January 8, 2018 By MERRIT KENNEDY NPR The Supreme Court says it will not take up a challenge to a Mississippi law that allows businesses and government officials to deny services to LGBT people if doing so would conflict with certain "sincerely held" religious beliefs. By rejecting the cases, the top court leaves in place a federal appeals court decision that allowed the 2016 law to take effect. It came into force in October. "We had challenged it before it went into [...]

January 3, 2018 By Julie Compton NBC News High school football star Jake Bain is tackling homophobia head on. In October, he came out during an assembly at his high school in St. Louis, Missouri. Then in December, the athlete accepted a scholarship to Indiana State University after he came out as gay to the university's head coach. “Most people don’t have to come out. Most people don’t have to worry that they will be judged based on who they [...]

January 2, 2018 BY JUSTIN NELSON AND CHANCE MITCHELL The Advocate Money talks. And now, more than ever, the private sector is listening to the collective voice of the LGBT community. In many ways, our dollar is as strong as our votes at the ballot box. We have fought hard to secure our rights in the name of equality, but our true equity and ability to bring about change for our community lies with our economic power. Our buying power [...]

December 29, 2017 by Mattie John Bamman EATER, Portland, OR The now shuttered Sweet Cakes by Melissa, which refused service to and doxxed the gay couple will pay damages equalling $135,000 This week, the Oregon Court of Appeals confirmed Melissa and Aaron Klein must pay damages equalling $135,000 for refusing to bake a wedding cake for a same-sex couple in 2013, the Oreports. The Oregon Court of Appeals upheld a ruling that the Kleins’ now-shuttered Gresham bakery, Sweet Cakes by Melisa, violated the Oregon Equality Act, when it [...]