Our Latest Updates – Archive

51% of Republicans supported same-sex marriage according to a 2020 PRRI poll, up from 47% in 2019.

The first southern US state to abolish the death penalty, Virginia had, as of Mar. 24, 2021, carried out the most executions in the United States since the country’s first execution in Jamestown in 1608.

The Trump administration requested the review, but there is no indication the Biden administration opposes the review.

Governor Ralph Northam signed HB 2218 and SB 1333, which will legalize cannabis botanicals in the medical marijuana program on July 1, 2021

Yesterday, Virginia joined three other states in banning animal testing for cosmetics. Explore the laws in this new resource.

While the landmark decision is the first time a court has ruled on gay marriage in Japan, the law will only change if Parliament passes legislation, something they have previously been hesitant to do.

Governor Ralph Northam issued rules that allows those with felony convictions to vote as soon as they have completed their prison sentences, reenfranchising 69,000 people.

The Holy See stated, “it is not licit to impart a blessing on relationships, or partnerships, even stable, that involve sexual activity outside of marriage (i.e., outside the indissoluble union of a man and a woman open in itself to the transmission of life), as is the case of the unions between persons of the same sex.”

Japanese officials announced that the Games would be closed to foreign spectators amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and a country-wide ban on international visitors (which is expected to be lifted days before the Olympic torch relay). Despite the delay, the 2020 Games (which are retaining that name despite taking place in 2021) will debut four new sports: karate, skateboard, sports climbing, and surfing. Baseball and softball will return for the first time since Beijing 2008.

Explore this hot topic via three updated pros and cons.

Explore the vegetarian debate with updated arguments, quotes, and resources.

A shortage of monkeys, including pink-faced rhesus macaques, threatened vaccine development at the beginning of the pandemic and as variants of COVID-19 were found. The monkeys were previously flown in from China, but a ban on wildlife imports from China forced researchers to look elsewhere, a difficult task as China previously supplied over 60% of research monkeys in the United States.

On inauguration day (Jan. 20, 2021), President Joe Biden released a statement rejoining the Paris Climate Agreement. The United States officially rejoined the agreement 30 days later on Feb. 19, 2021.

Explore the hot topic with an overview, pros and cons, discussion questions, and a new take action section.

On Feb. 13, 2021, the Senate voted 57-43, largely along party lines, to acquit President Trump in the second impeachment trial.