Civil Rights Roundup: 08/28/08

Your daily dose of civil rights and related news

A quick note: Now that I’m not doing this for my job, the CRR probably will undergo some changes. First, it’ll probably be later. Because if I’m not forced by a paying employer to start working at 9:00 AM, it’s highly unlikely I’ll do it on my own. Second, it may well be shorter. I don’t know. This is a transition. But I do enjoy providing the roundup each morning, so I am going to try to keep the feature going.

So without further delay…

The Boston Globe notes that the changing of the guard in civil rights leadership at the DNC.

In sadder news related to generational shift, Del Martin, one of the earliest leaders in the fight for lesbian and gay equality, died yesterday. She is survived by her wife, Phyllis Lyon, whom she married in California’s very first legal gay marriage.

Governor Charlie Crist (R-FL) is responding to complaints that his voter re-enfranchisement program isn’t reaching the people its designed to help. I want to reiterate how impressed I’ve been with Gov. Crist on this issue.

A panel hosted by my former colleagues at the LCCR discussed conservative efforts to use controversial civil rights issues as a “wedge” to divide voters.

Hattiesburg American: “Obama speech has special meaning for Southern delegates.”

The latest company to face an immigration raid had enrolled in the government’s “E-Verify” program. Now companies are complaining that if the system is so flawed that they’ll still be subjected to ICE attacks, what’s the point of registering in the first place?

The gender equity problem in Japan has reached a crisis point, as Japanese women are refusing to marry until Japanese men start upholding their share of the family life. To the government’s credit, it is responding mostly not by lecturing women about their need to be mommies, but by trying to reform the work culture that keeps men away from their families.

A federal appeals court invalidated a Wyoming law that would have made it easier for domestic abusers to acquire guns.

A lawsuit protesting a Arkansas district policy prohibiting boys with long hair from competing in school athletics programs was dismissed after the district agreed to amend the policy.

Nebraska Governor Dave Heineman (R) has announced his neutrality in the upcoming battle to ban affirmative action in the state. David Kramer, former state GOP chairman and leader of one of the groups opposing the ban, is holding out hope he can persuade him to intervene in favor of equal opportunity.

The disabled community is not happy with the level of attention it’s getting from Presidential contenders.