Weekly Political Roundup

Flags

  • Frank Kameny, one of the founders of the LGBT rights movement, died at the age of 86.
  • The U.S. Senate confirmed Alison Nathan to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, making her the second lesbian federal judge—and (fun Mombian fact!) the second lesbian mom to hold such a position. (Deborah Batts, who sits on the same bench, was sworn in in 1994.)
  • The White House named Gautam Raghavan, former deputy White House liaison at the Department of Defense, as its LGBT liaison in the Office of Public Engagement.
  • California Governor Jerry Brown signed a bill simplifying the process for transgender people to obtain updated birth certificates. It was one of 10 pro-LGBT bills passed into law in this legislative session.
  • Opponents of California’s Fair, Accurate, Inclusive, and Respectful (FAIR) Education Act, which requires schools to incorporate into social studies classes information about LGBT people’s contributions to history, failed to collect enough signatures for a ballot measure to overturn it.

Around the world:

  • Anna Grodzka became Poland’s first openly transgender member of parliament, and the only currently serving one anywhere in the world.
  • Not new news, but a good recap of old: The New York Times looks at how marriage equality became law in Portugal.
  • Kasha Jacqueline Nabagesera, a Ugandan LGBT advocate, received the Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders.
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