Campus Informer
VA Forces Women to Undergo Ultrasounds; Another Latino Advocacy Group for Marriage Equality
Hispanic Group Shows Full Support for Marriage Equality. The League of United Latino American Citizens (LULAC) announced their support for marital equality for LGBT persons Sunday, passing a resolution at the group’s annual conference in Orlando. LULAC’s annual National Convention & Exposition drew over 20,000 community leaders and Hispanic rights activists, where the nation’s largest and oldest Hispanic organization meets annually. The move by LULAC drew full support from Evan Wolfson, the founder and President of Freedom to Marry. “Today’s vote by the League of United Latino American Citizens in favor of the freedom to marry reflects LULAC’s longstanding support for inclusion and equality, and mirrors the values of a growing majority of Latinos in this country,” he said. “Latino gay couples seek the freedom to marry to affirm and strengthen their love and commitment and their ability to take care of each other and their families; government should not be putting barriers in their way.” The move by LULAC follows similar decisions in regards to the formation of its “Rainbow Council”, and it’s support to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”, which works to help LGBT Latinos gain full equality under the law, and to help LGBT citizens enter the military, regardless of sexuality. [The Miami Herald]
Virginia Forces Women to Undergo Ultrasounds. A bill passed by the Virginia Legislature this past winter requiring all women to undergo an ultrasound prior to having an abortion went into effect Sunday, despite challenges from women’s rights groups. The law in place is a compromised version of the original piece, which would have required all women to have a transvaginal ultrasound, which many women’s rights groups deemed “state-mandated rape”. Still, women’s rights advocates in the state are outraged that the state is legislating unteruses, while Virginia continues to suffer from the recession. “Our big elections are in 2013. I can guarantee you we’ll be educating voters how Virginia legislators spent their time while families in Virginia were struggling to find jobs, trying to find health care,” said Tarina Keene, Executive Director of Pro-Choice Virginia. “We’ll make sure people don’t forget.” The legislation has also drawn ire from Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley (D-Mary.), who blasted the state going against the women’s reproductive rights section of the recently SCOTUS-upheld Affordable Care Act, which he called hypocritical. “The only health care mandate [Republicans] can embrace are trans-vaginal probes for women,” O’Malley said. [CBS News]
Boehner Demands “Full Repeal” of Affordable Care Act. House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) vowed to repeal President Obama’s landmark health care provision, which was recently upheld by the Supreme Court.“While the Court upheld it as constitutional, they certainly didn’t say it was a good law,” Boehner said Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation”. “It has to ripped out and we need to start over. One step at a time.” The Supreme Court via a 5-4 majority upheld the Affordable Care ActThursday, with all provisions at least partly upheld. House Republicans have responded to the ruling by saying they would vote to repeal the act on July 11. Boehner said he supports the bill's under-26 provision, which allows those under 26 without insurance get coverage under their parents' health plan. [Bloomberg News]
Christopher Boan is a journalism intern with Campus Progress.
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