Equality Archives - Close Up Foundation

Civil Rights & Individual Liberties Equality Health Care Social Issues

State and Federal Legislation on Gender-Affirming Care for Minors

October 09, 2024

In the past six years, the introduction of bills in state legislatures to ban gender-affirming care for transgender and gender diverse youth has increased exponentially. In 2018, two such bills were introduced. In 2023, there were 185. Arkansas became the first state to ban gender-affirming care for youth in 2021; now, there are 26 states […]

The 13th Amendment, Crime Legislation, and America’s High Incarceration Rate

May 08, 2024

Today, 25 percent of the world’s documented prison population is incarcerated in the United States. Despite America being the land of the free, there are more recorded prisoners here than in any other country: 2,068,800. So, how did the United States get here? Over the last 40 years, numerous factors have contributed to the dramatic […]

Criminal Justice Education Equality

Reversing the “School-to-Prison Pipeline”? Part 3: Examining the Impact of Prison Education

July 01, 2023

In Part 1 of this series, we saw that more severe approaches to school discipline—including “zero-tolerance” policies—have been statistically linked to higher rates of incarceration, especially among Black boys. This is seen as a key contributor to mass incarceration, which Part 2 showed has grown substantially since the final decades of the 20th century. In […]

Criminal Justice Education Equality

Reversing the “School-to-Prison Pipeline”? Part 2: The Debate Over Mass Incarceration

June 22, 2023

Should We Decarcerate? Since the start of the War on Drugs, the United States has adopted and enforced policies that have led to mass incarceration, with nearly half of all incarcerations due to drug crimes.1 According to the Prison Policy Initiative, the rate of incarceration in the United States outpaces every other nation on earth, […]

Criminal Justice Education Equality

Reversing the “School-to-Prison Pipeline”? Part 1: Defining the School-to-Prison Pipeline

June 14, 2023

What Do People Mean When They Talk About the School-to-Prison Pipeline? For decades, many researchers who study the public education system have discussed the impact of the “school-to-prison pipeline”: escalating punishments, primarily in “high-poverty, high-minority schools,” intended to deter unwanted student behaviors leading to missed class time, a lost sense of belonging within the school, […]

Drag Bans: A Violation of the First Amendment?

April 26, 2023

Last month, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee signed a first-of-its-kind law banning “adult cabaret entertainment” on public property or in any location where people under 18 could be present. Senate Bill 3, commonly known as the “drag ban,” in part defines these performances as “male or female impersonators who provide entertainment that appeals to a prurient […]

Criminal Justice Equality Social Issues

What Do “Defund the Police” and “Police Abolition” Mean? And What Do They Not Mean?

February 22, 2023

Following the 2020 murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, a call by activists to “defund the police” achieved national attention. Supporters of defunding the police have argued that—at least some of—the billions of dollars spent on policing each year could be better used by investing in educational, recreational, and mental health […]

CEO Compensation: An Issue of Fairness or Evidence of a Functioning Free Market?

February 10, 2023

There is currently a bill in Congress, S.794 – Tax Excessive CEO Pay Act of 2021, that would increase taxes on companies on the basis of their CEO-to-worker compensation ratio. The legislation, introduced by Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and cosponsored by a host of Democrats including Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), has progressed to the Senate […]

The Supreme Court Weighs the First Amendment and Minority Rights

December 16, 2022

The case of a Christian website designer from Colorado who opposes same-sex marriage reached the Supreme Court on December 5. Because the Court said it would only address freedom of speech issues, the hearing pitted concerns over discrimination against freedom of artistic expression.1 Why Did This Case Reach the Supreme Court? Lorie Smith wants to […]

The Debate Over the Respect for Marriage Act

December 07, 2022

The Senate passed the Respect for Marriage Act on November 29, and the House of Representatives is expected to pass it this week. President Joe Biden has already said he will sign it. The bill is the result of months of work by congressional leaders to create legislative protections for same-sex married couples. The History […]

Current Issues Blog

State and Federal Legislation on Gender-Affirming Care for Minors

The 13th Amendment, Crime Legislation, and America’s High Incarceration Rate

Reversing the “School-to-Prison Pipeline”? Part 3: Examining the Impact of Prison Education

Reversing the “School-to-Prison Pipeline”? Part 2: The Debate Over Mass Incarceration

Reversing the “School-to-Prison Pipeline”? Part 1: Defining the School-to-Prison Pipeline

Drag Bans: A Violation of the First Amendment?

What Do “Defund the Police” and “Police Abolition” Mean? And What Do They Not Mean?

CEO Compensation: An Issue of Fairness or Evidence of a Functioning Free Market?

The Supreme Court Weighs the First Amendment and Minority Rights

The Debate Over the Respect for Marriage Act

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