The economic disparities experienced by LGBT women result from the stigma, discrimination, and the legal disadvantages they experience because they are women and because they are LGBT. 

Why you should care: With the creation of a senior position dedicated entirely to protecting LGBT people from violence and abuse, the State Department is sending a clear message: LGBT rights are human rights.

The New York Times Editorial Board: “Nobody can tell Mr. Cochran what he can or cannot believe. If he wants to work as a public official, however, he may not foist his religious views on other city employees who have the right to a boss who does not speak of them as second-class citizens.”

From Vladimir Putin’s persecution of gays to the welcoming tone of a new pope, it was a busy year on the international beat. A review by Michael K. Lavers, staff writer for the Washington Blade.

"Targeted for often-lethal violence. Targeted for harassment with inaccurate demonizing stereotypes. Refused basic access to goods and services. Forced to give up their reproductive ability to be recognized. Denied custody of their own children. It’s not a stretch to see how cultural transphobia could constitute a form of genocide."

In just five months, the grassroots Alliance for Family (AZR) has collected more than 400,000 signatures (about 8% of the population) on a petition to restrict the family rights of gays.

What’s especially impressive is the large number of young people who are involved in these efforts. They are taking to the streets, the ballot box and the campuses to make sure that their voices are heard in the corridors of power.

India has elected its first transgender Mayor, reports New Dehli Television. Madhu Kinnar, an Independent candidate, won the Mayoral election of the Raigarh Municipal Corporation by 4,537 votes, besting BJP's Mahaveer Guruji.

ATLANTA, Ga. — One of two victims of a violent anti-gay hate crime that occurred in Midtown Atlanta in March 2014 has come forward, and is speaking out because police have made no arrests in the case.

Back in August, some observers drew comparisons between the shooting of Michael Brown by Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Missouri, and the 1955 murder of Emmett Till.