News
District judge won’t stay Utah same-sex marriages: report
Despite efforts from state officials, gay nuptials will continue in Beehive State
Despite a request from state officials, a federal judge on Monday refused to institute a stay on his surprise ruling last week instituting marriage equality in Utah, according to a local news outlet.
Fox 13 reported Monday U.S. District Judge Robert Shelby, an Obama appointee, declined to issue a stay following a hearing in his court, where attorneys for same-sex couples and the state made their case on the issue.
BREAKING NEWS: Motion DENIED! Same-sex marriages continue in #Utah. @fox13now #Amendment3 #utpol
— Ben Winslow (@BenWinslow) December 23, 2013
The order means that same-sex marriages can continue throughout Utah for the time being. As of Friday, more than 100 same-sex couples married in Salt Lake City alone, and others camped outside the doors of the clerk’s office Sunday night in anticipation of marrying the next day. However, at least five counties — Box Elder, Cache, Emery, Utah and Sanpete — are reportedly not issuing marriage licenses.
However, there is the possibility the U.S. Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals, where the ruling is expected to be appealed, could institute a stay as it considers the ruling. The Tenth Circuit has twice denied requests for an emergency stay from state officials, once Sunday and again after state officials refiled on Monday.
However, the court allowed them the opportunity to refile at a later time. State officials made their request on Monday.
State officials — Gov. Gary Herbert and Acting Attorney General Brian Tarbet — had requested a stay on the basis that there’s no precedent for marriage equality in the Tenth Circuit and same-sex couples would suffer harm if their marriages were deemed invalid at a later time. Attorneys for same-sex couples, however, said the real harm is prohibiting from same-sex couples from marrying when the laws barring them marriage have been ruled unconstitutional.
In related news, Herbert said he’ll announce his new pick on Monday for the state’s attorney general, who’ll continue the case going forward.
Federal Government
Lambda Legal praises Biden-Harris administration’s finalized Title IX regulations
New rules to take effect Aug. 1
The Biden-Harris administration’s revised Title IX policy “protects LGBTQ+ students from discrimination and other abuse,” Lambda Legal said in a statement praising the U.S. Department of Education’s issuance of the final rule on Friday.
Slated to take effect on Aug. 1, the new regulations constitute an expansion of the 1972 Title IX civil rights law, which prohibits sex-based discrimination in education programs that receive federal funding.
Pursuant to the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in the landmark 2020 Bostock v. Clayton County case, the department’s revised policy clarifies that discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity constitutes sex-based discrimination as defined under the law.
“These regulations make it crystal clear that everyone can access schools that are safe, welcoming and that respect their rights,” Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said during a call with reporters on Thursday.
While the new rule does not provide guidance on whether schools must allow transgender students to play on sports teams corresponding with their gender identity to comply with Title IX, the question is addressed in a separate rule proposed by the agency in April.
The administration’s new policy also reverses some Trump-era Title IX rules governing how schools must respond to reports of sexual harassment and sexual assault, which were widely seen as imbalanced in favor of the accused.
Jennifer Klein, the director of the White House Gender Policy Council, said during Thursday’s call that the department sought to strike a balance with respect to these issues, “reaffirming our longstanding commitment to fundamental fairness.”
“We applaud the Biden administration’s action to rescind the legally unsound, cruel, and dangerous sexual harassment and assault rule of the previous administration,” Lambda Legal Nonbinary and Transgender Rights Project Director Sasha Buchert said in the group’s statement on Friday.
“Today’s rule instead appropriately underscores that Title IX’s civil rights protections clearly cover LGBTQ+ students, as well as survivors and pregnant and parenting students across race and gender identity,” she said. “Schools must be places where students can learn and thrive free of harassment, discrimination, and other abuse.”
Maryland
Rockville teen charged with plotting school shooting after FBI finds ‘manifesto’
Alex Ye charged with threats of mass violence
BY BRETT BARROUQUERE | A Montgomery County high school student is charged with what police describe as plans to commit a school shooting.
Andrea Ye, 18, of Rockville, whose preferred name is Alex Ye, is charged with threats of mass violence. Montgomery County Police and the FBI arrested Ye Wednesday.
The rest of this article can be found on the Baltimore Banner’s website.
Politics
Survey finds support for Biden among LGBTQ adults persists despite misgivings
Data for Progress previewed the results exclusively with the Blade
A new survey by Data for Progress found LGBTQ adults overwhelmingly favor President Joe Biden and Democrats over his 2024 rival former President Donald Trump and Republicans, but responses to other questions may signal potential headwinds for Biden’s reelection campaign.
The organization shared the findings of its poll, which included 873 respondents from across the country including an oversample of transgender adults, exclusively with the Washington Blade on Thursday.
Despite the clear margin of support for the president, with only 22 percent of respondents reporting that they have a very favorable or somewhat favorable opinion of Trump, answers were more mixed when it came to assessments of Biden’s performance over the past four years and his party’s record of protecting queer and trans Americans.
Forty-five percent of respondents said the Biden-Harris administration has performed better than they expected, while 47 percent said the administration’s record has been worse than they anticipated. A greater margin of trans adults in the survey — 52 vs. 37 percent — said their expectations were not met.
Seventy precent of all LGBTQ respondents and 81 percent of those who identify as trans said the Democratic Party should be doing more for queer and trans folks, while just 24 percent of all survey participants and 17 percent of trans participants agreed the party is already doing enough.
With respect to the issues respondents care about the most when deciding between the candidates on their ballots, LGBTQ issues were second only to the economy, eclipsing other considerations like abortion and threats to democracy.
These answers may reflect heightened fear and anxiety among LGBTQ adults as a consequence of the dramatic uptick over the past few years in rhetorical, legislative, and violent bias-motivated attacks against the community, especially targeting queer and trans folks.
The survey found that while LGBTQ adults are highly motivated to vote in November, there are signs of ennui. For example, enthusiasm was substantially lower among those aged 18 to 24 and 25 to 39 compared with adults 40 and older. And a plurality of younger LGBTQ respondents said they believe that neither of the country’s two major political parties care about them.
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