Today the Iowa Supreme Court set aside the conviction of Nick Rhoades, an HIV-positive Iowan who was initially sentenced to 25 years in prison, with required registration as a sex offender, after having a one-time sexual encounter with another man during which they used a condom.
Today, New York City Police Commissioner William Bratton announced that police will no longer use possession of condoms as evidence of prostitution in particular circumstances.
Q: I have a cousin who was recently picked up by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and she’s transgender. She is planning to apply for asylum in the United States because she is afraid she will be persecuted if she is deported. I heard that there are new rules to protect transgender people in immigration detention facilities. What are they?
On this, the 15th annual Transgender Day of Remembrance, we honor those we have lost to anti-transgender hatred and violence, including Islan Nettles, who was beaten to death last August while she was simply walking down the street.
Iowa lawmakers are eager to pass laws criminalizing just about any activity. Yet they refuse to acknowledge when one of those laws turns out to be a mistake.
The Iowa Court of Appeals heard arguments in Lambda Legal’s case representing Nick Rhoades, an HIV-positive Iowan who was initially sentenced to 25 years in prison with registration as a sex offender after having a one-time sexual encounter with another man during which they used a condom.
Q: I’m a transgender woman and sometimes when I’m out with friends, a police officer stops to harass me on the sidewalk, assuming I’m a prostitute. What should I do?