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Merkel Suffers Electoral Defeat to Anti-Immigrant Nationalists
This past Sunday saw a stunning defeat of Angela Merkel’s center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) at the hands of an ascendent radical right-wing party known as the Alternative for Germany Party (AfD). The local defeat took place in Merkel’s own parliamentary constituency in the state…
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Kansas: Anti-Trans Bigotry Prioritized Over Education
(Kansas Governor Sam Brownback) While discussion around the nation has focused on North Carolina’s so-called “bathroom bill” – the governor-approved legislation barring trans people from using public bathrooms corresponding to their gender – another state has slipped under the radar with regard to its own…
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6 Artist Reactions to the N.C. Bathroom Bill
(Bruce Springsteen cancelled a North Carolina performance in protest of the discriminatory HB2, also known as the bathroom bill) Since North Carolina passed HB2 – legislation colloquially known as the bathroom bill that prohibits transgender individuals from using restrooms that correspond to their gender -there has been…
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Germany Poised to Annul Convictions of Gay Men
(Participants in Cologne’s 2014 Gay Pride March) The Federal Republic of Germany took a positive step toward atonement this week, as the government announced that it would annul convictions of homosexuality left over from a now repealed law known as Paragraph 175. The annulments will…
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Anti-Choice Laws Spur Backchannel Abortions
(Mississippi State Capitol in Jackson) A haunting trend has emerged in Google search behavior among U.S. citizens, indicating the effects of anti-choice legislation sweeping across the country in recent years. In an op-ed for The New York Times, Seth Stephens-Davidowitz discusses an alarming uptick in…
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AT&T Star Steps Up for Syrian Refugees
(Milana Vayntrub speaking at VidCon 2012. Photo courtesy of Gage Skidmore) Following a recent trip to Greece, Milana Vayntrub – the actress who plays the buoyant shop clerk in AT&T commercials – has found a new cause: the Syrian refugee crisis. The actress was once…
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Syrian Refugees: Europe Struggles to Cope
(A Hungarian police officer stands in front of Syrian refugees made to disembark a train en route to Germany) Tensions are mounting in Europe, where tens of thousands of Syrian refugees have sought stability and security after fleeing their home country, which is embroiled in…
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UN Reps. Decry State of Gender Equality in US
A visit to the United States by three UN representatives has cast a gloomy picture of gender equality in the wealthy nation, highlighting a number of issues in which the global super power lags behind the rest of the world with regard to women’s rights….
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Refugee Relief Efforts Face Bankruptcy
(Photo: Arbat Transit Camp for Syrian Refugees in Sulaymaniyah, Iraqi Kurdistan) As part of our ongoing coverage of the global refugee crisis, today we look at how UN agencies are quickly running out of cash and consequently edging closer to bankruptcy. In an interview with The…
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Marriage Equality: An Amazing Achievement
In a dramatic success for the gay and lesbian communities, the Supreme Court ruled Friday that same-sex marriage is legal across the nation, making the United States the 20th country to enshrine marriage equality on the national level. Some activists expressed surprise that the nation…
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