The six justices who struck down abortion rights are divided on the right to birth control, gay marriage and interracial marriage.
civil rights
Posted inPolitics
Black lawmakers call their relationship with Lamont ‘a work in progress’
Tension remained, even as Black lawmakers applauded Gov. Ned Lamont signing the Crown Act.
Posted inPolitics
Connecticut House joins national civil rights campaign over Black hair styles
The Connecticut House voted for a bill intended to protect Black women from discrimination over their hair.
Posted inJustice
Connecticut black pastors urge calm as Floyd’s death roils dozens of U.S. cities
Connecticut’s mainly peaceful protests continued Sunday as looting and rioting became more prevalent in other states .
Posted inJustice
CT House endorses a greater civil rights role for AG
The ability of the Connecticut attorney general’s office to investigate and seek civil penalties for hate crimes and civil rights offenses would be clarified, expanded and codified in state law under legislation passed Wednesday by the House of Representatives and sent to the Senate.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
The fate of the Tree of Life
The murder of 11 innocent worshipers at the Tree of Life synagogue — the deadliest attack ever on the Jewish community in this country– occurred on the 80th anniversary of one of the most fateful events in Jewish history. On that day in 1938, in what the New York Times described as possibly “the greatest mass deportation of recent times,” the Nazi government began deportation of 17,000 Polish-born Jews living in Germany and Nazi-occupied Austria.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
No words – until now
It is April 11, 1914. Fannie Saphirstein, 28, signs the Department of Labor’s Naturalization Form #2203 in which she describes herself as white of fair complexion, height 5 feet and weight 118 pounds with brown hair and blue eyes. She was born in Bialistock, Russia, on the 25th day of March in 1886. She immigrated to America from Antwerp on the vessel Zeeland. She attests that her last foreign residence was Bialistock, Russia. Her occupation? A cigar maker.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
It is not more guards we need. It is more understanding.
It is shocking that our nation has just experienced the worst anti-semitic attack in our history. One would hope that by this point in time our nation would be so much better than this. Clearly, that is not the case. The Connecticut Council for Interreligious Understanding calls upon every leader and every person to face up to the meaning of the events in Pittsburgh. The murders at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh make it clear that our country is awash in hatred and primed for violence. This is not the country we want or expect.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Happy Constitution Day for an apathetic citizenry
September 17 is Constitution Day. The Constitution is 231 years old. The Framers of the Constitution effectively protected us from having our rights taken away. But they never thought that we would give them away. As countries go, the United States is one of the relative youngsters, nevertheless, our constitution is the longest lasting constitution in human history. So, Happy Birthday to the most important document in the life of every American citizen, a document which represents and embodies the freedoms that we have been enjoying for the last 240 years.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
The dirty war is here
The news of the arrival, at the Noank Community Support Services in Groton, of some children from the group of 2,000+ forcibly separated at the southern border and other unaccompanied detained minors signals potentially and ominously the beginning of the end of their legal relationship with their biological parents under Connecticut law.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Uphold the governor’s veto of Public Act 18-89
Monday Connecticut’s legislature appears on the verge of enacting a profoundly anti-disability rights, anti-civil rights legislation over Gov. Dannel Malloy’s veto. The bill is Public Act 18-89. It permits any teacher to throw a child out of the classroom at any time that the teacher thinks the kid may be dangerous. Any review of the teacher’s unilateral decision will occur after the child is excluded. And, the bill makes the child’s re-entry into the classroom a major challenge.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
The classroom safety bill discriminates against the disabled
The Connecticut Association for Public School Superintendents has serious concern over the passage of Public Act 18-89: An Act Concerning Classroom Safety and Disruptive Behavior . The Act would be an alarming revision to Connecticut’s education laws that would (1) discriminate against and violate the rights of students with disabilities under the IDEA, and (2) expose confidential student information to third parties in violation of federal law.
Posted inEducation
DeVos tells Murphy she doesn’t think schools can call ICE on students
WASHINGTON – Under questioning by Sen. Chris Murphy on Tuesday, Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos reversed herself on whether a school can call Immigration and Customs Enforcement on students believed to be undocumented. “I don’t think they can,” she said.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Where we stand today: The wins and losses for women in Connecticut
As the legislative session came to a close on May 9, the General Assembly passed several bills to safeguard the health and safety of women in Connecticut and combat the gender wage gap. But lawmakers fell short on critical opportunities to advance women’s economic security.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Disenfranchising felons from the vote isn’t just wrong; it’s dumb
House Bill 5418, An Act Restoring Electoral Privileges to Felony Convicts Who Are on Parole, already has 31 Democratic co-sponsors but no public Republican support. As the bill nears a vote in the final days of the 2018 General Assembly, this is a mistake for Connecticut’s GOP. Connecticut Republicans need to support HB 5418 because they stand to gain as much as the Democrats do by refranchising parolees in Connecticut.