A High Court in India has ruled that trans women are women. (Getty)
A court in India has decreed that trans women are women.
In a landmark ruling for the country, after rejecting claims that womanhood was preserved only for those who can bear children, the High Court of Andhra Pradesh ruled that trans women were “legally entitled” to recognition as women.
Presiding over the case, justice Venkata Jyothirmai Pratapa decided that tying the definition of women to pregnancy was “legally unsustainable” and contradicted India’s constitution, which emphasises equality before the law.
Quoting a Supreme Court decision from 2014, which legally recognised the rights of “third gender” individuals, Pratapa said that prohibiting trans women’s right to identify as women “amounted to discrimination”.
The case was brought to the high court in 2022 after transgender woman Pokala Shabana looked to use a section of the Indian penal code to seek protection from her in-laws, whom, she said, had been abusive towards her.
The court sided with trans women. (Getty)
Her husband’s parents petitioned the court to deny her use of Section 498A, which protects women from cruelty by a husband or relatives, arguing that it only applied to cisgender women. They claimed that trans women don’t meet the legal definition of women under Indian law because they cannot get pregnant and said Shabana’s allegations of harassment lacked evidence.
However, the judge said that articles 14, 15 and 21 of the constitution, which guarantee a variety of discrimination protections, including the right to life and personal liberty, meant trans women’s rights to be recognised as women superseded the law.
“A trans woman, born male and later transitioning to female, is legally entitled to recognition as a woman,” he wrote in his ruling. “Denying such protection by questioning their womanhood amounts to discrimination.”
Trans activist and artist Kalki Subramaniam told the Washington Blade that she was relieved and delighted to see the court “upholding our basic human right to be identified as what we want.” She went on to say: “For [the] transgender community, especially trans women, this verdict means a lot.”
The Indian government has been under mounting pressure to modernise its laws and policies on LGBTQ+ rights. Same-sex marriage is still illegal, despite growing support for its legalisation.
Prime minister Narendra Modi’s government have previously labelled same-sex marriage an “elitist” viewpoint that “seriously affects the interests of every citizen”.
An affidavit establishing the government’s views on same-sex unions, in 2023, proclaimed that marriage was valid only between “biological males and females [and that] this definition [was] socially, culturally and legally ingrained into the very idea and concept of marriage and ought not to be disturbed or diluted by judicial interpretation”.
Share your thoughts! Let us know in the comments below, and remember to keep the conversation respectful.
Crackdown on Pride is part of effort to curb democratic freedoms ahead of a hotly-contested election next year
Tens of thousands march against Hungary’s government for LGBT rights – video
Tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets of Budapest in defiance of the Hungarian government’s ban on Pride, heeding a call by the city’s mayor to “come calmly and boldly to stand together for freedom, dignity and equal rights”.
Jubilant crowds packed into the city’s streets on Saturday, waving Pride flags and signs that mocked the country’s prime minister, Viktor Orbán, as their peaceful procession inched forward at a snail’s pace.
Organisers estimated that a record number of people turned up, far outstripping the expected turnout of 35,000-40,000 people.
“We believe there are 180,000 to 200,000 people attending,” the president of Pride, Viktória Radványi told AFP. “It is hard to estimate because there have never been so many people at Budapest Pride.”
The mass demonstration against the government was a bittersweet marking of Budapest Pride’s 30th anniversary; while the turnout on Saturday was expected to reach record levels, it had come after the government had doubled down on its targeting of the country’s LGBTQ+ community.
Hungary Pride participants in the march cross the Elisabeth Bridge in Budapest, Hungary. Photograph: Rudolf Karancsi/AP
“We came because they tried to ban it,” said Timi, 49. The Hungarian national was marching with her daughter, Zsófi, 23, who had travelled from her home in Barcelona to join the rally.
After the ruling Fidesz party, led by the rightwing populist Orbán, fast-tracked a law that made it an offence to hold or attend events that involve the “depiction or promotion” of homosexuality to minors, many Hungarians vowed to show their disapproval by attending Pride for the first time.
Viki Márton was among those who had made good on the promise, turning up with her nine-year-old daughter.
The pair had come equipped with hats, water spray, and a swimsuit, more worried about heat than rightwing protesters. “I want her to see the reality,” said Márton. “And I’m so excited to be here!”
Tens of thousands of Hungarians took to the streets on Saturday, despite Orbán’s warning on Friday that those who attend or organise the march will face ‘legal consequences’. Photograph: János Kummer/Getty Images
Earlier this month, police announced they would follow the government’s orders and ban the march. The progressive mayor of Budapest, Gergely Karácsony, was swift to respond, saying that the march would instead go ahead as a separate municipal event, with Karácsony describing it as a way to circumvent the need for official authorisation.
On Saturday, the mayor reiterated why the city had decided to host the event, hinting at how the march had become a symbol of discontent against a government that has long faced criticism for weakening democratic institutions and gradually undermining the rule of law.
“The government is always fighting against an enemy against which they have to protect Hungarian people,” said Karácsony.
“This time, it is sexual minorities that are the target … we believe there should be no first and second class citizens, so we decided to stand by this event.”
Akos Horvath, 18, who had travelled two hours from his city in southern Hungary to take part in the march, described it as an event of “symbolic importance”.
Speaking to news agency AFP, he added: “It’s not just about representing gay people, but about standing up for the rights of the Hungarian people.”
The sentiment was echoed by fellow marcher Eszter Rein-Bódi. “This is about much more, not just about homosexuality,” Rein-Bódi told Reuters “This is the last moment to stand up for our rights.”
‘This is about much more, not just about homosexuality,’ one participant told Reuters. Photograph: Lisa Leutner/Reuters
Tens of thousands of Hungarians, including senior citizens and parents with their children, plus politicians and campaigners from 30 countries, took to the streets on Saturday, despite Orbán’s warning on Friday that those who attend or organise the march will face “legal consequences”.
The Hungarian prime minister sought to minimise concerns over violence, however, saying that Hungary was a “civilised country” and police would not “break it up … It cannot reach the level of physical abuse”.
Still, in a video posted to social media this week, the country’s justice minister, Bence Tuzson, warned the Budapest mayor that organising a banned event or encouraging people to attend is punishable by up to a year in prison.
Speaking to reporters on Friday, the mayor brushed off the threat and downplayed concerns that police would later impose heavy fines on attende s. “Police have only one task tomorrow: to guarantee the safety and security of those gathered at the event,” said Karácsony.
The potential for violence had been amplified after three groups with ties to the extreme right said they were planning counter-marches. As the Pride march got under way, local news site Telex reported that the route of the march had to be changed after one of these groups blocked off a bridge.
Analysts had described the government’s bid to crackdown on Pride as part of a wider effort to curb democratic freedoms ahead of a hotly contested national election next year.
Orbán is facing an unprecedented challenge from a former member of the Fidesz party’s elite, Péter Magyar, leading Pride organisers to suggest they are being scapegoated as Orbán scrambles to shore up support among conservative voters.
Orbán’s government had also prompted concerns across Hungary and beyond after it said it would use facial recognition software to identify people attending any banned events, potentially fining them up to €500 (£425).
Ahead of the march, as campaigners scrambled for clarity on whether or how this technology would be used, AFP reported that newly installed cameras had appeared on the lamp-posts that dotted the planned route.
The threat had been enough to rattle some. Elton, 30, a Brazilian living in Hungary wore a hat and sunglasses as he took part on Saturday, explaining that he had been worried about jeopardising his job and immigration status, but that his Hungarian boyfriend had persuaded him to attend.
“This is my second time at Pride, but the first time I feel insecure about it,” he said.
Orbán’s government had also prompted concerns across Hungary and beyond after it said it would use facial recognition software to identify people attending any banned events. Photograph: Lisa Leutner/Reuters
Mici, a 21-year-old Budapest resident, said she had attended Pride marches in the past but this time had weighed whether to join in after she was spooked by reports of the facial recognition system.
“At first, I was scared to come out because of the news, but I feel safe with so many people.”
She hoped that the massive turnout for the march would be enough to push the Orbán government to change its stance.
“I think the crowd that has come from across Europe, the record numbers, will make Hungarian people see that this cause is well-supported.”
BREAKING: The three liberal Supreme Court justices release a scathing dissent after the Republican-controlled judges issue an anti-LGBTQ ruling that “ushers in a new reality” that will deny children the “opportunity to practice living in our multicultural society.”
This is only the third time that Sonia Sotomayor has read her dissent from the bench, indicating strong disapproval…
“Exposing students to the ‘message’ that LGBTQ people exist, and that their loved ones may celebrate their marriages and life events, the majority says, is enough to trigger the most demanding form of judicial scrutiny,” Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote, supported by justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson.
The ruling was made in favor of a group of parents who want to opt their children out of elementary school lessons that include LGBTQ storybooks. The case will now go back to a lower court for final decision on whether schools must provide such an opt-out option.
Thanks to the Republican justices, school districts must now inform parents in advance of the books being read in class and allow them to pull their children if they choose. For underfunded schools, this additional burden will be too much to bear. It adds administrative costs and distracts teachers who are already struggling to teach overcrowded classrooms. Taken in tandem with the Trump administration’s efforts to completely eliminate the Department of Education, it’s a grim omen of things to come.
Crucially, the decision is a blatant handout to the religious radicals who helped put Donald Trump in power, which in turn tilted the court even more conservative. Such people want to pretend that LGBTQ people don’t even exist.
“Given the great diversity of religious beliefs in this country, countless interactions that occur every day in public schools might expose children to messages that conflict with a parent’s religious beliefs. If that is sufficient to trigger strict scrutiny, then little is not,” Sotomayor continued.
She predicted that the decision will cause “chaos for this Nation’s public schools.”
“Requiring schools to provide advance notice and the chance to opt out of every lesson plan or story time that might implicate a parent’s religious beliefs will impose impossible administrative burdens on schools,” she continued. “The harm will not be borne by educators alone: Children will suffer too. Classroom disruptions and absences may well inflict long-lasting harm on students’ learning and development.”
“Worse yet, the majority closes its eyes to the inevitable chilling effects of its ruling,” she went on. “Many school districts, and particularly the most resource strapped, cannot afford to engage in costly litigation over opt-out rights or to divert resources to tracking and managing student absences. Schools may instead censor their curricula, stripping material that risks generating religious objections.”
“The Court’s ruling, in effect, thus hands a subset of parents the right to veto curricular choices long left to locally elected school boards,” she added. “Because I cannot countenance the Court’s contortion of our precedent and the untold harms that will follow, I dissent.”
The final version of Ohio’s two-year state operating budget retains anti-LGBTQ provisions, requires Governor’s Merit Scholarship recipients pledge to remain in Ohio after graduation, and ties state funding to compliance with a new higher education law.
The budget now heads to Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine’s desk for his signature, which he must sign by June 30. He can line-item veto provisions in the budget.
Anti-LGBTQ provisions
A handful of anti-LGBTQ+ provisions are sprinkled throughout the budget, including a provision that would only recognize two sexes — male and female.
“Do we really have to make a law that says that men are men and women are women?” state Rep. Gary Click, R-Vickery, asked. “Do we really have to define that? We shouldn’t have to, but apparently we do.”
The budget would require public libraries to put books related to sexual orientation or gender identity in an area of the library that is out of sight for minors.
“If moms and dads want their kids to be indoctrinated within that, that’s up to the moms and dads, but we’re not going to put it in children’s faces in the children’s sections of the libraries,” Click said.
Ohio House Minority Leader Dani Isaacsohn, D-Cincinnati, called out the library provision.
“If you are one of the 20% of young people who identify as LGBTQ, you’re not going to be a hero in that story,” he said. “We have to have more books that show you as a leader, as a champion, as a hero.”
The budget would also ban Pride flags from being flown at public buildings and prohibit giving funds to youth homeless shelters that house transgender youth, even if they also serve youth who are not transgender.
“We are not hanging out the welcome mat for people from the LGBTQ community,” said Ohio Senate Minority Leader Nickie Antonio, D-Lakewood. “We should be a place where folks can just be who they are authentically and live and let live.”
Higher education provisions
The Governor’s Merit Scholarship awards the top 5% of each high school graduating class a $5,000 scholarship each year to attend an Ohio college or university.
Under the final version of the budget, scholarship recipients must sign a statement of commitment to live in Ohio for three years immediately after graduation starting in fiscal year 2027.
“If we want our young people to stay in Ohio, to start their careers in Ohio, to start a family in Ohio, we need to put our money where our mouth is, and we are doing that in this budget,” said Ohio House Finance Chair Brian Stewart, R-Ashville.
The Senate’s version of the budget would have required scholarship recipients sign a promissory note, but the final version of the budget instead requires students to sign a statement of commitment to live in Ohio for the first three years after graduating college.
“It was deemed (the promissory note) was a little bit heavy-handed and so we tried to roll that back,” Ohio Senate President Rob McColley, R-Napoleon said.
The budget allocates $47 million for fiscal year 2026 and $70 million in fiscal year 2027 for the Governor’s Merit Scholarship.
The Governor’s Merit Scholarship was enacted through the last state budget two years ago and 76% of the state’s 6,250 eligible students from the class of 2024 accepted the scholarship. Eighty-seven percent of Ohio students accepted the scholarship in its second year and 11 rural counties had a 100% acceptance rate.
The budget ties a portion of the State Share of Instruction to compliance with Senate Bill 1, a new higher education law banning diversity efforts, creates post-tenure reviews and an American civic literacy course, among other things.
The law affects Ohio’s public universities and community colleges and each university must submit a report showing compliance to the House and Senate higher education committees by March 1, according to the budget.
Housing provisions
The budget kept housing provisions the Senate added to the budget — $90 for the Residential Development Revolving Loan Program and $10 million for the Residential Economic Development District.
The Residential Development Revolving Loan Program supports new, single-family residential homes in rural areas of the state.
“If we want to grow our population, we have to have places for folks to live,” Stewart said. “This is going to be directed to small counties. We can’t be growing housing just in the three C’s, we need to be growing housing all across Ohio.”
Riley Gaines, who has turned a fifth place finish against non-trans swimmers into career with MAGA media.
Now let me see if I have this right. Riley Gaines finished 5th in a race with a trans athlete. And, if that trans athlete had NOT been in the race, Riley Gaines would still have finished in 5th place because the two swimmers were TIED for 5th. So, a trans athlete being in the race did not have any effect on Riley Gaines at all
First of all, I would like proof of this man’s “big balls.”
Second, he is a national security disaster. From his Wikipedia page:
His maternal grandfather Valery Martynov was a KGB Lieutenant Colonel executed by the Soviet Union as a double agent. After his execution his widow moved with her children, including Coristine’s mother, to the United States.
Also from Wikipedia:
Bloomberg News reported that Coristine had been fired from his internship at cybersecurity firm Path Network in 2022 for allegedly leaking internal company information to a competitor. Following his dismissal, a large collection of internal Path documents and conversations was leaked online.
The apple may not fall too far from the tree in this instance.
Reuters published a story alleging that Coristine’s online content delivery network DiamondCDN had facilitated the work of the cybercriminal group EGodly. In 2023 Egodly thanked Coristine saying “We extend our gratitude to our valued partners DiamondCDN for generously providing us with their amazing DDoS protection and caching systems, which allow us to securely host and safeguard our website,” Egodly has claimed involvement in a number of crimes including email hacking, theft of cryptocurrency, and the harassment of a former FBI agent.
This guy would never have passed any sort of normal security clearance. That this story isn’t a massive front page scandal is an indictment of the times we live in.
These were not impressionable young teens. The youngest was 16, one was 17, the rest were adults. This kind of hate has to be taught. This is what all the hate preaching, the hateful right wing news media, and the republicans in congress are creating. But these people want this. They want these young people to act out, to cause harm and fear to the LGBTQ+ community. They glory in this, they delight if they can scare people into being afraid to be themselves. I won’t do that. I won’t hide.
Yesterday morning I got dressed up in my pride attire, a pride shirt, pride suspenders, pride belt, and a pride hat. I headed out to the local Publix by my house. Publix is a good store / company but the founders were are very Christian. Their policies are to hire a lot of disabled, they hire a lot of people from churches. They hire teens from church to be baggers and cart runners. Ron and I are known at the store with many hellos from the workers we see most often. There were not many people in the store. I got my items and went to the only manned register. There was a young man in his 20s who was dressed in the gray of manager, and a middle aged woman. Both greeted me super warmly, the young man had sparkles in his eyes as he saw all my pride stuff. He hung on my every word, offering to even help me unload my cart seeing my cane and struggles. I did it myself. He kept offering to walk out to my car with me and to load the stuff in the van, something Publix is great for, but normally it is not the managers that do it. I have had to use that help a few times. They refuse any attempt to tip, are supper friendly. I write all this to show that not all Christians people are bigots or teach hate.
This acceptance and tolerance of the LGBTQ+ is what was being taught in schools and social media. It was what led to so much progress. The hateful bigoted right is desperate to change that progress forward to equality, so they write don’t say gay bills, ban books and media, insist that only straight cis Christian things be seen in schools, libraries, and social media. The right haters are loud, vocal, and willing to spend their money as a group to get what they want. We in the LGBTQ+ community had better step up to the plate and play their game as seriously as they do. The haters have already caused some stores to avoid selling pride merch or supporting pride events. Or we will lose all the gains we have made. Hugs
People cross the rainbow crosswalks at the intersection of 10th and Piedmont in Midtown Atlanta in 2019. (Evey Wilson/WABE)
This story was updated on Tuesday, June 24 at 8:34 p.m.
Four teenagers were arrested early Tuesday morning and could face hate crime charges after police say they stole and cut up Pride flags outside one of Atlanta’s most well-known gay bars.
Atlanta police say they responded to a vandalism call at 1:40 a.m. Tuesday at the intersection of 10th Street and Piedmont Avenue. Witnesses told police that six males stole Pride flags and were cutting them up with a knife and riding around on scooters in the middle of the intersection, the site of the rainbow crosswalks. It’s unclear where the flags came from.
“Upon spotting officers, the six males fled the scene on motorized scooters,” Atlanta police said in a statement. “Thanks to the rapid response of our officers, four of the six males were apprehended.”
4 suspects in Pride flag vandalism could face hate crime charges
A preliminary police investigation reveals that the group coordinated and drove from the Dallas and Cartersville areas to Atlanta. The arrestees are one 16-year-old juvenile from Taylorsville and three others from Dallas, Georgia: 17-year-old Geami McCarroll, 18-year-old Logan Matthison and 18-year-old Ahmed Mechkouri.
They were charged with obstruction, criminal damage to property, conspiracy and prowling. Atlanta police say that hate crime charges are pending, but a prosecutor would have to decide whether to file such charges. Georgia passed a hate crime law in 2020 that allows enhanced penalties for crimes motivated by the victim’s race, religion, sexual orientation or other factors.
Police also issued a citation to Aaron Petrus, the 41-year-old father of the juvenile, for failing to supervise his son.
The investigation into the incident is active and ongoing. Police are asking anyone with information about the two male suspects who got away to contact Crime Stoppers.
“We’ve got some pretty good leads,” Sgt. Brandon Hayes said at a Tuesday press conference. Hayes is the department’s LGBTQ liaison. “As far as video surveillance, there is video of the incident. We’re still looking into more to see what video we can gather from the local community. That’s still in progress.”
A message left for Blake’s on the Park was not returned. The incident comes during Pride Month and just two days before the 10th anniversary of same-sex marriage being legalized nationwide.
City of Atlanta chief equity officer Candace Stanciel said the incident was “the antithesis of who we are as a community.”
“Our Rainbow Crosswalk is a symbol for inclusion and freedom, giving the LGBTQ+ community a tangible place for fellowship, celebration and a sense of belonging,” she said in a statement on Tuesday. “Anyone who tries to disrupt these ideals or spread hate of any kind will be held accountable.”
A Fulton County grand jury indicted a Pennsylvania man for allegedly vandalizing booths and defecating on a Pride flag at a Global Black Pride event in Atlanta in August 2024. Prosecutors were seeking hate crime enhancements in that case as well.
Editor’s Note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated where the Pride flags were stolen from. It has been updated to reflect that police say it’s unclear where they came from.
“Zohran Mamdani would do to New York City what Khomeini and Khamenei did to Tehran,” Fine said. “We cannot let radical Muslims turn America into a Shiite caliphate.”
The proposal is unlikely to generate much revenue for the government; there is almost no private-sector interest in the mail trucks, and used EV charging equipment — built specifically for the Postal Service and already installed in postal facilities — generally cannot be resold.
“The funds realized by auctioning the vehicles and infrastructure would be negligible. Much of infrastructure is literally buried under parking lots, and there is no market for used charging equipment,” Peter Pastre, the Postal Service’s vice president for government relations and public policy, wrote to senators this month.
Read the full article. $10 billion into the sewer to please their Glorious Leader. Something something DOGE.
The transgender flags that usually adorn the Stonewall National Monument in New York City during Pride Month were missing this year, so some New Yorkers are taking matters into their own hands.
During June, Pride flags are placed around the park’s fence. They usually include a mixture of rainbow LGBTQ+ flags, transgender flags and progress flags, which have stripes to include communities of color.
Photographer and advocate Steven Love Menendez said he created and won federal approval for the installation nine years ago. Within a few years, the National Park Service was picking up the tab, buying and installing flags, including trans ones.
Pride flags fly in the wind at the Stonewall National Monument in Manhattan’s West Village on June 19, 2023 in New York City.Spencer Platt/Getty Images
This year, however, Menendez said the National Park Service told him to change the protocol.
“I was told … only the traditional rainbow flag would be displayed this year,” he said.
Now, no transgender or progress flags are among the 250 rainbow flags installed around the park.
“It’s a terrible action for them to take,” Menendez said.
“I used to be listed as an LGBTQ activist, and now it says ‘Steven Menendez, LGB activist,'” Menendez said. “They took out the Q and the T.”
“I’m not going to stand by and watch us be erased from our own history”
Many visiting the monument said they are opposed to the change.
“I think it’s absurd. I think it’s petty,” said Willa Kingsford, a tourist from Portland.
“It’s horrible. They’re changing all of our history,” Los Angeles resident Patty Carter said.
Jay Edinin, of Queens, brought his own transgender flag to the monument.
“I’m not going to stand by and watch us be erased from our own history, from our own communities, and from the visibility that we desperately need right now,” he said.
The transgender flags that usually adorn the Stonewall National Monument in New York City during Pride Month were missing this year, so some New Yorkers are taking matters into their own hands.CBS News New York
He is not the only one bringing unauthorized flags to the park. A number of trans flags were seen planted in the soil.
National Park Service workers at the park told CBS News New York they are not authorized to speak on this subject. CBS News New York reached out by phone and email to the National Park Service and has not yet heard back.
Dave Carlin has covered major national news stories and events in the past four decades including Superstorm Sandy and its tri-state impacts, Hurricane Hugo in South Carolina and Iniki on Kauai, Hawaii. He also covered the Space Shuttle Program, 1989 San Francisco Earthquake, numerous Southern California wildfires, the trial and execution of serial killer Ted Bundy in Florida, the 1994 police shooting death of Tyke the eacaped Cirus Elephant on the streets of Honolulu, 2009’s Miracle on the Hudson, the NYC Mayoral administrations of Bloomberg through Adams and more.
I admit this is long at 44 minutes. I found it worth the watch even though at times Gagnon tries to get technical and uses a circular argument in favor of his predetermined view of homosexuality and the LGBTQ+ spectrum. He is not using the bible to inform him as Reverend Trevors says but instead using it as a weapon for his dislike / hate for anything not superior male inferior female relationships. I find McClellan easy to follow and understand and I like that he leaves his feelings at the door when he tries to understand the texts of that time. He points how Gagnon is using his biases to inform his religion and not his religion forming his biases. The other interesting thing to me is that McClellan seems to have researched the times and cultures of the different passages to see the context they were written in, whereas Gagnon seems to simply impose his modern standards on the words. Hugs
Bob Bolus refiled a lawsuit to get the pride flag, which is a symbol of support for LGBTQ+ people and inclusivity, removed from Scranton City Hall and barred from display at all government buildings in Lackawanna County.
The city has been flying a rainbow-motif pride flag on a flagpole at the municipal building at 340 N. Washington Ave. since June 1 for the annual commemoration of Pride Month.
Bolus initially filed a lawsuit June 6 in Lackawanna County Court on a pro-se basis, meaning representing himself without an attorney, in a legal attempt to compel the removal of the pride flag from City Hall, as well as having it barred from display there and at all government buildings in the county. Also on June 6, Lackawanna County Judge Terrence Nealon dismissed Bolus’ lawsuit on various procedural errors, including that he did not properly file or serve the action or name defendants. Nealon dismissed the case “without prejudice,” meaning Bolus could try to do it again properly.
The Pride flag outside of City Hall in Scranton on Monday, June 16, 2025. (REBECCA PARTICKA/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
On June 9, Bolus filed a new lawsuit in county court, again on a pro-se basis, and again seeking a court order requiring the removal of the pride flag from public display at Scranton City Hall and barring its display there and at “all public buildings within the jurisdiction of Lackawanna County.”
The new lawsuit names as defendants the city, Mayor Paige Gebhardt Cognetti and Scranton City Council members, who are council President Gerald Smurl, Bill King, Mark McAndrew, Jessica Rothchild and Tom Schuster, all individually and in their official capacities as municipal elected officials. The mayor and council members are all Democrats.
Bolus also named as a defendant, individually and in his official capacity, Lackawanna County Commissioner Bill Gaughan, who is a Democrat.
Bolus, who is a Republican, did not name Republican Lackawanna County Commissioner Chris Chermak as a defendant. In a phone interview Monday, Bolus said he named only Gaughan because he is the chairman of the commissioners.
Bob Bolus Sr. (COURTESY OF BOB BOLUS SR.)
Scranton City Solicitor Jessica Eskra declined to comment on the lawsuit, saying the city would respond in court.
Lackawanna County Solicitor Donald Frederickson said in a statement, “Mr. Bolus’ frivolous action has been denied by the court on its own motion,” and thus Frederickson believes Bolus would have to ask the court for reconsideration to refile.
Some of the claims in Bolus’ lawsuit include:
• Scranton City Council, the mayor and Lackawanna County commissioners “are responsible for the decision to raise and display the Pride Flag at Scranton City Hall.”
• Title 16, Chapter 161 Section 27 of state law regarding display of municipal flags on county buildings says: “It shall be lawful to display the flag of any county, city, borough or other municipality in the Commonwealth or the official POW/MIA flag on the public buildings or grounds of any county;” and thus the state does not specifically authorize the display of a pride flag on public grounds.
• The pride flag is a “catalyst” for political and social division; and it is not inclusive “as it does not represent” all citizens of the city or county.
• The pride flag has become a political symbol associated with the Democratic Party; as well as “a symbol of sexual orientation, sexual practices and a sexual lifestyle” that is “abhorrent to a significant number of people due to religious and personal beliefs;” and it is not neutral or appropriate for display on public buildings.
The filing and refiling of the lawsuit comes amid controversy aired at recent city council meetings.
On June 10, Smurl apologized for not stopping derogatory remarks made during public comment at the June 3 weekly council meeting. The apology was a response to comments by Bolus made June 3 opposing having the rainbow flag displayed at City Hall, as well as other remarks that Bolus directed at a pro-LGBTQ+ resident Angela Ramone. Residents also came out to council’s June 10 meeting to express support for LGBTQ+ people and condemn hate speech, while Bolus said, “I make no excuse for last week,” according to an Electric City Television simulcast and video of the weekly meeting posted online.
