New top story from Time: In Win For LGBTQ Rights, Supreme Court Declines to Hear Appeal Challenging Landmark Trans Rights Ruling

https://ift.tt/3x4RZ10

The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal on Monday to a circuit court ruling that required a Virginia school to let a transgender student use the bathroom corresponding with his gender identity. The decision delivers a major win for Grimm as well as LGBTQ advocates that have decried bathroom bans and other anti-trans policies that have sprung up across the U.S. this year, many of which target trans youth.

The case began in 2015 when Gavin Grimm, a then-16-year-old transgender teen, sued his public high school over a policy that prevented him from using the boys restroom, instead directing him to use a unisex one. With the backing of the ACLU, Grimm’s suit alleged the policy violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment and Title IX, which prohibits sex discrimination in schools.
[time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]

The Obama-era Justice Department supported Grimm’s position, and in 2016 the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in his favor. The school board appealed, and the Supreme Court agreed to take up the case in 2017. But later that year the Trump Administration revoked an Obama-era directive to schools to not discriminate on the basis of gender identity, so SCOTUS then sent the case back to the 4th Circuit to reevaluate. The 4th Circuit ruled in Grimm’s favor again in 2020, and the school board once again appealed. But to no avail: the Supreme Court declined to hear that appeal, leaving in place the 4th Circuit’s ruling and handing Grimm one last and final win.

While the court did not offer reasoning in its order, Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas dissented, signaling they would have taken up the case.

“I am glad that my years-long fight to have my school see me for who I am is over,” said Grimm in a statement. “Being forced to use the nurse’s room, a private bathroom, and the girl’s room was humiliating for me, and having to go to out-of-the-way bathrooms severely interfered with my education. Trans youth deserve to use the bathroom in peace without being humiliated and stigmatized by their own school boards and elected officials.”

I was barred from the bathroom at my highschool 7 years ago, when I was 15. 6 years ago, at 16, myself with the @ACLU/@ACLUVA filed suit in response to that discrimination. Twice since I have enjoyed victories in court, and now it's over. We won.

— Gavin Grimm 🏳️‍⚧️ (@GavinGrimmVA) June 28, 2021

“This is an incredible victory for Gavin and for transgender students around the country,” said Josh Block, a senior staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) LGBTQ & HIV Project, in a statement. “Our work is not yet done, and the ACLU is continuing to fight against anti-trans laws targeting trans youth in states around the country.”

Douglas NeJaime, a professor of law at Yale Law School, tells TIME that in some ways the order is not surprising because “the logic follows” from 2020’s Bostock v. Clayton County case, in which the Supreme Court ruled that firing individuals for being gay or transgender violates Title VII’s ban on sex discrimination. “The reasoning in that opinion would apply to a range of federal laws that prohibit sex discrimination, including in education,” he explains.

“Courts across the country will take note of Gavin Grimm’s decision, and decisions in appellate and district courts around the country that have consistently ruled in favor of transgender students,” says Paul Castillo, counsel and students’ rights strategist at Lambda Legal, an LGBTQ legal advocacy organization. (The 4th Circuit’s ruling will apply to school policy in states in the mid-Atlantic, including Maryland and Virginia, but the issue remains unsettled nationwide.)

The order also comes weeks after the Biden Administration reversed a Trump-era policy on June 16, issuing a letter announcing the Department of Education interprets federal protections against sex discrimination to include protections of LGBTQ students.

“The Supreme Court has upheld the right for LGBTQ+ people to live and work without fear of harassment, exclusion, and discrimination – and our LGBTQ+ students have the same rights and deserve the same protections,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona, in a statement that same day, adding that the “Department makes clear that all students—including LGBTQ+ students—deserve the opportunity to learn and thrive in schools that are free from discrimination.”

Comments

New top story from Time: The 5 Best New Shows Our TV Critic Watched in March 2021

https://ift.tt/3sHZ3ia If my memories of 2019 are correct, March tends to be a month of anticipation even in relatively normal times. The snow has melted, but the trees are still bare. The temperature’s rising, but not consistently enough to put your winter coat in storage. All of that nervous early-spring energy is heightened this year, as we wait our turns in the vaccination queue and cross our fingers that the variants won’t halt our progress toward herd immunity. My favorite new TV shows of the month—a detective story set in Northern Ireland, a pulpy Spanish thriller, a mouthwatering kids’ show, a docudrama filled with ecstatic musical numbers and a nostalgic blast from reality TV’s primordial past—probably say a lot about how I’m dealing with that impatience: through the pursuit of big, bright, unapologetically entertaining distractions. Maybe you’d like to do the same? Bloodlands (Acorn TV) Although they officially ended in 1998, the decades of political conf...

FOX NEWS: California couple gets married at 'most beautiful' Taco Bell: 'It was the best of both worlds' Analicia Garcia, 24, and Kyle Howser, 25, from Sacramento, California, got married on Tuesday, Oct. 26 and had their reception at the famous Pacifica, California, Taco Bell.

California couple gets married at 'most beautiful' Taco Bell: 'It was the best of both worlds' Analicia Garcia, 24, and Kyle Howser, 25, from Sacramento, California, got married on Tuesday, Oct. 26 and had their reception at the famous Pacifica, California, Taco Bell. via FOX NEWS https://ift.tt/3BKWsrb

Happy Lunar New Year 2022: Year of the Tiger

Happy Lunar New Year 2022: Year of the Tiger By Pamela Johnson Lunar New Year is one of the biggest holidays celebrated in many Asian communities. Diverse San Franciscan communities including Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese people have long celebrated this festive occasion. For many, the Lunar New Year brings a fresh mindset and resolutions for happiness and health. A zodiac animal with specific traits represents each year in the repeating zodiac cycle of 12 years. 2022 is the Year of the Tiger, the third animal in the zodiac. The tiger is considered courageous and adventurous.  The holiday follows the moon's cycles and usually begins in late January or early February. This year Lunar New Year begins February 1. Fun Fact: In the lunar calendar, the Vietnamese zodiac and the Chinese zodiac are similar, but the Vietnamese zodiac includes a cat while the Chinese ...

FOX NEWS: Hurricane Ida forces dogs and cats to be airlifted from Louisiana, Mississippi to shelters across US As Hurricane Ida hits the South, animal shelters nationwide have been helping cats and dogs escape affected areas.

Hurricane Ida forces dogs and cats to be airlifted from Louisiana, Mississippi to shelters across US As Hurricane Ida hits the South, animal shelters nationwide have been helping cats and dogs escape affected areas. via FOX NEWS https://ift.tt/3kHFCmR

Fulton Street Sees Transit and Safety Improvements

Fulton Street Sees Transit and Safety Improvements By Shalon Rogers A temporary transit bulb was recently installed at 8th Avenue and Fulton, reducing travel time for the 5 Fulton and 5R Fulton Rapid and making boarding safer. For those who ride the 5 Fulton or 5R Fulton Rapid in the Richmond District, you may have recently noticed something new about the bus stops on Fulton Street at 6th and 8th avenues. And perhaps you noticed that your bus ride seemed to go slightly faster or with less disruption. Two new temporary transit bulbs installed at 6th Avenue eastbound and 8th Avenue westbound bring safety and transit benefits to Fulton Street in advance of the planned construction of permanent bulbs and are part of the Fulton Street Safety and Transit Project . Six permanent transit bulbs between Arguello and 10th Avenue are ultimately planned, which will save time and improve reliability for riders on the 5 Fulton and 5R Fulton Rapid by reducing the time it takes for buses to pull...

New top story from Time: The 23 Most Anticipated Movies of Fall 2021

https://ift.tt/3jmOizz At long last, the final blockbusters that were supposed to arrive in 2020 are hitting re-opened movie theaters. This will be the last time to see Daniel Craig as James Bond —but the first time to glimpse Angelina Jolie as the Marvel immortal Thena in Eternals , which sees Oscar-winning director Chloé Zhao join the Marvel Cinematic Universe . It remains to be seen how the Delta variant will affect in-person moviegoing this fall; the movies below represent a mix of streaming, theatrical-only and hybrid release models. But however you get your movie fix this fall, there’s no question the circumstances of the past 18 months have yielded quite a bounty. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] Here are the most notable films hitting theaters and streaming platforms this fall. Cinderella (Sept. 3) The centuries-old fairy tale gets a modern retelling as a jukebox musical on Amazon Prime, with the pop star Camila Cabello donning the glass slipper. This vers...

FOX NEWS: Students sing to teacher with stage 4 cancer outside hospital: 'It was overwhelming' In an emotional goodbye visit, 26 children sang worship songs prior to Carol Mack's move to hospice care

Students sing to teacher with stage 4 cancer outside hospital: 'It was overwhelming' In an emotional goodbye visit, 26 children sang worship songs prior to Carol Mack's move to hospice care via FOX NEWS https://ift.tt/3GWyQ6G

New top story from Time: Half of U.S. Workers Favor Employee COVID-19 Vaccine Mandates, Poll Finds

https://ift.tt/3kqAHXc (NEW YORK) — Half of American workers are in favor of vaccine requirements at their workplaces, according to a new poll , at a time when such mandates gain traction following the federal government’s full approval of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine. The poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research shows that about 59% of remote workers favor vaccine requirements in their own workplaces, compared with 47% of those who are currently working in person. About one-quarter of workers — in person and remote — are opposed. The sentiment is similar for workplace mask mandates, with 50% of Americans working in person favoring them and 29% opposed, while 59% of remote workers are in favor. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] About 6 in 10 college graduates, who are more likely to have jobs that can be done remotely, support both mask and vaccine mandates at their workplaces, compared with about 4 in 10 workers without college degrees. Christo...

New top story from Time: Thailand Is Reopening Its Hottest Beach Destination. But One Bangkok Newspaper Is Calling It a “Prison Vacation”

https://ift.tt/3h3YXxR (PHUKET, Thailand) — Somsak Betlao covered the outboard motor on his traditional wooden longtail boat with a tarp, wrapping up another day on Phuket’s Patong beach where not a single tourist needed his services shuttling them to nearby islands. Since Thailand’s pandemic restrictions on travel were imposed in early 2020, tourism has fallen off a cliff, and nowhere has it been felt more than the resort island off the country’s southern coast, where nearly 95% of the economy is related to the industry. So, despite spiking coronavirus numbers elsewhere in the country, the government is forging ahead with a program known as the “Phuket sandbox” to reopen the island to fully vaccinated visitors. It hopes it will revive tourism — a sector that accounted for 20% of the country’s economy before the pandemic. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] Instead of the hotel quarantines required elsewhere in Thailand, tourists on Phuket will be able to roam the entire isla...

New top story from Time: Delta Air Lines Is Charging Unvaccinated Employees $200 Insurance Fee. Will It Work?

https://ift.tt/3BnqAtb As the fourth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic continues, more companies are starting to require coronavirus vaccines for their employees. But this week, Delta Air Lines chose a different tactic when it became the first major U.S. company to say it will charge more for health insurance if employees do not get vaccinated. Some may see this as a compromise between vaccine mandates and more positive incentives, but experts say it could be complicated to execute and that there’s no way to tell how effective it will be. The move represents the tricky calculus employers are being forced to make as they try to keep employees safe and their companies running while avoiding the worker shortages hitting some industries. It also comes as vaccinated individuals around the country are blaming unvaccinated people for surging daily case numbers, resulting in increased hospitalizations, deaths, a return to mask-wearing and social-distancing measures, among other conseque...

My precise view

Search This Blog