Though lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students are harassed at twice the rate of other students, a few purposeful steps can help transform a school into a safer place for all students, according to a guide released today by the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Teaching Tolerance project.
The SPLC asked a federal court today to block a section of the Defense of Marriage Act that bars the federal government from providing veterans’ benefits to legally married same-sex couples.
The Southern Poverty Law Center filed a first-of-its-kind lawsuit today accusing a New Jersey organization of consumer fraud for offering conversion therapy services – a dangerous and discredited practice that claims to convert people from gay to straight.
Jews Offering New Alternatives for Healing (JONAH) fraudulently claimed to provide services that “convert” people from gay to straight. These services, known as conversion therapy, have been discredited or highly criticized by all major American medical, psychiatric, psychological and professional counseling organizations. The Southern Poverty Law Center filed a first-of-its-kind lawsuit against the New Jersey conversion therapy organization for fraudulent practices. The lawsuit, filed in the Superior Court of New Jersey in 2012, charged that JONAH, its founder and a counselor violated New Jersey’s Consumer Fraud Act by claiming that their counseling services could cure clients of being gay.
The Southern Poverty Law Center urged Illinois’ East Aurora School Board today not to bow to pressure from an anti-gay hate group by rescinding a policy protecting transgender and gender nonconforming students and employees from harassment and discrimination.
Hannah Bradley and her classmates simply wanted to raise awareness about anti-gay bullying at their high school. So on Oct. 11 – National Coming Out Day – the students wore name tags stating their orientation.
The Southern Poverty Law Center marked National Coming Out Day by filing a complaint today against a Chicago-area social worker who offers conversion therapy services – a dangerous and unethical practice that proponents claim can change a person’s sexual orientation.
A new California law that prohibits mental health providers from subjecting LGBT children and teens to therapy intended to change their sexual orientation is an important step toward stopping a dangerous and discredited practice, the Southern Poverty Law Center said today.
It’s a thought that pains Brian Edwards and Tom Privitere. The married couple can’t stand the thought of LGBT youth seeing a mailer that uses their cherished engagement photo to attack a politician for supporting same-sex civil unions.
Brian Edwards and Tom Privitere were shocked to discover that an anti-gay hate group took their engagement photo and used it in political mailers to attack a Colorado lawmaker in 2012 for supporting same-sex civil unions. The SPLC and its allies filed a federal lawsuit against the group, Public Advocate of the United States, for misappropriating the likeness and personalities of the couple. It also charged that the group infringed on the photographer’s exclusive right to the photo.
