In September, a federal lawsuit settlement forced Florida’s Nassau County public school district to restore 36 books featuring race-related or lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer (LGBTQ) themes to bookshelves. Among the books is the award-winning And Tango Makes Three, which tells the true story of two male penguins who raise a chick together at the Central Park Zoo. [...]

Against the backdrop of abuse-of-power warnings from leading civil rights groups, the US House of Representatives on Thursday passed a bill that, if enacted, would grant the Treasury Secretary the discretion to designate certain nonprofits as “terrorist supporting organizations” and thus strip their tax-exempt status. The so-called Stop Terror-Financing and Tax Penalties on American Hostages [...]

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) and a coalition of US states filed a motion on Wednesday seeking to compel Google to divest its Chrome web browser. The DOJ argued that Google’s control over Chrome has significantly bolstered its monopolistic position in the search-engine market. The department contended that forcing Google to divest Chrome is [...]

Former US Representative Matt Gaetz (FL) withdrew his name from consideration for attorney general on Thursday in the face of considerable Republican opposition in the Senate and pending release of a report from a House Ethics Committee investigation into sex trafficking allegations. Citing meetings with members of the Senate and the uphill battle the nomination [...]

The Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, restricted the use of gendered bathrooms in the House to biological members of each sex on Wednesday. The measure has triggered anger among legislators and advocates and has once again brought the issues of transgender rights and their inclusion in society to the agenda of [...]

Russia’s upper house of parliament approved two laws on Wednesday that will prohibit the visibility of LGBTQ+ people in media and ban citizens of countries that allow gender transitioning from adopting Russian children. The first law amends Article 6.21 of the Code of Administrative Offences of the Russian Federation to prohibit “propaganda of non-traditional sexual [...]

Human rights organizations on Wednesday urged the government of India to end the prolonged imprisonment of Kashmiri human rights defender Khurram Parvez. Khurram has been held in custody for three years on charges of terrorism and related offenses, which many believe are unfounded and politically motivated. Khurram is the coordinator of the Jammu Kashmir Coalition [...]

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg announced Tuesday in a letter to Justice Juan Merchan that his office has agreed to postpone the sentencing of US president-elect Donald Trump in the so-called “hush money” case, allowing time to address Trump’s anticipated motion to dismiss his conviction. This highlights the unprecedented nature of prosecuting a president-elect and [...]

The International Criminal Court (ICC) on Thursday issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former defense minister Yoav Gallant, and possibly-deceased Hamas military commander Mohammed Deif for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity. The court charged Netanyahu and Gallant with using starvation as a method of warfare and accused them of criminal [...]

Prominent Ugandan opposition figure Dr Kizza Besigye, who disappeared Saturday while visiting Kenya, resurfaced on Wednesday in a military jail back in Uganda, according to statements from his wife and James Orengo, governor of Siaya, Kenya. The opposition figure’s disappearance sparked a response from Amnesty International. The group discussed the growing and worrying trend of [...]