Improving the Lives and Rights of LGBTQ People in America
A Road Map for the Biden Administration Getty/Ben Hasty/MediaNews Group/Reading Eagle
LGBTQ rights supporters gather during a candlelight vigil in West Reading, Pennsylvania, on September 14, 2020.
Adam Peck
Introduction and summary
The Trump administration spent the majority of its four years in office launching a barrage of attacks infringing on the rights of LGBTQ people, promoting discriminatory policies, and creating barriers to access critical government services. These actions reflect the Trump administration’s blatant disregard for the rights, dignity, and well-being of LGBTQ people, their families, and communities. In particular, the damages promulgated by the administration exacerbated existing inequalities and disparities between LGBTQ and non-LGBTQ people in the realms of health, employment, the justice system and law enforcement interactions, education, housing, and immigration. The real-world consequen
With President-elect Joe Biden’s choice of federal Judge Merrick Garland as his new attorney general last week, the question arises: Will Garland carry out his responsibilities in a nonpartisan manner, or will he return the Justice Department to the days of the Obama-Biden administration when, as I have argued, Eric Holder politicized the department more than almost any other prior attorney general
Indian American officials Jeremy Cooney and Kevin Thomas, who recently won seats in the New York state Senate in November, were named Jan. 5 to state committee posts along with several Senate Democrats for the 2021-2022 legislative term.
Cooney will serve as the committee chair of the newly-created Cities Committee, which overseas cities outside of New York City as the Democratic Party holds multiple seats in upstate cities like Buffalo, Rochester and Syracuse for the first time in decades.
Cooney is an attorney with professional experience ranging from public affairs to philanthropy to corporate litigation, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Born in an Indian orphanage, Cooney was adopted by a courageous single mother and grew up in the South Wedge neighborhood of the city of Rochester. Raised in an Irish family, he inherited a strong sense of family, faith, and the famous upstate accent, his campaign website says.
President-elect Joe Biden picks Kristen Clarke as DOJ nominee who in the past has called for partially defunding police. Ian Prior, former DOJ deputy affairs director under the Trump administration, provides insight.
With President-elect Joe Biden’s choice of Judge Merrick Garland as his new attorney general this week, the question arises: Will Garland carry out his responsibilities in a nonpartisan manner, or will he return the Justice Department to the days of the Obama-Biden administration when, as I have argued, Eric Holder politicized the department more than almost any other prior attorney general?
Given some of Biden’s choices for Garland’s subordinates, Garland may have a difficult time avoiding the renewed politicization of the Justice Department.
Last year, California’s Proposition 16 looked to many like a train coming downgrade.
For the record:
11:56 AM, Jan. 12, 2021An earlier version of this commentary stated a post-election poll was conducted by the Institute for Governmental Studies. The organization was not involved in that poll. We regret the error.
The November ballot measure which would have authorized the state to engage in preferential treatment based on race, sex or ethnicity had legions of endorsements from corporate titans like Facebook, Wells Fargo and United Airlines. And its supporters were flush with cash, enabling them to outspend the opposition more than 15 to 1.
But after the ballots were all counted, Proposition 16 garnered only 42.8 percent of the vote a crushing defeat.