Metro Weekly magazine: 2019-05-09 edition (PDF)
By Metro Weekly Contributor
on
May 9, 2019
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Salt Lake City and Boise, two Democratic-controlled cities, have adopted the Pride flag as their official city flags in response to Republican-sponsored state laws barring unsanctioned flags -- such as the Pride flag -- at schools and government buildings.
In Salt Lake City, the city council unanimously approved new designs incorporating the city' emblem of a sego lily atop the traditional rainbow-colored LGBTQ Pride flag and the blue, pink, and white-colored transgender flag.
The council also approved a design incorporating a red and blue flag for Juneteenth, a federal holiday commemorating the U.S. government's enforcement of the Emancipation Proclamation in Texas on June 19, 1865, marking the official end of slavery in the United States.
A Republican-backed Congressional bill seeks to redefine what constitutes "obscenity."
It's part of a larger push to ban pornography and criminalize the dissemination of sexually explicit content, including depictions of full or partial nudity in media, webcam chats, and explicit phone conversations.
It might even pave the way for eventually prosecuting sexual partners who consensually send nude selfies to each other.
Under current federal law, producing or disseminating "obscene" materials is not protected by the First Amendment.
But classifying materials as "obscene" -- and allowing law enforcement to prosecute people for spreading or sharing them -- is difficult to prove and open to wide interpretation.
The U.S. Department of Education announced that June would be honored as "Title IX Month."
The announcement is widely viewed as a swipe at the LGBTQ community, and in particular, the transgender community, which has traditionally June as Pride Month.
Title IX is the law prohibiting sex-based discrimination in educational institutions receiving federal funding.
Historically — and in the view of conservatives — Title IX was intended to protect individuals based on their sex assigned at birth, and is widely credited with expanding educational and athletic opportunities for women.
