News Briefs
compiled by Third Rail staff

Transgender’s Make Legal Breakthrough

A court in Harrisburg Pennsylvania has ruled in favor of the transgender community. Despite opposition by right-wing organizations such as the American Family Association (AFA), the court has declared that men who believe they are women may attend work in women’s clothing, and use women facilities at the job site such as the restroom and/or locker rooms. This decision comes from the commonwealth court which was upholding a lower court’s previous ruling that required the terminology “Sexual Orientation” and “gender identity” be added to the Allentown (PA) human relation ordinance. The previous ruling had allowed the reinstatement of a Transgendered prison guard with the support of the Teamsters Union Local 773. The AFA has promised to continue to fight against commonwealth court’s ruling.

Legislature versus Schwarzenegger for Gay-Rights

In the fall of 2005, the California State Senate became the first ever such body of law in the United States to pass a bill legalizing same sex marriage. The bill had previously gone before the State Assembly where it was narrowly defeated. Now with the support of Senate the bill which rewords California’s definition of marriage as being a union between to persons rather then between a man and a woman had made it through the Assembly. Unfortunately the governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger, has vetoed the bill, halting homosexuals in California from achieving equal rights for now. This battle, though, is far from over. Governor Schwarzenegger is a Republican who was elected into office during a special election and California is primarily a Democrat controlled state, so the next gubernatorial race will most likely determine the final out come of the Gay-Rights struggle in California.

University Students Investing More in Fashion Then Academics

If colleges ever offer a class in high-end shopping many of today’s undergrads would most certainly receive honors in it. According to a recent article by the Billings Gazette, college students are putting more and more effort into shopping and following fashion trends then ever before. It is no longer uncommon for the average student to spend more the $150 on jeans and even more on outfits that may only be worn once. According to a study by New York Alloy Media and Marketing, while students income may have recently risen they are still spending far in excess of what they’re making. Part of the blame has been laid on the ever increasing popularity of celebrity reality shows where people famous for being famous, such as Paris Hilton, blur the line and egg on young men and women to try and live the same lifestyle. Whatever the full reasons are, it appears that today’s college generation has neither the advertising immunity of Generation X nor the care free, non-materialistic belief of the Peace and Love Generation before that. Nowadays academic interest seems to be relegated to a Che Guevara t-shirt bought at Hot Topic.

University Of Kansas Struggles with Intelligent Design

In the ongoing struggle to maintain the separation of Church and State the right wing has continued to push for the redefinition of Christian Creationism as a science dubbed Intelligent Design. In this struggle of rationalism versus irrationalism, the University of Kansas has become one of the battle grounds. In response to an ever increasing amount of pressure on the state government of Kansas by the right, the University of Kansas had announced it will begin teaching Intelligent Design as a course entitled “Special Topics in Religion: Intelligent Design, Creationism and other Religious Mythologies.” The class was originally planned for the spring semester that was until Professor Paul Mirecki the instructor slated to teach the class was attacked and beaten by two men who openly proclaim that it was over how he and the college viewed Intelligent Design so for now the new class has been canceled due to the extreme violent behavior of the radical right.

Barber Shop hangs Whites Only Sign

In a flash back to another era, residents of Lafayette, Louisiana were taken aback when Herbert Leger hung a sign outside his barber shop that read “Whites Only.” It was never the 72 year old haircutter’s intention to provoke any idea of racism he was simply trying to inform consumers what type of hair he is qualified to cut. The difference in training has caused Leger increasing frustration in recent years as he has had to refer business to a local associate who is trained in cutting Black American hair. Leger proclaimed that the sign was posted merely to indicate his qualification and the same conversation he’s had to have many times in recent years, it was never intended to be an act of racism. Unfortunately for Leger, in an age of uber-political correctness where the extreme-left consistently tries to tell citizens how to speak he’s been left with little choice but to consider taking down the sign or modifying the language of the unintentional but still perceptively offending sign.

Student Newspaper Seized by Administration

A Tennessee high school paper and its staff recently became the victims of censorship by the schools administrators. The issue apparently contained subjects considered taboo by the administration such as an article on birth control that outlined which were safe and effective and where to get them. There was also a photograph of an unidentified student’s tattoo. In response to this type of free expression by students, the Oak Ridge Schools administration decided to impound the paper searching all classrooms, personal lockers, desks and mailboxes for copies of the paper. Their reason for their behavior was that, according to them, there were articles in need of editing.

Northern Ireland Takes a Step Forward in Gay-Rights

Although Northern Ireland is known to be one of the strongest bastions of traditional family values, it became the first province of the United Kingdom to allow legal civil unions for same sex couples. The first couple to exercise this right was Grianne Close (32), a social worker from Northern Ireland and her partner, Shannon Sickels (27), a playwright from New York. Their union was celebrated with family throwing flowers and rainbow ribbons, such song selections as Dolly Parton’s “Touch Your Woman,” and, of course protests. A few dozen Protestant evangelicals sang Gospel hymns and carried signs stating that “Sodomy is sin.” The people in favor of gay rights and the union countered by donning Hitler-style hats and moustaches, chanting slogans of support through bullhorns and carrying signs that read, “Earth is flat” or “Bring back slavery.”

University Bans Coca-Cola

Students at The University of Michigan were so offended by the questionable business and labor practices by Coca-Cola that they fought to have the company’s products temporarily banned from sale on their three campuses. The students complained that Coca-Cola had sold products contaminated with pesticides in India, as well as using up the groundwater near the area’s bottling plants and sending out sludge containing cadmium. The accusations of the company’s practices in Colombia are even worse than those about India. There, the company is accused of kidnapping and even murder. In response to this, such groups as the Students Organizing for Labor and Economic Equality lodged a formal complaint and pressured the school’s administration to sever its ties with the company. The university complied temporarily pending the outcome of a third-party investigation.