Social Issues
Latest Stories
5_192015_the-week-in-mideast-photo-78201.jpg
chaos: Displaced Iraqis continue to flee Ramadi after Islamic State militants seized the city and raised their black flag over the government compound, a major upset of U.S. hopes for the country. (Associated Press)
AP1111220132580.jpg
This Nov. 22, 2011, file photo shows Holly Smith, 33, at her home in Richmond, Va., talking about her experiences when she was caught up in a child sex trafficking ring. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)
AP860660305563.jpg
Lynette McGuinness holds a sign during a rally against human trafficking Friday, Feb. 14, 2014, in Miami. This event was part of the One Billion Rising for Justice, a worldwide event by supporters demanding the arrest of those who participate in domestic violence and human trafficking. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky) ** FILE **
5_192015_b1-diaz-28201.jpg
Illustration on Justice Ginsburg's bias in the pending decision on homosexual marriage The Washington Times
FullSizeRender (3).jpg
Rep. Ted W. Lieu, California Democrat, prepares to discuss his new bill, the Therapeutic Fraud Prevention Act, which would ban for-profit therapy that purports to help people turn from gay to straight. David Dinielli, deputy legal director of the Southern Poverty Law Center (center), and Ryan Kendall, a survivor of conversion therapy (right), also addressed the May 19, 2015, press conference held in the Cannon House Office Building on Capitol Hill. (Cheryl Wetzstein/The Washington Times) **FILE**
Kitzhaber.jpg
Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber raised suspicion during his re-election campaign when he shut down the state's health care exchange. (Associated Press)
5_182015_john-kitzhaber8201.jpg
Under Investigation: Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber raised suspicion during his re-election campaign when he shut down the state's health care exchange. (Associated Press)
5_182015_ap3972358268358201.jpg
Rep. Ted Lieu, California Democrat, is sponsoring a bill to ban gay conversion therapy for minors, claiming it not a disorder. (Associated Press)
5_182015_dawgs8201.jpg
Retired USMC Capt. Jason Haag and his canine partner Axel are among those to be honored Tuesday at a K9s for Warriors charity event. (K9s for Warriors)
619f58833a7edf16760f6a7067002b24.jpg
Alaska Gov. Bill Walker holds a news conference in Anchorage concerning his action on the budget on May 18, 2015. (Bill Roth/Alaska Dispatch News via Associated Press) **FILE**
Assata Shakur.png
Marquette University has removed a mural on campus that honored a female member of the former Black Panther Party, who was convicted in 1977 of murdering a New Jersey state trooper and who received political asylum in Cuba after escaping from a state prison. (Marquette Gender and Sexuality Resource Center via Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
Jackson Lee.jpg
The Word “Welfare” - In January of 2014, Texas Representative Sheila Jackson Lee took to the House floor to propose banning the word ‘welfare’ from the government’s vocabulary. Using the 50th anniversary of President Lyndon Johnson's war on poverty, Lee said, "maybe the word welfare should be changed to something of, 'a transitional living fund.' For that is what it is — for people to be able to live." Jackson Lee was referring to all welfare, including food stamps, unemployment, Medicaid, and Medicare.
flag pledge.jpg
Pledge of Allegiance - In Massachusetts, Democratic State Congressman Frank Smizik vocally backed a 2011 effort by the Brookline Political Action for Peace group to ban the Pledge of Allegiance in school. The group said that the pledge had no educational value and was “reminiscent of totalitarian regimes.” While students already had the right not to say the pledge, Smizik claimed that students who refused were being bullied. He agreed to co-sign the resolution, citing both the First Amendment and a calling it an anti-bullying measure. At the time, School Committee Chairwoman Rebecca Stone was reported to have said that, with other important issues on their agenda, she didn't believe that the Committee intended to reconsider the existing policy.
goldfish.jpg
Goldfish - The San Francisco Animal Control & Welfare Commission proposed a ban on selling goldfish to prevent their inhumane suffering. In 2011, Commission member Philip Gerrie proposed the Humane Pet Acquisition Proposal, which included small pets and fish. He said that "most fish in aquariums are either mass bred under inhumane conditions or taken from the wild," leading to "devastation of tropical fish from places like Southeast Asia." As predicted by Supervisor Sean Elsbernd it was "an idea that will end up in the dustbin of history and go absolutely nowhere.”
Toy gun.jpg
In the Ohio House, Democratic State Rep. Bill Patmon of Cleveland introduced House Bill 119, making it illegal to manufacture, sell or display toy guns. The ban would apply to any toy gun that a "reasonable person" could confuse with a real one and comes with a possible $1,000 fine and up to 180 days in jail. An earlier bill was introduced in Ohio requiring some fake guns to be brightly colored. That bill hasn't moved forward and Rep. Patmon has said it doesn't go far enough.
jerry hough.jpg
Duke University has condemned Professor Jerry Hough following student backlash for "noxious" and "offensive" comments he posted online about blacks and Asians. (WTVD)
672d293e3808d416760f6a706700f250.jpg
Retired tennis player Bob Hewitt, left, with his wife Delaille Hewitt, right, sit inside ahead of his sentencing at the high court in Pretoria, South Africa, Monday, May 18, 2015. Hewitt, a former Grand Slam doubles tennis champion, was convicted in South African court of rape and sexual assault decades after the alleged assaults, and sentenced to six years in prison. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)
Nicaragua International Day Against Homophobia.JPEG-0cc8e.jpg
Members of the LGBT movement hold a gay pride flag as they attend a march to mark the International Day Against Homophobia in Managua, Nicaragua, Sunday, May 17, 2015. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix, file)
5_172015_military8201.jpg
The National Women's Law Center is taking the U.S. military culture to task for being slow to integrate women into combat positions, but the pool of qualified females may in fact be limited. (Associated Press)
