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Published by Al-Araby Queer rights activists in Lebanon have been forced to cancel protests outside the interior ministry after receiving death threats and warnings of homophobic counter protests. Activists and allies of the LGBT community in Lebanon had organised to meet in protest against a rising tide of homophobia from leading political and religious figures on Sunday, outside the interior ministry in Beirut. “In order to protect the safety of demonstrators, and make space for more organisations to take part in solidarity, we have decided to postpone Sunday’s action to a new date very soon” announced LGBT advoc… Read More View the full article

Published by AFP As companies react to Friday's Surpeme Court decision on abortion, they are trying to avoid similar pitfalls to those faced by Disney after Florida's New York (AFP) – Several large US companies have pledged to provide health coverage for out-of-state abortions, with a few also slamming the Supreme Court decision nullifying federal abortion rights. But the issue remains a hot potato, requiring companies to navigate dynamic political terrain with potential legal liability at stake. “Today’s Scotus (Supreme Court of the United States) ruling puts women’s health in jeopardy, denies them their human rights, and threatens to dismantle the progress we’ve made toward gender equality in the workplace since Roe,” said Yelp Chief Executive Jeremy Stoppelman on Twitter. “Business leaders must speak out now and call on Congress to codify Roe into law.” But few other CEOs of large US companies joined Stoppelman Friday in condemning the decision. More common were statements from companies announcing or reiterating intention to reimburse employees if they need to travel for an abortion. Friday’s ruling overturned the landmark 1973 “Roe v. Wade” decision enshrining a woman’s right to an abortion, saying individual states can restrict or ban the procedure themselves. The decision is expected to result in patchwork legal rights across the United States, with abortion legal in progressive states like California and New York and barred in more conservative states like Texas. Yelp and Airbnb were among the companies to announce such benefits last September following a Texas law banning abortion after six weeks, or before many women know they are pregnant. Others, including Citigroup, Tesla and Amazon, had also announced the benefit in following months. More companies came forward after a draft version of Friday’s abortion ruling was published in a press leak in May; this group included Starbucks, Levi Strauss and JPMorgan Chase. On Friday, Disney added its name to the list, assuring employees of access to reproductive care benefits “no matter where they live,” according to a memo reported by CNBC. But many other large companies have avoided publicly discussing the topic, a dynamic that Wharton business school professor Maurice Schweitzer considers unsurprising. Cautionary tale “I think we’ll see more companies statements. But companies are facing a challenge. On the one hand, they want to be active, be involved, make a statement, lead on this issue, because particularly for some companies, their employees value this,” Schweitzer said. “But it’s a complicated issue, because the legal landscape will change,” opening companies up to possible litigation, he added. Schweitzer pointed to Disney’s recent difficulties in Florida as a cautionary tale. The entertainment giant found itself between a rock and a hard place as Florida’s legislature advanced what critics have called the “Don’t Say Gay” law, which bans lessons on sexual orientation and gender identity in elementary schools. After initially staying quiet on the proposal, Disney finally spoke out on the measure, enraging far right Republican Governor Ron DeSantis, who ultimately signed a second law specifically punishing Disney over the row by eliminating the company’s special status surrounding its Orlando theme park. Disney “ended up frustrating employees by not speaking out early enough, but also incurring costs from a political fights.” Schweitzer noted that more companies have spoken out in recent years, such as Apple CEO Tim Cook on gay rights and Dick’s Sporting Goods on gun control, which on Friday announced that it will provide up to $4,000 for employees, their spouses or their dependents who have to travel for an abortion. But the procedure is “more fraught” than many issues, Schweitzer said. “It’s easier for companies to try to be silent than to wade into it,” he said. View the full article

Published by Reuters By Gwladys Fouche OSLO (Reuters) – The deadly rampage by a gunman at a gay bar and another venue in central Oslo on Saturday will not put an end to the fight for the rights of all individuals to live a free and safe life, Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere said on Sunday. Police on Sunday also questioned the suspect, a 42-year-old Norwegian citizen of Iranian origin, the second time they did so since his arrest. The man, whom police have described as a radicalised Islamist with a history of mental illness, is accused of killing two and injuring 21 early on Saturday, when Oslo was due to hold its Pride parade. Speaking at a special service held at Oslo’s cathedral, Stoere said the attack may have put an end to the official Pride parade, which was called off after the attack, but it did not stop the fight “against discrimination, prejudices and hate”. The premier, dressed in black, talked about the thousands of people that spontaneously demonstrated on Saturday in the streets of Oslo, waving rainbow flags and laying flowers at the crime scene to honour the victims. “During the day, the city was full of people who wanted to speak out, about sorrow and anger, but also about support and solidarity and the will to continue on fighting, for the right of every individual to live a free life, a safe life,” he said. “These misdeeds remind us of this. This fight is not over. It is not safe from dangers. But we are going to win it, together,” he told the audience – which included mourners, Crown Princess Mette-Marit, ministers and Church of Norway leaders – in the cathedral which was decorated with rainbow flags. Authorities have said they had been aware of the suspect since 2015 and that he had been part of a network of Islamist extremists in Norway. The suspect’s lawyer, John Christian Elden, was not immediately available for comment when contacted by Reuters. He told broadcaster TV2 it was not possible to draw any conclusions about the motives or reasons for the attack. “It is far too early to do so,” he said. The suspect is accused of murder, attempted murder and terrorism. It is not known what he says of the accusations. He will be subjected to a psychiatric evaluation in the coming days as part of the investigation, police said. The questionings on Saturday and Sunday came to a quick end, his lawyer said. “He did not want any recording of the questioning, neither by video nor by sound, because he thought the police would manipulate it,” Elden told TV2 on Saturday. (Reporting by Gwladys Fouche in Oslo; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise) View the full article

Lil Nas X“Late To Da Party” The Lil Nas X BET conflict is now in musical form. The out hip-hop artist Lil Nas X and TV network BET were already on the outs after he received exactly zero nominations for the 2022 BET Awards despite the success and popularity of his album, “Montero.” And he hasn’t been shy about his feelings toward BET in the weeks since, posting a video of him teasing new music by saying “Fuck BET” on social media. Early Friday morning, just days before the BET Awards take place on June 26, Lil Nas X turned that mantra into a musical statement against the network, releasing his new single “Late To Da Party (F*CK BET)” and its accompanying music video. The video opens with Lil Nas X constructing an image of a BET award being urinated on in a toilet as the “Fuck BET” refrain plays before he and NBA Youngboy rap over stock photos and hilariously poor animations. [This post contains video, click to play] The video closes with Lil Nas X crashing a mockup of the BET Awards and reciting the refrain again while dancing with bundles of cash and wearing the LGBTQ Pride flag as a cape. It Isn’t About Awards, It’s About “Homophobia” “Late To Da Party” is the latest statement on the subject which began earlier this month when BET announced the nominees for its annual awards show. After receiving no nominations, Lil Nas X responded in a series of now-deleted tweets criticizing the network. “Thank you BET Awards. An outstanding zero nominations again,” he tweeted. He continued, explaining that his issue wasn’t specifically with the award snub but more about “the bigger problem of homophobia in the Black community.” “Y’all can sit and pretend all u want but imma risk it all for us,” Lil Nas X said. “How can I get acknowledged by the most acclaimed award show in the world and then not even just 1 nomination from my own people? Is that not crazy? Am I really tripping,” he added, referencing his 2020 Grammy win. While the artist didn’t receive any BET Award nominations last year, his sharing a same-sex kiss with a male dancer at the close of his performance at the ceremony became a significant moment in both the show’s and mainstream hip-hop’s history. BET celebrated the moment, sharing it prominently on social media. [This post contains video, click to play] Lil Nas X references that moment in the teaser for the video released Thursday on his official YouTube channel. “The Brutal Empire of Terror (BET) has betrayed Lil Nas X, turning their back on him after using him for clout,” read a text crawl straight out of “Star Wars” before the “Fuck BET” refrain from the song comes in. BET’s Response In a statement to Deadline released shortly after Lil Nas X’s comments earlier this month, the network said, “We love Lil Nas X. He was nominated for a Best New Artist BET Award in 2020, and we proudly showcased his extraordinary talent and creativity on the show twice: he performed “Old Town Road” with Billy Ray Cyrus at ‘BET Awards’ 2019 and his ‘BET Awards’ 2021 performance was a highlight of our show. No one cheered louder that night than BET. Unfortunately, this year, he was not nominated by BET’s Voting Academy, which is comprised of an esteemed group of nearly 500 entertainment professionals in the fields of music, television, film, digital marketing, sports journalism, public relations, influencers, and creative arts. No one from BET serves as a member of the Voting Academy. At BET, we are passionate advocates for the wonderful diversity that exists within our community. We are committed to using all of our platforms to provide visibility and inclusion for all of the many intersections of the Black community.” Lil Nas X BET: Previously on Towleroad ‘F*ck BET:’ Lil Nas X BET Conflict Gets New Volley With Release Of New Single And Video ‘Late To Da Party’ Brian Bell June 25, 2022 Read More Lil Nas X Industry Cred Rises: 5 VMA Nominations for ‘Montero’ including ‘Best Video’; 100 Million Streams tops DaBaby Brian Bell August 11, 2021 Read More AIDS Groups Release Open Letter to DaBaby; Denver Cancels Festival He Was to Headline; IHeartRadio, Austin City Limits Also Drop; WednesDababy Update Brian Bell August 4, 2021 Read More Grounded by Festivals, DaBaby Apologizes; Blames Victims For Not Just Taking His Abuse While He Explained How Much Harder It is Being DaBaby Brian Bell August 2, 2021 Read More DaBaby Homophobia Week Spirals : Madonna, Questlove, Lovato Call Out Rapper. U.K. Festival Removes Him From Lineup Brian Bell July 30, 2021 Read More Elton, Dua, Usher, GLAAD Try to Set Da Baby Straight; Rapper Claims Hateful Comments are Living his ‘Truth’ Just as Queers Come Out to Live Theirs. Brian Bell July 29, 2021 Read More Image via YouTube View the full article

Published by Al-Araby Christian extremists have torn down a flower monument depicting the rainbow flag in east Beirut, as Lebanon experiences a wave of homophobic and transphobic incidents. In a video published by “Soldiers of God” on facebook, one individual shouts to the camera “This neighbourhood has churches in it, and you dare put up the gay flag? You have the devil inside you.” The flower flag was designed by members of the community who, according to the video, were given permission by the city’s authorities to construct the flag in solidarity with the LGBT community in Beirut. “There will be no Satan in Ach… Read More View the full article

Published by Sports Illustrated By Daniel Chavkin The 29-year-old publicly came out on Saturday. View the original article to see embedded media. Suns vice president of strategy and evaluation Ryan Resch publicly came out as gay, becoming the first openly gay executive on the basketball operations side of an organization. Besides wanting to live his life without hiding who he is, Resch is hoping he can help other people in a similar situation become more comfortable with coming out in the NBA. “Ultimately my goal is to normalize for people in and out of the league the existence of gay men and women on the basketball side,” R… Read More View the full article

Published by Reuters By Jeffrey Dastin PALO ALTO, Calif. (Reuters) – The technology industry is bracing for the uncomfortable possibility of having to hand over pregnancy-related data to law enforcement, in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision on Friday to overturn the Roe v. Wade precedent that for decades guaranteed a woman’s constitutional right to an abortion. As state laws limiting abortion kick in after the ruling, technology trade representatives told Reuters they fear police will obtain warrants for customers’ search history, geolocation and other information indicating plans to terminate a pregnancy. Prosecutors could access the same via a subpoena, too. The concern reflects how the data collection practices of companies like Alphabet Inc’s Google, Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc and Amazon.com Inc have the potential to incriminate abortion-seekers for state laws that many in Silicon Valley oppose. “It is very likely that there’s going to be requests made to those tech companies for information related to search histories, to websites visited,” said Cynthia Conti-Cook, a technology fellow at the Ford Foundation. Google declined to comment. Representatives for Amazon and Meta did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Technology has long gathered – and at times revealed – sensitive pregnancy-related information about consumers. In 2015, abortion opponents targeted ads https://www.mass.gov/news/ag-reaches-settlement-with-advertising-company-prohibiting-geofencing-around-massachusetts-healthcare-facilities saying “Pregnancy Help” and “You Have Choices” to individuals entering reproductive health clinics, using so-called geofencing technology to identify smartphones in the area. More recently, Mississippi prosecutors charged a mother with second-degree murder after her smartphone showed she had searched for abortion medication in her third trimester, local media reported https://www.starkvilledailynews.com/infant-death-case-heading-back-to-grand-jury/article_cf99bcb0-71cc-11e9-963a-eb5dc5052c92.html. Conti-Cook said, “I can’t even imagine the depth of information that my phone has on my life.” While suspects unwittingly can hand over their phones and volunteer information used to prosecute them, investigators may well turn to tech companies in the absence of strong leads or evidence. In United States v. Chatrie, for example, police obtained a warrant https://www.nacdl.org/Content/United-States-v-Chatrie,-No-3-19-cr-130-(E-D-Va-) for Google location data that led them to Okello Chatrie in an investigation of a 2019 bank robbery. Amazon, for instance, complied at least partially with 75% of search warrants, subpoenas and other court orders demanding data on U.S. customers, the company disclosed for the three years ending in June 2020. It complied fully with 38%. Amazon has said it must comply with “valid and binding orders,” but its goal is to provide “the minimum” that the law requires. Eva Galperin, cybersecurity director at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said on Twitter on Friday, “The difference between now and the last time that abortion was illegal in the United States is that we live in an era of unprecedented digital surveillance.” (Reporting by Jeffrey Dastin and Katie Paul in Palo Alto, Calif., Paresh Dave in Oakland, Calif., and Stephen Nellis; Editing by Anna Driver and Matthew Lewis) View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Kim Kardashian has condemned the Supreme Court’s decision to terminate the constitutional right to abortion in the US. Lawmakers in the US caused uproar across the globe after the landmark Roe v Wade ruling – which makes terminations illegal for millions of American women – was overturned on Friday (24.06.22). Joining the protest, the SKIMS founder posted to her Instagram Story: “In America, guns have more rights than women.” The 41-year-old reality star and businesswoman – who is also known for her prison reform work and passed her baby bar law exam – then shared a series of reactions to the shocking news, including former First Lady Michelle Obama’s statement. The 58-year-old attorney said: “I am heartbroken that we may now be destined to learn the painful lessons of a time before Roe was made law of the land — a time when women risked losing their lives getting illegal abortions.” She said: “When we don’t understand our history, we are doomed to repeat its mistakes.” Obama then shared links to both Planned Parenthood and The United State of Women Reproductive Justice Hub for those wanting to take action. Taylor Swift, 32, responded to the statement by saying the law change has left her filled with horror, adding: “I’m absolutely terrified that this is where we are – that after so many decades of people fighting for women’s rights to their own bodies, today’s decision has stripped us of that.” The 1973 Roe v Wade battle centred around ‘Jane Roe’ – a pseudonym for Norma McCorvey. She was a single mother pregnant for the third time who wanted an abortion, and sued the Dallas attorney general Henry Wade over a Texas law that made it a crime to terminate a pregnancy except in cases of rape or incest, or when the mother’s life was in danger – arguing the law infringed on her constitutional rights. President of the United States Joe Biden blasted the ruling as “un-American” in an address from the White House, adding it was a “sad day for the court and the country” and calling the move “wrong, extreme and out of touch”. View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Lizzo has donated $500,000 (£407,650) to Planned Parenthood and Abortion Rights following the overturning of the landmark Roe v Wade ruling. The ‘About Damn Time’ hitmaker has made the generous donation, which has been matched by live entertainment promoters Live Nation, with $1 million (£815,300) set to help the two non-profit organisations, which provide vital reproductive health care and campaigning, respectively. The 34-year-old singer announced on Instagram: “I’m pledging $500k from my upcoming tour to Planned Parenthood and Abortion Rights. Live Nation agreed to match— to make it 1 MILLION dollars. “The most important thing is action and loud voices. @plannedparenthood @abortionfunds and organizations like them— will need funding to continue offering services to people who are most harmed by this ban Black women and women of color have historically had disproportionately less access to family planning resources— this is a great loss but not a new one. (sic)” The Grammy winner also encouraged fans to donate and sign the Bans Off My Body petition, which was organised by Planned Parenthood as “a rallying cry for autonomy and equality.” Lizzo signed off the post: “Go to lizzolovesyou.com to donate, sign the Bans Off My Body petition and sign up to volunteer.” The Supreme Court’s decision to terminate the constitutional right to abortion in the US has caused outrage across the globe. The 1973 Roe v Wade battle centred around ‘Jane Roe’ – a pseudonym for Norma McCorvey. She was a single mother pregnant for the third time who wanted an abortion, and sued the Dallas attorney general Henry Wade over a Texas law that made it a crime to terminate a pregnancy except in cases of rape or incest, or when the mother’s life was in danger – arguing the law infringed on her constitutional rights. President of the United States Joe Biden blasted the ruling as “un-American” in an address from the White House, adding it was a “sad day for the court and the country” and calling the move “wrong, extreme and out of touch”. View the full article

Published by Reuters By Lawrence Hurley WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Joe Biden’s administration indicated it will seek to prevent states from banning a pill used for medication abortion in light of the Supreme Court ruling overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling, signaling a major new legal fight. The administration could argue in court that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) approval of mifepristone, one of the pills used for medication abortions, pre-empts state restrictions, meaning federal authority outweighs any state action. That same argument has already been raised by Las Vegas-based GenBioPro Inc, which sells a generic version of the pill, in a lawsuit challenging Mississippi’s restrictions on medication abortion. More than a dozen states plan to almost totally ban abortion with the Roe v. Wade precedent upended. In a stunning ruling, the conservative majority Supreme Court overturned Roe on a 5-4 vote on Friday, saying there is no right to abortion in the U.S. Constitution. States will likely face other difficulties enforcing restrictions on medication abortion because women are still likely to be able to obtain the pills online or in other states. Biden said in remarks after the Supreme Court ruling that the government would seek to protect access to medication abortion, saying efforts to restrict it would be “wrong and extreme and out of touch with the majority of Americans.” Attorney General Merrick Garland was more explicit about what Justice Department is eyeing, saying in a statement: “States may not ban mifepristone based on disagreement with the FDA’s expert judgment about its safety and efficacy.” Mifepristone was approved for use in abortions by the FDA in 2000, long after Roe was decided in 1973. The pill, also known as RU 486, blocks the pregnancy-sustaining hormone progesterone while the other drug used, misoprostol, induces uterine contractions. Greer Donley, a professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law who is an expert on reproductive rights, said the administration’s stance “shows that they understand the stakes and are willing to pursue novel ideas.” Even before Roe was overturned, states imposed restrictions on access to the pill. There are 19 states that require women to make an in-person visit to obtain the drug, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research group that supports the right to an abortion. The FDA does not require an in-person meeting. Legal experts say the law on preemption is murky because Congress has never said explicitly that FDA approval trumps state law as it has done in the context of medical devices. Therefore it would be left to courts to decide the question under a theory known as “implied preemption.” Wide availability of medication abortion in states that want to restrict or ban the procedure would be a major setback to anti-abortion campaigners who have long sought to ban abortion outright. Attempts to challenge state restrictions could run aground at the Supreme Court, not only because the 6-3 conservative majority has shown its opposition to abortion rights but also because the justices are often skeptical about federal preemption claims. With Roe overturned, states would also have more leeway to argue they have a separate interest in preventing abortions based on moral objections to abortion. (Reporting by Lawrence Hurley; Editing by Scott Malone and Aurora Ellis) View the full article

Published by Reuters By Terje Solsvik and Gwladys Fouche OSLO (Reuters) -Terrified revellers at a gay bar in Oslo hid in a basement and desperately called loved ones as a gunman went on the rampage, killing two people and injuring 21 on the day the city was due to celebrate its annual Pride parade. Authorities said the suspect, a 42-year-old Norwegian citizen of Iranian origin, was believed to be a radicalised Islamist with a history of mental illness who had been known to intelligence services since 2015. The attack took place in the early hours of Saturday, with victims shot inside and outside the London Pub, a longstanding hub of Oslo’s LGBTQ scene, as well as in the surrounding streets and at one other bar in the centre of the Norwegian capital. The deceased were two men in their 50s and 60s, police said in a statement. “Everything indicates that this has been an attack by an Islamist extremist,” Norway’s Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere told a news conference. “We don’t (yet) know if the queer community was the intended target, but we know it is a victim,” he said. Bili Blum-Jansen, who was in the London Pub, said he fled to the basement to escape the hail of bullets and hid there along with 80 to 100 other people. “Many called their partners and family, it felt almost as if they were saying goodbye. Others helped calm down those who were extremely terrified,” he told TV2. “I had a bit of panic and thought that if the shooter or shooters were to arrive, we’d all be dead. There was no way out.” Rainbow flags symbolising the Pride community were on prominent display across Oslo this week, but Saturday’s planned parade was cancelled at the advice of police. “Last night the rainbow was coloured black,” said Anette Trettebergstuen, Norway’s minister of culture and equality and herself a prominent campaigner for LGBTQ rights. While the official parade was called off, several thousand people held a spontaneous march in central Oslo, waving rainbow flags and chanting in English: “We’re here, we’re queer, we won’t disappear.” The suspect was detained minutes after embarking on the shooting spree, according to police who said they believed he acted alone. Two weapons, including a fully automatic gun, were retrieved from the crime scene, they added. Other witnesses described the chaos that erupted inside and outside the London Pub, which has been open since 1979. “Many people were crying and screaming, the injured were screaming, people were distressed and scared – very, very scared,” said Marcus Nybakken, 46, who had left the bar shortly before the shooting and returned later to help. “My first thought was that Pride was the target, so that’s frightening.” Journalist Olav Roenneberg of public broadcaster NRK said he was in the area at the time and saw a man arrive with a bag, take out a gun and start to shoot: “Then I saw windows breaking and understood that I had to take cover.” It was not clear exactly where the two people were killed in the area of the London Pub. NORWAY POLICE TO CARRY GUNS Security authorities raised the country’s terrorism threat assessment to its highest level following the attack. Norwegian police, who are not normally armed, will carry guns until further notice as a precaution, national chief Benedicte Bjoernland said. King Harald of Norway said he and the royal family were devastated by the attack, which police said also left 10 people seriously wounded and 11 with minor injuries. “We must stand together and defend our values: freedom, diversity and respect for each other,” the 85-year-old monarch added. The shooting took place just months after Norway marked 50 years since the abolition of a law that criminalised gay sex. The Nordic nation of 5.4 million has lower crime rates than many Western countries, though it has experienced hate-motivated shootings, including when far-right extremist Anders Behring Breivik killed 77 people in 2011. (Reporting by Terje Solsvik and Gwladys Fouche in Oslo, additional reporting by Stine Jacobsen in Copenhagen; Editing by Pravin Char and Frank Jack Daniel) View the full article

Published by Reuters By Kuba Stezycki and Joanna Plucinska WARSAW (Reuters) -Thousands of Poles and Ukrainians are walking for peace and demanding an end to discrimination against the LGBT+ community on Saturday, in a joint Pride march in Warsaw that organisers say aims to defend freedom and equality as war casts a shadow over eastern Europe. The annual Pride march in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv was cancelled due to Russia’s invasion, leading the LGBT+ community in Warsaw to team up with their counterparts in Ukraine to organise the event in the Polish capital. “Russia denied us the right that we were fighting for for years, Russia denied us the Pride, our march of equality that we are holding every year since 2012 in Kyiv. … That is why we are marching in Warsaw,” said Lenny Emson, executive director of KyivPride, who came to Poland for the march. Conservative attitudes towards sexual orientation are widespread in both countries. Poland’s ruling nationalists have made battling what they call “LGBT ideology” a key plank of election campaigns, while in Ukraine far-right groups regularly targeted LGBT+ campaigners and events before the war. But with many LGBT+ people in Ukraine signing up to fight for their country, activists have said they hope the war can help to erode prejudice. “People who are ready to die to defend this country, I think they have the right to be equal, to have for example civil unions,” said Temur Levchuk, an LGBT+ activist in Kyiv. He was unable to attend the Warsaw march due to a law preventing Ukrainian men aged 18-60 from leaving the country. Moscow began what it calls its “special military operation” on Feb. 24, saying it wanted to ensure security at its borders. Kyiv and the West say President Vladimir Putin launched an unprovoked invasion. For some LGBT+ Ukrainians, the fact that Putin has curtailed the rights of their community in Russia gave them more reason to fight. Olena Mykal, a 29-year old marketing manager at an IT company from Kiev, who fled Ukraine in March, said marching in Warsaw was an act of solidarity with the LGBT+ community in their home country.”I’m here because I can’t go to the parade in Ukraine. We’re all people regardless of who we love.” Mykal told Reuters minutes before the march started. (Reporting by Kuba Stezycki and Marek Strzelecki in Warsaw, Joanna Plucinska in Kyiv; Writing by Alan Charlish and Anna Wlodarczak-Semczuk; Editing by Richard Chang) View the full article

Published by Reuters By Nate Raymond (Reuters) – In a bombshell decision, the conservative-majority U.S. Supreme Court on Friday overturned the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that had recognized a woman’s constitutional right to an abortion. The court voted 5-4 to overturn Roe, with Chief Justice John Roberts writing separately to say he would have upheld the Mississippi law at the center of that case, which bans abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy, but would not have reversed Roe. The court’s three liberal justices dissented. Here are some excerpts from their opinions. CONSERVATIVE JUSTICE SAMUEL ALITO, IN THE MAJORITY OPINION: “It is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representatives.” “We hold that Roe and Casey must be overruled. The Constitution makes no reference to abortion, and no such right is implicitly protected by any constitutional provision.” Roe v. Wade recognized that the right to personal privacy under the U.S. Constitution protects a woman’s ability to terminate her pregnancy. A ruling called Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey, made in 1992, reaffirmed abortion rights and prohibited laws imposing an “undue burden” on abortion access. “Abortion presents a profound moral question. The Constitution does not prohibit the citizens of each State from regulating or prohibiting abortion. Roe and Casey arrogated that authority. We now overrule those decisions and return that authority to the people and their elected representatives.” CONSERVATIVE JUSTICE CLARENCE THOMAS, IN A CONCURRING OPINION: “Because the Court properly applies our substantive due process precedents to reject the fabrication of a constitutional right to abortion, and because this case does not present the opportunity to reject substantive due process entirely, I join the Court’s opinion.” “For that reason, in future cases, we should reconsider all of this Court’s substantive due process precedents, including Griswold (which protected the right to contraception), Lawrence (which invalidated state laws banning sodomy), and Obergefell (which legalized gay marriage nationwide).” “Substantive due process conflicts with that textual command and has harmed our country in many ways. Accordingly, we should eliminate it from our jurisprudence at the earliest opportunity.” CONSERVATIVE JUSTICE BRETT KAVANAUGH, IN A CONCURRING OPINION: “The Constitution does not take sides on the issue of abortion. The text of the Constitution does not refer to or encompass abortion.” “Because the Constitution is neutral on the issue of abortion, this Court also must be scrupulously neutral. The nine unelected Members of this Court do not possess the constitutional authority to override the democratic process and to decree either a pro-life or a pro-choice abortion policy for all 330 million people in the United States.” “To be clear, then, the Court’s decision today does not outlaw abortion throughout the United States. On the contrary, the Court’s decision properly leaves the question of abortion for the people and their elected representatives in the democratic process.” CONSERVATIVE CHIEF JUSTICE JOHN ROBERTS, CONCURRING IN THE JUDGMENT ON THE MISSISSIPPI LAW ONLY BUT NOT OVERTURNING ROE: “I would take a more measured course. I agree with the Court that the viability line established by Roe and Casey should be discarded under a straightforward stare decisis analysis. That line never made any sense.” “If it is not necessary to decide more to dispose of a case, then it is necessary not to decide more. Perhaps we are not always perfect in following that command, and certainly there are cases that warrant an exception. But this is not one of them.” “The Court’s decision to overrule Roe and Casey is a serious jolt to the legal system – regardless of how you view those cases. A narrower decision rejecting the misguided viability line would be markedly less unsettling, and nothing more is needed to decide this case.” LIBERAL JUSTICES STEPHEN BREYER, ELENA KAGAN AND SONIA SOTOMAYOR, DISSENTING: “Whatever the exact scope of the coming laws, one result of today’s decision is certain: the curtailment of women’s rights, and of their status as free and equal citizens.” “No one should be confident that this majority is done with its work. The right Roe and Casey recognized does not stand alone. To the contrary, the Court has linked it for decades to other settled freedoms involving bodily integrity, familial relationships, and procreation.” “The Court reverses course today for one reason and one reason only: because the composition of this Court has changed.” “With sorrow – for this Court, but more, for the many millions of American women who have today lost a fundamental constitutional protection – we dissent.” (Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston; Editing by Scott Malone and Will Duham) View the full article

Published by AFP Megan Rapinoe joined a chorus of US sports stars voicing anger at the US Supreme Court decision to scrap a woman's right to an abortion Los Angeles (AFP) – Sports stars across the United States reacted with shock and anger on Friday after the Supreme Court’s decision to scrap the right to abortion after nearly five decades. WNBA players and teams led a chorus of outrage over the seismic decision which threatens to result in abortion becoming illegal in nearly half of the 50 US states. The WNBA noted that the conservative-leaning Supreme Court’s abortion decision had come just a day after another bombshell ruling that decreed Americans have a right to carry a handgun in public. “Are we in a democracy where guns have more rights than women?” the WNBA statement asked. “This decision shows a branch of government that is out of touch with the country and any sense of human dignity.” The league said the decision would create a “treacherous pathway” to abortion bans that “reinforce economic, social and political inequalities.” Many WNBA players and teams took to social media to register disgust at the decision. WNBA icon and five-time Olympic gold medalist Sue Bird wrote simply: “Gutted.” Bird’s club, the Seattle Storm, meanwhile declared themselves “furious and ready to fight.” “People have won the freedom to buy guns with impunity while women have lost the freedom to decide their own future,” the Storm wrote on Twitter. Los Angeles Sparks star Lexie Brown added: “How did we get here? So much happening in this country and this is what they want to focus on. It’s really terrifying actually.” ‘Cruelty is the point’ US women’s soccer icon Megan Rapinoe, her voice cracking with emotion, spoke of her sadness in comments to reporters ahead of an international friendly against Colombia this weekend. “It’s hard to put into words how sad a day this is,” Rapinoe said. “I just can’t understate how sad and how cruel this is. “The cruelty is the point, because this is not pro-life, by any means. “It will completely exacerbate so many of the existing inequalities that we have in our country. The right to freedom and the pursuit of happiness and liberty is being assaulted in this instance.” Rapinoe, who is gay, said she also feared that US constitutional protections on same-sex marriage would eventually be in jeopardy. “We live in a country that forever tries to chip away what you have innately, what you have been privileged enough to feel your entire life,” Rapinoe said. US tennis legend Billie Jean King, who wrote in her memoir “All In” of her harrowing experience seeking an abortion in the days before it became a right in the United States, said Friday’s ruling “will not end abortion.” “What it will end is safe and legal access to this vital medical procedure,” King wrote on Twitter. “It is a sad day for the United States.” King’s fellow tennis great Martina Navratilova said simply: “The March to Gilead is here”, in a reference to the novel and television drama “The Handmaid’s Tale”, which portrays a dystopian future where women are subjugated and enslaved by men. Several male sports stars also spoke out against the decision. NBA icon LeBron James said on Twitter the decision was “absolutely about power & control.” Seattle Sounders goalkeeper Stefan Frei also contrasted the ruling with the court’s decision on gun control a day earlier. “Impose a constitutional right to concealed carry of firearms, and following day end the fundamental constitutional protection of reproductive rights!? Our country is actively moving in the wrong direction,” Frei wrote on Twitter. “What’s next? This is crazy.” View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Billie Eilish told her Glastonbury fans to scream away their anxieties during her history making headline slot. The 20-year-old – who became the youngest solo performer to play the Pyramid Stage on Friday night (24.06.22) – made the call during a sweary set. She also despaired over the Supreme Court’s reversal of 1973’s landmark Roe v Wade ruling, which now outlaws abortion for millions of women in the US. The singer called it a “dark day” for America while strumming a guitar and added: “I’m just going to say that, because I can’t say anything else now.” She yelled at the crowd about using screaming to exorcise their mental anxieties: “So here’s what I want you to do – whatever’s going on in your mind, something you’re wasting time worrying about, something you can’t just get the f*** out of your head – I want you to f****** flail around, and scream and stomp. “I want you to feel loose and free and don’t give a f*** about anything else but this moment. “I want you to think about the thing that’s p****** you off and I want you to scream at it.” While bouncing up and down, Eilish added: “To practise feeling free and loose I want you to just flop around – for real, just flop out your limbs – bounce, just bounce, just little hops.” The ‘Ocean Eyes’ singer also told the crowd she had three rules for her gigs: “Don’t be an a******, do not judge anyone out here – no judgements – and, number three – have fun b****.” It comes after she said she feared she would bomb at Glastonbury if she over-thought her performance. She told Matt Wilkinson’s ‘Glastonbury Special’ on Apple Music 1 on Monday (20.06.22): “With this kind of thing, which is doing this kind of show and headlining and with all the pressure of it, it’s like, if you overthink it, you might bomb. “So I try to keep myself as composed as possible. But if I do think about it, it’s like the coolest that I’ve ever heard. I mean, Glastonbury. Come on. It’s so cool. So I’m very, very geeked, very excited.” View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Lady Gaga, Tom Daley and the first all-male ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ couple were among the winners of this year’s ‘British LGBT Awards’. Vogue director Edward Enninful, 50, and singer Alicia Keys, 41, also took home gongs at the London event on Friday. (24.06.22) Hosted by comedian Sue Perkins, 52, it is the UK’s biggest LGBT+ awards event. Enninful said when handed his ‘Global Media Trailblazer’ prize: “I am so honoured to be part of the 2022 LGBT Awards, especially as the UK celebrates 50 years of pride. “Growing up as a young, black gay man in West London, I could only have imagined the day when events like this would celebrate people like me, and the other incredible trailblazers recognised tonight. “My hope is that we all continue to push for positive change for the next generation.” Keys, handed the ‘Celebrity Ally of the Year’ award, said via video link: “On a personal level, I’m honoured to accept this award tonight. “I’ve been blessed to know all kinds of people since I was a little girl and fortunately exposed to the beauty and richness of diversity. That’s all colours, all religions, all styles, all beliefs, all loves, all people. “Believe me, I know that hate is taught and judgement is taught, but we are the light and we are the love. I sometimes can’t believe how much hate there is to overcome, but where there is light and love, darkness and hate cannot exist.” Diver Daley, 28, collected the ‘Swinton Insurance Sports Personality of the Year’ award after he spoke out against anti-LGBT+ laws. Olympian Dame Kelly Holmes, 52 was a surprise presenter on the night to hand out the ‘Celebrity Award’ – which went to 36-year-old Lady Gaga – after the ex-athlete last week broke a 34-year silence to say she is gay. ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ duo Johannes Radebe, 35, and John Whaite, 33, were handed the ‘Media Moment of the Year’ trophy by show judge Shirley Ballas, 61, after they were the first male same-sex couple on the show. BRITISH LGBT AWARDS 2022 – FULL LIST OF WINNERS CELEBRITY Lady Gaga MTV – MUSIC ARTIST Steps CELEBRITY ALLY Alicia Keys GLOBAL MEDIA TRAILBLAZER Edward Enninful MEDIA MOMENT John and Johannes on ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ SWINTON INSURANCE – SPORTS PERSONALITY Tom Daley ONLINE INFLUENCER Jamie Raines TESCO – BRAND OR MARKETING CAMPAIGN LEGO’s ‘Everyone Is Awesome’ set JOHNSON AND JOHNSON – CHARITY OR COMMUNITY INITIATIVE LGBT Foundation JUST EAT TAKEAWAY – OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTION TO LGBT+ LIFE Juno Dawson and Abbey Kiwanuka MACQUARIE – INSPIRATIONAL LEADER Rishi Madlani, NatWest HSBC – BUSINESS ALLY Laura Yeates, Clifford Chance LGIM – DIVERSITY HERO Kevin Humphreys, Jacobs FUTURE LEADER Kim Warren, Credera NETWORK RAIL – NETWORK GROUP (ERG) Legal and Generals LGBTQ+ Allies Network, LGIM INCLUSIVE EMPLOYER OR COMPANY Barclays BROADCASTER, JOURNALIST OR HOST Rylan Clark ROLE MODEL OF THE YEAR Adele Roberts LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT Stonewall View the full article

Published by Reuters (Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision paves the way for about half of the 50 states to ban or heavily restrict women’s access to abortions. The first restrictions will take effect in 13 states with so-called trigger laws https://www.guttmacher.org/state-policy/explore/abortion-policy-absence-roe# designed to be enacted once the ruling is struck down. The states are Arkansas, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and Wyoming, according to the Guttmacher Institute, an abortion rights advocacy research group. Some trigger laws ban abortions almost completely, while others will outlaw abortion after six weeks or 15 weeks. How quickly those trigger laws will go into effect will vary. Some will be rapid. For example, Arkansas’ trigger law takes effect as soon as the state attorney general certifies that Roe has been overturned, the Guttmacher Institute says. In Texas, a near-total ban on abortion will go into effect 30 days after the Supreme Court decision. WHAT HAPPENS NEXT? The Guttmacher Institute estimates a total of 26 U.S. states https://states.guttmacher.org are certain or likely to ban abortion, leaving women in large swaths of the U.S. Southwest and Midwest without nearby access to the medical procedure. Most states where abortion will still be legal are on the West Coast (California, Nevada, Oregon and Washington) or in the Northeast. Governor Gavin Newsom of California, the most populous state, proposed enshrining a right to abortion in the state’s constitution. A handful of states in the Midwest and Southwest are expected to keep abortion legal such as Illinois, Kansas, Minnesota and New Mexico, according to the Guttmacher Institute. Under that scenario, a woman in Miami, Florida, might have to fly to another state or drive 11 hours, or more than 700 miles (1,100 kilometers), to reach North Carolina, where abortion is expected to remain legal. Colorado, Connecticut, Maryland, New Jersey and Vermont have passed legislation this year seeking to protect or expand abortion access. CAN PILL PRESCRIPTIONS OVERCOME STATE BANS? Conservative states have already rushed to restrict abortion pills, which can be prescribed through online telemedicine visits. Now that the court has overturned Roe v. Wade, they will be able to ban them altogether, experts say. Thirty-two states allow only physicians to dispense abortion pills, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. Six states, including Texas and Missouri, ban any use of telemedicine for medication abortion. Another 21 states do not have blanket bans but require at least one in-person visit https://www.kff.org/womens-health-policy/issue-brief/the-intersection-of-state-and-federal-policies-on-access-to-medication-abortion-via-telehealth, meaning patients cannot simply have a telemedicine appointment and receive the pills by mail, according to the foundation. (Compiled by Lisa Shumaker; Editing by Howard Goller) View the full article

Published by Reuters By Lawrence Hurley WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Seventeen months after leaving office, former President Donald Trump delivered on a campaign promise when the conservative U.S. Supreme Court majority he cemented overturned the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that legalized abortion nationwide. The ruling issued on Friday represented a victory long in the making for a well-organized and generously funded conservative movement to push America’s courts rightward, aided by legal activists and deft political maneuvering by top Senate Republican Mitch McConnell. Trump during his four years as president appointed three justices – Neil Gorsuch in 2017, Brett Kavanaugh in 2018 and Amy Coney Barrett in 2020 – giving a court that was ideologically deadlocked with four liberals and four conservatives when he took office a solid 6-3 conservative majority by the time he left. All three were in the majority in the decision to overturn Roe. The month before being elected in November 2016, the Republican businessman-turned-politician Trump promised during a debate with his Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton to appoint justices who would overturn the Roe decision. “Well, if we put another two or perhaps three justices on, that … will happen automatically in my opinion because I am putting pro-life justices on the court,” Trump said at the time. Trump’s pitch appealed to conservative Christian voters, who became a key constituency during his presidency. Trump in 2020 also became the first U.S. president https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-abortion/at-anti-abortion-rally-trump-assails-democrats-draws-applause-idUSKBN1ZN152 to attend the March for Life in Washington staged annually by abortion opponents around the anniversary of the Roe decision. “Unborn children have never had a stronger defender in the White House,” Trump told rally participants as he specifically touted his Supreme Court appointments. Trump has not announced whether he will run again for president in 2024. Critics have sought to paint the Roe decision as poorly reasoned liberal judicial activism. Driven by vocal support from an anti-abortion movement spearheaded by conservative Christians, they pursued the goal of appointing judges hostile to abortion rights. “The overturning of this case after the five decades of morass that Roe created is a major victory for constitutionalism and the rule of law,” said Carrie Severino, president of the Judicial Crisis Network, a conservative legal group that has helped promote Republican judicial appointments. “Roe v. Wade was one of the greatest acts of judicial arrogance in Supreme Court history – and one of the catalysts for the birth and growth of the conservative legal movement,” Severino added. ‘BREAK-GLASS MOMENT’ For liberal legal advocates, the ruling represented a “break-glass moment,” said Brian Fallon, executive director of legal advocacy group Demand Justice. “Now the question is, will our side regroup and productively channel the public’s outrage to confront a court that has been captured?” Fallon asked. The Supreme Court for decades had a majority of Republican appointees but until now lacked the five votes needed to overturn Roe. The last time it had been so close was in 1992 in a case called Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey. Conservative activists were disappointed by the 5-4 ruling that reaffirmed the central holding of Roe recognizing a woman’s right to obtain an abortion under the U.S. Constitution. Three Republican appointees – Justices Sandra Day O’Connor, Anthony Kennedy and David Souter – worked behind the scenes on a compromise that carried the day. It was later revealed that Kennedy initially had supported overturning Roe but changed his mind. Trump appointed Kavanaugh to replace Kennedy, who retired in 2018. Trump and McConnell – who have an icy relationship – were critical in engineering the demise of Roe. McConnell, as Senate majority leader, in 2016 blocked Democratic President Barack Obama from appointing a justice to the court in the last year of his term after conservative Justice Antonin Scalia died. Obama’s nominee would have given the court a 5-4 liberal majority. McConnell’s action meant Trump was able to replace Scalia with fellow conservative Gorsuch. McConnell shepherded Kavanaugh to Senate confirmation in 2018 after a contentious confirmation process in which the nominee denied sexual misconduct. McConnell then moved rapidly with Senate confirmation of Barrett a week before the 2020 election in which Trump was defeated. Barrett, a devout Roman Catholic and former legal scholar, previously had signaled support for overturning Roe. RELIABLE CONSERVATIVES Since the Casey ruling, Republican presidents have chosen a stream of reliably conservative nominees nurtured and promoted by connections to the influential Federalist Society. A key figure in that effort has been Leonard Leo, who has had a lengthy career at the conservative legal group and has advised Republican presidents in picking judicial nominees. Leo helped compile a list of potential Supreme Court nominees that Trump touted as a candidate before the 2016 election in a bid to attract conservative voters. Leo did not respond to messages seeking comment for this story. Conservative advocacy groups including the Judicial Confirmation Network have helped promote and defend conservative judicial nominees. Anti-abortion organizations also have staunchly backed Republican judicial nominees. “This victory represents proof of concept for the pro-life movement’s involvement in campaigns and elections and will spur more pro-life political activism in the years ahead,” said Mallory Carroll, a spokeswoman for one of those groups, Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America. (Reporting by Lawrence Hurley; Additional reporting by Andrew Chung; Editing by Scott Malone and Will Dunham) View the full article

Published by Reuters By Lawrence Hurley and Andrew Chung WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday took the dramatic step of overturning the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that recognized a woman’s constitutional right to an abortion and legalized it nationwide, handing a momentous victory to Republicans and religious conservatives who want to limit or ban the procedure. The court, in a 6-3 ruling powered by its conservative majority, upheld a Republican-backed Mississippi law that bans abortion after 15 weeks. The vote was 5-4 to overturn Roe, with Chief Justice John Roberts writing separately to say he would have upheld the Mississippi law but not taken the additional step of erasing the precedent altogether. The justices held that the Roe v. Wade decision that allowed abortions performed before a fetus would be viable outside the womb – between 24 and 28 weeks of pregnancy – was wrongly decided because the U.S. Constitution makes no specific mention of abortion rights. A draft version of the ruling written by conservative Justice Samuel Alito indicating the court was likely to overturn Roe was leaked in May, igniting a political firestorm. Friday’s ruling authored by Alito largely tracked his leaked draft. “The Constitution makes no reference to abortion, and no such right is implicitly protected by any constitutional provision,” Alito wrote in the ruling. Roe v. Wade recognized that the right to personal privacy under the U.S. Constitution protects a woman’s ability to terminate her pregnancy. The Supreme Court in a 1992 ruling called Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey reaffirmed abortion rights and prohibited laws imposing an “undue burden” on abortion access. “Roe was egregiously wrong from the start. Its reasoning was exceptionally weak, and the decision has had damaging consequences. And far from bringing about a national settlement of the abortion issue, Roe and Casey have enflamed debate and deepened division,” Alito added. By erasing abortion as a constitutional right, the ruling restores the ability of states to pass laws prohibiting it. Twenty-six states are seen as either certain or likely now to ban abortion. Mississippi is among 13 states already with so-called trigger laws designed to ban abortion if Roe v. Wade were to be overturned. The court’s three liberal justices – Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan – issued a jointly authored dissent. “Whatever the exact scope of the coming laws, one result of today’s decision is certain: the curtailment of women’s rights, and of their status as free and equal citizens,” they wrote. As a result of Friday’s ruling, “from the very moment of fertilization, a woman has no rights to speak of. A state can force her to bring a pregnancy to term, even at the steepest personal and familial costs,” the liberal justices added. Mississippi’s law had been blocked by lower courts as a violation of Supreme Court precedent on abortion rights. Abortion is likely to remain legal in liberal states. More than a dozen states currently have laws protecting abortion rights. Numerous Republican-led states have passed various abortion restrictions in defiance of the Roe precedent in recent years. Before the Roe decision, many states banned abortion, leaving women who wanted to terminate a pregnancy with few options. As a result of Friday’s ruling, women with unwanted pregnancies in large swathes of America may face the choice of traveling to another state where the procedure remains legal and available, buying abortion pills online or having a potentially dangerous illegal abortion. Overturning Roe v. Wade has long been a goal of Christian conservatives and many Republican officeholders. TRUMP’S APPOINTEES Republican former President Donald Trump as a candidate in 2016 promised to appoint justices to the Supreme Court who would reverse Roe. He was able to appoint three conservative justices – a third of the total – during his four years in office, moving the court rightward and building a 6-3 conservative majority. All three Trump appointees – Justices Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett – were in the majority in Friday’s ruling. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the only abortion clinic remaining in Mississippi https://www.reuters.com/world/us/lone-mississippi-clinic-front-line-us-supreme-court-abortion-battle-2021-11-29, challenged the 2018 law and had the support of Democratic President Joe Biden’s administration at the Supreme Court. The law allows abortions when there is a “medical emergency” or a “severe fetal abnormality” but does not have an exception for pregnancies resulting from rape or incest. A federal judge in 2018 struck the law down, citing the Roe precedent. The New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in 2019 reached the same conclusion. LEAK INVESTIGATION Roberts denounced the May 2 leak of Alito’s draft opinion in the case and announced an investigation to identify the culprit. Supreme Court leaks are extremely rare, especially concerning internal deliberations before a ruling is issued. Following the leak, Biden condemned the overturning of Roe as a “radical” step and urged Congress to pass legislation protecting abortion access nationally. Thousands of people rallied for abortion rights in Washington and other cities after the leak, including some protesters at the homes of some conservative justices. A California man armed with a handgun, ammunition, a crow bar and pepper spray was arrested near Kavanaugh’s Maryland home on June 8 and charged with attempted murder. The justices in 2016 https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-court-abortion/supreme-court-firmly-backs-abortion-rights-tosses-texas-law-idUSKCN0ZC0JL struck down a Texas law imposing strict regulations on abortion facilities and doctors. The justices in 2020 https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-court-abortion/in-major-ruling-u-s-supreme-court-strikes-down-strict-louisiana-abortion-law-idUSKBN2401WI struck down a Louisiana law that similarly placed restrictions on doctors who perform abortions. But the court has become more conservative in recent years with the addition of three appointees made by former President Donald Trump. Since 2018, the court lost two champions of abortion rights. Liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died in 2020, being replaced by Barrett, who as an academic before joining the judiciary signaled support for overturning Roe https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-usa-court-barrett/trumps-supreme-court-nominee-advocated-overturning-legalized-abortion-idINKBN26M7IS. Justice Anthony Kennedy, a conservative who sometimes sided with the liberal justices on social issues such as abortion and LGBT rights, retired in 2018 and was replaced by Kavanaugh. Kennedy was part of the majority in the 1992 decision and voted to strike down the Texas abortion restriction in 2016. Gorsuch in 2017 replaced the late conservative Justice Antonin Scalia, who was an abortion opponent. Opinion polls show a majority of Americans support abortion rights. But overturning Roe has been a goal of anti-abortion activists and Christian conservatives for decades, with annual marches in Washington including in January of this year. The number of U.S. abortions increased by 8% during the three years ending in 2020, reversing a 30-year trend of declining numbers, according to data https://www.guttmacher.org/article/2022/06/long-term-decline-us-abortions-reverses-showing-rising-need-abortion-supreme-court released on June 15 by the Guttmacher Institute, a research group that supporters abortion rights. The U.S. abortion rate peaked in 1980, seven years after the Roe ruling, at 29.3 abortions per 1,000 women of child-bearing age – 15-44 – and stood at 13.5 per 1,000 in 2017 before increasing to 14.4 per 1,000 women by 2020. In 2020, there were 930,160 U.S. abortions, with 20.6% of pregnancies ending in abortion in 2020, up from 18.4% in 2017. Mississippi experienced a 40% increase in abortions performed from 2017 to 2020. Globally, abortion rights generally have been increasing. The U.N. World Health Organization said around 73 million abortions https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/abortion take place globally each year, including 29% of all pregnancies. (Reporting by Lawrence Hurley) View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Elon Musk’s daughter has legally changed her name to reflect her new gender identity and cut all ties with her father. The Tesla and Space X billionaire’s 18-year-old girl’s birth name was Xavier Alexander Musk, however, she now identifies as a trans woman and wishes to not be associated with her father. And on Thursday (23.06.22), she was granted the name change by the Los Angeles County Superior Court. She will now go by Vivian Jenna Wilson, taking her mom Justine Wilson’s maiden name. Her gender has also been changed to female, and TMZ reports that a new birth certificate will be issued shortly. Vivian’s petition filed to the court in April read: “I no longer live with or wish to be related to my biological father in any way, shape or form.” Elon is yet to comment on his daughter’s name change. Although Elon insists he “absolutely supports” transgender people, he struggles with preferred pronouns. In 2020, he tweeted: “I absolutely support trans, but all these pronouns are an aesthetic nightmare.” He’d also caused outrage when he posted that “pronouns suck”, with many branding the tweet transphobic. The businessman has seven children in total. His youngest two with pop singer Grimes have bizarre names, X Æ A-12 and Exa Dark Sideræl, who are two years old and six months old, respectively. Elon also has Griffin, 18, and Damian, Saxon and Kai, all 16, with Justine. Meanwhile, Elon controversially said he wouldn’t take a COVID-19 vaccine because he doesn’t see the virus as a “risk” to himself or his children. Elon appeared on the New York Times podcast, ‘Sway’, and told host Kara Swisher that “everybody dies” and admitted he’d lost “faith” in humanity because of the “irrationality of people in general” over the pandemic. He said at the time: “This is a no-win situation. It has diminished my faith in humanity this whole thing [because] of the irrationality of people in general.” Asked if he would get vaccinated should he contract the respiratory infection, Elon replied: “No, I’m not at risk for COVID. Nor are my kids.” He also tweeted: “The coronavirus panic is dumb.” View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Prince Charles is to give his blessing to Commonwealth countries that wish to move away from the royal family. The Prince of Wales will meet with prime ministers and presidents at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Kigali, Rwanda, on Friday (24.06.22), where he will stress that whatever happens as countries and constitutions evolve, the “common values and shared goals” that bring the 54 member nations together should never be forgotten. In a speech that comes when countries including Jamaica and Australia are preparing to follow Barbados in removing Queen Elizabeth as head of state, the Daily Telegraph newspaper reports Charles will say: “Our Commonwealth family is – and will always remain – a free association of independent self-governing nations. “We meet and talk as equals, sharing our knowledge and experience for the betterment of all citizens of the Commonwealth and, indeed, the wider world. “The Commonwealth contains within it countries that have had constitutional relationships with my family, some that continue to do so, and increasingly those that have had none. “I want to say clearly, as I have said before, that each member’s constitutional arrangement, as republic or monarchy, is purely a matter for each member country to decide. “The benefit of long life brings me the experience that arrangements such as these can change, calmly and without rancour. “But as I said in Barbados last November, we should never forget the things which do not change: the close and trusted partnership between Commonwealth members; our common values and shared goals; and, perhaps most importantly, the strong and enduring connections between the peoples of the Commonwealth which strengthen us all.” The speech will mark Charles’ first opportunity to address the group as their future leader. Although he officially won’t take over until he is King, he has been acting as de facto head of the Commonwealth as the queen no longer travels overseas and so is unlikely to attend any other CHOGM sessions. Within the Commonwealth, 15 members – including the UK – still have the queen as head of state, while 34 are republics and the remaining five have different monarchs. This week, Togo and Gabon will join the union, despite never having been under Britain’s rule in the past. View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Anne Hathaway’s sense of style is “so influenced” by working with Patricia Field on ‘The Devil Wears Prada’. The 39-year-old actress portrayed a fashion magazine assistant in the 2006 movie and she learned a lot about how to pull an outfit together from watching the legendary stylist create the costumes for the film. Asked by Michael Kors which outfit she wore in the movie that was more like herself than her character, Andy, she replied: “It’s a chicken-and-egg question, because what I think of as my style is so influenced by getting to work with Patricia Field and having conversations with her about how to put outfits together. “But I love what I wore to the James Hoult party, that velvet Chanel coat that went to the knees, and then the miniskirt and the stockings and the slouched boots. I think it was a sample because I kept finding straight pins in it.” The ‘WeCrashed’ star has had some fashion mishaps in the past and recalled how she once accidentally exposed her breasts on the red carpet because she hadn’t realised her dress was see-through. Anne was disappointed that no one pointed out her mistake as she would have done the same for someone else. Asked by Marc Jacobs for Interview magazine which of her past outfits she would erase if she could, she said: “Marc Jacobs, I love you and I love your wickedness. “There was this one time where I was very young and dressed myself for an event, and I stepped onto a red carpet and did not know my dress was see-through, and I wasn’t wearing a bra. “It was a very long carpet, and at no point did any of the people in that wall of photographers stop to give me a heads-up or offer me a jacket. I’m not naive. “I don’t expect that, but it’s something I would do for another person if I saw it. “And so I would erase that, just because it sucked.” View the full article

Published by Reuters By Katharine Jackson WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A gun-safety bill that marked rare bipartisan cooperation as it passed the U.S. Senate was poised for approval by the House of Representatives on Friday on its way to President Joe Biden’s desk. The Senate bill, passed in a 65-33 vote late Thursday, is a modest package of measures to toughen federal gun laws, weeks after mass shootings in Uvalde, Texas, and Buffalo, New York, that killed more than 30 people, including 19 children. Fifteen Republicans joined all 50 Senate Democrats in voting for passage. It is the first major gun-control legislation to pass in three decades in a country with the highest gun ownership per capita in the world and the highest number of mass shootings annually among wealthy nations. Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi applauded the bill’s passage and said in a statement that her chamber would take up the bill “first thing” on Friday, with a vote coming as soon as possible. The legislation would tighten background checks for potential gun buyers with prior domestic violence convictions or significant juvenile criminal records as well as increase funding for school security and mental health programs. House Republicans urged members to vote against it, but in a chamber controlled by Democrats, their support is not needed for passage. Biden has said that he will sign the bill into law. (Reporting by Katharine Jackson; Editing by Mark Porter) View the full article