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Mississippi gov will sign bill limiting transgender athletes
โ Mississippi is on track to become the first state this year to enact a law banning transgender athletes from competing on girls or women's sports teams. Tate Reeves said Thursday that he will sign a bill that the Republican-controlled Mississippi Legislature has passed. AdRepublican legislators who pushed the bill gave no evidence of any transgender athletes competing in Mississippi schools or universities. A Mississippi mother with a transgender daughter spoke Thursday during the Human Rights Campaign news conference. AdSupporters of bills such as the one in Mississippi argue that transgender girls, because they were born male, are naturally stronger, faster and bigger than those born female.
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San Antonio among U.S. cities with highest scores of inclusivity by Human Rights Campaign
SAN ANTONIO โ The city of San Antonio is one of the 94 cities in the U.S. that received the maximum score for inclusivity on the Human Rights Campaign Municipal Equality Index (MEI) Scorecard for 2020. San Antonio earned 100 points on the scorecard based on how inclusive its laws, policies and services are for the LGBTQ population, according to the HRC. San Antonio received a score of 83 and 18 additional FLEX points, which added up to 100 points on the scorecard. To see San Antonioโs scorecard, or for more on the 2020 MEI process, click here. RELATED: San Antonio has some of the nicest neighbors in the country, survey finds
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Sarah McBride becomes the first openly transgender person to be elected state senator
While most Americans continued awaiting the presidential election results, history was silently being made in Delaware. Sarah McBride, 30, made history on election night by becoming the first openly transgender person to be elected to the state Senate in U.S. history. โI hope tonight shows an LGBTQ kid that our democracy is big enough for them, too,โ McBride tweeted Tuesday night after the election was called. McBride is a former spokesperson for the LGBTQ advocacy group Human Rights Campaign and also became the first trans person to speak at a major political convention. McBride will represent parts of Bellefonte, Claymont and Wilmington, the stateโs largest city.
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For transgender activists, election stokes hopes and fears
(AP Photo/Jason Minto)Among transgender-rights activists, thereโs a powerful mix of hope and fear heading toward the Nov. 3 election. โThe stakes are extremely high,โ said Shannon Minter, a transgender attorney with the National Center for Lesbian Rights. โ Support from administration attorneys for efforts to prevent transgender girls from competing in Idaho K-12 girls' sports and university women sports and from doing so in Connecticut high school girls' sports. There have been at least 33 violent deaths of transgender or gender nonconforming people this year in the U.S., according to the Human Rights Campaign, a national LGBTQ-rights organization. โIf Trump loses, Iโm hopeful weโll see federal agencies reversing the many anti-trans policies that the Trump administration has adopted,โ Strangio said.
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LGBT activists see hard work ahead despite Supreme Court win
FILE - In this Oct. 8, 2019, file photo, protesters gather outside the Supreme Court in Washington where the Supreme Court is hearing arguments in the first case of LGBT rights since the retirement of Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy. Former Vice President Joe Biden, Trumps likely election opponent, hailed the Supreme Court ruling as a momentous step forward for our country, and said he looked forward to signing the Equality Act. The Supreme Court has teed up years of social conflict, said the National Association of Evangelicals. Mondays high court ruling is likely to be cited in future litigation over the scope of those exemptions. The court ruling came at a moment when many LGBT activists are aligning with the Black Lives Matter movement and other groups protesting police brutality and racial injustice.
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Two SA companies score 100% for LGBTQ workplace equality
SAN ANTONIO โ The non-profit, Human Rights Campaign, just released its annual Corporate Equality Index, which grades companies across the nation on their level of inclusion for LGBTQ employees. Two San Antonio companies received perfect scores this year: Rackspace and USAA. "I think we both experienced that before Don't Ask Don't Tell was repealed. HRC puts together an annual Corporate Equality Index, which uses a list of criteria to rate companies on inclusivity. Weโre asking you to understand it and respect it in the workplace,โ said USAA Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer Jason Kamiya.