William Buster, director of the Mississippi and New Orleans programs at the foundation, said the investment is an extension of work it has been doing for years. “We believe that this work is squarely within the foundation’s work, because this also is about young boys of color improving their educational outcome by removing the barriers,” he said. 

This is another positive development for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Americans, and it comes nearly four years after the U.S. military lifted a ban on openly LGBT service members. The U.S. would join 18 nations—including Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom—that allow transgender people to serve in the military.

Always—a brand of feminine hygiene products that partners with organizations to promote the well-being of girls—is bringing back its successful social experiment with a new video, “Always #LikeAGirl – Unstoppable.” The video asks young girls, “Have you ever been told that because you are a girl, you can’t do something?”

On Wednesday, President Obama announced the U.S. government will open an embassy in Havana for the first time in more than half a century. It’s an extraordinary moment in the relationship between the U.S. and Cuba, and it comes months after the U.S. government opened trade and tourism with Cuba and removed the island from the list of nations that it believes sponsor terrorism.

We’re used to summer pride celebrations—parades and festivals marking the experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people. This year’s celebrations, however, were especially powerful given last week’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling affirming the right of all Americans—including same-sex couples—to legally marry. 

Tremendous strides have been made over the last decade when it comes to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender rights. Same-sex couples can now marry in 37 states, a landmark federal case in California ordered the state to pay for a transgender inmate’s gender reassignment surgery, and President Obama issued an executive order barring companies that contract with the federal government from discriminating against LGBT workers.

“The Confederate flag is one of those symbols that really should only be seen on T-shirts, belt buckles, and bumper stickers to help the rest of us identify the worst people in the world,” Oliver said. He went on to suggest the Confederate flag should not only be brought down to half-staff but that it should be removed completely and stored in a box labeled “bad flag.”

Earlier this week, William Bratton, commissioner of New York City’s police department, raised eyebrows by bemoaning the challenge of hiring black police officers. “We have a significant population gap among African-American males because so many of them have spent time in jail and, as such, we can’t hire them,” Bratton told The Guardian in an interview published on Tuesday.