Ghana Parliament to Revive Anti-LGBTQ Legislation, Speaker Says
Speaker of Parliament Alban Bagbin said during a visit to Ivory Coast last week that he would take steps to revive the bill and present it to President John Mahama, according to a video recording posted by the Accra-based broadcaster TV3.
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Lost Jefferson letter on arms and democracy resurfaces for Fourth of July sale
A rare, handwritten letter by Thomas Jefferson, in which the founding father and third president expounds the right of citizens to bear arms in a revolutionary cause, has been uncovered in New England and offered for sale to mark the Fourth of July holiday. The holiday also marks the 199th anniversary of his death. Jefferson penned the letter to Virginia's then governor Benjamin Harrison on 31 December 1783, shortly after the conclusion of the revolutionary war that ended British opposition to the US declaration of independence seven years earlier. Written from Annapolis, the temporary capital of the fledgling country, the letter is notable for Jefferson's observation of a rising tide of revolutionary fervor in Europe, and his citing of the insistence of citizens there to be able to take up arms against their rulers, as residents of the 13 colonies had done against the British crown. He tells Harrison that 'citizens of the Dutch states are all in commotion' against the stadtholder regime of William V, the prince of Orange. He goes on to say that 'of 80,000 men able to bear arms among them it is believed scarcely any will refuse to sign this demand'. The original was in the hands of a private collector for more than half a century, dealer Nathan Raab of the Pennsylvania-based Raab Collection said. It was considered missing by custodians of the Jefferson papers at the University of Virginia. 'We are not aware of any letter having reached the market from a signer, let alone author of the declaration of independence on the right of democratic citizens to bear arms and oppose autocracy,' said Raab, who values the document at about $90,000. 'To see Jefferson, whose declaration of independence lit the spark of … western hemisphere liberty, rejoicing that these independence movements are gaining steam, and the people are making demands … it's about as evocative an expression of the democratic right to bear arms of the people as you can get. 'He's basically saying the momentum is toward democracy, not royalty.' While the letter showcases Jefferson's thoughts on justice overseas, his life in the US was much darker and less stable. He was the owner of more than 600 slaves – more than any other person who became president. Another letter uncovered by Raab last year highlighted Jefferson's financial misadventures that left him also penniless immediately before, and during, his time in the White House from 1801 to 1809. The letter to Harrison, Raab said, also reflects Jefferson's growing anxiety over ratification of the Treaty of Paris, which was signed in France in September 1783 by Britain, the US and others, to end the revolutionary war. The agreement required at least nine of the 13 new states to sign the document at a congressional summit in Annapolis called for November, and send it back to London – a two-month voyage away – by March 1784. But bad weather prevented several delegations from reaching the summit, and in his 31 December letter Jefferson wrote: 'We have yet but seven states, and no more certain prospects of nine than at any time heretofore. We hope that the letters sent to the absent states will bring them forward'. Raab said: 'It's like you're at the finish line and waiting to cross it. This is not a situation where you send it over by email; it had to cross the Atlantic twice. It's also the 1700s. You're not hopping on transatlantic flights, these people are coming from distant destinations on horseback.' Representatives from Connecticut and South Carolina eventually arrived days later, and the treaty was ratified on 14 January and dispatched urgently to London. The letter, Raab said, provides an intriguing snapshot of a crucial time in American history, with a brand new nation beginning to find its feet and in turn inspiring others to challenge centuries of established rules of governance overseas. 'It speaks to us today on many levels,' he said. 'We can see the power and inspiration of Jefferson's pen as he can begin to reflect on the success of his work and the American revolution, and witness democratic ideals spreading worldwide.'
Yahoo
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US supreme court to weigh transgender student sports bans in key rights case
The US supreme court announced on Thursday that it will consider a bid by West Virginia and Idaho to enforce their state laws banning transgender athletes from female sports teams at public sector schools. The decision means the court is prepared to take up another civil rights challenge to Republican-backed restrictions on transgender people. The justices took up the state appeals of lower court decisions siding with a transgender students who sued. The students argued that the laws discriminate based on sex and transgender status in violation of the US constitution's 14th amendment guarantee of equal protection under the law as well as the Title IX civil rights law that bars sex-based discrimination in education. The supreme court is expected to hear arguments on the matter during its next term, which begins in October. A total of 27 states, most of them Republican-governed, have passed laws in recent years restricting participation in sports by transgender people. The Idaho and West Virginia laws designate sports teams at public schools according to 'biological sex' and bar 'students of the male sex' from female athletic teams. The issue of transgender rights is a flashpoint in what has become a culture war in the US. Donald Trump, upon taking back the White House, has signed executive orders declaring that the federal government will officially recognize only two sexes – male and female – as well as attempting to exclude transgender girls and women from female sports. Trump also rescinded orders by his predecessor, Joe Biden, combating discrimination against gay and transgender people. The supreme court in a major ruling in June upheld a Republican-backed ban in Tennessee on gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors. The 6-3 ruling powered by the court's conservative majority found that the ban does not violate the US constitution's 14th amendment promise of equal protection, as challengers to the law had argued. The challengers had argued that the measure unlawfully discriminated against these adolescents based on their sex or transgender status. The supreme court's three liberal justices dissented. The supreme court in May also allowed Trump's ban on transgender people serving in the military to take effect. The challenge to the West Virginia law was brought by Becky Pepper-Jackson and the student's mother in 2021 after Pepper-Jackson's middle school barred her from joining the girls' cross-country and track teams due to the state's ban. A federal judge ruled in Pepper-Jackson's favor at an early stage of the case, but later reversed course and sided with the state. The supreme court in 2023 refused the state's bid to enforce the law as litigation proceeded. The Richmond, Virginia-based fourth US circuit court of appeals in April threw out the judge's decision, ruling that the law's exclusion of Pepper-Jackson from girls' teams violates the Title IX law. The state law treats transgender girls differently from other girls, 'which is - literally - the definition of gender identity discrimination', the fourth circuit ruling stated, adding that this is also discrimination on the basis of sex under Title IX. The Idaho challenge was brought by Lindsay Hecox, a transgender Boise State University student who had sought to join the women's track and cross-country teams, but failed to qualify. Hecox has instead participated in sports clubs, including soccer and running, at the public university. A federal judge blocked Idaho's law in 2020, finding that Idaho's law likely violates the constitutional equal protection guarantee. The San Francisco-based ninth US circuit court of appeals upheld the judge's action in 2023 and, in an amended ruling, in 2024. The measure unlawfully discriminates based on sex and transgender status, the ninth circuit concluded. Reuters contributed reporting
Yahoo
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Democratic lawmakers denied entry to ‘Alligator Alcatraz' immigration jail
A group of Florida lawmakers were denied entry on Thursday into the new Florida-based immigration jail dubbed 'Alligator Alcatraz' one day after the first immigrant detainees began to arrive. Five Democratic lawmakers attempted to enter the facility, which was previously toured on Tuesday by White House officials, but were stopped by law enforcement officers from local agencies, according to the state representative Anna Eskamani in an interview with CNN. 'This is a blatant abuse of power and an attempt to conceal human rights violations from the public eye,' the five said in a joint statement. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) confirmed that the first detentions at the facility began on Wednesday, but did not respond to questions regarding the number of people detained so far. The controversial Everglades jail was quickly set up in a partnership between the federal and Florida state governments. Sitting approximately 50 miles (80km) west of Miami, the remote facility is managed by the state but in large part funded the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema). 'It might be as good as the real Alcatraz. A little controversial, but I couldn't care less,' Trump said on Tuesday after touring the site. During the tour, Trump joked about immigrants being pursued by snakes and alligators if they attempted to escape. Since Trump took office, Florida has been assisting the administration's goals in rounding up a large number of immigrants to be detained and deported. Through a program called 287(g), local law enforcement agencies partner with DHS and become deputized to carry out immigration enforcement operations. According to the state government, Florida has more 287(g) deputizations than any other state in the US, which has allowed it to engage in widespread operations targeting immigrant communities. Related: Trump celebrates harsh conditions for detainees on visit to 'Alligator Alcatraz' Immigrants arrested by Florida law enforcement under the arrangement will be detained at the facility, DHS said. 'You'll have a lot of people that will deport on their own because they don't want to end up in an Alligator Alcatraz, or some of these other places,' Florida governor Ron DeSantis said after touring the facility with Trump. 'This is a model, but we need other states to step up.' Being undocumented in the US is not a crime; rather, it is a civil offense. Data analysis by the Guardian shows that there has been a dramatic nationwide increase in the arrest of undocumented immigrants with no criminal record. The White House has pressured immigration officials to arrest 3,000 people per day, with the reported goal of reaching one million a year. Two non-profit groups have sued DHS, claiming the site's buildup is violating environmental policies. DHS said it expects the facility to expand quickly to 5,000 beds.
