The United Nations is looking to push governments to “fully comply with their obligations under international human rights law to protect and empower LGBT+ persons."
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced earlier this week that it was looking into removing employers’ ability to cite a moral objection to providing contraception in their employee insurance coverage under the Obamacare mandate, while legal experts warn that this could be the first step to removing religious exemptions as well.
The Israel Antiquities Authority, the Israel National Parks Authority and the City of David Foundation announced days before the new year that the Pool of Siloam, a biblical site cherished by Christians and Jews, will be open to the public for the first time in 2,000 years in the near future.
Stephanie Carter, a nurse practitioner at the Olin E. Teague Veterans’ Center in Temple, Texas, has filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) for not allowing her a religious accommodation to opt out of participating in the agency's new federally funded abortion plan, citing the Religious Freedom Restoration Act which requires the federal government to accommodate religious objections.
On Tuesday, President Joe Biden signed a bill that extends marriage rights to same-sex couples across the United States, making it the law of the land. The law is a repeal of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, which defined marriage as between one man and one woman.
The State Department has now designated 12 “Countries of Particular Concern” and placed four more on a “Special Watch List” under the International Religious Freedom Act “for having engaged in or tolerated particularly severe violations of religious freedom.”
