The U.S. Supreme Court's decision Monday that employers cannot discriminate in hiring due to a candidate's sexual or gender preference was a surprising revelation for many Americans, including Sarah Kate Ellis, the president and CEO of GLAAD.
"It was groundbreaking. It was historic today," she told Cheddar.
Still, Ellis said this is just a small part of the rights challenges members of the LGBTQ community face.
"We're debating whether or not I can be fired from my job at the Supreme Court simply because I'm gay. It shouldn't even be a discussion," she said.
The historic decision came just days after the Trump administration rolled back healthcare protections for transgender people under the Affordable Care Act -- a move which Ellis said is in line with the president's broader dismissal of LGBTQ people throughout his term.
"This administration has attacked the LGBTQ community 150 times with both policy rollbacks and rhetoric since he's come into power," she said.
As demonstrators across the nation call for social justice and equality this June, Ellis said that it is important for Pride month supporters to remember where it started.
"Pride is a protest, and we need to be on the streets," she stated. "We have to go back to our roots this one. This Pride especially."
She noted that 14 members of the trans community have been violently killed so far this year.
In 2020, a year unlike any other with a pandemic canceling Pride celebrations and calls for social justice amplified throughout the nation, Ellis tasked people to come together now to force real change.
"Our community is our power. Our identity is our power," she said. "We need to be fighting for Black Lives Matter, for our trans community. We have to be standing up for each other right now, and we need to be locking arms as marginalized communities."
The three detainees, who have been in captivity for over a year, landed in Maryland early Thursday, where President Trump and the First Lady welcomed them back home.
The White House will host dozens of Silicon Valley executives on Thursday to discuss artificial intelligence, with a focus on how it could impact jobs in the future.
The three U.S. prisoners were released during Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's visit to the capital city of Pyongyang, marking a significant reduction in tensions between the two countries ahead of President Trump's meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
Pulling out of the Iran nuclear deal may make it harder for the United States to have any influence over Tehran, says Laura Secor, a journalist and author who has written extensively about Iran. America's European allies may "prefer to work with the Iranians," leaving the U.S. out.
President Trump's announcement that the U.S. is abandoning the Iran deal will lead to volatility in oil prices, says Patrick DeHaan, the head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy. "The more fiery the response from President Trump, the more oil prices could eventually rally," he said.
The First Lady launched her 'Be Best' initiative on Monday, focusing on children's mental health, opioid abuse, and cyberbullying. Erin Delmore, senior political correspondent at Bustle, said there are still some details missing, and others that are eerily familiar to Obama-era guidelines.
The president said the pact, which was intended to keep Iran from developing a nuclear weapon, was "a horrible one-sided deal that should have never, ever been made." He said the United States would reinstate "powerful sanctions" against Iran.
Eric Schneiderman, who put himself at the forefront of the #MeToo movement, resigned just hours after allegations of sexual abuse surfaced on Monday.
"This current White House is unfortunately a force for hate and demonization," said the political commentator and author of "The Opposite of Hate." But "the minute anyone in that White House wants to do something different and be better, I'm here for it," said Kohn, in response to First Lady Melania Trump's "Be Best" campaign.
The playwright Justin Sherin, the man behind Twitter's "Dick Nixon" account, weighs in on all those Trump-Watergate comparisons.
