Court rules state’s expanded “Don’t Say Gay” provisions are unconstitutionally vague, violating the First Amendment and censoring acclaimed literature.
A federal judge in Florida has struck down major parts of the state's expanded "Don't Say Gay" law, ruling that its book banning provisions violate the First Amendment. Approved in 2023, the law not only restricted classroom discussions of LGBTQ identities but also made it easier for any county resident to demand the removal of books from school libraries.
Under the law, once a complaint was filed schools had five days to pull the contested book from shelves, making it unavailable while under review. Districts were required to set up procedures for handling complaints, but those rules were criticized for favoring would-be censors and sidelining parents who opposed bans.
The luxurious package arrived in time for a hot July weekend. A jet-black box stamped with a stately bronze horse insignia and emblazoned down one side, in lettering the same hue, announcing SIRDAVIS.
Inside rested a tall bottle of SirDavis American Whisky, an amber pool in elegant glass also stamped with the bronze horse emblem. The bottle alone might have been nice. The award-winning ribbed-glass design looks great sitting atop our modest bar. It really classes up the joint.
Fortunately, the whisky has won awards for its quality, too -- fitting for the brand’s founder Beyoncé Knowles-Carter, who teamed with Moët Hennessy to launch SirDavis in 2024.
A Church of England parish has paid a five-figure settlement to Matthew Drapper, a 37-year-old gay man who says he was subjected to an exorcism intended to "cure" him of homosexuality.
Drapper, a volunteer at St. Thomas Philadelphia -- a joint Anglican-Baptist church in Sheffield, England -- told The Times that during an "Encounter with God" weekend in 2014, he was told "sexual impurity" had let demons enter his body and that he needed an exorcism to cast them out.
He said a married couple who served as prayer leaders at the church performed the exorcism, instructing him to "break agreements with Hollywood and the media" that had led him into what they called an "ungodly lifestyle."
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