#civilrightsact — Public Fediverse posts

DOJ Unveils Legal Basis for Nationwide Voter Data Collection Efforts

The Trump administration just dropped a bombshell with a new legal opinion that paves the way for nationwide voter data collection, sparking heated debate over federal oversight in election administration. But not everyone is buying it - Vermont's Secretary of State dismissed the memo as mere fantasy.

https://osintsights.com/doj-unveils-legal-basis-for-nationwide-voter-data-collection-efforts?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social

#NationState #VoterDataCollection #ElectionAdministration #FederalOversight #CivilRightsAct

Here lies the #FourteenthAmendment, which could not survive the exsanguination of the #VotingRightsAct at the hands of a compromised and corrupt #SCOTUS.

May its memory be a blessing.

#Amerika #impeach47 #resist #Ω #donotcomply #crushICE #VRA #CRA #CivilRightsAct

Here lies the #FourteenthAmendment, which could not survive the exsanguination of the #VotingRightsAct at the hands of a compromised and corrupt #SCOTUS.

May its memory be a blessing.

#Amerika #impeach47 #resist #Ω #donotcomply #crushICE #VRA #CRA #CivilRightsAct

Here lies the #FourteenthAmendment, which could not survive the exsanguination of the #VotingRightsAct at the hands of a compromised and corrupt #SCOTUS.

May its memory be a blessing.

#Amerika #impeach47 #resist #Ω #donotcomply #crushICE #VRA #CRA #CivilRightsAct

Here lies the #FourteenthAmendment, which could not survive the exsanguination of the #VotingRightsAct at the hands of a compromised and corrupt #SCOTUS.

May its memory be a blessing.

#Amerika #impeach47 #resist #Ω #donotcomply #crushICE #VRA #CRA #CivilRightsAct

Here lies the #FourteenthAmendment, which could not survive the exsanguination of the #VotingRightsAct at the hands of a compromised and corrupt #SCOTUS.

May its memory be a blessing.

#Amerika #impeach47 #resist #Ω #donotcomply #crushICE #VRA #CRA #CivilRightsAct

https://www.europesays.com/people/49381/ 5 things to know about the Supreme Court’s landmark decision on the Voting Rights Act #ChiefJusticeJohnRoberts #CivilRightsAct #Congress #CongressionalDistrict #JohnRoberts #Louisiana #RaciallyDiscriminatory #ReconstructionAmendments #redistricting #SupremeCourt #TheCourt #VotingRights #VotingRightsAct

HRC files complaint with EEOC over denial of gender-affirming care to federal employees

https://web.brid.gy/r/https://www.advocate.com/politics/national/eeoc-complaint-transgender-care-denial

Happy Birthday, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. | 3CHICSPOLITICO

This is my favorite section from

“Letter from a Birmingham Jail [King, Jr.]”

We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed. Frankly, I have yet to engage in a direct action campaign that was “well timed” in the view of those who have not suffered unduly from the disease of segregation. For years now I have heard the word “Wait!” It rings in the ear of every Negro with piercing familiarity. This “Wait” has almost always meant “Never.” We must come to see, with one of our distinguished jurists, that “justice too long delayed is justice denied.”

We have waited for more than 340 years for our constitutional and God given rights. The nations of Asia and Africa are moving with jetlike speed toward gaining political independence, but we still creep at horse and buggy pace toward gaining a cup of coffee at a lunch counter. Perhaps it is easy for those who have never felt the stinging darts of segregation to say, “Wait.” But when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim; when you have seen hate filled policemen curse, kick and even kill your black brothers and sisters; when you see the vast majority of your twenty million Negro brothers smothering in an airtight cage of poverty in the midst of an affluent society; when you suddenly find your tongue twisted and your speech stammering as you seek to explain to your six year old daughter why she can’t go to the public amusement park that has just been advertised on television, and see tears welling up in her eyes when she is told that Funtown is closed to colored children, and see ominous clouds of inferiority beginning to form in her little mental sky, and see her beginning to distort her personality by developing an unconscious bitterness toward white people; when you have to concoct an answer for a five year old son who is asking: “Daddy, why do white people treat colored people so mean?”; when you take a cross county drive and find it necessary to sleep night after night in the uncomfortable corners of your automobile because no motel will accept you; when you are humiliated day in and day out by nagging signs reading “white” and “colored”; when your first name becomes “nigger,” your middle name becomes “boy” (however old you are) and your last name becomes “John,” and your wife and mother are never given the respected title “Mrs.”; when you are harried by day and haunted by night by the fact that you are a Negro, living constantly at tiptoe stance, never quite knowing what to expect next, and are plagued with inner fears and outer resentments; when you are forever fighting a degenerating sense of “nobodiness”–then you will understand why we find it difficult to wait. There comes a time when the cup of endurance runs over, and men are no longer willing to be plunged into the abyss of despair. I hope, sirs, you can understand our legitimate and unavoidable impatience. You express a great deal of anxiety over our willingness to break laws. This is certainly a legitimate concern. Since we so diligently urge people to obey the Supreme Court’s decision of 1954 outlawing segregation in the public schools, at first glance it may seem rather paradoxical for us consciously to break laws. One may well ask: “How can you advocate breaking some laws and obeying others?” The answer lies in the fact that there are two types of laws: just and unjust. I would be the first to advocate obeying just laws. One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws. I would agree with St. Augustine that “an unjust law is no law at all.”

Now, what is the difference between the two? How does one determine whether a law is just or unjust? A just law is a man made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law. To put it in the terms of St. Thomas Aquinas: An unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal law and natural law. Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust. All segregation statutes are unjust because segregation distorts the soul and damages the personality. It gives the segregator a false sense of superiority and the segregated a false sense of inferiority. Segregation, to use the terminology of the Jewish philosopher Martin Buber, substitutes an “I it” relationship for an “I thou” relationship and ends up relegating persons to the status of things. Hence segregation is not only politically, economically and sociologically unsound, it is morally wrong and sinful. Paul Tillich has said that sin is separation. Is not segregation an existential expression of man’s tragic separation, his awful estrangement, his terrible sinfulness? Thus it is that I can urge men to obey the 1954 decision of the Supreme Court, for it is morally right; and I can urge them to disobey segregation ordinances, for they are morally wrong.

This is what I wrote Last MLK Day:

I have written that 2025 is about Fascism for White people, because Black people in America have experienced American Fascism. It was called Jim Crow, and my ancestors lived with it for about a century.

A great number of people in this country are in for a rude awakening. For those who just couldn’t find a way to go vote for the Vice-President in November… a very rude awakening.

I remember a post over at DailyKos, where a Black young man, got into an argument with his father about MLK. His father told him point blank – MLK and the movement he led, stopped random White people from being able to terrorize them without impunity. As someone who grew up with that – THAT was the greatest gift MLK gave to the ‘Negro’. And, if you’ve never lived under that kind of oppression, you can’t possibly understand what it means to be relieved of that pressure.

Sadly, I was correct. Many communities who chose chasing YT Adjacency over voting for Kamala Harris have been learning a painful lesson this past year.
The Black community resting the way that we have wasn’t on my bingo card for 2025, but, we have been very on point. Because, this wasn’t our lesson to learn. No, we are not getting out in the streets. We will not be cannon fodder for any other community.

From The King Center:

Be A King
@BerniceKing
Let’s tell the truth. – President Trump’s claim that the 1964 Civil Rights Act caused harm to white people is a false narrative that distorts history and obscures reality.

My father, Fannie Lou Hamer, John Lewis, Amelia Boynton and many others did not work for racial and economic justice to divide this nation. They put themselves in harm’s way and suffered state sanctioned violence because America systemically and abhorrently denied freedom, dignity, opportunity, and protection to millions of Black people.

Nonviolence requires truth telling and courageous action. Creating the Beloved Community requires rejecting fear based myths, defending civil rights, educating ourselves and others about what really happened, and organizing across differences to eradicate injustice and expand dignity for everyone.

Creating the Beloved Community also requires understanding that honorable equity does not equal oppression for a group accustomed to prospering at the expense of other groups.

#CivilRightsAct #BelovedCommunity #MLK
https://x.com/BerniceKing/status/2011152258667319708?s=20

Some little known speeches from Dr. King.

Source: Happy Birthday, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. | 3CHICSPOLITICO

#BelovedCommunity #CivilRightsAct #MLK

Happy Birthday, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. | 3CHICSPOLITICO

This is my favorite section from

“Letter from a Birmingham Jail [King, Jr.]”

We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed. Frankly, I have yet to engage in a direct action campaign that was “well timed” in the view of those who have not suffered unduly from the disease of segregation. For years now I have heard the word “Wait!” It rings in the ear of every Negro with piercing familiarity. This “Wait” has almost always meant “Never.” We must come to see, with one of our distinguished jurists, that “justice too long delayed is justice denied.”

We have waited for more than 340 years for our constitutional and God given rights. The nations of Asia and Africa are moving with jetlike speed toward gaining political independence, but we still creep at horse and buggy pace toward gaining a cup of coffee at a lunch counter. Perhaps it is easy for those who have never felt the stinging darts of segregation to say, “Wait.” But when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim; when you have seen hate filled policemen curse, kick and even kill your black brothers and sisters; when you see the vast majority of your twenty million Negro brothers smothering in an airtight cage of poverty in the midst of an affluent society; when you suddenly find your tongue twisted and your speech stammering as you seek to explain to your six year old daughter why she can’t go to the public amusement park that has just been advertised on television, and see tears welling up in her eyes when she is told that Funtown is closed to colored children, and see ominous clouds of inferiority beginning to form in her little mental sky, and see her beginning to distort her personality by developing an unconscious bitterness toward white people; when you have to concoct an answer for a five year old son who is asking: “Daddy, why do white people treat colored people so mean?”; when you take a cross county drive and find it necessary to sleep night after night in the uncomfortable corners of your automobile because no motel will accept you; when you are humiliated day in and day out by nagging signs reading “white” and “colored”; when your first name becomes “nigger,” your middle name becomes “boy” (however old you are) and your last name becomes “John,” and your wife and mother are never given the respected title “Mrs.”; when you are harried by day and haunted by night by the fact that you are a Negro, living constantly at tiptoe stance, never quite knowing what to expect next, and are plagued with inner fears and outer resentments; when you are forever fighting a degenerating sense of “nobodiness”–then you will understand why we find it difficult to wait. There comes a time when the cup of endurance runs over, and men are no longer willing to be plunged into the abyss of despair. I hope, sirs, you can understand our legitimate and unavoidable impatience. You express a great deal of anxiety over our willingness to break laws. This is certainly a legitimate concern. Since we so diligently urge people to obey the Supreme Court’s decision of 1954 outlawing segregation in the public schools, at first glance it may seem rather paradoxical for us consciously to break laws. One may well ask: “How can you advocate breaking some laws and obeying others?” The answer lies in the fact that there are two types of laws: just and unjust. I would be the first to advocate obeying just laws. One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws. I would agree with St. Augustine that “an unjust law is no law at all.”

Now, what is the difference between the two? How does one determine whether a law is just or unjust? A just law is a man made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law. To put it in the terms of St. Thomas Aquinas: An unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal law and natural law. Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust. All segregation statutes are unjust because segregation distorts the soul and damages the personality. It gives the segregator a false sense of superiority and the segregated a false sense of inferiority. Segregation, to use the terminology of the Jewish philosopher Martin Buber, substitutes an “I it” relationship for an “I thou” relationship and ends up relegating persons to the status of things. Hence segregation is not only politically, economically and sociologically unsound, it is morally wrong and sinful. Paul Tillich has said that sin is separation. Is not segregation an existential expression of man’s tragic separation, his awful estrangement, his terrible sinfulness? Thus it is that I can urge men to obey the 1954 decision of the Supreme Court, for it is morally right; and I can urge them to disobey segregation ordinances, for they are morally wrong.

This is what I wrote Last MLK Day:

I have written that 2025 is about Fascism for White people, because Black people in America have experienced American Fascism. It was called Jim Crow, and my ancestors lived with it for about a century.

A great number of people in this country are in for a rude awakening. For those who just couldn’t find a way to go vote for the Vice-President in November… a very rude awakening.

I remember a post over at DailyKos, where a Black young man, got into an argument with his father about MLK. His father told him point blank – MLK and the movement he led, stopped random White people from being able to terrorize them without impunity. As someone who grew up with that – THAT was the greatest gift MLK gave to the ‘Negro’. And, if you’ve never lived under that kind of oppression, you can’t possibly understand what it means to be relieved of that pressure.

Sadly, I was correct. Many communities who chose chasing YT Adjacency over voting for Kamala Harris have been learning a painful lesson this past year.
The Black community resting the way that we have wasn’t on my bingo card for 2025, but, we have been very on point. Because, this wasn’t our lesson to learn. No, we are not getting out in the streets. We will not be cannon fodder for any other community.

From The King Center:

Be A King
@BerniceKing
Let’s tell the truth. – President Trump’s claim that the 1964 Civil Rights Act caused harm to white people is a false narrative that distorts history and obscures reality.

My father, Fannie Lou Hamer, John Lewis, Amelia Boynton and many others did not work for racial and economic justice to divide this nation. They put themselves in harm’s way and suffered state sanctioned violence because America systemically and abhorrently denied freedom, dignity, opportunity, and protection to millions of Black people.

Nonviolence requires truth telling and courageous action. Creating the Beloved Community requires rejecting fear based myths, defending civil rights, educating ourselves and others about what really happened, and organizing across differences to eradicate injustice and expand dignity for everyone.

Creating the Beloved Community also requires understanding that honorable equity does not equal oppression for a group accustomed to prospering at the expense of other groups.

#CivilRightsAct #BelovedCommunity #MLK
https://x.com/BerniceKing/status/2011152258667319708?s=20

Some little known speeches from Dr. King.

Source: Happy Birthday, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. | 3CHICSPOLITICO

#BelovedCommunity #CivilRightsAct #MLK

Transgender Chicago Cubs employee accuses coworkers of assaulting her in lawsuit

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://www.advocate.com/news/chiacgo-cubs-transgender-employee-lawsuit

It's not just illegally affixing his name to the #KennedyCenter. The attack is much more: the #CivilRightsAct, #Vaccines, #USAID, #FoodStamps, #HeadStart, the Special #Olympics, etc. What we (we w/a conscience, empathy, & intelligence) hold dear.

& "who better to have on side in a crusade ag. Kennedy initiatives than a Kennedy? it also doubtless served a psychological need for the president. . . Trump must also be keenly aware that a Kennedy is subject to him."

https://www.salon.com/2026/01/04/trump-has-declared-war-on-the-kennedys/

#USPol

In 2025, being trans in America means living under conditional citizenship

https://web.brid.gy/r/https://www.advocate.com/voices/trans-rights-in-america-2674433270

In 2025, being trans in America means living under conditional citizenship

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://www.advocate.com/voices/trans-rights-in-america-2674433270

In 2025, being trans in America means living under conditional citizenship

https://web.brid.gy/r/https://www.advocate.com/voices/trans-rights-in-america-2674433270

In 2025, being trans in America means living under conditional citizenship

https://web.brid.gy/r/https://www.advocate.com/voices/trans-rights-in-america-2674433270

In 2025, being trans in America means living under conditional citizenship

https://web.brid.gy/r/https://www.advocate.com/voices/trans-rights-in-america-2674433270

The Truth About #CharlieKirk Is Worse Than You Think

Charlie Kirk's #controversial statements about #gunviolence, #black pilots, and the #CivilRightsAct have sparked outrage. In this video, we expose the full extent of his #harmfulrhetoric and its real-world impact. Discover the truth about his #divisivebeliefs and how they contrast with #historical efforts for #racialreconciliation.

#CharlieKirk #RacismDebunked #Exposed

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGjdN3CJ6YA

Transgender NSA employee files discrimination lawsuit against Trump administration

https://web.brid.gy/r/https://www.advocate.com/politics/transgender-nsa-employee-trump-lawsuit

Transgender NSA employee files discrimination lawsuit against Trump administration

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://www.advocate.com/politics/transgender-nsa-employee-trump-lawsuit

Transgender NSA employee files discrimination lawsuit against Trump administration

https://web.brid.gy/r/https://www.advocate.com/politics/transgender-nsa-employee-trump-lawsuit

Transgender NSA employee files discrimination lawsuit against Trump administration

https://web.brid.gy/r/https://www.advocate.com/politics/transgender-nsa-employee-trump-lawsuit

Transgender NSA employee files discrimination lawsuit against Trump administration

https://web.brid.gy/r/https://www.advocate.com/politics/transgender-nsa-employee-trump-lawsuit

In Friday’s lawsuit, Dhillon claimed that the Fulton board hadn’t complied with the letter’s demands & alleged that Ché Alexander, the clerk of courts for #FultonCounty, violated record retention requirements in the #CivilRightsAct of 1960 by not producing the documents.

#law #propaganda #Trump #DOJ #Georgia #2020election #BigLie

Trans National Guard member sues Trump admin over bathroom ban

https://web.brid.gy/r/https://www.advocate.com/news/transgender-woman-sues-trump-restrooms

GMA's Will Ganss slams his Texas hometown for vote to revoke LGBTQ+ protections

https://web.brid.gy/r/https://www.advocate.com/politics/gma-will-ganss-lgbtq-arlington

GMA's Will Ganss slams his Texas hometown for vote to revoke LGBTQ+ protections

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://www.advocate.com/politics/gma-will-ganss-lgbtq-arlington

GMA's Will Ganss slams his Texas hometown for vote to revoke LGBTQ+ protections

https://web.brid.gy/r/https://www.advocate.com/politics/gma-will-ganss-lgbtq-arlington

GMA's Will Ganss slams his Texas hometown for vote to revoke LGBTQ+ protections

https://web.brid.gy/r/https://www.advocate.com/politics/gma-will-ganss-lgbtq-arlington

GMA's Will Ganss slams his Texas hometown for vote to revoke LGBTQ+ protections

https://web.brid.gy/r/https://www.advocate.com/politics/gma-will-ganss-lgbtq-arlington

Texas city will vote on overturning LGBTQ+ antidiscrimination protections next month

https://web.brid.gy/r/https://www.advocate.com/politics/arlington-lgbtq-protections-vote-delayed

Texas city will vote on overturning LGBTQ+ antidiscrimination protections next month

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://www.advocate.com/politics/arlington-lgbtq-protections-vote-delayed

Texas city will vote on overturning LGBTQ+ antidiscrimination protections next month

https://web.brid.gy/r/https://www.advocate.com/politics/arlington-lgbtq-protections-vote-delayed

Texas city will vote on overturning LGBTQ+ antidiscrimination protections next month

https://web.brid.gy/r/https://www.advocate.com/politics/arlington-lgbtq-protections-vote-delayed

Texas city will vote on overturning LGBTQ+ antidiscrimination protections next month

https://web.brid.gy/r/https://www.advocate.com/politics/arlington-lgbtq-protections-vote-delayed

Texas city could be first in nation to rescind LGBTQ+ anti-discrimination protections

https://web.brid.gy/r/https://www.advocate.com/politics/arlington-lgbtq-discrimination-protections-repeal

Texas city could be first in nation to rescind LGBTQ+ anti-discrimination protections

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://www.advocate.com/politics/arlington-lgbtq-discrimination-protections-repeal

Texas city could be first in nation to rescind LGBTQ+ anti-discrimination protections

https://web.brid.gy/r/https://www.advocate.com/politics/arlington-lgbtq-discrimination-protections-repeal

Texas city could be first in nation to rescind LGBTQ+ anti-discrimination protections

https://web.brid.gy/r/https://www.advocate.com/politics/arlington-lgbtq-discrimination-protections-repeal

Was Trump always against LGBTQ+ rights? Everything in his past says no.

https://web.brid.gy/r/https://www.advocate.com/politics/trump-lgbtq-rights-history

Hey, just so you know: if you use the term "boomer" in a derogatory way in your post, you're blocked. Your #boomer parents sacrificed and sweat in order to provide you (or perhaps your parents) with a safe and carefree (as safe and carefree as your family's circumstances allowed) childhood. They made sure you got an #education.

They also went to demonstrations in the 60s and 70s. They (and their greatest-generation parents) gave us the #CivilRightsAct and widely available birth control; they helped end the Vietnam war. And in fact, today, when I (one of the youngest boomers) go to demonstrations, I find them heavily populated by my generation, some waving signs reading "I can't believe I have to #protest this again".

You don't like the state of the world? Neither did we. We did something about it. How about you?

Or is blaming your parents on social media the extent of your activism?

August 29, 1957 - The U.S. Congress passed the Civil Rights Act, the first such law since reconstruction. The bill established a Civil Rights Commission which was given the authority to investigate discriminatory conditions. A Civil Rights Division was created in the Department of Justice, allowing federal prosecutors to obtain court injunctions against interference with the right to vote, among other things.

In an ultimately futile attempt to block passage, then-Democrat, former Dixiecrat, and later Republican Senator Strom Thurmond of South Carolina set the all-time (at that time) filibuster record: 24 hours, 19 minutes of non-stop speaking on the floor of the Senate. A filibuster is the deliberate use of prolonged debate and procedural delaying tactics to block action supported by a majority of members. It can only be stopped with a 60% majority voting to end debate.

#CivilRightsAct

Black Louisiana Community Coated in Toxic Fallout After Explosion at Oil Plant

https://murica.website/2025/08/black-louisiana-community-coated-in-toxic-fallout-after-explosion-at-oil-plant/

Federal Housing Agency Adopts English-Only Policy

HUD’s deputy secretary says the agency will speak in “one language” to fulfill its mission to help those in need.

https://murica.website/2025/08/federal-housing-agency-adopts-english-only-policy/

Federal Housing Agency Adopts English-Only Policy

HUD’s deputy secretary says the agency will speak in “one language” to fulfill its mission to help those in need.

https://murica.website/2025/08/federal-housing-agency-adopts-english-only-policy/

Federal Housing Agency Adopts English-Only Policy

HUD’s deputy secretary says the agency will speak in “one language” to fulfill its mission to help those in need.

https://murica.website/2025/08/federal-housing-agency-adopts-english-only-policy/

Federal Housing Agency Adopts English-Only Policy

HUD’s deputy secretary says the agency will speak in “one language” to fulfill its mission to help those in need.

https://murica.website/2025/08/federal-housing-agency-adopts-english-only-policy/

Federal Housing Agency Adopts English-Only Policy

HUD’s deputy secretary says the agency will speak in “one language” to fulfill its mission to help those in need.

https://murica.website/2025/08/federal-housing-agency-adopts-english-only-policy/

The probe is the latest move against #colleges & #universities by the #Trump admin, which has also launched investigations into campus *antisemitism* [#FreeSpeech] & has sought to freeze #research #funding.

The #DOJ's [former] *#CivilRights* Division alleged that the university system openly measures new hires by their race & sex. The probe will investigate whether its practices represent a pattern or practice of *#discrimination* under #TitleVII of the #CivilRightsAct.…

#law #AcademicFreedom

June 19, 1964 - The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was approved after surviving an 83-day filibuster in the United States Senate. The new law, initiated and passed through the determination of President Lyndon Johnson and Senate Republican leader Everett Dirksen of Illinois, guaranteed for the first time equal access to public accommodations “without discrimination or segregation on the ground of race, color, religion, or national origin.”

The Senate had never before voted to end the filibuster of a civil rights bill, all of which were consistently opposed by the bloc of senators from the South. Following Senator Robert Byrd's (D-West Virginia) 14+ hour-long speech, Senator Dirksen rose to speak, "We dare not temporize with the issue which is before us. It is essentially moral in character. It must be resolved. It will not go away. Its time has come."

#CivilRightsAct