Civil Rights

NEW YORK (AP) — In a new study, Black Americans expressed broad concerns about how they are depicted in the news media, with majorities saying they see racist or negative depictions and a lack of effort to cover broad segments of... Read More

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California Attorney General Rob Bonta on Friday blasted a suburban school district near the state capital for adopting a mandatory gender identity disclosure policy he contends will threaten the safety and well-being of transgender and other nonconforming... Read More

WASHINGTON — The Washington, D.C., Court of Appeals on Thursday revived a defamation lawsuit by retired military psychologists who claimed they were inaccurately accused of encouraging torture during the U.S. war on terrorism. The ruling also represents a setback for... Read More

One of the reporters who works at the small Kansas newspaper that was raided by authorities earlier this month filed a federal lawsuit against the police chief Wednesday. Deb Gruver believes Marion Police Chief Gideon Cody violated her constitutional rights when he... Read More

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Hundreds of people gathered Sunday at prayer vigils and in church, in frustration and exhaustion, to mourn yet another racist attack in America: this one the killing of three Black people in Florida at the hands... Read More

WASHINGTON — Six decades on, the decennial remembrance of the 1963 March on Washington may not draw hundreds of thousands of participants, but for the several thousand who did make their way to the National Mall on Saturday, the day... Read More

The 60th anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom provides an opportunity for us to reflect on the hopes and promises advanced at the March, and the actions and accomplishments that followed. The 250,000 participants in the... Read More

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris will observe Monday's 60th anniversary of the March on Washington by meeting with organizers of the 1963 gathering and relatives of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., who delivered his “I Have... Read More

MARION, Kan. (AP) — A small central Kansas police department is facing a torrent of criticism for raiding a local newspaper’s office and the home of its owner and publisher, seizing computers and cellphones, and, in the publisher’s view, stressing... Read More

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio voters rejected an attempt by the state Legislature on Tuesday to make it harder to amend the state constitution, a vote seen as a clear victory for abortion-rights supporters trying to stop lawmakers from placing severe... Read More

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Civil rights activists cheered when Ron DeSantis pardoned four Black men wrongfully convicted of rape as one of his first actions as Florida's governor. But four years later, as DeSantis eyes the presidency, their hope that the Republican would be... Read More

BOSTON (AP) — Opening a new front in legal battles over college admissions, the U.S. Department of Education has launched a civil rights investigation into Harvard University's policies on legacy admissions. Top colleges' preferential treatment of children of alumni, who are... Read More

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Tuesday will establish a national monument encompassing three sites in honor of Emmett Till, the Black teenager whose abduction and murder by White supremacists in 1955 became a defining moment in the Civil Rights... Read More

NEW YORK (AP) — New York City has agreed to pay more than $13 million to settle a civil rights lawsuit brought on behalf of roughly 1,300 people who were arrested or beaten by police during racial injustice demonstrations that swept through... Read More

WASHINGTON — The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Saturday that a Tennessee law banning doctors from providing gender-affirming care for minors could go into effect immediately. The 2-1 decision is considered groundbreaking because it marks the first time... Read More

WASHINGTON (AP) — For a century, the League of Women Voters in Florida formed bonds with marginalized residents by helping them register to vote — and, in recent years, those efforts have extended to the growing Asian American and Asian... Read More

WASHINGTON (AP) — A civil rights legal group is challenging legacy admissions at Harvard University, saying the practice discriminates against students of color by giving an unfair boost to the mostly white children of alumni. It’s the latest effort in a growing... Read More

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court ruled Friday that the First Amendment bars the state of Colorado from forcing a designer to create websites conveying messages that go against her evangelical Christian beliefs. Writing for the majority in the 6-3 decision,... Read More

WASHINGTON — The United States Agency for International Development is a leading force for promoting global development and humanitarian assistance. In many parts of the world, however, providing services is challenging when inclusive development may run contrary to a nation’s... Read More

WASHINGTON — Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi denied claims of discrimination in India during a news conference at the White House Thursday.  “There is absolutely no discrimination,” he said in Hindi. Modi has faced criticism around subduing the Indian press... Read More

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Friday signed an executive order aimed at shoring up and expanding access to contraception in the face of the continued curtailment of abortion rights in several states. The White House announced the president’s intentions... Read More

WASHINGTON — Uganda’s long history of legally-sanctioned violence and stigmatizing of homosexuals and those in same-sex relationships is not just a crisis of human rights, but poses real dangers when it comes to addressing health emergencies and HIV response, according... Read More

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — A federal judge struck down Arkansas' first-in-the-nation ban on gender-affirming care for children as unconstitutional Tuesday, the first ruling to overturn such a prohibition as a growing number of Republican-led states adopt similar restrictions. U.S.... Read More

WASHINGTON — Just two years after becoming a formal federal holiday, Juneteenth has truly become a national day of celebration and remembrance with public events commemorating the emancipation of enslaved African Americans scheduled from coast to coast. Here in Washington,... Read More

WASHINGTON — First Lady Dr. Jill Biden and Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, were among those in attendance to honor America’s women veterans and recognize 75 years of women’s integration into the U.S. Armed Forces at a “Women Veterans Recognition Day”... Read More

NEW YORK (AP) — To its members, it’s a grassroots army of “joyful warriors” who “don’t co-parent with the government.” To anti-hate researchers, it’s a well-connected extremist group that attacks inclusion in schools. And to Republicans vying for the presidency, it... Read More

WASHINGTON — Following an unprecedented spike in anti-LGBTQ+ measures sweeping state houses this year, five transgender rights advocates gathered at a panel on Thursday afternoon to discuss the impact of anti-trans laws and rhetoric.  "It certainly feels like a state... Read More

They are part of a small, vanishing group who lived at the epicenter of the struggle for voting rights six decades ago, an era driven by segregation, violence and the yearning for equality that eventually led to laws bringing the... Read More

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Human Rights Campaign declared a state of emergency for LGBTQ+ people in the U.S. on Tuesday and a released “a guidebook for action” summarizing what it calls discriminatory laws in each state, along with “know your... Read More

WASHINGTON — The White House on Thursday released the country’s first national strategy for fighting antisemitism, outlining more than 100 specific steps federal agencies have committed to completing before the end of the year. The plan also includes over 100... Read More