Critics of the Hate Speech bill worry that it could criminalize the speech of people such as author J.K. Rowling, who has said that "transgender women" are not actually women. / Daniel Ogren |Wikipedia|CC BY 2.0Denver, Colo., May 2, 2023 / 10:30 am (CNA).Ireland is preparing to enact a broader ban on hate crimes and hate speech as critics warn of effects on freedom of expression.Backers presented the bill, The Criminal Justice (Incitement to Violence or Hatred and Hate Offences) Act 2022, as an update of a 1989 law. They cited new technological developments and newly prominent minorities such as people of different races and religions, persons with disabilities, and those who identify as LGBTQ.The Department of Justice, in an October summary of the bill, said many consider the 1989 law to be "ineffective," with only about 50 prosecutions for violations in the past 30 years. It said updates to the bill protect "genuine freedom of expression.""Hate spee
null / Juanje Garrido/ShutterstockWashington D.C., May 2, 2023 / 11:10 am (CNA).Two middle school teachers in California sued their school district April 27 over a policy they argue could force them to deceive parents if the parents child identifies as a gender that does not match his or her biological sex.The policy in question, adopted by the Escondido Union School District (EUSD), refers to a student s "transgender or gender-nonconforming status" as "private information" that can only be disclosed "with the student s prior written consent, except when the disclosure is otherwise required by law" or when the district has "compelling evidence" that it would be "necessary to preserve the student s physical or mental well-being."According to a recording of a Feb. 3, 2022, staff meeting cited in the lawsuit, EUSD Director of Integrated Student Supports Tracy Schmidt said that school employees need prior written consent to revea
Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, a Republican, attends a roundtable at the White House in Washington, D.C., June 18, 2020. / Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead (public domain)Boston, Mass., May 2, 2023 / 13:25 pm (CNA).Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt signed a law Monday prohibiting gender reassignment surgery and hormone use for minors younger than 18 years old.The new legislation earned praise from the organization representing the state s Catholic bishops. "Having worked closely with House and Senate authors, we commend Gov. Stitt for swiftly signing S.B. 613 into law and adding Oklahoma to the list of states protecting children from these dangerous and irreversible procedures," Brett Farley, executive director of the Catholic Conference of Oklahoma, told CNA on Tuesday.Oklahoma is one of 15 other states that have taken steps to ban the controversial procedure for minors. The legislation says that if a health care provider administers gender t
null / ShutterstockWashington D.C., May 2, 2023 / 15:00 pm (CNA).A Utah bill that is designed to prevent minors from accessing pornography online is set to go into effect on Wednesday, May 3, leading the website Pornhub to block access to its website in the entire state. The legislation, which Gov. Spencer Cox signed in March, requires commercial entities that provide pornography or other material harmful to minors to verify a person s age before the person can access the material. It also holds publishers and distributors liable if they fail to comply with the rules. When the bill goes into effect, pornographers will need to verify a user s age in one of three ways. The website can verify age through a digitized information card, which is a data file on a mobile device that contains all data elements visible on the face and back of a license or identification card. It can verify age through an independent, third-party verification service that compares the indiv.
Pilgrimage to the Holy Christ of the Quebrada in April 2023. / Credit: Facebook Bishopric of San LuisACI Prensa Staff, May 2, 2023 / 16:30 pm (CNA).More than 134,000 pilgrims came this past weekend to the village of Villa de la Quebrada in the Diocese of San Luis in central Argentina to bring their intentions and fulfill their promises to Christ, whose renowned image is venerated there.According to local tradition, in the mid-1800s a landowner named Tomás Alcaráz went to cut a tree for lumber to build a house for one of his children. When he struck the tree with an ax, a hollow within it was uncovered and inside there was a wooden crucifix. No one in the area recalled placing a crucifix in the hollow of a growing tree and the growth of the tree around it did not harm the crucifix.Amazed at his find, Alcaráz set up a home altar with candles to venerate the image. Soon after, however, the crucifix was gone; no one in the family had moved it, and it was found again in the hollow o.