social issues

Observers wonder whether Cornell Brooks, the new president of the NAACP, will be a cipher or a savior for the Baltimore-based organization.

A 30-second television spot for Lt. Gov. Anthony G. Brown focuses on his role as an adoptive father while getting in some plugs for the administration's record on adoption and foster care.

Toni Braxton is grappling with guilt from an abortion she had years ago.

The two women who successfully challenged the constitutionality of the federal law banning same-sex marriage received honorary degrees during Johns Hopkins University's commencement ceremonies in Baltimore on Thursday.

Pascal Tessier, 17, of Chevy Chase, delivered more than 120,000 signatures to online retailer Amazon on Wednesday, asking the organization to halt its charitable donations to the Boy Scouts of America because of the scouting organization's ban on gay leaders.

Rescues seek donations for parvo-infected puppies in Baltimore

Most education research suggests Hamilton Elementary and Thomas Johnson Middle School would be handicapped by the socioeconomic status of their students, most of whom are poor.

Debating whether any person is unworthy of protections that contribute to their basic safety and security is shameful enough, but mischaracterizing your target as perverse and criminal in order to deny them fundamental rights is truly the lowest common denominator. One thing we all should be able to agree on is that it is wrong to subject people to harassment, assault, and violence, no matter what, and that protection from such injustices is a basic human right.

Federal government agencies are not living up to equal employment opportunity mandate

If Cornell Brooks can keep the NAACP focused on the systemic injustices that still block minority progress he will prove a worthy successor to the man he replaces

The excitement over Angel Park, Perry Hall's latest planned park, is spreading throughout our community! If you haven't heard of Angel Park yet, it's a new all-inclusive playground and amphitheater in Perry Hall, located next to the library on Honeygo Blvd.

NAACP selected attorney Cornell William Brooks as its new president and CEO, at a board of directors meeting in Fort Lauderdale Friday.

The Social Security Administration has failed to establish an adequate process for handling discrimination claims from employees and has caused concerns about conflicts of interest in some of those cases, according to a scathing federal report obtained Tuesday by The Baltimore Sun.

Gov. Martin O'Malley signed legislation Thursday making Maryland one of a handful of states to extend anti-discrimination laws to protect transgender people.

LGBT-related news and commentary from around the web

In response to community concerns about concentration of affordable housing in some areas of Howard County and citing a desire to "improve residential properties in mature neighborhoods," the County Council has introduced new legislation that takes a three-pronged approach to addressing affordable housing issues.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Charles Lollar wants to audit every tax bill and force state agency heads to "justify every penny they intend to spend."

Voters will reject Maryland's transgender law

Christopher Doyle says he doesn't think there is anything wrong with being gay. He also says people with same-sex attractions, including children, can rid themselves of those attractions through therapy, from him, on a couch in a tidy suburban home in Bowie.

Sixty years after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that racial segregation in 21 states was unconstitutional, 10 percent of the schools in Maryland remain segregated, nearly all of them in Baltimore City and Prince George's County.

A federal appeals judge recently took aim at the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives' use of fictitious drug robbery schemes to secure lengthy prison sentences for would-be rip off crews, strongly criticizing the practice in a written opinion.

Three delegates — Keiffer Mitchell Jr., Keith Haynes and Melvin Stukes – are competing for a single seat in the Maryland House, the result of redistricting. District 44A is the smallest in the city, but the race is perhaps the most fiercely contested.

Each of the three Democratic gubernatorial candidates glossed over some details voters should know more about.

The board of directors of the state's largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender advocacy organization has put its money where its mouth is when it comes to raising funds to defend the transgender protections legislation that passed the General Assembly this legislative session.

HABC willing to work with residents and employees to smooth transition to private ownership

A federal appeals judge in California last week took aim at the ATF's use of fictitious drug robbery schemes to secure lengthy prison sentences for would-be rip off crews, strongly criticizing the practice in a written opinion.

Opponents of equality need to get their minds out of the bathroom and recognize the very real discrimination, violence and alienation transgender people suffer.

In New York City in the 1930s, '40s and '50s, when city laws made it illegal to serve gay patrons or hire gay employees, it took a lot of money and clout for a gay establishment to stay ahead of the vice police and remain open.

NBA owner's private thoughts may be repugnant but so is overreaction to them

A plan to sell Baltimore's public housing high rises to private developers has left us residents concerned about guarantees of our rights, oversight of maintenance, loss of union jobs and the loss of our homes.

A conservative group will try to collect enough signatures to force a referendum on a law approved by the General Assembly this year protecting the rights of transgender individuals.

Late in Quentin Tarantino's 1994 film "Pulp Fiction," Marsellus Wallace — a criminal boss played by Ving Rhames — banishes prizefighter Butch Coolidge (Bruce Willis) from Southern California, telling him "You lost all your L.A. privileges."

On May 3, the Route One Day Center, together with many other corporate and government partners, will sponsor the third annual Hope for the Homeless 5K run at Rockburn Park.

A state lawmaker and Baltimore Pastor is expected to speak out at Sunday's church service about what he calls "racist comments" by Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy.

A rally is scheduled in the Charles North neighborhood of Baltimore on Friday night as part of a nationwide campaign to protest police profiling of transgender women.

I had a chance to talk to MCW owner Dan McDevitt about these events, as well as his views on the good and bad about independent wrestling, Lita thanking the company in her Hall of Fame speech, and the wrestlers on the roster he feels could make it to the top of the business

A federal judge in Washington has dismissed the high-profile discrimination lawsuit of a Gallaudet University official who claimed she was unfairly demoted for signing a petition to put Maryland's same-sex marriage law to referendum.

While the Supreme Court decision in the Michigan affirmative action case was regrettable, there is still much colleges can do to boost diversity

Johns Hopkins University will bestow an honorary degree next month on Edith Windsor, the woman who last year successfully challenged the constitutionality of the federal law banning same-sex marriage. Windsor's attorney, Roberta Kaplan, will also receive the honor.

Last year U.S. publishers released an estimated 5,000 books for children and teens. Now, here's a quick quiz. How many of them were written or illustrated by African-Americans or were about black people or other non-whites? 400? 500? Guess again.

The number of white graduates is now declining steadily and will continue to do so for some time to come. During. The challenge for many campuses now will be to change from becoming more exclusive to becoming more accessible to increase educational attainment among low-income and first-generation college-going students. This will not be easy.

Dr. Mark D. Metzger, who was director of youth initiatives for the Baltimore County Police Department for more than 30 years and was recognized for his work with juvenile delinquents and their families, died April 9 of lung cancer at his Stoney Beach home in Anne Arundel County. He was 65.

When you read about this nation's past, it is quite obvious what the phrase "right side of history" means. In the moment, though, there are always defenders of the status quo trying to obscure what the "right side" actually is. Worse, they sometimes stoop to what Washington's professional football team is now doing by defending the use of a dictionary-defined racial slur as its team's name.

'Ban the box' law is a modest first step

Advocates in Maryland who backed the successful passage of the first statewide legal protections for transgender citizens in housing, employment and public accommodations this legislative session don't consider their work complete.

Upper Chesapeake Health System agreed to pay $180,000 to settle a disability discrimination and retaliation lawsuit brought on behalf of a former employee of the organization's Upper Chesapeake Medical Center in Bel Air, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said Tuesday.

Alex Stoller's apartment on the campus of the University of Maryland, College Park is a melting pot of six roommates from diverse backgrounds – three of whom happen to be men and three of whom happen to be women.

Nearly half a century has passed since Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. famously said, ""Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane."" Yet decades later, only modest progress has been made to reduce the pervasive racial and ethnic health disparities that exist in this country — and we don't have to look far to see the effects.

At 53 years old in 1972, Jackie Robinson died much too soon. Too soon to receive his presidential Medal of Freedom, too soon to see his friend Dr. King recognized with a national holiday, and too soon to witness the election of the first black president. Yet, Robinson deserves recognition not only for his athletic accomplishments, but also for his commitment to justice. The price of a baseball ticket is a nice gesture toward such recognition, but emulating Robinson's approach, as we seek to