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Community Meetings and Events

The Street Carnival at Sal & Mookie's New York Pizza and Ice Cream Joint is Saturday, March 22, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

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Under Pressure, Obama Vows to Examine Deportations

With prospects for real immigration reform fading, President Barack Obama is yielding to pressure from some of his staunchest allies and looking for ways to act without Congress to ease …

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Davina and the Vagabonds' Distinctive Mix

Davina Sowers started playing the piano when she was a little girl. Unlike most, she kept going after the lessons ended. Like even fewer, she now makes her living pounding …

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Home on the Range: A Review of ‘Banished’

The challenge of a good city builder is all in the planning. Never is the player expected to react on the fly—that's the domain of real-time strategy.

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The Ultimate Comfort Food

Only one meal is worth ordering at O'Connor's—not because it's the only good thing on the menu, which I'm sure it isn't, but because it is so delicious and so …

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Girl About Town’s St. Paddy’s Plan

A seasoned veteran of the Mal’s St. Paddy’s Parade day, Girl About Town Julie Skipper shares her tips for making the most of it.

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The Southern Survivalist’s Guide to St. Paddy’s (Or, ‘Let’s Go Drinking, Mississippi’)

For walking the Mal's St. Paddy's Parade—a Mardi Gras-style festival held in downtown Jackson each March for more than three decades—and the subsequent afternoon and evening revelries, I advise you …

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Editorial

Stop Endangering Lives with ‘Hot’ Police Pursuits

Here in Jackson, the police department has caught up with modern criminal-justice best practices based on the reality that high-speed police pursuits must be limited to situations where the risk …

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Free-the-Land Man (For Chokwe Lumumba)

Poet and fiction writer C. Liegh McInnis, the editor of Black Magnolias, read this poem at Mayor Lumumba's Celebration of Life on March 8.

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City Veterans First to Launch Mayor Bids

The first two individuals to formally announce that they will participate in the special election for mayor of Jackson are both veterans of city government—former Mayor Harvey Johnson Jr. and …

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World

Investigators Chase 'Every Angle' in Missing Jet

Rescue helicopters and ships searching for a Malaysia Airlines jet rushed Monday to investigate a yellow object that looked like a life raft. It turned out to be moss-covered trash …

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National

As U.S. States Allow Pot Sales, Dutch Reverse Course

A young man at a bus stop hisses at a passer-by: "What you looking for ... marijuana?" It's a scene of street peddling that the Netherlands hoped to stamp out …

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Wayward Awards

The Grammys have fallen to industry-influenced promotion of artists like four-time winner Macklemore rather than representing music creators and listeners.

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Cheese, Mascara and Life Lessons

Sometimes you just have to remember to keep your head up.

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Tease photo Hitched

We’re Going to the Chapel

Brandon Herd and his new wife, Madelyn, skipped town and went to Memphis to get married.

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The Lumumba Legacy: What Happens Now?

Chokwe Lumumba was the first to admit that he was a radical. He was never satisfied with the status quo. He became a lawyer for the express purpose of defending …

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Fondren’s New Shutterbug

Lately, Sharon Coker's home has felt a little crowded, with her family and photography business all under one roof.

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March 4, 2014 | 1 comment

Oxford, Miss., Passes Pro-LGBT Resolution, 3rd Mississippi College Town to Do So

By Donna Ladd

Just in, verbatim:

Oxford, MS Unanimously Passes Pro-LGBT Resolution

Third Mississippi city to pass resolution recognizing the role LGBT people play in thriving communities

WASHINGTON - Tonight Oxford, Mississippi unanimously passed a resolution recognizing the dignity and worth of all city residents - including those who are lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT). Oxford joins two other Mississippi cities - Starkville and Hattiesburg - which both passed similar resolutions earlier this year.

Human Rights Campaign (HRC) President Chad Griffin issued the following statement:

“Like so many cities across America, Oxford, Mississippi has made clear that all its residents deserve to be treated with dignity, respect and equality, regardless of who they are or who they love. Today the Oxford Board of Alderman proudly affirmed the city’s support for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community, and moved Mississippi forward on the road to equality.”

“Diversity is what made and continues to make this country amazing. It strengthens and enhances the experiences of everyone, to understand that it is our differences from which we learn and make us stronger,” said Alderman Jay Hughes. “At a time when signals from some parts of the State seem to be focused on exclusion, I am absolutely honored and proud to be in a community that embraces inclusion of everyone, to make Oxford the great place that it is. Tolerance and acceptance creates the strongest bonds between neighbors, and I am proud to be on the right side of history in reaffirming Oxford’s long-standing commitment to that most fundamental principle.”

Public opinion on equality in Mississippi is far ahead of law in the state. A poll conducted last summer found that nearly 60 percent of Mississippians under the age of 30 support marriage equality, while 64 percent of residents back workplace non-discrimination protections for LGBT employees.

The Human Rights Campaign is America’s largest civil rights organization working to achieve lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality. By inspiring and engaging all Americans, HRC strives to end discrimination against LGBT citizens and realize a nation that achieves fundamental fairness and equality for all.