The federal government rejected Georgia’s attempt to drug test food stamps applicants. Governor Nathan Deal signed House Bill 772, with the intention it would go into effect July 1. The bill would have required state officials to test those applicants they had a “reasonable suspicion” of using illegal drugs. Continue reading
Georgia
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Rarely does anyone fight the good fight and win; the good fight is, by its very nature, a losing one. This week at the University of Georgia, though, a group of students stood up for their rights as journalists, and it appears that their refusal to roll over in the face of censorship may pay off. So how, exactly, did the staff of the Red & Black, UGA’s independent student paper, go from walking out of their offices and starting a Twitter account to being written up in the New York Times in barely more than 24 hours?
At a Friday press conference in Atlanta, Georgia Democratic State Representative Rashad Taylor showed what true courage and leadership looked like, and came out as Georgia’s first gay male state representative. Rep. Taylor is now the third openly gay legislator in Georgia, joining Rep. Simone Bell, America’s first black lesbian state representative, and Karla Drenner, the first gay state representative in the Deep South.
Taylor was already an up-and-comer in Georgia politics. At 30 years old, Taylor is Georgia’s youngest state representative, the Vice Chairman of the Democratic Caucus, and was recently named as one of the nation’s “Rising Stars” in politics by Campaigns and Elections Magazine. Continue reading