Washington
Human Rights Campaign declares LGBTQ+ Americans under attack
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Human Rights Campaign declared a state of emergency for LGBTQ+ people in the U.S. on Tuesday and a released “a guidebook for action” summarizing what it calls discriminatory laws in each state, along with “know your rights” information and health and safety resources.
Sounding the alarm about the current political environment, the nation’s largest organization devoted to the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer Americans said advisories warning against travel to dangerous places aren’t enough to help people already living in so-called hostile states.
The campaign said it’s taking action in response to an unprecedented and dangerous spike in discriminatory legislation sweeping state houses this year, with more than 525 anti-LGBTQ+ bills introduced and more than 70 signed into law so far in 2023 — more than double last year’s number. In a report released Tuesday called “LGBTQ+ Americans Under Attack,” it says the new laws are a result of coordinated Republican efforts, supported by “well-funded extremist groups.”
The “LGBTQ+ Americans Fight Back” guidebook, meanwhile, also provides information about filing complaints for violations of civil rights and points to resources for financing moves and finding employment in what it calls “safer” states.
In a section called Know the Enemy/Opposition, the guidebook offers tips on how to engage in local advocacy opposing anti-LGBTQ+ efforts and how to navigate tough conversations about hate with friends and family.
The guidebook aims to help millions of vulnerable people, “whether they’re planning summer travel through regions that are becoming increasingly hostile to LGBTQ+ people, or whether they already live in a state where legislative assaults and political extremism are continuing to put a target on our backs,” Kelley Robinson, president of the Human Rights Campaign, said in a statement.
The emergency declaration is the first in the 40-year history of the HRC, and comes as Republican-dominated legislatures around the country have passed bills targeting people based on their identities, including laws restricting various aspects of transgender existence, from pronoun usage and bathroom access to medical care and more.
Among the latest, one of a series of bills nearing final passage in Louisiana would broadly ban K-12 public school employees in Louisiana from discussing sexual orientation or gender identity in the classroom. The legislation is similar to the Florida law critics dubbed “Don’t Say Gay.”
Pennsylvania
House votes to expand types of criminal records that can be sealed from view
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A measure that would expand the kind of criminal records that can be sealed from public view easily passed the Pennsylvania House of Representatives with bipartisan support on Monday.
The legislation cleared the House on a 189-14 vote, and goes to the Senate.
It would expand the state’s existing Clean Slate law to make non-violent drug felonies with a maximum sentence of 2 1/2 years eligible for automated sealing.
The measure also would allow for those with a criminal history to petition to seal other nonviolent felonies if they are conviction-free for 10 years. It would also reduce the waiting period for automated sealing of misdemeanors to seven years, rather than 10 years.
Sponsors for the legislation said the current law has sealed 40 million cases involving 1.2 million Pennsylvanians.
“The bipartisan passage of Clean Slate 3.0 shows that Pennsylvania continues to believe in second chances and expand the folks who can access them,” sponsor Rep. Jordan Harris, a Democrat from Philadelphia, said in a prepared statement.
Colorado
Victims plan to sue sheriff for failing to get red flag order
DENVER (AP) — Some victims of the mass shooting at a gay club in Colorado Springs last year plan to sue authorities for not trying to block the shooter from buying guns before the attack.
According to legal notices obtained by The Denver Post on Monday, 11 survivors and relatives of those killed notified the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office last month that they intended to file lawsuits over the failure to obtain an extreme risk protection, or red flag, order against Anderson Aldrich, who is charged with killing five people and injuring 22 others at Club Q in November 2022. State law allows authorities and others to get a court order to seize someone’s guns and prevent them from legally buying more if they are deemed a threat to themselves or others.
The notices, which were first reported by the Colorado Springs Independent, must be given before people file lawsuits against government agencies and provide a chance to reach a settlement instead. The victims are seeking more than $160 million, according to the documents.
A spokesperson for the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office did not return a call seeking comment.
Questions were raised early on about whether authorities should have sought a red flag order to stop Aldrich, who is nonbinary and uses they/them pronouns, from buying guns after Aldrich was arrested in 2021 when they threatened their grandparents and vowed to become the “next mass killer,” according to law enforcement documents.
While charges were pending against Aldrich in that case, they were not legally able to buy guns. Authorities said two guns seized from Aldrich then — a ghost gun pistol and an MM 15 rifle — weren’t returned and were still held by the sheriff’s office at the time of the Club Q shooting.
After the charges were dropped in the 2021 case over a year later, in part because prosecutors couldn’t track down Aldrich’s grandparents and mother to testify, Aldrich had no legal restrictions on buying guns.
After the details of Aldrich’s previous arrest was revealed following the shooting, the sheriff’s office said it would not have been able to seek a red flag order because of the 2021 arrest because the case had been sealed and there was no new evidence that they could use to prove that Aldrich posed a threat “in the near future.”
Investigators say Aldrich was armed with an AR-15-style rifle and a handgun during the shooting. Anderson has not entered a plea to murder and hate crimes charges yet.
