Five New Jersey towns were recently issued notices of violation by the New Jersey Division on Civil Rights (DCR). These towns had details on their websites that restricted the availability of marriage licenses to opposite-sex couples and excluded applicants for marriage with nonbinary gender identities. Same-Sex Marriage in New Jersey Same-sex couples in New Jersey Read More

In response to House Bill 1084, California’s government has prohibited all state-funded travel to Georgia. 1084, which was recently passed in Georgia, bans transgender women from playing on athletic teams that match the gender with which they identify. In addition to prohibiting travel to Georgia, California has similarly prohibited state-funded travel to several other states, including Read More

A dispute regarding an LGBTQ training session in which Michigan teachers were taught how to help LGBTQ students has led to requests that Michigan’s superintendent resign. Training from Michigan’s Department of Education instructed teachers how to discuss a student’s suicidal thoughts with parents without potentially outing the student, and having the student guide that process. Republicans Read More

A bipartisan group of Senators voted to delay a bill that would guard the right to both interracial and same-sex marriage. Instead of voting on the measure, Chuck Schumer, who is the leader of the Senate majority, postponed a vote on the legislation until after the midterm elections. It was recently announced that the senate Read More

The Governor of West Virginia recently announced he had signed an abortion restriction into law which prohibits almost all abortions in the state, with exceptions for some medical emergencies, incest and rape. The legislature passed the measure, House Bill 302, during a special legislative session that made West Virginia the second state to pass a restrictive abortion Read More

In 2015, the United States Supreme Court issued the landmark decision of Obergefell v. Hodges, which legalized same-sex marriage throughout the country. Despite this Supreme Court decision, discrimination against same-sex couples remains in countless state constitutions, in the form of bans on same-sex marriage.  Virginia’s state constitution is one of the harshest when it comes Read More

This past June, the U.S. Supreme Court further eroded the separation between church and state by ruling that the state of Maine must fund private religious instruction if it also funds private secular instruction. In the case of Carson v. Makin, all six conservatives on the Supreme Court decided denying public funds to private religious Read More

Vermont’s Department for Children and Families began investigating a Christian school in Bennington last year over potential discrimination against LGBTQ+ students. After a former Vermont state secretary of education tweeted a screenshot of a page from a handbook published by the school which labeled homosexuality as “sinful and offensive to God,” the state began its investigation. The Read More

Virginia’s Governor recently signed a law supporting the Commonwealth’s guards for the exercise of religious freedom. The law explains that freedom of religion encompasses any faith expressions displayed outwardly. The measure, House Bill 1063, revises Virginia law in various realms, including employment, housing, and public accommodation. Virginia had previously not defined religion, and with this new bill Read More

A recent lawsuit claims that the “medical conscience clause” in an over $70 billion budget bill goes against the terms of the single-subject requirement found in Ohio’s Constitution. This clause lets medical professionals decline to provide services to individuals based on their religious, ethical, or moral beliefs. Ohio’s single-subject regulations prohibit legislatures from placing policies in bills Read More