Civil Rights | featured news

The Vatican says Pope Francis supports the Holy See's crackdown on the largest umbrella group of U.S. nuns, who were faulted for focusing too much on social justice instead of issues such as abortion. American sisters had expressed hope that Francis, a Jesuit whose emphasis on the poor mirrored their social outreach, would take a different approach than his predecessor.

We knew that the Human Right Campaign’s (HRC) red and pink logo in support of gay marriage had spread across the web at a record pace, but Facebook is now confirming that with some numbers. Facebook says that millions of people change their profile photos every day, but on Tuesday, March 26, the day the HRC asked gay marriage supporters to “paint the town red” with a new logo, 2.7 million more users changed their photo compared with the previous Tuesday. Profile photo uploads were up by 120 percent, it says. Facebook has more than a billion users.

The federal Defense of Marriage Act may be history in a matter of months, but same-sex couples won't be the financial winners, and the U.S. Treasury won't be the loser. Those are but some of the unexpected consequences that could emerge if the Supreme Court overturns the 1996 law, which appeared likely — though far from assured — following Wednesday's oral arguments.

Hillary Rodham Clinton’s announcement has put her in line with other potential Democratic presidential candidates on a social issue that is rapidly gaining public approval.

An elementary school in Colorado is the subject of a civil rights complaint filed this week on behalf of a trangender 6-year-old. According to the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund, Eagleside Elementary School is violating the child's civil rights by not allowing her to use the girls' bathrooms. Here are the details.

More than half a century after she sat defiantly on an Alabama city bus, Rosa Parks has a permanent place in the U.S. Capitol — the first black woman to be honored with a statue there.

In what's believed to be the first case of its kind, the same-sex spouse of a member of the military will be buried in a national cemetery.

The Boy Scouts of America put off a decision Wednesday on whether to lift its ban on gay members and leaders, saying the question will be taken up at the organization's national meeting in May.

The U.S. Supreme Court did not address the California gay-marriage case on Monday morning. The next time they can consider it is on Friday.

Jubilant gay rights advocates called the results a historic turning point, a sign that public opinion is shifting in their direction.