title: LGBT rights in the United States

text: On February 23, 2011, President Obama instructed the Justice Department to stop defending the Defense of Marriage Act in court.


title: LGBT rights in the United States

text: In March 2011, the U.S. issued a nonbinding declaration in favor of gay rights that gained the support of more than 80 countries at the U.N. In June 2011, the U.N. endorsed the rights of gay, lesbian, and transgender people for the first time, by passing a resolution that was backed by the U.S., among other countries.


title: LGBT rights in the United States

text: On August 18, 2011, the Obama administration announced that it would suspend deportation proceedings against many undocumented immigrants who pose no threat to national security or public safety, with the White House interpreting the term "family" to include partners of lesbian, gay and bisexual people.


title: LGBT rights in the United States

text: On September 30, 2011, the Defense Department issued new guidelines that allow military chaplains to officiate at same-sex weddings, on or off military installations, in states where such weddings are allowed.


title: LGBT rights in the United States

text: On December 5, 2011, the Obama administration announced the United States would use all the tools of American diplomacy, including the potent enticement of foreign aid, to promote LGBT rights around the world.


title: LGBT rights in the United States

text: In March and April 2012, Obama expressed his opposition to state constitutional bans on same-sex marriage in North Carolina, and Minnesota.


title: LGBT rights in the United States

text: On May 3, 2012, the Federal Bureau of Prisons has agreed to add an LGBT representative to the diversity program at each of the 120 prisons it operates in the United States.


title: LGBT rights in the United States

text: On May 9, 2012, Obama publicly supported same-sex marriage, the first sitting U.S. President to do so. Obama told an interviewer that:


title: LGBT rights in the United States

text: In the 2012 election, Obama received the endorsement of the following gay rights organizations: Equal Rights Washington, Fair Wisconsin, Gay-Straight Alliance Network, Human Rights Campaign, and the National Stonewall Democrats. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) gave Obama a score of 100% on the issue of gays and lesbians in the U.S. military and a score of 75% on the issue of freedom to marry for gay people.


title: LGBT rights in the United States

text: On January 7, 2013, the Pentagon agreed to pay full separation pay to service members discharged under "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."


title: LGBT rights in the United States

text: Obama also called for full equality during his second inaugural address on January 21, 2013: "Our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law—for if we are truly created equal, then surely the love we commit to one another must be equal as well." It was the first mention of rights for gays and lesbians or use of the word "gay" in an inaugural address.


title: LGBT rights in the United States

text: On March 1, 2013, Obama, speaking about "Hollingsworth v. Perry", the U.S. Supreme Court case about Proposition 8, said "When the Supreme Court asks do you think that the California law, which doesn't provide any rationale for discriminating against same-sex couples other than just the notion that, well, they're same-sex couples—if the Supreme Court asks me or my attorney general or solicitor general, 'Do we think that meets constitutional muster?' I felt it was important for us to answer that question honestly. And the answer is no." The administration took the position that the Supreme Court should apply "heightened scrutiny" to California's ban—a standard under which legal experts say no state ban could survive.


title: LGBT rights in the United States

text: On December 26, 2013, President Obama signed the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2014 into law, which repealed the ban on consensual sodomy in the UCMJ.


title: LGBT rights in the United States

text: Obama included openly gay athletes in the 2014 Olympic delegation, namely Brian Boitano and Billie Jean King (who was later replaced by Caitlin Cahow). This was done in criticism of Russia's anti-gay law.


title: LGBT rights in the United States

text: On July 21, 2014, President Obama signed Executive Order 13672, adding "gender identity" to the categories protected against discrimination in hiring in the federal civilian workforce and both "sexual orientation" and "gender identity" to the categories protected against discrimination in hiring and employment on the part of federal government contractors and sub-contractors.


title: LGBT rights in the United States

text: Obama was criticized for meeting with anti-gay Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni at a dinner with African heads of state in August 2014.


title: LGBT rights in the United States

text: Later in August 2014, Obama made a surprise video appearance at the opening ceremony of the 2014 Gay Games.


title: LGBT rights in the United States

text: On February 10, 2015, David Axelrod's "Believer: My Forty Years in Politics" was published. In the book, Axelrod revealed that President Barack Obama lied about his opposition to same-sex marriage for religious reasons in 2008 United States presidential election. "I'm just not very good at bullshitting," Obama told Axelrod, after an event where he stated his opposition to same-sex marriage, according to the book.


title: LGBT rights in the United States

text: In 2015, the U.S. appointed Randy Berry as its first Special Envoy for the Human Rights of LGBT Persons.


title: LGBT rights in the United States

text: In April 2015, the Obama administration announced it had opened a gender-neutral bathroom within the White House complex, located in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building next door to the West Wing. President Obama also responded to a petition seeking to ban conversion therapy (inspired by the death of Leelah Alcorn) with his pledge to advocate for such a ban.


title: LGBT rights in the United States

text: Also in 2015, when President Obama declared May to be National Foster Care Month, he included words never before included in a White House proclamation about adoption, stating in part, "With so many children waiting for loving homes, it is important to ensure all qualified caregivers have the opportunity to serve as foster or adoptive parents, regardless of race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, or marital status. That is why we are working to break down the barriers that exist and investing in efforts to recruit more qualified parents for children in foster care." He was the first president to explicitly say gender identity should not prevent anyone from adopting or becoming a foster parent.


title: LGBT rights in the United States

text: In June 2016, President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden met with the victims and families of victims of the Orlando nightclub shooting. Obama and Biden laid 49 bouquets of white roses to memorialize the 49 people killed in the tragedy impacting the LGBTQ community.


title: LGBT rights in the United States

text: On June 24, 2016, President Obama designated the Stonewall National Monument in Greenwich Village, Lower Manhattan, as the first national monument in the United States to honor the LGBT rights movement.


title: LGBT rights in the United States

text: On October 20, 2016, Obama endorsed Kate Brown as Governor of Oregon. On November 8, Brown became the first openly LGBT person to be elected governor in the United States. Brown is a bisexual woman who has also come out as a survivor of sexual assault and domestic violence. Before being elected in her own right, Brown had assumed the governorship due to a resignation. During that time, she signed legislation to ban conversion therapy on minors.


title: LGBT rights in the United States

text: Donald Trump opposed expanding LGBT rights. As President, he rolled back LGBT rights and appointed anti-LGBTQ officials. He opposed the Equality Act, which has been one of the highest priorities of LGBTQ rights groups since same-sex marriage was enacted by the Supreme Court. Long before his 2016 campaign, Trump opposed the legalization of same-sex marriage; during his 2016 campaign, he pledged to appoint anti-LGBTQ Justices to the Supreme Court. His administration banned transgender people from serving in the military and attempted to legally redefine gender to erase transgender people and undermine nondiscrimination protections for transgender, non-binary, and intersex people.


title: LGBT rights in the United States

text: His administration argued before the Supreme Court that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 does not protect gay or transgender Americans from discrimination (though the Court ultimately decided in favor of LGBT rights in this matter). His Cabinet rolled back non-discrimination requirements for homeless shelters, allowing them to discriminate against homeless transgender youth. His Education Secretary, Betsy DeVos, rolled back protections for LGBTQ students. The Trump administration sought to enable healthcare discrimination.


title: LGBT rights in the United States

text: All LGBTQ references were removed from the websites of the White House, Department of State, and Department of Labor minutes after Trump took office. Trump did not allow refugees to enter the country on the basis of their fleeing from LGBTQ-related discrimination. Trump was the first president to speak at the Value Voters Summit hosted by the Family Research Council.


title: LGBT rights in the United States

text: Cuts to HIV/AIDS policy and funding have a wide-ranging effect. In 2017, Trump dissolved the Office of National AIDS Policy (ONAP, founded in 1993) and the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (PACHA, founded in 1995). His 2019 budget proposal did not include any funding for two existing programs run under the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program.


title: LGBT rights in the United States

text: Early on, the Trump administration interrupted the government's efforts to begin counting LGBT-identified people. In March 2017, the U.S. Census Bureau released its proposed questions for the 2020 census (the census is conducted once every ten years) and the American Community Survey (conducted annually). For the first time ever, the proposed questions covered topics about sexual orientation and gender identity. However, the questions were immediately retracted. The Census Bureau claimed that the topic had been included "inadvertently" (in fact, it was included because nearly 80 members of Congress had asked for it the previous year). The Census Bureau added: "This topic is not being proposed to Congress for the 2020 Census or American Community Survey. The report has been corrected."


title: LGBT rights in the United States

text: Ultimately, questions about same-sex relationships were added back into the census, but this limited approach doesn't offer a way to attribute lesbian, gay, or bisexual identity to those who are not currently in any relationship or who are in a different-sex relationship, nor can it attribute transgender identity to anyone. The same month, the Trump administration released a draft of the annual National Survey of Older Americans Act Participants (NSOAAP), administered by Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Questions about sexual orientation and gender identity added in 2014 were removed from the 2017 draft. In April 2019, HHS indicated their intention to stop asking foster youth, parents and guardians to self-report sexual orientation to the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System.


title: LGBT rights in the United States

text: In January 2017, minutes after Trump was inaugurated, LGBTQ-related content was removed from the White House, State Department and Labor Department websites.


title: LGBT rights in the United States

text: On March 27, 2017, Trump reversed a directive from the Obama administration (Executive Order 13673, "Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces") that had required companies with large federal contracts to prove their compliance with LGBT protections and other labor laws. In November 2017, the General Services Administration removed "sexual orientation" and "gender identity" from its Obama-era nondiscrimination guidelines. In March 2018, the Department of Health and Human Services removed lesbian and bisexual resources from its website. In December 2019, the Interior Department removed "sexual orientation" from its nondiscrimination guidelines.


title: LGBT rights in the United States

text: On July 26, 2017, the Trump administration intervened in a private employment lawsuit, Zarda v. Altitude Express, Inc. The Department of Justice, taking the opposite side of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, urged a federal appeals court to rule that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 does not prohibit job discrimination based on sexual orientation. The court ruled, however, that it did. On June 15, 2020, the Supreme Court agreed, ruling 6–3 that "an employer who fires an individual merely for being gay or transgender defies the law."


title: LGBT rights in the United States

text: On November 30, 2018, Trump signed the United States-Mexico-Canada trade agreement which contained a footnote exempting the United States from complying with the agreement's call for an end to "sex-based discrimination".


title: LGBT rights in the United States

text: Near the end of Trump's term, on December 7, 2020, the administration finalized a rule allowing faith-based employers to discriminate against LGBT employees in their contracts with the federal government.


title: LGBT rights in the United States

text: A major way the Trump administration enabled discrimination is by providing exemptions to antidiscrimination law on the basis of "conscience" or "religious freedom." On December 5, 2017, when asked by a White House reporter if President Trump agreed that it would be okay for bakers to put up signs in their business windows saying "We don't bake cakes for gay weddings," as his solicitor general had argued before the Supreme Court, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said that the president believes in religious liberty and "that would include that." On January 18, 2018, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced the creation of the Conscience and Religious Freedom Division within its Office for Civil Rights (OCR).


title: LGBT rights in the United States

text: Its purpose was to enforce federal laws that related to "conscience and religious freedom"; that is, to enable individuals and businesses to exempt themselves from obeying nondiscrimination laws. On January 23, 2019, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said that Miracle Hill Ministries, a foster care agency in Greenville, S.C., could be exempted from an Obama-era nondiscrimination regulation. Miracle Hill would continue to receive federal funds and was allowed to refuse services to prospective foster parents who are non-Christian or LGBT, although it was required to refer the rejected applicants to another agency. HHS cited the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) as a basis for allowing federally funded Christian groups to discriminate against non-Christians.


title: LGBT rights in the United States

text: In August 2019, the U.S. Department of Labor, also referencing the RFRA, proposed a new rule to exempt "religious organizations" from obeying nondiscrimination law in their employment practices if they invoke "sincerely held religious tenets and beliefs" as their reason to discriminate. In June 2020, the Justice Department filed a brief with the Supreme Court in support of Catholic Social Services (CSS) of Philadelphia, which sought the right to decline same-sex couples as prospective foster parents within the public foster care system and to refer them to another agency.


title: LGBT rights in the United States

text: On October 3, 2017, the Trump administration voted against a UN resolution to condemn the death penalty (which condemned the use of that penalty for homosexuality in particular), thus making the United States one of only 13 countries to vote against the resolution (including Saudi Arabia where the death penalty for gay sex is practiced). However, this was in accordance with longstanding policy, as the Obama administration had also voted against it. Jessica Stern, executive director of the LGBT rights group OutRight, said the group criticized the Trump administration's "many rights violations, its many abuses of power from LGBTI violations to xenophobia, but this particular instance is not an example of a contraction of support on LGBTI rights... It would be a mistake to interpret its opposition to a death penalty resolution to a change in policy." In September 2020, the Trump administration (along with co-signatures it had gathered from 57 countries) proposed that the United Nations emphasize "religious freedom" in place of LGBTQ rights when discussing "international human rights."


title: LGBT rights in the United States

text: Richard Grenell, the openly gay U.S. Ambassador to Germany, led a single meeting on February 19, 2019 with 11 activists from different European countries; it appeared that no U.S. individuals or groups were invited. The Trump administration claimed that this dinner party represented a new campaign to decriminalize homosexuality worldwide. However, the next day, the president seemed unaware of it. (In the official White House transcript of that interview, Trump asked the reporter to repeat the question, and finally responded, "I don't know, uh, which report you're talking about. We have many reports.") Grenell said the United States did not have a "new policy" but was rather simply making a "new push"; this push consisted of asking for support from European countries in treating U.S. economic aid to other countries as a bargaining chip.


title: LGBT rights in the United States

text: On May 31, 2019, Trump tweeted that Americans should "stand in solidarity with the many LGBT people who live in dozens of countries worldwide that punish, imprison, or even execute" people for their sexual orientation. He referenced his administration's "global campaign to decriminalize homosexuality." It was the only time during his presidency that he tweeted the word "LGBT" (excepting, one year later, a retweet of his press secretary's praise of his "LGBT community" record). It was also the only time he tweeted the word "Pride" in an LGBT context. Despite Trump's apparent call for international solidarity, that same week, his administration instructed U.S. embassies not to fly the Pride flag. Additionally, later in 2019, when Zambia sentenced two men to 15 years in prison for having sex, the U.S. ambassador to the country expressed his outrage. The United States did not support his position but instead recalled him from his role.


title: LGBT rights in the United States

text: In early 2020, it was reported that Grenell's consulting firm had been paid over $100,000 in 2016 for public relations support for Viktor Orbán's government in Hungary, which Grenell had not disclosed under the Foreign Agents Registration Act before working for the Trump administration; Orbán's government is widely recognized for its anti-LGBT policies. When Grenell resigned his ambassadorship on June 1, 2020, he left no one obviously in charge of any pro-LGBT "push" or "campaign," and, three months later, a senior advisor at the Council for Global Equality described Grenell's defunct campaign dismissively as "a series of self-promoting Twitter photos." In August 2020, Grenell began serving as an advisor for the American Center for Law & Justice, an organization that has long supported criminalizing homosexuality in African countries.


title: LGBT rights in the United States

text: Mike Pence opposed the expansion of LGBT rights throughout his political career. In May 2016, as Indiana governor, he said that states should dictate which bathroom transgender students may use. He said this in response to direction given by the Obama administration to allow students nationwide to use the bathroom corresponding to the gender with which they identify. A month later, on June 15, 2016, Trump announced Pence as his vice presidential running-mate.


title: LGBT rights in the United States

text: The decision was criticized by LGBT advocates, as Pence was known for opposing same-sex marriage and supporting "religious freedom laws" that allow individuals and companies to claim religious exemptions from providing services to LGBT people, including an Indiana law that he signed while governor. During Trump's presidential campaign, while discussing gay rights with a legal scholar, Trump allegedly joked that Pence "wants to hang them all"; the comment was revealed in October 2017 after Trump and Pence were already in office. Secretary Hillary Clinton, who ran against Trump in the 2016 presidential election, called Pence "the most extreme pick in a generation."


title: LGBT rights in the United States

text: In 1993, Pence published numerous anti-LGBT letters in the Indiana Policy Review Foundation publication "Indiana Policy Review", allegedly including one that urged employers to not hire members of the LGBT community, claiming they are "promiscuous," carry "extremely high rates of disease," and are "not able bodied."


title: LGBT rights in the United States

text: In 2000, Pence's Congressional campaign website stated that Congress should fund the Ryan White Care Act only after an audit confirmed that "organizations that celebrate and encourage the types of behaviors that facilitate the spreading of the HIV virus" would be ineligible for funding, and that "resources should be directed toward those institutions which provide assistance to those seeking to change their sexual behavior." The latter comment has been interpreted by some as a statement of support for conversion therapy, an accusation that was not addressed until after Pence's election as vice president, when Pence's spokesperson called the accusation a "mischaracterization." However, conversion therapy was endorsed within the Republican Party platform adopted at the July 2016 convention.


title: LGBT rights in the United States

text: In a 2006 speech, he said that "the deterioration of marriage and family" causes "societal collapse" and that "God's idea" is to prevent same-sex marriage.


title: LGBT rights in the United States

text: In 2007, he voted against the Employment Non-Discrimination Act which would have banned discrimination based on sexual orientation.


title: LGBT rights in the United States

text: Although gay and bisexual men in the United States remain disproportionately affected by HIV, accounting for two-thirds of all new HIV diagnoses in 2016, Pence gave a speech for World AIDS Day 2018 without mentioning LGBT people. (The previous year, Trump had given the World AIDS Day speech with the same omission.)


title: LGBT rights in the United States

text: On Joe Biden's first day in office, he signed an Executive Order banning employment and housing discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. This executive order interprets the United States Supreme Court decision "Bostock v. Clayton County" more broadly than the Trump Administration had. The Executive Order also mandates that transgender children be allowed to use the locker rooms and bathrooms of their gender identity, and be allowed to participate in the sport of their gender identity too, and although it does not mandate all schools and states must follow the order, if they were to defy it, the Federal Government could deny funding to said states or schools. Currently, there are multiple states considering bills which would bar transgender athletes from competing in the sport of their gender identity, and even one state, Idaho, has enacted a bill which bans trans girls from playing in the sport of their gender identity, which is currently the subject of an ongoing court battle in the 9th Circuit (see "Hecox v. Little"). Despite this, the Biden Administration has not made any statements on said bills, and whether or not it will deny funding to states that have enacted them, or are considering enacting them.


title: LGBT rights in the United States

text: The court ruling expanded Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to ban employment discrimination against LGBT employees, but did not explicitly ban discrimination outside of employment. The Executive Order signed by President Biden ordered all federal agencies to review existing regulations and policies that prohibit sex discrimination, and to revise them as necessary to clarify that “sex” includes sexual orientation and gender identity.


title: LGBT rights in the United States

text: Also on Biden's first day in office, his press secretary, Jen Psaki, announced in a press conference that the President would soon reverse the government's ban on transgender people from serving openly in the military. Biden had originally said that reversing the ban would be an action taken "on day one," but this was delayed, perhaps because his nominee for Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin, had not been confirmed yet. This ban was reversed by executive order on January 25, 2021, allowing transgender people to serve in the military again.


title: LGBT rights in the United States

text: On March 26, 2021, Rachel Levine became the U.S. assistant secretary for health and "the highest-ranking openly transgender official in U.S. history" (according to the "Washington Post"). On May 10, 2021, the Department of Health and Human Services affirmed that gay and transgender people's access to healthcare was protected under the Affordable Care Act, reversing a Trump administration policy and restoring an Obama administration policy.


title: LGBT rights in the United States

text: On June 15, 2022, Biden signed another executive order designed to blunt recent anti-LGBT state legislation. The order directed the Department of Health and Human Services to partner with state child welfare agencies to prevent anti-LGBT discrimination, identify and address barriers to LGBT people receiving federal anti-poverty benefits, and create a Bill of Rights for LGBTQI+ Older Adults; ordered the Department of Housing and Urban Development to identify and address barriers to housing for LGBT people; and expanded the federal government's commitment to data collection on sexual orientation and gender identity by creating a coordinating committee to guide such data collection across all federal agencies. In addition, it would order the federal government to curb federal funding for the practice of Conversion therapy, and ask the Federal Trade Commission to consider whether it constitutes an unfair or deceptive act. It would also set up programs to expand access to suicide prevention resources for LGBT youth.


title: LGBT rights in the United States

text: The main supporters of LGBT rights in the U.S. have generally been political liberals and libertarians. Regionally, support for the LGBT rights movement has been strongest in the areas of the Northeast and the West Coast, and in other states with large urban populations. The national Democratic Party has held the official platform support most initiatives since 2012 for LGBT rights. However, there are some Republican groups advocating for LGBT issues inside the party include the Log Cabin Republicans, GOProud, Young Conservatives for the Freedom To Marry, and College Republicans of the University of Pennsylvania and Columbia University. A CNN News poll in 2021 found that 55% of Republicans support same-sex marriage, a percentage that rose to 55% in a Gallup poll conducted during May 2021.


title: LGBT rights in the United States

text: In 2013, 52% of Republicans and GOP-leaning independents between the age of 18 and 49 years old supported same-sex marriage in a joint "Washington Post"-ABC News poll. A 2014 Pew Forum Poll showed that American Muslims are more likely than Evangelicals to support same-sex marriage 42% to 28%, a percentage that according to the Public Religion Research Institute in 2018 rose to 51% and 34%. According to Pew Research Center in 2017, Millennials and Generation X, younger white evangelicals born after 1964, have grown more supportive in favor same-sex marriage, up to 47%. A 2017 Pew Research Center poll showed that 64% of White Americans, 60% of Hispanic and Latino Americans and 51% of African Americans support the right for same-sex couples to marry.


title: LGBT rights in the United States

text: The main opponents of LGBT rights in the U.S. have generally been religious fundamentalists. According to Pew Research Center, the majority, 59%, of evangelical Protestants oppose same-sex marriage. Between 2016 and 2017, views among Baby boomers and the Silent Generation, older evangelicals born before 1964, have shown practically no change from 25% then to 26% now. Conservatives cite various Bible passages from the Old and New Testaments as their justification for opposing LGBT rights. Regionally, LGBT rights opposition has been strongest in the South and in other states with a large rural and conservative population, particularly the Bible Belt.


title: LGBT rights in the United States

text: Late in 1979, a new religious revival among conservative evangelical Protestants and Roman Catholics ushered in the conservatism politically aligned with the Christian right that would reign in the United States during the 1980s, becoming another obstacle for the progress of the LGBT rights movement. During the HIV/AIDS epidemic of the 1980s, LGBT communities were further stigmatized as they became the focus of mass hysteria, suffered isolation and marginalization, and were targeted with extreme acts of violence.


title: LGBT rights in the United States

text: As the movement for same-sex marriage has developed, many national and/or international organizations have opposed that movement. Those organizations include the American Family Association, the Christian Coalition, Family Research Council, Focus on the Family, Save Our Children, NARTH, the national Republican Party, the Catholic Church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), the Southern Baptist Convention, Alliance for Marriage, Alliance Defense Fund, Liberty Counsel, and the National Organization for Marriage.


title: LGBT rights in the United States

text: The Democratic Party started to support some LGBT rights in the 1970s. Despite signing the Defense of Marriage Act, Bill Clinton was the first president who openly supported LGBT rights; he appointed several openly gay government officials during his administration. In the 2012 national platform, the Democratic Party supported the repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act and "equal responsibility, benefits, and protections" for same-sex couples; President Barack Obama came out in support of same-sex marriage in 2012. The Democratic Party explicitly supports same-sex marriage.


title: LGBT rights in the United States

text: In the Democratic Party's 2016 national platform, the Democratic Party adopted its most progressive agenda in supporting LGBT rights. According to that agenda, "Democrats believe that LGBT rights are human rights and that American foreign policy should advance the ability of all persons to live with dignity, security, and respect, regardless of who they are or who they love."


title: LGBT rights in the United States

text: In the section on HIV/AIDS: Democrats believe an AIDS-free generation is within our grasp. But today far too many Americans living with HIV are without access to quality care and too many new infections occur each year. That is why we will implement the National HIV and AIDS Strategy; increase research funding for the National Institutes of Health; cap pharmaceutical expenses for people living with HIV and AIDS; reform HIV criminalization laws; and expand access for harm reduction programs and HIV prevention medications, particularly for the populations most at risk of infection. Abroad, we will continue our commitment to the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief and increase global funding for HIV and AIDS prevention and treatment. Democrats will always protect those living with HIV and AIDS from stigma and discrimination."


title: LGBT rights in the United States

text: Pete Buttigieg's run for the 2020 Democratic nomination for President made him America's first openly gay Democratic presidential candidate.


title: LGBT rights in the United States

text: The Republican Party opposes multiple rights for LGBT people, primarily focusing on same-sex marriage and transgender rights. Although the 2020 Republican party platform officially opposed same-sex marriage, more than half of those who identify as Republican believe that same-sex marriage should be legal (55% in a Pew Research survey conducted in May 2021).


title: LGBT rights in the United States

text: Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump used the acronym "LGBT" at the 2016 Republican National Convention while acknowledging the recent shooting at the Pulse nightclub. Trump, as president, signed a memo in August 2017 prohibiting transgender individuals from joining the armed services in most cases.


title: LGBT rights in the United States

text: Fred Karger's run for the 2012 Republican nomination for President made him America's first openly gay Republican presidential candidate.


title: LGBT rights in the United States

text: The Libertarian Party has endorsed libertarian perspectives on LGBT rights by supporting the decriminalization of same-sex sodomy and promoting same-sex marriage since it was created in 1971, while also supporting religious freedom. The Libertarian Party wished to lift the bans on same-sex marriage, but with the ultimate goal of marriage privatization.


title: LGBT rights in the United States

text: The Green Party has been in favor of sweeping LGBT rights and protections since the party's inaugural platform in 2000. The more informal coalition of State Green Parties that existed in America from 1983 to 2000 also backed LGBT rights.


title: LGBT rights in the United States

text: The Constitution Party (United States) is strongly opposed to LGBT freedoms, and supports criminal laws against homosexuality and cross-dressing. The party is very conservative and has ties to Christian Reconstructionism, a far-right, political movement within conservative Christian churches.


title: LGBT rights in the United States

text: While many American socialist and communist political parties initially preferred to ignore the issue, most now support gay rights causes. Socialist groups generally integrate a stronger approach to gender identity issues than mainstream parties. The Socialist Party U.S.A nominated an openly gay man, David McReynolds, as its (and America's) first openly gay presidential candidate in 1980.


title: LGBT rights in the United States

text: Public opinion regarding different individual LGBT rights and issues in the United States is very mixed, with some issues having strong majority public opinion on the Progressive side of the argument, where on others, the American population is more Conservative, see summary table below.


title: LGBT rights in the United States

text: A denotes that the right exists, while a denotes it does not; a and in the same column means the right varies on a state-by-state basis, or that it varies on the Federal Level.


title: LGBT rights in the United States

text: Employment protections will not be included on the following table, unless the state adopted them before 2020, as they have already been implemented nationwide under "Bostock v. Clayton County".


title: The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill

text: The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill is the debut solo album by American singer and rapper Lauryn Hill. It was released on August 25, 1998, by Ruffhouse Records and Columbia Records. "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill" is a neo soul and R&B album with some songs based in hip hop soul and reggae. Its lyrics touch upon Hill's pregnancy and the turmoil within her former group the Fugees, along with themes of love and God. The album's title was inspired by the film and autobiographical novel "The Education of Sonny Carson", and Carter G. Woodson's "The Mis-Education of the Negro".


title: The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill

text: After touring with the Fugees, Hill became involved in a romantic relationship with Jamaican entrepreneur Rohan Marley, and shortly after, became pregnant with their child. This pregnancy, as well as other circumstances in her life, inspired Hill to make a solo album. Recording sessions for the album took place from late 1997 to June 1998 mainly at Tuff Gong Studios in Kingston, as Hill collaborated with a group of musicians known as New Ark in writing and producing the songs.


title: The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill

text: The album debuted at number one on the "Billboard" 200 chart, selling over 422,000 copies in its first week, which broke a record for first-week sales by a female artist. It was promoted with the release of the hit singles "Doo Wop (That Thing)", "Ex-Factor", and "Everything Is Everything", while "Lost Ones" and "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" were released as promotional singles. To further promote the album, Hill made televised performances on "Saturday Night Live" and the Billboard Music Awards before embarking on a sold-out, worldwide concert tour.


title: The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill

text: "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill" was among the most acclaimed albums of 1998, as most critics praised Hill's presentation of a woman's view on life and love, along with her artistic range. At the 41st Annual Grammy Awards, "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill" earned 10 nominations, winning five awards, making Hill the first woman to receive that many nominations and awards in one night. The album's success propelled Hill to international superstardom, and contributed to bringing hip hop and neo soul to the forefront of popular music. New Ark, however, felt Hill and her record label did not properly credit the group on the album; a lawsuit filed by the group was settled out of court in 2001.


title: The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill

text: Since its release, the album has been ranked in numerous best-album lists, with a number of critics regarding it as one of the greatest albums of the 1990s, as well as one of the greatest albums of all time. Among its honors are inclusion in "Rolling Stone" magazine's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list, Harvard University's Loeb Music Library, the Smithsonian National Museum of African American history, and the Library of Congress' National Recording Registry. In 2021, the album was certified Diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America, for estimated sales of 10 million copies in the US, making Hill the first female rapper to accomplish this feat. Worldwide, the album has sold over 20 million copies, making it one of the best-selling albums of all time, the best-selling album by a female rapper, and the best-selling neo-soul album of all time. It remains Hill's only studio album.


title: The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill

text: In 1996, Lauryn Hill met Rohan Marley while touring as a member of the Fugees. The two gradually formed a close relationship, and while on tour, Hill became pregnant with his child. The pregnancy and other circumstances in her life inspired her to record a solo album. After contributing to fellow Fugees member Wyclef Jean's 1997 solo record "Wyclef Jean Presents The Carnival", Hill took time off from touring and recording due to her pregnancy and cases of writer's block. This pregnancy, however, renewed Hill's creativity, as she recalled in an interview several years later: "When some women are pregnant, their hair and their nails grow, but for me it was my mind and ability to create. I had the desire to write in a capacity that I hadn't done in a while. I don't know if it's a hormonal or emotional thing ... I was very in touch with my feelings at the time." Of the early writing process, Hill said, "Every time I got hurt, every time I was disappointed, every time I learned, I just wrote a song."


title: The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill

text: While inspired, Hill wrote over thirty songs in her attic studio in South Orange, New Jersey. Many of these songs drew upon the turbulence in the Fugees, as well as past love experiences. In the summer of 1997, as Hill was due to give birth to her first child, she was requested to write a song for gospel musician CeCe Winans. Several months later, she went to Detroit to work with soul singer Aretha Franklin, writing and producing her single "A Rose is Still a Rose". Franklin would later have Hill direct the song's music video. Shortly after this, Hill did writing work for Whitney Houston. Having written songs for artists in gospel, hip hop, and R&B, she drew on these influences and experiences to record "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill".


title: The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill

text: Hill began recording "The Miseducation" in late 1997 at Chung King Studios in New York City, and completed it in June 1998 at Tuff Gong Studios in Kingston, Jamaica. In an interview, Hill described the first day of recording, stating: "The first day in the studio I ordered every instrument I ever fell in love with: harps, strings, timpani, organs, clarinets. It was my idea to record it so the human element stayed in. I didn't want it to be too technically perfect." Initially, Jean did not support Hill recording a solo album, but eventually offered to help as a producer, which she did not accept. Aside from doing work at Chung King Studios, Hill also recorded at Perfect Pair Studios in New Jersey, as well as Sony Studios, with some songs having different elements recorded at different studios. The bulk of the album, however, was recorded at Tuff Gong Studios in Kingston, Jamaica, the studio built by reggae musician Bob Marley. Regarding this shift in environment, Hill stated: "When I started recording in New York and New Jersey, lots of people were talking to me about going different routes. I could feel people up in my face, and I was picking up on bad vibes. I wanted a place where there was good vibes, where I was among family, and it was Tuff Gong." Many members of the Marley family were present in the studio during the recording sessions, among them Julian Marley, who added guitar elements to "Forgive Them Father."


title: The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill

text: In an interview, recording engineer Gordon "Commissioner Gordon" Williams recalled the recording of "Lost Ones", stating: "It was our first morning in Jamaica and I saw all of these kids gathered around Lauryn, screaming and dancing. Lauryn was in the living room next to the studio with about fifteen Marley grandchildren around her, the children of Ziggy, and Stephen, and Julian, and she starts singing this rap verse, and all the kids start repeating the last word of each line, chiming in very spontaneously because they were so into the song." Columbia Records considered bringing in an outside producer for the album and had early talks with RZA of the Wu-Tang Clan. However, Hill was adamant about writing, arranging, and producing the album herself: "It would have been more difficult to articulate to other people. Hey, it's my album. Who can tell my story better than me?" She recalled Ruffhouse Records executive Chris Swartz ensuring her artistic freedom while recording the album: "I had total control of the album. Chris Swartz at Ruffhouse, my label, said, 'Listen, you've never done anything stupid thus far, so let me let you do your thing.'"


title: The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill

text: "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill" is considered a neo soul album, according to Christopher John Farley of "Time" and Rhapsody writer Mosi Reeves; "Complex" magazine refers to it more generally as R&B. Its music incorporates styles such as soul, hip hop, and reggae, with some songs based in hip hop soul, according to the "Encyclopedia of African American Music" (2010). "When It Hurts So Bad" is musically old roots reggae mixed with soul. While mostly in English, "Forgive Them Father" and "Lost Ones" both feature singing in patois, which is the common dialect in Jamaica. Although heavily R&B, the song "Superstar" contains an interpolation of the rock song "Light My Fire" by The Doors. Hill said that she "didn't want to come out with a [Fugees] type of sound", but create "something that was uniquely and very clearly a Lauryn Hill album." She also said that she did not intend for the album's sound to be commercially appealing: "There's too much pressure to have hits these days. Artists are watching "Billboard" instead of exploring themselves. Look at someone like Aretha, she didn't hit with her first album, but she was able to grow up and find herself. I wanted to make honest music. I don't like things to be too perfect, or too polished. People may criticize me for that, but I grew up listening to Al Green and Sam Cooke. When they hit a high note, you actually felt it."


title: The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill

text: Much of Hill's lyrics dealt with motherhood, the Fugees, reminiscence, love, heartbreak, and God. Commenting on the album's gospel content, Hill stated "Gospel music is music inspired by the gospels. In a huge respect, a lot of this music turned out to be just that. During this album, I turned to the Bible and wrote songs that I drew comfort from." Several of the album's songs, such as "Lost Ones," "Superstar," "Ex-Factor" and "Forgive Them Father" were widely speculated as direct attacks at Fugee members Wyclef and Pras. "Ex-Factor" was originally intended for a different artist, however, Hill decided to keep it after it was completed, due to its personal content. Although a large portion of the album's love songs would turn out to be bitter from Hill's previous relationship, "Nothing Even Matters," a duet performed by Hill and R&B singer D'Angelo, showcased a brighter, more intimate perspective on the subject. The song was inspired by Hill's relationship with Rohan Marley. Speaking about "Nothing Even Matters"' lyrics, Hill remarked: "I wanted to make a love song, á la Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway, and give people a humanistic approach to love again without all the physicality and overt sexuality."


title: The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill

text: "To Zion," among the more introspective tracks on the album, spoke about how Hill's family comes before her career and her decision to have her first child, even though many at the time encouraged her to abort the pregnancy, so as to not conflict with her burgeoning career. In an interview she discussed the song's origin and significance, commenting "Names wouldn't come when I was ready to have him. The only name that came to me was Zion. I was like, 'is Zion too much of a weight to carry?' But this little boy, man. I would say he personally delivered me from my emotional and spiritual drought. He just replenished my newness. When he was born, I felt like I was born again." She further stated: "I wanted it to be a revolutionary song about a spiritual movement, and also about my spiritual change, going from one place to another because of my son."


title: The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill

text: Throughout "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill", several interludes of a teacher speaking to what is implied to be a classroom of children are played. The "teacher" was played by American poet and politician Ras Baraka speaking to a group of children in the living room of Hill's New Jersey home. Hill requested that Baraka speak to the children about the concept of love, to which he improvised in the lecture. "Slant Magazine"s Paul Schrodt remarked on the title's reference to Carter G. Woodson's "The Mis-Education of the Negro": "[Hill] adopts Woodson's thesis and makes it part of her own artistic process. Like the songs themselves, the intro/outro classroom scenes suggest a larger community working to redefine itself." Along with Woodson's book, the album's title was inspired by the film and autobiographical novel "The Education of Sonny Carson".


title: The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill

text: "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill" was released on August 25, 1998. It was promoted with three singles—"Doo Wop (That Thing)", "Ex-Factor", and "Everything Is Everything"; all of which became hits and produced popular music videos. The album broke numerous sales records. In its first week, it debuted at number one on the "Billboard" 200, becoming the first album by a solo female rapper to peak or debut at number one in the US. Its first-week sales of over 422,000 copies broke the then record for female artists, previously held by Madonna's "Ray of Light" (1998), and became the first debut album by a female artist to debut at number one on the Billboard 200 chart, and additionally made Hill the first act to have debuted at number one on both the "Billboard" 200 and Hot 100 with their first entries on each chart. Its first-week sales remained the highest first-week sales for a debut album by a female artist in the 20th century, and the highest for a female rapper ever.


title: The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill

text: It topped the "Billboard" 200 for a second consecutive week, during which it sold 265,000 copies; and earned a gold certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) after two weeks. In the United States, the album had sold one million copies in less than a month and 2.9 million copies by the end of the year, becoming one of the best-selling albums of 1998. Furthermore, it was the top rap album of the year according to "Billboard", topping the "Billboard" Year-End Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, making it the only album by a female artist to accomplish this feat. In Ireland, the album became the first rap album to reach number one on the Irish Albums Chart. In Japan, it sold over one million copies in its first few months, and became one of the few million-certified albums by the Recording Industry Association of Japan.


title: The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill

text: The album's sales increased after Hill's appearance at the 41st Annual Grammy Awards, as it sold 234,000 more copies in the week of March 3, 1999, and 200,000 copies the following week. By August, it had sold 10 million copies worldwide, including nearly 700,000 in Canada. In April 2002, Columbia said that the album had sold 12 million copies worldwide, and by 2009, its global sales were reported to be 19 million copies. As of 2018, it is the most-streamed album released in 1998, on Spotify. The album also held the record for the longest-charting debut album by a female rapper on the "Billboard" 200, at 92 weeks, for over 21 years before being surpassed by Cardi B's "Invasion of Privacy" (2018). In 2021, it was certified diamond by the RIAA, earning Hill the Guinness World Record for being the first female rapper to reach RIAA diamond status. It was also reported that the album has sold 20 million copies worldwide according to Sony Music.


title: The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill

text: Initially, there was no immediate tour planned due to the album not needing further promotion. Hill was also pregnant again with a child due in September 1998. Her first live performances of the songs were at "Saturday Night Live" and the "Billboard" Music Awards. In January 1999, Hill recruited a band and began rehearsals for what would become The Miseducation Tour. Tickets sold out as soon as the tour was announced.


title: The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill

text: The tour began at Budokan in Tokyo on January 21, 1999. Hill performed there again the following night, and played at two other Tokyo venues in the following week. One week later, she flew to London for her performance at the Brixton Academy on February 8. With 20 US dates total, the American part of the tour, which featured Outkast as the opening act, started on February 18 in Detroit, and ended on April 1 in Hill's hometown of Newark, New Jersey. She began the tour's 14-date European leg on May 13, when she performed at the Oslo Spektrum in Norway, closing on June 2 at the Manchester Arena in England. She then returned to Japan, where the tour was completed.


title: The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill

text: Hill did not want an extensive tour because of obligations to her family and the difficulties she experienced touring with the Fugees in 1996, which she found desensitizing and isolating. According to Hill biographer Chris Nickson in 1999, "there was the possibility of more dates being added ... but it was unlikely that Lauryn would be willing to make the tour more grueling and draining. She'd come to know that there was much more to life than a career."


title: The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill

text: "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill" was met with widespread critical acclaim; according to "Los Angeles Times" journalist Geoff Boucher, it was the most acclaimed album of 1998. Reviewers frequently praised Hill's presentation of a female's view on life and love. Eric Weisbard from "Spin" called her a "genre-bender" whose confident singing and rapping was balanced by vulnerable themes and sentiment. In "The New York Times", Ann Powers found it "miraculous" and "exceptional" for Hill to use "her faith, based more in experience and feeling than in doctrine," as a means of connecting "the sacred to the secular in music that touches the essence of soul." AllMusic's John Bush was impressed by how she produced most of the album, "not as a crossover record, but as a collection of overtly personal and political statements", while demonstrating "performing talents, vocal range, and songwriting smarts". David Browne, writing in "Entertainment Weekly", called it "an album of often-astonishing power, strength, and feeling", as well as "one of the rare hip-hop soul albums" to not lose focus with frivolous guest appearances. Browne applauded Hill's artistic vision and credited her for "easily flowing from singing to rapping, evoking the past while forging a future of her own". Dream Hampton of "The Village Voice" said she seamlessly "travels her realm within any given song", while "Chicago Tribune" critic Greg Kot deemed the record a "vocal tour de force" with arrangements that "bristle with great ideas". The album was the first in the history of "XXL" to receive a perfect "XXL" rating, with the magazine saying that it "not only verifies [Hill] as the most exciting voice of a young, progressive hip-hop nation, it raises the standards for it."


title: The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill

text: In a less enthusiastic review, "Q" magazine's Dom Phillips felt the music's only flaw was "a lack of memorable melody" on some songs that did not use interesting samples, while John Mulvey from "NME" quibbled about what he felt were redundant skits and Hill's "propensity" for histrionics and declarations of "how brilliant God is" on an otherwise "essential" album. "Pitchfork"s Neil Lieberman found some of the ballads tedious and the melodies "cheesy". Citing "Lost Ones" and "Superstar" as highlights, "The Village Voice" music editor Robert Christgau deemed it the "PC record of the year", featuring exceptionally understated production and skillful rapping but also inconsistent lyrics, average singing, and superfluous skits. He appreciated the "knowledge [and] moral authority" of Hill's perspective and values, although he lamented her appraisal of God on record. In the "Los Angeles Times", Soren Baker believed Hill was more effective as a critical rapper than a singer on the more emotional songs, where her voice was "too thin to carry such heavy subject matter".


title: The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill

text: At the end of 1998, "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill" topped numerous critics polls of the year's best albums, including "Rolling Stone", "Billboard", "Spin", and "Time". It was also voted the second best record of the year in the Pazz & Jop, an annual poll of American critics published in "The Village Voice". Hill was nominated ten times for the 1999 Grammy Awards, making her the first woman to ever be nominated that many times in one year. She won five Grammys, including awards in the Best New Artist, Best R&B Song, Best Female R&B Vocal Performance, and Best R&B Album categories. "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill" also won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year, making it the first hip hop album to ever receive that award. Hill set a new record in the industry, as she also became the first woman to win five Grammys in one night. Hill was the big winner of the night at the 1999 MTV Video Music Awards, taking home four Moonmen, including Best Female Video and Video of the Year, for the music video for her single "Doo Wop (That Thing)", becoming the first hip hop video to win the award. It also earned her nominations at the NAACP Image Awards for Outstanding Female Artist, Outstanding Album, and Outstanding Song ("Doo Wop (That Thing)"). At the "Billboard" Music Awards, the record won in the R&B Album of the Year category, while "Doo Wop" won Best R&B/Urban New Artist Clip, and at the 1999 American Music Awards, Hill won the award for Best New Soul/R&B artist. She also won a "Soul Train" award and received a nomination for Best International Female Solo Artist at the Brit Awards.


title: The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill

text: "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill" has since appeared on a number of lists ranking the greatest albums ever; according to Acclaimed Music, it is the 113th most acclaimed album based on such rankings.


title: The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill

text: Though "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill" was largely a collaborative work between Hill and a group of musicians known as New Ark (Vada Nobles, Rasheem Pugh, Tejumold Newton, and Johari Newton), there was "label pressure to do the Prince thing," wherein all tracks would be credited as "written and produced by" the artist with little outside help. While recording the album, Hill was against the idea of creating documentation defining each musician's role.


title: The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill

text: In 1998, New Ark filed a 50-page lawsuit against Hill, her management and her record label, stating that Hill "used their songs and production skills, but failed to properly credit them for the work." The musicians claimed to be the primary songwriters on two tracks, and major contributors on several others, though Gordon Williams, the album's mixer and engineer, described the project as a "powerfully personal effort by Hill ... It was definitely her vision." Audio engineer Tony Prendatt, who also worked on the album, defended Hill, with a statement saying "Lauryn's genius is her own". In response to the lawsuit, Hill claimed that New Ark took advantage of her success. New Ark requested partial writing credits and monetary reimbursement. The suit was eventually settled out of court in February 2001 for a reported $5 million.


title: The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill

text: Following the success of "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill", Hill rose to international superstardom and established herself as a pioneering woman in hip hop,<ref name="BlackPressUSA/NNPA"></ref> as magazines ranging from "Time" to "Esquire" to "Teen People" vied to place her on their front covers. In 1999, "Jet" declared her as a "Hip Hop icon". Brandon Tensley writing for "Time" argued that she achieved "icon status through the strength of her debut solo album alone."


title: The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill

text: In a February 8, 1999, "Time" cover-story, Hill was credited for helping fully assimilate hip hop into mainstream music, and became the first hip hop artist to ever appear on the magazine's front cover. Along with "Brown Sugar" by D'Angelo, Erykah Badu's "Baduizm", and "Maxwell's Urban Hang Suite" by Maxwell, "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill" is considered to be one of the most important and definitive releases in the neo soul music scene. According to "Ebony" magazine, it brought the neo soul genre to the forefront of popular music, and became the genre's most critically acclaimed and popular album. The "Encyclopedia of African American Music" (2010), noted that "some tracks are based more in hip hop soul than neo soul, but the record is filled with live musicians and layered harmonies, and therefore it is a trendsetting record that connects modern hip hop, R&B, and classic soul music together, creating groundwork for what followed it in the neo soul genre."


title: The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill

text: Kyle Anderson of MTV noted that the album "essentially gave birth to the genre now known as neo soul, which means you can trace the lineage of Alicia Keys, Erykah Badu, Jill Scott and dozens of others back to Hill's masterpiece." Music journalist David Opie of "Highsnobiety", stated that the album has educated "pretty much everyone who's recorded music since" along with "inspiring both newer artists and hip-hop stalwarts alike." According to "Billboard", it "taught a generation about the power of baring your soul through song". AllHipHop noted that Hill "mothered a new breed of soul" with the album.


title: The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill

text: Chris Mench of Complex, wrote that the album "set a new standard for rap women, and even for rap in general", while adding that "its influence extends far beyond the genre walls of hip-hop. It's hard to imagine the rise of conscious artists like Lupe Fiasco or Kendrick Lamar without her, but it's equally as hard to picture widespread success for minimalist, soulful singers like Adele, Amy Winehouse, and even FKA twigs without Lauryn paving the way." While "The Guardian" referred to the album as "the high-water mark of the conscious hip-hop movement", as well as a "game-changing cri de coeur", and mentioned that it "channelled some precious learning for a generation or more of young women, black and white alike; one in which a ferociously talented artist preached self-determination and self-respect, self-knowledge and getting one's due. It was foremother to Beyoncé's "Lemonade" and Janelle Monáe's "Dirty Computer"".


title: The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill

text: Marvel Comics released a series of variant comic book covers inspired by influential contemporary rap albums, which included a reimagined "Miseducation" themed Ms. Marvel comic cover. San Francisco Bay Area music collective UnderCover Presents, formed by Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, released a "Miseducation" tribute album entitled "UnderCover Presents: A Tribute to The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill" (2017).


title: The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill

text: In 2018, Hill launched a North American tour to commemorate the album's 20th anniversary. Adele penned a letter referring to the album as  her "favorite record of all time", while noting that it represented "an honest representation of love and life", and added "I feel I can relate too but also I know there's elements and levels I never will be able to. Ms. Lauryn Hill was on form in every way possible. Thank you for the record of a lifetime, thank you for your wisdom! Thank you for existing. Happy 20th". American girl group TLC, spoke to Beats 1 about the album's influence, with Rozonda "Chilli" Thomas stating "I mean, she be in the videos sometimes pregnant, and sometimes not. She was doing it at a time where they would probably be like, “wait until you have your baby.” Whereas these days, a female artist — whether you're an actress or whatever — if you're pregnant, you celebrate that from the moment that you decide to share it with the world. She didn't care, she just did it. Her voice — to be able to rap like that and sing like that, she was and is unbelievably talented. There's nobody like Lauryn Hill."


title: The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill

text: In celebration of the album's 20th anniversary, "Billboard" interviewed 16 artists who have been inspired by the album, which included Jazmine Sullivan, Maggie Rogers, Rapsody, Normani, Chloe Bailey, Lizzo, Andra Day, Saweetie, Ella Mai, Teyana Taylor, Anne-Marie and more. The album was also the subject of author and journalist Joan Morgan's 2018 book "She Begat This: 20 Years of" "'The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill"'. That same year, Spotify presented the Dear Ms. Hill art installation in Brooklyn, New York which saw fans, including H.E.R. and Kelly Rowland, submit letters about "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill", and then used those letters to turn them into paper art. Further, the Spotify podcast "Dissect" launched their first ever mini series, which examined the album and its impact. Hill also collaborated with Woolrich to design "Miseducation" inspired pieces for their 'American Soul Since 1830' collection, and starred in the accompanying campaign.


title: The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill

text: In 2007, the album was placed on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's "200 Definitive Albums of All Time" list. On "The Miseducation"s fifteenth anniversary in 2014, American rapper Nas reviewed the album for "XXL", hailing it as a model for artists of all genres to follow. He also called it "a timeless record, pure music", and said it "represents the time period—a serious moment in Black music, when young artists were taking charge and breaking through doors." In 2015, "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill" was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the Library of Congress and selected for inclusion in the National Recording Registry.


title: The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill

text: In 2017, "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill" was among the first batch of albums to preserved in Harvard University's Loeb Music Library. That same year, "NPR" named it the second greatest album made by a woman. The album has also been included in the Smithsonian National Museum of African American history. While ranking it 314th on their "500 Greatest Albums of All Time", "Rolling Stone" credited Hill with taking 1970s soul and making it "boom and signify to the hip-hop generation". The magazine's placement of "The Miseducation" at number 10 on a revised edition in 2020 made it the highest ranking rap album on the list.


title: The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill

text: Jon Caramanica, writing in "The Rolling Stone Album Guide" (2004), called it "as earnest, unpretentious, and pleasantly sloppy an album as any woman of the hip-hop generation has ever made", and said that, by appealing to a wide spectrum of listeners with hip hop filtered through a "womanist lens", the album propelled Hill to superstardom "of epic proportions" and "the focal point at hip-hop's crossover into the mainstream." Music journalist Peter Shapiro cited it as "the ultimate cross-over album of the hip-hop era."


title: The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill

text: "Miseducation" remains Hill's only studio album. After its success, the singer shunned her celebrity status and pursued a private life while raising six children, but both personal and professional difficulties followed. As "Miami New Times" journalist Juliana Accioly explained, "She was reported to have spent years on a spiritual quest while dealing with bipolar disorder. She was sued over songwriting credits. She served a three-month prison sentence in 2013 for tax evasion. She was deemed a diva for wanting to be called 'Ms. Hill' and criticized for her erratic performances." In October 2018, Hill embarked on a concert tour commemorating "Miseducation"s 20th anniversary. In its anticipation, Accioly reflected on the album in the context of the Me Too movement of recent years: "Against that backdrop, Hill's own descriptions of mistreatment carry validation and support for victims. … For women who came up during "Miseducation"s zenith, attending Hill's 2018 performance could serve as a measure of how much the world around them has changed — and how many things remain the same. Her crash course on life is still very much relevant: 'It could all be so simple,' but it's not."


title: The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill

text: All tracks are written by Lauryn Hill, except where noted. All tracks are produced by Hill. "Lost Ones" and "To Zion" were co-produced by Che Pope, and "Lost Ones" was additionally produced by Vada Nobles.


title: Hardtack

text: Hardtack (or hard tack) is a simple type of dense biscuit or cracker made from flour, water, and sometimes salt. Hardtack is inexpensive and long-lasting. It is used for sustenance in the absence of perishable foods, commonly during long sea voyages, land migrations, and military campaigns. Along with salt pork, hardtack was a standard ration for many militaries and navies from the 17th through the early 20th centuries.


title: Hardtack

text: The name is derived from "tack", the British sailor slang for food. It is known by other names including "brewis" (possibly a cognate with "brose"), "cabin bread", "pilot bread", "sea biscuit", "soda crackers", "sea bread" (as rations for sailors), "ship's biscuit", or pejoratively as "dog biscuits", "molar breakers", "sheet iron", "tooth dullers", "armor plates" (Germany) and "worm castles". Australian and New Zealand military personnel knew them with some sarcasm as "ANZAC wafers" (not to be confused with Anzac biscuit).


title: Hardtack

text: The introduction of the baking of processed cereals, including the creation of flour, provided a more reliable source of food. Egyptian sailors carried a flat brittle loaf of millet bread called dhourra cake, while the Romans had a biscuit called bucellatum. King Richard I of England left for the Third Crusade (1189–1192) with "biskit of muslin", which was a mixed grain compound of barley, bean flour, and rye. The more refined captain's biscuit was made with finer flour. Some early physicians associated most medical problems with digestion. For sustenance and health, eating a biscuit daily was considered good for one's constitution.


title: Hardtack

text: As the biscuits would soften and become more palatable with time due to exposure to humidity and other weather elements, the bakers of the time made biscuits as hard as possible. Because it was baked hard, it would stay intact for years if kept dry. For long voyages, hardtack was baked four times, rather than the more common two, and prepared six months before sailing. Because it is dry and hard, hardtack (when properly stored and transported) will survive rough handling and temperature extremes.


title: Hardtack

text: Un-moistened hardtack was inedible and, according to MilitaryHistoryNow.com, "nearly dense enough to stop a musket ball". To soften, hardtack was often dunked in brine, coffee, or some other liquid, or cooked into a skillet meal. In 1588, the daily allowance on board a Royal Navy ship was one pound of hardtack, plus one gallon of small beer. In 1667, Samuel Pepys first regularized naval victualing with varied and nutritious rations.


title: Hardtack

text: Hardtack, crumbled or pounded fine and used as a thickener, was a key ingredient in New England seafood chowders from the late 1700s.


title: Hardtack

text: In 1801, Josiah Bent began a baking operation in Milton, Massachusetts, selling "water crackers", biscuits made of flour and water that would not deteriorate during long sea voyages from the port of Boston. These were also used extensively as a source of food by the gold prospectors who migrated to the gold mines of California in 1849. Since the journey took months, hardtack, which could be kept a long time, was stored in the wagon trains. Bent's company later sold the original hardtack crackers used by troops during the American Civil War. The G. H. Bent Company operated in Milton and sold these items to Civil War re-enactors and others, up until at least 2016.


title: Hardtack

text: During the American Civil War (1861–1865), three-inch by three-inch (7.5 cm by 7.5 cm) hardtack was shipped from Union and Confederate storehouses. Civil War soldiers generally found their rations to be unappealing, and joked about the poor quality of the hardtack in the satirical song "Hard Tack Come Again No More". The song was sung to the tune of the Stephen Foster song "Hard Times Come Again No More", and featured lyrics describing the hardtack rations as being 'old and very wormy' and causing many 'stomachs sore'. Some of this hardtack had been stored from the 1846–1848 Mexican–American War.


title: Hardtack

text: With insect infestation common in improperly stored provisions, soldiers would break up the hardtack and drop it into their morning coffee. This would not only soften the hardtack but the insects, mostly weevil larvae, would float to the top, and the soldiers could skim off the insects and resume consumption. Some men also turned hardtack into a mush by breaking it up with blows from their rifle butts, then adding water. If the men had a frying pan, they could cook the mush into a lumpy pancake; otherwise they dropped the mush directly on the coals of their campfire. They also mixed hardtack with brown sugar, hot water, and sometimes whiskey to create what they called a pudding, to serve as dessert.


title: Hardtack

text: Royal Navy hardtack during Queen Victoria's reign was made by machine at the Royal Clarence Victualing Yard at Gosport, Hampshire, stamped with the Queen's mark and the number of the oven in which it was baked. When machinery was introduced into the process, the dough was thoroughly mixed and rolled into sheets about two yards long and one yard wide, which were then stamped in one stroke into about sixty hexagonal shaped biscuits. The hexagonal shape meant a saving in material and time and made them easier to pack than the traditional circular shaped biscuit. Hardtack remained an important part of the Royal Navy sailor's diet until the introduction of canned foods; canned meat was first marketed in 1814, and preserved beef in tins was officially introduced to the Royal Navy rations in 1847.


title: Hardtack

text: During the Spanish–American War in 1898, some military hardtack was stamped with the phrase "Remember the "Maine"".


title: Hardtack

text: Cocket bread was a type of bread in England, as referenced in the Assize of Bread and Ale, 51 Hen. III (ca. 1266), where it is one of several kinds of bread named. It seems to have been hard sea-biscuit, which perhaps had then some mark or seal (a cocket) on it; or else, was so called from its being designed for the use of the coxswains, or seamen.


title: Hardtack

text: Commercially available hardtack is a significant source of food energy in a small, durable package. A store-bought 24-gram cracker can contain 100 kilocalories (20 percent from fat) from 2 grams of protein but practically no fiber.


title: Hardtack

text: Hardtack, baked with or without the addition of fat, was and still is a staple in Russian military rations, especially in the Navy, as infantry traditionally preferred simple dried bread when long shelf life was needed. Called "galeta" (галета) in Russian, it is usually somewhat softer and more crumbly than traditional hardtack, as most varieties made in Russia include at least some fat or shortening, making them closer to saltine crackers. One such variety, "khlyebtsy armyeyskiye" (хлебцы армейские), or "army crackers", is included in Russian military rations. Other brands enjoy significant popularity among the civilian population as well, both among campers and the general populace.


title: Hardtack

text: Ma Bo mentioned hardtack as being a staple food of Chinese hard-labor workers in Inner Mongolia, during the Cultural Revolution.


title: Hardtack

text: Hardtack was a staple of military servicemen in Japan and South Korea well into the late 20th century. It is known as "Kanpan" (乾パン) in Japan and "geonbbang (geonppang, 건빵)" in South Korea, meaning 'dry bread', and is still sold as a fairly popular snack food in both countries. (Canned kanpan is also distributed in Japan as emergency rations in case of earthquake, flood, or other disaster.) A harder hardtack than Kanpan, called "Katapan" (堅パン), is historically popular in Kitakyushu City, Fukuoka, Japan as one of its regional specialty foods. In Korea, geonppang (hardtacks) mixed with byulsatang (star candy) as a medley is considered a popular snack.


title: Hardtack

text: In Genoa, hardtack was and still is a traditional addition to a fish and vegetable salad called cappon magro.


title: Hardtack

text: In Germany, hardtack is included in every military ration and colloquially known as "Panzerplatten" (tank plates) or Panzerkekse (tank cookies). Due to conscription for many years, a large part of the male population knows about them from their service and thus, they became very popular even in civilian use. The company that makes them also sells them unaltered to the civilian market. They are said to have many properties, some jokingly assigned, such as the ability to combine them with standard issue shoe polish to create a flammable device, or to glue them onto vehicles to increase their armor protection. One quality, liked by many soldiers, is its ability to hinder one's need to defecate, some claiming they didn't need to defecate for 3 days after consuming large quantities of them.


title: Hardtack

text: In Poland, hardtack wafers (known by their official name: "Suchary Specjalne SU-1" or "SU-2 - Special Hardtacks") are still present in Polish Army military rations. In military slang they are jokingly called "Panzerwaffel" (tank wafers), a pun on Panzerwaffe, the Wehrmacht armored motorized forces (the German words "Panzer" and "Waffe" mean "tank" and "weapon", respectively). They are also very popular amongst civilians, and are a common part of a meal in some regions.


title: Hardtack

text: Hardtack remains popular today in Papua New Guinea. The Lae Biscuit Company, which is the most commonly found and popular brand in that country, makes multiple lines of different varieties of hardtack.


title: Hardtack

text: Hardtack is a mainstay in parts of Canada. Purity Factories is one Canadian maker of traditional hardtack. They specialize in a high density, high caloric product that is well suited for use by expeditions.


title: Hardtack

text: Interbake Foods of Richmond, Virginia, produces most of the commercially available hardtack in the United States, under the "Sailor Boy" label. As of January 2015, 98 percent of its production goes to Alaska. Alaskans are among the last to still eat hardtack as a significant part of their normal diet. Originally imported as a food product that could endure the rigors of transportation throughout Alaska, hardtack has remained a favored food even as other, less robust foods have become more readily available. Alaskan law requires all light aircraft to carry "survival gear", including food. Therefore, the blue-and-white Sailor Boy Pilot Bread boxes are ubiquitous at Alaskan airstrips, in cabins, and in virtually every village. Unlike the traditional hardtack recipe, Sailor Boy Pilot Bread contains leavening and vegetable shortening.


title: Hardtack

text: Hardtack is also a common pantry item in Hawaii, and The Diamond Bakery's "Saloon Pilot" cracker is available there in grocery and convenience stores. The round hardtack crackers are available in large- and small-diameter sizes.


title: Hardtack

text: Those who buy commercially baked hardtack in the continental US are often those who stock up on long-lasting foods for disaster survival rations. Hardtack can compose the bulk of dry food storage for some campers.


title: Hardtack

text: Many other people who currently buy or bake hardtack in the US are Civil War re-enactors. One of the units that continues to bake hardtack for living history is the USS "Tahoma" Marine Guard Infantry of the Washington State Civil War Association.


title: In God We Trust

text: "In God We Trust" (also rendered as "In God we trust") is the official motto of the United States and of the U.S. state of Florida. It was adopted by the U.S. Congress in 1956, replacing ("Out of many, one"), which had been the "de facto" motto since the initial design of the Great Seal of the United States.


title: In God We Trust

text: While the earliest mentions of the phrase can be found in the mid-19th century, the origins of this phrase as a political motto lie in the American Civil War, where Union supporters wanted to emphasize their attachment to God and to boost morale. The capitalized form "IN GOD WE TRUST" first appeared on the two-cent piece in 1864; it was not printed on paper currency until 1957 and on some postage stamps until 1954. A law passed in July 1955 by a joint resolution of the 84th Congress () and approved by President Dwight Eisenhower requires that "In God We Trust" appear on all American currency. Two years later, the phrase was used on paper money for the first time — on the updated one-dollar silver certificate that entered circulation on October 1, 1957. The 84th Congress later passed legislation (), also signed by President Eisenhower on July 30, 1956, declaring the phrase to be the national motto. Several states have also mandated or authorized its use in public institutions or schools; while Florida, Georgia and Mississippi have incorporated the phrase in some of their state symbols. The motto has also been used in some cases in other countries, most notably on Nicaragua's coins.The motto remains popular among the American public. According to a 2003 joint poll by "USA Today", CNN, and Gallup, 90% of Americans support the inscription "In God We Trust" on U.S. coins; and a 2019 student poll by "College Pulse" showed that 53% of students supported its inclusion in currency. Some groups and people in the United States, however, have objected to its use, contending that its religious reference violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. These groups believe the phrase should be removed from currency and public property, which has resulted in numerous lawsuits. This argument has not overcome the interpretational doctrine of accommodationism, which allows the government to endorse religious establishments as long as they are all treated equally, and that of "ceremonial deism", which states that a repetitious invocation of a religious entity in ceremonial matters strips the phrase of its original religious connotation. The New Hampshire Supreme Court, as well as the Second, Fourth, Sixth, Eighth, Ninth, and Tenth Circuits, have all upheld the constitutionality of the motto in various settings. The Supreme Court has discussed the motto in footnotes but has never directly ruled on its compliance with the Constitution.


title: In God We Trust

text: The earliest recorded usage of the motto in English was in January 1748, when "The Pennsylvania Gazette" reported on the colours of Associators regiments, namely that of Benjamin Franklin's Pennsylvania militia, one of which said: "IX. A Coronet and Plume of Feathers. Motto, ." According to Thomas S. Kidd, an American historian, this appears to be an isolated instance of an official usage, which could be traced to some renderings of .


title: In God We Trust

text: The precise phrase, “In God We Trust” is also found in a publication of Isaac Watts’ Psalter which was revised and printed in America in 1785. Watts had translated Psalm 115:9-11 with the words, “Britain, trust the Lord.” An American publisher, Joel Barlow, sought to revise Watts’ Psalter for an American audience. Barlow's goal was to modify Watts in such a way as to purge the un-American flavor. Barlow simply translated Psalm 115: 9–11 with the words “In God we Trust.”There were several other unrelated recordings of the motto. It can be encountered in some literary works of the early 19th century. One of them, "Defence of Fort M'Henry", contained a version of the motto and subsequently became the national anthem of the United States. It also appeared in 1845, when D.S. Whitney published an anti-slavery hymn in "The Liberator". Odd Fellows have also used the phrase as their motto from the 1840s at least into the 1870s.


title: In God We Trust

text: In a letter dated November 13, 1861, Rev. Mark R. Watkinson of Ridleyville, Pennsylvania (pastor of the Prospect Hill Baptist Church in present-day Prospect Park, Pennsylvania), petitioned the Treasury Department to add a statement recognizing "Almighty God in some form on our coins" in order to "relieve us from the ignominy of heathenism". At least part of the motivation was to declare that God was on the Union side of the Civil War, given that the Confederacy, unlike the Union, has invoked God in their Constitution. This sentiment was shared by other citizens who supported such inclusion in their letters. Indeed, the 125th Pennsylvania Infantry for the Union Army assumed the motto "In God we trust" in early August 1862.


title: In God We Trust

text: In the South, the phrase has also gained significant traction. A Confederate bunting with “In God We Trust” printed in the center, dated to late 1861 or early 1862 and attributed to the 37th Arkansas Infantry Regiment, was probably captured by the 33rd Iowa Infantry Regiment at the Battle of Helena and is currently in possession of the Iowa Historical Society. Another flag with exactly the same motto, this time of the 60th Tennessee Infantry Regiment, was captured in the course of the Battle of Big Black River Bridge. Additionally, in 1864, "Harper's Weekly" reported that the Union Navy had captured a flag whose motto said: ""Our cause is just, our duty we know; In God we trust, to battle we go."" Other Confederate symbols included close paraphrasing of the motto, such as the banner of the Apalachicola Guard of Florida ("In God is our trust") and "The Star-Spangled Cross and the Pure Field of White", a popular song in the Southern military whose refrain contains the following passage: ""Our trust is in God, who can help us in fight, And defend those who ask Him in prayer.""


title: In God We Trust

text: President Abraham Lincoln's Treasury Secretary, Salmon P. Chase, a lifelong evangelical Episcopalian who was known for his public shows of piety, acted swiftly on the proposal to include a motto referring to God and directed the then-Philadelphia Director of the Mint and member of the National Reform Association, James Pollock, to begin drawing up possible designs that would include the religious phrase. Chase chose his favorite designs and presented a proposal to the Congress for the new designs in late 1863. He then decided on the final version of the new motto, "In God We Trust," in December 1863. Walter H. Breen, a numismatist, wrote that Chase drew inspiration from the motto of Brown University of Providence, Rhode Island, "In Deo speramus", which is Latin for a similarly sounding "In God we hope". Lincoln's degree of involvement in the process of the motto's approval was unclear, though he was aware of such talks.


title: In God We Trust

text: As Chase was preparing his recommendation to Congress, it was found that the federal legislature passed a bill on January 18, 1837, which determined the mottos and devices that should be stamped on U.S. coins. This meant that enactment of some additional legislation was necessary before "In God We Trust" could be engraved. Such bill was introduced and passed as the Coinage Act of 1864 on April 22, 1864, allowing the Secretary of the Treasury to authorize the inclusion of the phrase on one-cent and two-cent coins.


title: In God We Trust

text: On March 3, 1865, the U.S. Congress passed a bill, which Lincoln subsequently signed as the last act of Congress prior to his assassination, that allowed the Mint Director to place "In God We Trust" on all gold and silver coins that "shall admit the inscription thereon", subject to the Secretary's approval. In 1873, Congress passed another Coinage Act, granting the Secretary of the Treasury the right to "cause the motto IN GOD WE TRUST to be inscribed on such coins as shall admit of such motto".


title: In God We Trust

text: In God We Trust (or, rarely, its variation, God We Trust) first appeared on 2¢ coins, which were first minted in 1863 and went into mass circulation the following year. According to David W. Lange, a numismatist, the inclusion of the motto on a coin was a major driver for the popularisation of the slogan. Other coins, that is, nickels, quarter dollars, half dollars, half eagles and eagles, have had In God We Trust engraved from 1866 on. Dollar coins got the motto in 1873 for trade dollars and 1878 for common circulation Morgan dollars. However, there was no obligation for the motto to be used, so some denominations still didn't have it. Others, such as nickels, have seen the phrase disappear after a redesign, so that by the late 19th century, most of the coins did not bear the motto. Finally, in 1892, an oversight during the amendment of the Coinage Act struck out the language that mandated inclusion of the phrase.


title: In God We Trust

text: Banknotes did not have formal authorization, or mandate, to have "In God We Trust" engraved until 1955. However, a version of the motto ("In God Is Our Trust") first made a brief appearance on the obverse side of the 1864 $20 interest-bearing and compound interest treasury notes, along with the motto "God and our Right".


title: In God We Trust

text: The initial reactions of the general populace was far from unanimous approval. On the one hand, Christian newspapers were generally happy with the phrase being included in coins, though some advocated for more religiously connotated mottos, such as "In God "alone" is our trust" or "God our Christ". On the other, non-religious press was less impressed by the developments. "The New York Times" editorial board asked to "let us try to carry our religion—such as it is—in our hearts, and not in our pockets" and criticized the Mint for including the motto only on golden and larger silver coins. "New York Illustrated News" ridiculed the new coins for marking "the first time that God has ever been recognized on any of our counters of Mammon," with a similar comparison made by the "Detroit Free Press". The different opinions on its inclusion eventually grew into a dispute between secularists and faith congregations. Others still started to make jokes of "In God We Trust". The "American Journal of Numismatics" suggested that people would misread the motto as "In Gold we Trust", which they said was "much nearer the fact". Newspapers also started reporting on puns made of the slogan. Already in 1860s, newspapers reported signs reading "In God we Trust — terms cash," "In God we trust. All others are expected to pay cash" and the like.


title: In God We Trust

text: The phrase, however, gradually became a symbol of national pride. Just six years after it first appeared on coins, the "San Francisco Chronicle" called it "our nation's motto"; similarly, groups as diverse as prohibitionists and suffragists, pacifists and nativists, Democrats and Republicans, Christians and Jews all adopted the motto or endorsed its usage by the end of the 19th century. The motto stayed popular even as fewer denominations had "In God We Trust" embossed on coins.


title: In God We Trust

text: In 1904, President Theodore Roosevelt sought to beautify American coinage and decided to give the task to his friend, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, who, after several delays and technical issues with his design, produced a new design for eagles and double eagles. Roosevelt specifically instructed Saint-Gaudens not to include "In God We Trust" on the coins, as the President feared that these coins would be used to further ungodly activities, such as gambling, and facilitate crime. Saint-Gaudens did not oppose the order, as he thought that the phrase would distract from the coin's design features.


title: In God We Trust

text: The coin, whose ultra-high relief version is now considered one of the most beautiful coins ever struck in the U.S., was indeed appreciated for its esthetics by art critics. However, a scandal immediately erupted over the lack of "In God We Trust" on the eagles and double eagles. Theodore Roosevelt insisted that while he was in favor of placing the motto on public buildings and monuments, doing so for money (or postage stamps and advertisements) would be "dangerously close to sacrilege":


title: In God We Trust

text: Press response was largely negative. Most news outlets affiliated with Christian organisations, as well as "The Wall Street Journal", "The Philadelphia Press" and other newspapers were critical of the decision, with accusations amounting to the President being guilty of premeditated assault on religion and disregard for Americans' religious sentiments. "Atlanta Constitution" wrote that people were to choose between "God and Roosevelt", while "The New York Sun" published a poem mocking Roosevelt's attitude. In contrast, "The New York Times, Chicago Tribune", and some religious newspapers such as "The Churchman", sided with the President, who was both stunned and irritated by people's opposition to excluding the motto. This prompted debate in Congress, which quickly decided to reinstate the motto on the coins in an act adopted in 1908. As a result of controversy, relevant design changes were subsequently introduced by the Mint Chief Engraver, Charles E. Barber.


title: In God We Trust

text: Other coins have also retained or renewed the usage of the motto. All gold coins and silver $1 coins, half dollars and quarters have had the motto engraved since July 1, 1908; pennies followed in 1909 and dimes in 1916. Since 1938, all U.S. coins have borne the "In God We Trust" inscription on them.


title: In God We Trust

text: It is generally thought that during the Cold War era, the government of the United States sought to distinguish itself from the Soviet Union, which promoted state atheism and thus implemented antireligious legislation, therefore, a debate for further usage of religious motto was started in Congress. However, Kevin M. Kruse argues in his book that the opposition of the conservatives against the New Deal, and their subsequent successful campaigns to expand the influence of religion, were the main factors that contributed to further adoption of "In God We Trust".


title: In God We Trust

text: The Eisenhower administration struck a deeply religious tone, which proved a fertile ground for lobbying for inclusion of the motto in further usages, often attributed to the influence of Billy Graham, a prominent evangelist of the time. After intense public pressure for inclusion of the national motto, it appeared for the first time on some postage stamps of the 1954 Liberty Issue, though lobbying for universal inclusion by Michigan Senator Charles E. Potter and Representative Louis C. Rabaut failed.


title: In God We Trust

text: The following year, Democratic Representative Charles Edward Bennett of Florida cited the Cold War when he introduced 619, which obliged "In God we trust" to be printed on all banknotes and struck on all coins, in the House, arguing that "[in] these days when imperialistic and materialistic communism seeks to attack and destroy freedom, we should continually look for ways to strengthen the foundations of our freedom". The American Numismatic Association and the American Legion concurred and made resolutions urging to promote further usage of "In God We Trust".


title: In God We Trust

text: On July 11, 1955, the bill, having passed with bipartisan support of both chambers of Congress, was signed into law by President Eisenhower. Since all coins already complied with the law, the only changes were made to the paper currency. The motto first appeared on the $1 silver certificate in 1957, followed by other certificates. Federal Reserve Notes and United States Notes were circulated with the motto starting from 1964 to 1966, depending on the denomination.


title: In God We Trust

text: On July 30, 1956, the 84th Congress passed a joint resolution "declaring 'IN GOD WE TRUST' the national motto of the United States." The resolution passed both the House and the Senate unanimously and without debate. It replaced , which had existed before as a "de facto" official motto. The United States Code at , now states: "'In God we trust' is the national motto." The resolution was reaffirmed in 2006, on the 50th anniversary of its adoption, by the Senate, and in 2011 by the House of Representatives, in a 396 to 9 vote. In 2000, the House additionally encouraged to publicly display the motto.


title: In God We Trust

text: The House of Representatives features the motto above the rostrum of the Speaker, which was carved in the wall in December 1962.


title: In God We Trust

text: In Florida, 1145 provided for the adoption of "In God We Trust" as the official state motto, instead of fairly similar "In God Is Our Trust", effective July 1, 2006. The motto has also appeared on the seal of Florida and on the flag of Florida, as the seal is one of its elements, since 1868.


title: In God We Trust

text: In Mississippi, the Mississippi Senate voted to add the words, "In God We Trust" to the state seal, justifying it as an effort to protect religious freedom. The change was made effective on July 1, 2014. Six years later, Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves signed into law a bill requiring that the state's flag, which had contained the Confederate battle emblem, be replaced with a new one containing the phrase "In God We Trust." A new flag containing the motto was approved by voters in a referendum, and it became the official state flag in January 2021.


title: In God We Trust

text: In addition to that, several local governments have introduced the display of the motto in government buildings and municipal cars. School boards have also seen voluntary introduction of the motto, particularly after the September 11 attacks, when the American Family Association supplied several 11-by-14-inch posters to school systems and vowed to defend any legal challenges to their display.


title: In God We Trust

text: Multiple scholars have noted that "In God We Trust" motto is one of the main elements of civil religion in the United States.


title: In God We Trust

text: In Judaism and Christianity, the official motto "In God We Trust" is not found verbatim in any verses from the Bible, but the phrase is translated in similar terms in , in the Old Testament ("I will say of the LORD, "He is" my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust") and in the New Testament in ("Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver "us".") The concept is paraphrased in , , , and . According to Philip Jenkins, a historian of religion, some Bible translations rendered Psalm 56:11 as "In God I trust; I will not fear", which could lead to substitution of the first "I" for "we".