Tag: Social Issues

Supreme Court Strikes Down Republican-Drawn Election Map for Alabama

The Supreme Court voted 5–4 on June 8 to strike down Alabama’s electoral map for congressional elections, ruling that it was racially discriminatory. The court narrowly found that the map drafted by Alabama Republicans violated the provisions of the federal Voting Rights Act (VRA) which requires that states not racially gerrymander districts. Most members of the…


IN-DEPTH: How ‘Child-Friendly’ Drag Events Can Expose Children to Sex Offenders

Drag events targeting children can be a hunting ground for sexual predators, according to a therapist with a long career in treating sexual predators. A relatively recent phenomenon “Drag Queen Story Hour,” which first appeared in San Francisco, now is happening around the nation—at public libraries, in eateries, at performance venues, in parades, and even at…


Oklahoma Approves the First Religious Charter School in US, Prompting Threats of Litigation

An Oklahoma school board approved the nation’s first publicly funded religious charter school. The Oklahoma Statewide Virtual Charter School Board voted 3–2 on June 5 to approve an application by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Oklahoma City and the Diocese of Tulsa for a new online school, St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School. The fact…


California Laws Don’t Make Common Sense as Lawmakers Are Cornered by Ideologies: Former State Senator

“If [lawmakers] change how they are dealing with these issues, they’ll have to admit that they were wrong,” said former Republican California State Sen. Melissa Melendez regarding why she thinks the state Legislature keeps passing laws that don’t seem to work. Bills are passed not because they can solve the state’s issues, but because they…


MA Catholic School Enlists Lesbian, Gay Activist as Graduation Speaker

Boston’s largest Catholic organization is calling out a prominent all-girls Catholic school in Massachusetts for choosing a lesbian activist as its graduation speaker. In her speech to the graduating class of Fontbonne Academy, Andi Lyons told students that disapproval of same-sex relationships was equivalent to inciting hate. “Your generation still has much more work to…


Over 200 Pro-LGBT Groups Demand Target Restock Pride Merch

Some 200 left-leaning groups have demanded that Target fully restock all its Pride merchandise and release a public statement pledging its allegiance to the LGBT community. The progressive coalition, which includes groups with a broader mandate like the National Association of Social Workers as well as ones more narrowly focused on LGBT interests like Grand…


Thousands of Chinese Parents Protest Against Forced Transfer to New School

Thousands of parents in China protested against local authorities transferring their school-aged children to a new public school with very few facilities available, also raising safety concerns. The police intervened in the protest and made several arrests. “They hit [the parents] and arrested [the parents] in front of our children,” a participating parent told the…


FBI Warns of Sextortion Scams Using ‘Deepfakes‘

The FBI is warning the public that criminals are taking social media photos and videos to create deepfakes in sextortion schemes. The agency issued the warning in a public service announcement on June 6, drawing attention to how malicious actors take advantage of image and video editing tools powered by artificial intelligence (AI) to create…


We Can Celebrate Women’s Success Without Downplaying Men’s

Commentary The crowd in the open-air tourist bus gazed up at the massive granite wall towering over us in the Yosemite Valley. This was El Capitan, the setting for the movie Free Solo’s nail-biting documentary of Alex Honnold’s infamous climb. The bubbly female ranger working as our tour guide had a clear agenda for outlining the…


Conservatives Object as SPLC Designates Moms for Liberty ‘Extremist Group’

The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has branded parental rights organization Moms for Liberty an anti-government “extremist group” on its 2022 map of “hate groups” in the United States. The move drew sharp reactions from some Republican lawmakers and conservative figures, with Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Fla.) and Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) calling it “ludicrous” and “absurd.”…