On Feb. 25, the House of Representatives passed the Equality Act, a landmark piece of legislation that would strengthen and expand the existing Civil Rights Act of 1964 to broaden its range of sex discrimination to protect LGBTQ people. 

This Act makes it explicit that existing federal statutes prohibiting sex discrimination also prohibit sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination. In many state and local governments, there is discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in employment, housing, public accommodations, and receiving federal financial assistance. 

The bill is currently awaiting Senate approval, where 60 votes are needed for its passage. That means every Democrat, and at least 10 Republicans must vote in favor of this act. 

Currently, there are no federal anti-discrimination laws for LGBTQ people. At least 27 states lack a state anti-discrimination law, something that is sorely needed. A 2020 survey from the Center for American Progress found that 1 in 3 LGBTQ Americans, including 3 in 5 transgender Americans, experienced discrimination in just the past year alone. 

In 2020, the Supreme Court ruled in a landmark case, Bostock v. Clayton County, that it is illegal under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to not hire, fire, or plainly discriminate against individuals based on their sexual orientation or gender identity. The Equality Act would solidify this interpretation into the country’s civil rights laws by defining existing sex discrimination protections that prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. 

Under the act, the Fair Housing Act (FHA) would also be amended to clearly classify sexual orientation and gender identity protections, firmly prohibiting housing discrimination against LGBTQ people. This would include the prohibition of differential treatment in renting, selling, pricing, eviction, and other activities.

Within federally funded programs, like shelters, schools, community health centers, adoption agencies, and law enforcement, LGBTQ individuals face a higher amount of discrimination in these programs. The Equality Act would protect LGBTQ people and women from discrimination, mistreatment, and or refusal by any of these programs. 

The act would also benefit LGBTQ students in federally funded schools, ensuring that students have the right to use sex-segregated facilities and participate in sex-segregated activities in keeping with their gender identity. It also adds protections for transgender and nonbinary students from the widespread misgendering and harassment that many face. 

The Equality Act would establish provisions that businesses, such as restaurants and pharmacies, would face accountability if they were to discriminate against, mistreat, or refuse service to LGBTQ people. Women would also no longer be charged higher prices than men for the same services or be denied service by institutions that provide health care. The expansion of public accommodations under the Equality Act would ensure protections for race, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity in public spaces. 

While on the campaign trail, President Biden championed this bill, saying it would be one of his top priorities for his first 100 days in office. However, he has since fallen short of that goal. During his first joint speech before Congress on the eve of his 100th day of presidency, Biden urged Congress to pass the Equality Act to protect LGBTQ people against discrimination. 

“I also hope Congress will get to my desk the Equality Act to protect LGBTQ Americans,” Biden said. “To all transgender Americans watching at home, especially young people who are so brave: I want you to know your president has your back.”

A report from the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) found that a survey of more than 10,000 Americans shows strong support for LGBTQ protections — more than 80% of Americans — against discrimination in jobs, public accommodations, and housing across every subgroup of Americans. Even groups least likely to support nondiscrimination protections show majority support — 62 % of Republicans and 62% of white evangelical Protestants support nondiscrimination policies. 

While the bill has received a lot of public support, many Republican representatives fear the bill may infringe on religious objections. The bill explicitly states that it overrules the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), which gives people the right to air their grievances against something that infringes upon their religious freedom. 

Under the Equality Act, the RFRA could not be used to challenge the act’s provisions, nor could it be used as a defense to a claim made under the act. Ensuring that religion cannot be weaponized as a permit to discriminate — including against people of another religion. 

Opponents of the Equality Act fear that it would threaten businesses or organizations with religious objections to serving LGBTQ people, forcing them to choose between operating their business or following their beliefs. 

Utah Sen. Mitt Romney told the Washington Blade that he won’t support the Equality Act, citing religious liberty. 

“Sen. Romney believes that strong religious liberty protections are essential to any legislation on this issue, and since those provisions are absent from this particular bill, he is not able to support it,” his spokesperson told the Blade.

Previous arguments against the notable Equal Rights Amendment in the 70s argued that the adoption of the bill would undercut existing legal protections for girls and women, echoing a similar sentiment to the Equality Act. 

However, advocates for the LGBTQ community praised lawmakers for extending legal protections to include LGBTQ individuals around the nation. 

GLAAD called the House passage of the Equality Act “a victory for all Americans and for our country’s core values of equal treatment under law,” continuing to say, “ This landmark civil rights law secures those protections for every LGBTQ person, to live without fear of discrimination.”

The National Black Justice Coalition also applauded the Equality Act, adding that “it also fills in significant gaps within existing civil rights laws for women, people of color, immigrants, religious groups, and those of us who live at the intersections of those identities.

The covid-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer, Modena, and Johnson has now been used across the United States. All Americans can be vaccinated and protected in a variety of ways.

Starting from the first dose of vaccination on December 14, 2020, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has begun a large-scale coronavirus vaccination program. It aims to achieve herd immunity against COVID-19 by injecting all eligible residents of the United States and participating countries with the COVID-19 vaccine.

According to the latest statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as of June 3, more than 297 million doses have been administered, fully vaccinating over 136 million people or 41% of the total U.S. population. At present, the complete vaccination rate for the entire state of California has also covered 51.6%.

The new coronavirus vaccine is gradually opening up in California. According to the recent update COVID-19 Vaccine Eligibility Guidelines published on California Department of Public Health, beginning May 12, 2021, every Californian age 12 and older will become eligible for COVID-19 vaccines. Front-line workers such as healthcare workers and emergency services, as well as people over 65 years old, were the first to be vaccinated.

Vaccinations are provided in many places. Most of them need to make an appointment online in advance. Some pharmacies and schools can get the vaccine directly without making an appointment. Detailed information on how to obtain vaccines in your area can be found on the official website of the government or local health department.

For example, at the website https://www.vaccines.gov/ you can find the nearest vaccine site and make an appointment by entering the relevant information.

The United States currently uses three covid-19 vaccines developed by Pfizer, Modena, and Johnson. According to clinical trials and the actual situation of the people after vaccination, there will be various side effects such as pain, fever, chills, tiredness, and headache after vaccination.

My aunt Tina Wu is an employee working in a massage parlor. She said, “My second vaccination was in April. Two days after the vaccination, I developed severe physical discomfort and had to spend my time in bed all day. I feel really bad.”

“I have finished the vaccination. After that, I felt dizzy and weakened, and some mild fever,” Catharine Yu, a sophomore in Laney College, said in May, “I think vaccination can help people get antibodies against the coronavirus. Vaccination is helpful to the entire community and ensures that you and everyone are safe.”

Detailed descriptions of different types of vaccines and possible side effects, as well as some ways to relieve them, can be found at https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/expect/after.html.

For the latest news about the COVID-19 in Alameda County and the latest announcements and plans of Chabot College, it could be found at http://districtazure.clpccd.org/urgentalerts/index.php.

The US CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield said in 2020 that the entire process of vaccination for the American public takes about “six to nine months”, and the United States is expected to have enough vaccines to allow Americans to return to “normal lives” by the third quarter of 2021″.

On April 13, 2021, Japan held a relevant cabinet meeting and officially announced that nuclear wastewater after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant accident would be discharged into the Pacific Ocean after treatment and dilution. It is expected that more than 1 million tons of nuclear sewage will be gradually discharged into the ocean in 2023 for a period of 30 years.

After the Fukushima nuclear power plant leak, the nuclear reactors were damaged and melted. In order to cool them down, Japan adopted a water cooling method, which produced a lot of nuclear wastewater. Ten years have passed since the Fukushima nuclear accident in Japan. Today, the status quo of nuclear pollution in Fukushima is still not optimistic. Regarding how to dispose of these nuclear wastewaters, the Japanese government has previously proposed five schemes, among which the cost of discharging into the sea is the lowest.

According to data from TEPCO, as of March this year, the radioactive nuclear wastewater used to cool nuclear reactors has reached 1.25 million tons. At present, all nuclear wastewater is stored in storage tanks of nuclear power plants. It is estimated that by the autumn of 2022, about 1,000 storage tanks with a total capacity of 1.37 million tons prepared by TEPCO will be fully filled, and it is no longer possible to build new storage facilities in the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant.

Previously, TEPCO had stated that after purification treatment, most of the radioactive materials in nuclear wastewater can be removed, but the radioactive material “tritium” cannot be removed. Before discharging the nuclear wastewater treatment water into the ocean, they will dilute the concentration of “tritium” to one-fortieth of the Japanese national standard. Japan also claims that the treated water fully meets safety standards.

Japan’s decision was strongly opposed by countries and organizations around the world, especially its neighbors South Korea and China. According to the New York Times report on April 13, Eunjung Lim, an associate professor of international relations at Kongju National University in Gongju, South Korea, specializes in Japan and South Korea.

Whether their worries are rational or not, many people in the region “are going to be very, very anxious about what would happen if this radioactive material came into our near seas and contaminated our resources,” she said.

Even under the best of circumstances, Japan would find it “really difficult to persuade its neighbors to accept this kind of decision, because obviously, it’s not our fault. It’s Japan’s fault, so why do we have to experience this kind of difficulty?” she added.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China strongly condemns the decision made by the Japanese government on April 13, 2021, and stated that the nuclear wastewater discharge plan is extremely irresponsible, and pointed out that the Japanese government has acted in spite of domestic and foreign voices.

Local residents in Japan firmly opposed such a decision, especially the Fisheries Association expressed serious concerns. The local fishermen in Fukushima Prefecture have endured fishing restrictions for ten years, and the industry has always hoped to usher in a rebound after ten years of self-restriction. The government’s decision made them very disappointed.

According to a poll conducted by the Japanese daily “Asahi Shimbun” in January 2021, 55% of Japanese people oppose the discharge of nuclear wastewater, and 86% of Japanese people are worried about international acceptance.

Helmholtz Center for Ocean Research Kiel, a marine research institute in Germany has previously warned that it would only take 57 days for the radioactive materials from Japan’s contaminated water to spread to most of the Pacific Ocean. Shaun Burnie, a nuclear power expert at Greenpeace Japan Office, pointed out in a media interview that decontamination technology is limited and radioactive materials will damage human DNA.

Amid the opposition, the United States expressed support for this. An article published by CNN on April 13 mentioned a statement from the US State Department, “In this unique and challenging situation, Japan has weighed the options and effects, has been transparent about its decision and appears to have adopted an approach. in accordance with globally accepted nuclear safety standards,” the statement said, “We look forward to the (Japanese government’s) continued coordination and communication as it monitors the effectiveness of this approach.”

Some experts pointed out that, in general, the discharge of nuclear sewage into the sea would have an impact on humans. Experiments have shown that long-term consumption of radioactively contaminated seafood may cause excessive accumulation of radioactive substances in the human body, causing various damages to the endocrine system and nervous system and causing diseases.

On March 11, 2011, an earthquake with a magnitude of 9 on the Richter scale occurred in the waters of northeastern Japan and triggered tsunamis. The nuclear power plant located in the Fukushima Industrial Zone in Japan was affected by the earthquake and tsunami. The hydrogen and air leaked into the reactor reacted and exploded, causing radioactive materials to leak to the outside of the nuclear power plant.

The Bay Area officially announces the reopening of indoor businesses from March 2021. Many indoor businesses such as restaurants have reopened, and the economy is gradually recovering.

Since August 2020, California started using a color-coded risk level assessment to determine a county’s reopening status, which could be found at https://covid19.ca.gov/safer-economy/. Whether to open indoor businesses depends on the risk level of the county. classified as “minimal” (yellow), “moderate” (orange), “substantial” (red), or widespread” (purple).

With people complying with effective measures such as social distancing and large-scale vaccination, the Bay Area has dropped from the initial purple tier to the less restrictive yellow and orange tier starting in March 2021, the Bay Area officially announced the reopening of indoor businesses.

Soon after the Bay Area announced the reopening of indoor businesses, some formerly lively business districts in San Francisco are recovering. At six p.m., on a certain eating street, many restaurants were already full of customers who came to have dinner, most of whom did not wear masks.

“It seems that the bustle here has returned to the past,” said Michael Xu, a man who lives a few blocks away from this street, while eating, “I often come here to eat. In the past few months affected by the pandemic, It’s always been very deserted here, and few people come to eat.”

Fusion Delight, a popular Chinese restaurant in San Leandro, only a ten-minute drive from Chabot College, is full of customers coming to dine at dinner time. There are also some customers waiting in line outside the restaurant.

It can be seen that despite a large number of customers, the restaurant still stipulates that each table must be separated by a certain distance to ensure compliance with social distancing under the pandemic.

A waiter in the restaurant said on April 9, 2021, “Although business is not as good as before the pandemic, there are still many people who come to dine. Our desserts have all been delivered.”

Prior to this, many restaurants only offered to order food through phone or mobile app and did not allow dine-in.

In the past year, many restaurants were affected by the pandemic and suffered cruel financial interruptions. Many companies closed down as a result, and a large number of restaurant employees faced unemployment.

According to the California Restaurant Association, thousands of California restaurants close permanently, estimated 30% of restaurants that have permanently closed statewide. Before the pandemic, 1.4 million Californians worked in restaurants. Since March, between 900,000 to 1 million of these workers have either been laid off or furloughed, and many continue to wait on an unemployment payment that never comes.

If you want to know which restaurants in your area have reopened for dine-in, you can use the local website or go directly to the restaurant website or call to check. According to the most recent update, On June 15, capacity and distancing restrictions will be lifted for most businesses and activities and California is preparing to get back to normal.

Since March 2020, Chabot College students and instructors have been taking online classes for eleven months, full of challenges for everyone. Chabot College has taken corresponding measures to deal with the online environment and better help students achieve their academic success during the pandemic.

In March 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic. According to the latest statistics from Johns Hopkins University, as of June 2, 2021, there have been 33.3 million confirmed cases and 595.8k deaths in the United States. 

The data is still coming in. California has the most cases in the United States. Affected by this, people’s work and study transformed into online mode, as people needed to observe safe social distance to deal with the rapid spread of the COVID-19.

According to statistics from the Entangled Solutions website, as early as May 2020, there were 4,234 universities and colleges affected by the coronavirus in the United States. The total number of affected students exceeds 25 million.

“Since biology is intended to be a hands-on endeavor, moving labs to an online setting has been challenging,” Said Megan Jensen, on Feb 25, 2021, a biology instructor at Chabot, “Each class is approaching things differently, but I have found that using a blend of virtual labs and sending home materials in the form of lab kits has worked to some extent.”

According to Professor Jensen, students must visit digital products and virtual labs provided by some textbook publishers (such as McGraw-Hill) to complete part of the classroom experiment content. “In general, I think the virtual labs by themselves are not sufficient but can be one tool in a broader assessment plan to help contextualize the learning.”

Professor Jensen also talked about her online teaching style, “I have chosen to teach my lectures synchronously, so students have the opportunity to connect and talk about content in breakout rooms, and ask clarifying questions in real-time. I also think having a biweekly class provides some structure to the week and helps keep students on track.” 

As for how the students are being impacted, Yanqing Ye, a Chabot student, said on Feb 24, 2021, “I went to school last week and borrowed a computer and hot spot. There is too much homework and too many things to study by myself. Studying at home is slow and difficult. I don’t think I have enough time every day.”

To help solve the difficulties encountered by students in accessing technology, Chabot College provides computers available to rent out and hotspots during distance online learning. Students can email Cheree Manicki ([email protected]) to get specific information about the loan program.

Besides, almost all school services have been transitioning to online forms. Students can browse the school’s official website (http://www.chabotcollege.edu/) to obtain services like consulting, tutoring sessions, and access to the library, etc.

According to Thomas Lothian, an instructor from the mass communication department at Chabot states that Chabot College will conduct 25% in-person learning for each course from the term of 2021 in summer. Based on the latest updated information on CLPCCD (http://districtazure.clpccd.org/urgentalerts/index.php). At that time, part of the students will return to the campus for in-person learning. Masks and social distances are still required on campus.