the legal ban on same-sex relations. That number is lower than five years ago, when 96% of Nigerians opposed relationships...
View ArticleConservative Overreach May Explain Liberal Victories in Supreme Court
(Los Angeles Times) – The Supreme Court term that ended this week will be remembered for the landmark ruling that legalized same-sex marriage nationwide, but it will also go down as a year when a...
View ArticleIn Kenya, Obama Blends Blunt Messages with Warm Reflections
Julie Pace, ASSOCIATED PRESS NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — President Barack Obama mixed blunt messages to Kenya’s leaders on gay rights, corruption and counterterrorism Saturday with warm reflections on his...
View ArticleObama Lectures Kenyan President on Gay Rights, Promises Counter Terrorism...
Obama’s Visit to Kenya — Father’s Homeland Special to the NNPA from the Afro-American Newspaper President Obama took Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta to task over the African country’s record on gay...
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