Britney Spears. (Getty/ Bruno Vincent) The fan-led movement to free Britney Spears from her conservatorship has inspired California lawmakers to consider changing the law around the complex legal arrangement. Spears, 39, has for more than a decade seen her affairs, which includes her estate, career and mental health, governed by her father, Jamie Spears, among others, as
Law
Tennessee became Friday (26 March) the third US state to cruelly pass a bill banning trans girls from playing in middle and high school sports as their correct gender. State governor Bill Lee announced on Twitter he had signed Senate Bill 228 to “preserve women’s athletics and ensure fair competition”. Such a view, the American Civil
WWE legend Mickie James has come out swinging for trans rights after Arkansas passed legislation banning trans athletes. Mickie Laree James-Aldis, who wrestles under the name Mickie James, has won six WWE women’s championship titles, making her the 12th greatest female wrestling superstar in the company’s history, according to the WWE Network. So when she
Giana Desir, a trans woman, won a hefty discrimination lawsuit against a real estate broker. A year later, she says, she still hasn’t seen any money. Desir, from Brooklyn, New York, won $50,000 in compensation from a real estate broker sexually who harassed her and said she couldn’t live near “people or children”. New York City’s
Republican lawmakers in Tennessee have introduced a bill that would allow cisgender students to sue a school if they are ‘forced’ to share school facilities with trans students. Jason Zachary, a Republican congressman from Knoxville, introduced House Bill 1233 at the same time Mike Ball, a Republican senator from Riceville, introduced its sister bill in
Boris Johnson. (Christopher Furlong/WPA Pool /Getty) MPs from across the UK have insisted that any ban on conversion therapy must also include trans people. During a debate in Westminster Hall on Monday evening (8 March), MPs urged the government to ban the harmful, pseudoscientific practice. The debate, triggered by a petition to government signed by
Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg (L) and his husband Chasten Buttigieg (R) wave during a campaign town hall event at Washington Liberty High School 23 February 2020 in Arlington, Virginia. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images) Teacher and LGBT+ rights advocate Chasten Buttigieg has shared a horrifying experience of being confronted by a manager about his
Queer people in all 50 states now have equal protection from domestic violence under the law. (Envato Elements) Queer victims of domestic violence are finally protected by law in all 50 states after a historic court ruling in North Carolina. North Carolina had been the only state that did not offer equal protection to queer
David Aruquipa kisses Guido Montano after Bolivia recognised their same-sex civil union. (AIZAR RALDES/AFP via Getty) Bolivia has recognised a same-sex civil union for the first time after a gay couple took their battle for recognition to the courts. David Aruquipa, 48, and Guido Montaño, 45, had their relationship recognised by Bolivia’s civil registry following
FKA twigs (L) and Shia LaBeouf. (Getty) FKA twigs is suing her former boyfriend Shia LaBeouf for sexual battery, assault and emotional distress after he, she claimed in a lawsuit, knowingly gave her a sexually transmitted disease. Their relationship was rumbled by “relentless abuse”, the musician claimed in a lawsuit filed in the Los Angeles
A federal judge has ruled that requiring trans people to prove their gender to get a passport is unconstitutional. Oliver Bruce Morris, a trans man from Nevada, was denied a passport in 2018 because the gender marker on his application didn’t match his birth certificate. The state department said at the time he needed a
A trans woman who begged on the streets to survive is now fighting for her community as Pakistan’s first-ever transgender lawyer. Nisha Rao ran away from home at the age of 18 without a penny to her name. She found refuge with the transgender community of Karachi, who advised her to beg or become a
The Ugandan men were whipped by officials before being chained and walked to the police station, disturbing footage shows. (Screen capture via YouTube) LGBT+ Ugandans arrested under dubious coronavirus charges have revealed the harrowing levels of abuse they faced while in prison – being beaten with iron rods, burnt with firewood and forced to “confess”
The California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) lost the legal battle (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images) A gay man in California has won a legal challenge over his right to use the car license plate QUEER, after officials argued it should be banned because it may cause offence. Computer engineer, folk musician and record producer Amrit Kohli,
Anti-trans pressure group For Women Scotland. (For Women Scotland/ Instagram) A judge at Scotland’s highest civil court has fixed dates for proceedings concerning whether a government plan to expand the legal definition of women to include trans women is “lawful”. Scottish supreme court judge Lady Wise arranged for a two-day judicial review to take place
Donald Trump-appointed judges reverved a vital ban on therapists offering conversion therapy – a denounced and debunked pseudosicenfitic practise – Friday (November 20), branding the ban “unconstititional”. Also called reparative therapy, medical organisations across the world have widely rejected the treatment as traumatising and psychologically scarring, especially to minors. In fact, the American Academy of
Norwegian flag (Gonzales Photo/Stian S. Moller/PYMCA/Avalon/Universal Images Group/Getty) Norway has banned hate speech against bisexual and trans people in a landmark change to its penal code. Gay men and lesbians have been protected from hate speech under Norway’s laws since 1981, with those found guilty facing up to one year in prison or a fine
Donald Trump and Amy Coney Barrett after she was sworn in. (Getty) As the US presidential election dominates news tickers and Twitter timelines, the Supreme Court heard a case Wednesday morning (4 November) that could throw the nation’s anti-discrimination laws into disarray. In what will become the first fight for justice Amy Coney Barrett, whose
South Australia is planning to ban the horrific “gay panic” defence in court cases, meaning the practice would be illegal all across the country. The gay panic defence has been used in numerous murder cases over the years. The controversial legal strategy claims that discovering a victim’s sexuality or gender identity caused the defendant to
Texas Governor Greg Abbott at the state capital on May 24, 2018 in Austin, Texas. (Drew Anthony Smith/Getty) Social workers can freely discriminate against LGBT+, as well as people with disabilities, thanks to the administration of Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott as of Monday (12 October). The lawmaker, who once signed a bill banning discrimination
Supreme Court nominee Judge Amy Coney Barrett. (LEAH MILLIS/POOL/AFP via Getty Images) Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett sparked outrage Tuesday (13 October) by insisting she has never discriminated against LGBT+ people based on “sexual preference”. You know, that vastly dated term long criticised by LGBT+ people as being a discriminatory dogwhistle? On
Andrew Dvash-Banks and Elad Dvash-Banks with their sons Ethan and Aidan (Immigration Equality) An appeals court has upheld the victory of Andrew and Elad Dvash-Banks, a gay couple fighting for their baby to get US citizenship despite efforts from the Trump administration. The State Department had refused to grant citizenship to two-year-old Ethan Dvash-Banks, who was
Plans to decriminalise homosexuality in the Cook Islands have been kicked down the road yet again (Envato Elements) Plans to decriminalise homosexuality have been kicked down the road on the Cook Islands in a devastating blow to the local queer community. The region, which is self-governing but has a free association arrangement with New Zealand,
The conservatorship that Britney Spears has been entangled in for the last 12 years will remain unchanged, a court hearing Wednesday (19 August) said. In a move that will likely sow even further discord among a faction of the pop star’s fans that are vying for the complex legal arrangement to end, Spears’ father, Jamie, will
A father in a southern England town assailed his own 15-year-old son – humiliating him and whipping him with a television cable – all because he joined Grindr. Courts in Plymouth heard how the father launched into a brutal display of dominance against his own child as he lashing he son 20 times while calling
A federal judge has decided that it’s OK for a photographer to refuse to work a same-sex wedding – despite the fact that nobody has ever asked her to do so. Chelsey Nelson, of Chelsey Nelson Photography, describes herself on her website as “a Louisville, Kentucky photographer and private photo editor with a heart for
A federal district court in Idaho, US, ended a Republican-backed law that banned trans people from changing their birth certificates Friday (August 7) in a stunning victory for activists. The District Court of Idaho ruled that recent changes made by the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare violate a current injunction from a 2018 law.
Democratic lawmakers joined activists to rally against the transgender military service ban. (Alex Wong/Getty Images) Democrats in the House of Representatives quietly dealt a devastating blow to US president Donald Trump’s trans military ban on Thursday (July 30). A measure pitched by California representative Jacki Speier and sponsored by a bloc of 28 fellow Democrats
Around 23 LGBT+ people in Uganda were whipped by officials before being chained and walked to the police station, disturbing footage shows. (Screen capture via YouTube) The 20 LGBT+ people in Uganda arrested under dubious coronavirus charges – where a municipal mayor canned them before officers chained and marched them to a police station –
Shadow human services minister Nat Cook is drafting legislation to ban traumatising conversion therapy in South Australia. (NatCookMP/ Twitter) New legislation is to be introduced South Australia to ban the traumatising practice of conversion therapy “as soon as possible”. The legislation, proposed by the opposition Labor Party, would mean that medical professionals and religious groups