An East Palo Alto man was arrested for having unlawful sex with a minor under 14 in Redwood City, according to police.
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Scientists say a new form of mpox detected in a mining town in Congo might more easily spread among people. Already, Congo is seeing its biggest mpox outbreak with more than 4,500 suspected infections and nearly 300 deaths. A new study that will be submitted to a journal for publication soon looked at patients hospitalized between October and January in Kamitgua, eastern Congo. The lead researcher says the new form has milder lesions and they're mostly on the genitals, which makes the disease trickier to diagnose. The World Health Organization says this mutation of the disease might require a new testing strategy to pick up the mutations.
United Methodist delegates have repealed their church's long-standing ban on LGBTQ clergy with no debate. They removed a rule forbidding "self-avowed practicing homosexuals" from being ordained or appointed as ministers. Delegates voted 692-51 at their General Conference — the first such legislative gathering in five years. That overwhelming margin contrasts sharply with the decades of controversy around the issue. Past General Conferences of the United Methodist Church had steadily reinforced the ban and related penalties amid debate and protests. But many of the conservatives who had previously upheld the ban have left the denomination in recent years, and this General Conference has moved in a solidly progressive direction.
A retrial for two rape charges against a 22-year old man found guilty of sexually assaulting an unconscious victim will begin May 1, San Mateo…
At a time when book bans have soared to their highest levels in decades, a new trend is emerging. Lawmakers in several Democratic-leaning states are now pursuing bans on book bans. The Washington and Maryland legislatures have already passed them this year, while Illinois did so last year. Minnesota is one of several states across the country that are actively considering varying degrees of prohibitions on book bans. Activists say books by LGBTQ+ and authors of color are among those most frequently banned. Conservative parents argue that the books are too sexually explicit or otherwise controversial and are inappropriate, especially for younger readers.
The rights of LGBTQ+ students will be protected by federal law and victims of campus sexual assault will gain new safeguards under new rules from the Biden administration. The Education Department issued its new Title IX regulation on Friday. It fulfills President Joe Biden's campaign promise to dismantle rules created by former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, who added new safeguards for students accused of sexual misconduct. Notably absent from Biden's policy, however, is any mention of transgender athletes. The administration had planned to include a new policy forbidding schools from enacting outright bans on transgender athletes, but that provision was put on hold as the issue became a political rallying point for Republicans.
The Vatican has declared that gender-affirming surgeries and surrogacy are grave violations of human dignity. A new document from the doctrine office puts them on a par with abortion and euthanasia as practices that violate God's plan for human life. In its most eagerly anticipated section, the Vatican flat-out rejected "gender theory" or the idea that one's gender can be changed. It said God created man and woman as biologically different, separate beings, and said people must not tinker with that plan or try to "make oneself God."
The U.N. envoy focusing on sexual violence in conflict says there are "reasonable grounds" to believe Hamas committed rape, "sexualized torture," and other cruel and inhuman treatment of women during its surprise attack in southern Israel on Oct. 7 that left about 1,200 people dead and some 250 others taken hostage. There are also "reasonable grounds to believe that such violence may be ongoing," said Pramila Patten, who visited Israel and the West Bank from Jan. 29 to Feb. 14 with a nine-member team. In a report released Monday, she said the team "found clear and convincing information" that some hostages have been subjected to the same forms of conflict-related sexual violence including rape and "sexualized torture."
A 19-year-old Moss Beach resident has been sentenced to 17 years and eight months in state prison for the rape of three underage female victim…