Daily Archives: April 5, 2016

Sexual + Gender Minorities

U.S. News | LGBT

Mississippi governor signs sweeping anti-LGBT bill into law
  • House Bill 1523 allows for businesses and government workers to set religiously based workplace policies and refuse service to LGBT and unmarried cohabitating individuals on religious grounds, including public accommodations, adoption, foster care, counseling, and marriage certificate registration.
  • Governor Phil Bryant claimed the law didn’t conflict with federal laws but merely provided protection for persons who for religious reasons wished to refuse service to LGBT customers and clients.
  • The bill declares the government cannot discriminate against such “persons,” which includes a “sole proprietorship, or closely held company, partnership, association, organization, firm, corporation, cooperative, trust, society or other closely held entity.”

Read more:
“Mississippi Governor Signs Sweeping Anti-LGBT Bill Into Law” (BuzzFeed News)
“LGBT couples can be refused service under new Mississippi law” (The Guardian)
“Religion law adopted in Mississippi over gay rights protest” (Reuters)

(Image Credit: Rogelio V. Solis/AP, via BuzzFeed News)

Nationality + Migration

Canada News | Immigrants & Refugees

Canadian government warns refugees and other immigrants about phone scams
  • Extortionists have targeted new arrivals, homing in on those with non-English/French last names and demanding money to avoid denaturalization, passport seizure, or deportation.
  • Total complaints—including new arrivals—reached 15,000 in 2015, ten times more than the previous year, and already number more than 5,000 in 2016.
  • More than 1,100 victims, native-born and immigrant, have lost more than C$3.5 million (US$2.68 million) since 2014.

Read more:
“Canada warns refugees, immigrants about phone extortion scams” (Reuters)
“RCMP warn of phone scam targeting and threatening immigrants” (CBC News, January 2015)
“Phone scam targets immigrants across Canada” (Global News, January 2015)

(Image Credit: via CBC News)

Class + Socioeconomics, Gender, Race + Color + Ethnicity

India News | Women, Indigenous & Dalit

India PM launches entrepreneurship initiative for members of historically disadvantaged communities
  • PM Narendra Modi announced Stand Up India, a program to spur entrepreneurship and business-technological integration among women and India’s Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, historically disadvantaged groups subject to affirmative action by the government.
  • Banks will be required to sponsor relatively inexpensive loans for entrepreneurs from disadvantaged and underrepresented communities.
  • The initiative comes ahead of next year’s elections in the state of Uttar Pradesh, with the Modi-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) coalition seeking to court Dalit and tribal votes.

Read more:
“PM promises to ‘change’ lives of tribals, Dalits with ‘Stand up India’” (The Hindustan Times)
“‘Stand Up India’ will transform lives of Dalits, tribals: Modi” (The Hindu)
“‘Stand up India’: PM Modi to book first e-rickshaw through Ola” (The Times of India)

(Image Credit: Sandeep Saxena/The Hindu)