Here's some shitty news. Four days after unanimously approving policy allowing a few very basic rights to transgender students, the East Aurora School District 131 in Illinois has revoked it, claiming that they didn't allow time for input from state officials. We all know this is a bunch of bullshit because the…
Last week, Chick-fil-A's CEO confirmed what liberal fun-ruiners already knew — the restaurant not only serves up delicious waffle fries, but also some good old fashioned from-scratch bigoted homophobia. Like Mom used to make! The CEO's admission further ignited the already red and itchy culture wars that divide the…
Joyce Banda, who was recently sworn in
Twenty-one year old college student Jordan Ramos enjoys the same ill-advised things that her fellow University of Iowa students enjoy — going to bars in downtown Iowa City, drinking a little bit, climbing up onto things, and dancing on them while other people go "WOOO!" So when bouncers at a local establishment barred…
A Georgia trans woman was fired from her job as a legislative aide after she went public about her gender transition. Now, a court has ruled she should get her job back.
In Kyrgyzstan, up to 15,000 women a year are victims of bride kidnapping, in which men abduct them and sometimes rape them as a way of forcing them into marriage — once they've spent the night with a man, their families often won't take them back. The practice is illegal, but the law is rarely enforced, and even when…
The UN recently issued a report that declares that countries that restrict access to either abortion or contraception are violating a woman's human rights. The report also declares it Officially Messed Up when a woman is prosecuted for taking illegal drugs or drinking during her pregnancy, because it's her body and the …
According to news reports out of Saudi Arabia, Saudi women are outraged that the government plans to allow Moroccan maids into the country to replace Filipina and Indonesian women, out of the belief that Moroccan women will seduce their husbands. Oh, by the way: There's a vacuum in the Saudi domestic market in response …
A Canadian comedian has been fined $15,000 by a human rights tribunal for unleashing a tirade of sexist and homophobic insults against a lesbian couple in the audience. But some are concerned this decision will limit the rights of performers.
The Czech Republic is being criticized for still testing gay male asylum seekers by monitoring blood flow to their penises while they watch straight porn. Arousal gets you sent back to wherever you're being persecuted. Unsurprisingly, this is deeply problematic.
A Pakistani woman sentenced to death for allegedly insulting Islam will be pardoned after the accusations were found to be baseless. She has said that the charges were fabricated by women who didn't like her.
Iranian authorities have reportedly ordered that Sakineh Ashtiani be executed for adultery tomorrow, and protesters are mounting a last-ditch effort to save her.
The British government's plan to pay for a mentally disabled man's visit to a prostitute has sparked an interesting debate: is sex a human right?
In what has to be the most disturbing story of the weekend, an Afghan couple were executed Sunday in the first public stoning since the Taliban fell from power in 2001. Their crime: eloping.
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has offered asylum to Sakineh Ashtiani, the mother of two initially sentenced to death by stoning in Iran. Unfortunately, her fate still remains uncertain.
Iranian authorities now say mother-of-two Sakineh Mohammadie Ashtiani
An Iranian woman is set to be stoned to death for adultery — but pressure from the international community could change that.
On Thursday, the Irish parliament finished drafting and quickly passed the Civil Partnership Bill, which will extend "marriage-like" benefits to gay and lesbian couples. It is expected to become a law this autumn. [Irish Times, BBC]
This week the UN gave Iran a four-year seat on its Commission on the Status of Women. But some activists criticize the decision, saying "Iran's discriminatory laws demonstrate that the Islamic Republic does not believe in gender equality." [FOX News]
A judge ruled on Wednesday to allow camera coverage of the Proposition 8 trial. Videos will be made available on YouTube starting on January 11th and will be posted daily throughout the proceedings. [CNN, Variety]
Some British schools are banning the practice of making kids stand in the corner when they misbehave, arguing that the practice may violate human rights. No word on the status of the dreaded blackboard punishment. [Telegraph]
Tonight President Obama will present the co-founders of Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) with the 2009 Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award for their commitment to social justice.
The Padaung, Burmese women famous for their elongated necks, are a popular tourist attraction - and some say they're basically being enslaved:
A Saudi princess who had a baby with her English boyfriend has been given asylum in Britain, saying she would be stoned as an adulterer if she returned to Saudi Arabia.
"By snapping up rack after rack of cheap, mass-made clothing, we're making ourselves all look alike, trashing the planet, and mistreating our fellow humans." Well, when a person puts it like that, it sounds bad!
The new documentary Not Yet Rain explores how difficult it is for Ethiopian women to obtain safe abortions, even though the country has one of Africa's most progressive abortion laws.
Human Rights Watch has declared Saudi Arabia's treatment of women to be a "denial of fundamental rights." Saudi women (in case you haven't heard) are legally obligated to have a male guardian to make decisions for them, travel with them, and are banned from driving, giving them about as much personal freedom as a…
