Why courts matter
So many important examples today for LGBTQ people!
I spent most of my day isolated in a retreat and wow did a lot happen out in the world, from Trump’s latest China/trade nonsense to David Koch dying to actually a whole lot of LGBTQ news. Let’s get right to it!
Trump admin asks SCOTUS for anti-gay discrimination
Last week we saw the Trump administration’s brief in the Supreme Court case about employment discrimination against transgender people. Today the Department of Justice issued its brief in the other pair of cases, calling on SCOTUS to rule that it’s totally okay to fire people just for their sexual orientation. I’ll be doing another bonus issue on this brief this weekend, so stay tuned.
A court win! For transgender prisoners
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled today that gender confirmation surgery can be medically necessary for transgender people, so denying it to transgender people in prison violates their Eighth Amendment rights to be free of “cruel and unusual punishment.” It’s a victory for Adree Edmo, who has been serving time in the Idaho State Correctional Institution since 2012 but has been denied treatment her doctors have called for. It also creates a precedent to protect other transgender inmates across all the states in the Ninth Circuit.
A court loss! For marrying same-sex couples
The Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), a hate group terrorizing LGBTQ people through the courts across the country, unfortunately also had a win today. The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that ADF’s case can proceed on behalf of two Christian videographers who want to profit off selling wedding video services without having to serve same-sex couples, as Minnesota law requires. A district judge had dismissed the case, but the appeals court believed that forcing the videographers to make videos for same-sex couples might violate their freedom of speech, and remanded the case for consideration.
ADF specifically engineered this case as a vehicle to challenge and undermine Minnesota’s state laws prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. It’s very disturbing that a federal court seems willing to allow for discrimination on these grounds. It’s unclear how a similar exemption wouldn’t apply to videographers who don’t want to record wedding videos for interracial couples.
Another super homophobic Trump judge pick
This is a great opportunity to remind folks of just how important judges are to the future of our democracy. Trump has nominated yet another flagrant opponent of LGBTQ equality, Steven Menashi, who once wrote that the Human Rights Campaign “incessantly exploited the slaying of Matthew Shepard for both financial and political benefit.” And that’s only one example of his extremist rhetoric. The only way to stop him from a lifetime appointment to the federal bench is to apply political pressure to Senate Republicans to keep them from confirming him.
The costs of discrimination
Remember Kim Davis, the Kentucky county clerk who refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples? Well because she lost her lawsuit, the state of Kentucky now has to pay out the legal fees for that couple — to the tune of $224,000. The state has fought this ruling, arguing that Davis herself should be liable, but the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled today that Kentucky has to pay up.
Conversion therapy worldwide
A new report from OutRight International attempts to assess the reach and impact of anti-LGBTQ conversion therapy around the world. Among its findings are that conversion therapy never works, causes trauma, and is indeed prevalent across the planet. It is primarily advocated in the name of religion or pseudo-health care, with queer people often coerced into it or pressured by family.
Conversion therapy survivors condemn “Freedom March”
A group of people who have survived being subjected to conversion therapy have condemned plans to hold a “Freedom March” celebrating conversion therapy near where the Pulse nightclub shooting took place. Two survivors of that shooting now identify as ex-gay. According to the Conversion Therapy Dropout Network, “We understand the fear they feel living as queer people, but to join the bigotry that oppresses us is not the answer. We need to be better than that and can be better than that.”
Too masculine for asylum
The UK rejected a gay man’s asylum claim this month because a judge determined he wasn’t effeminate enough to have been gay. Incidentally, the man’s boyfriend had been granted asylum by a different judge at the same court. The bigoted judge didn’t believe that the refugee was gay because a different applicant for asylum “wore lipstick,” “had an effeminate way of looking around the room and speaking,” and was also a member of a gay community organization.
Serbia restricts queer reproductive rights
Serbia has banned same-sex couples from pursuing any means of assisted reproduction, including artificial insemination and in vitro fertilization. Serbia’s prime minister is a lesbian, and her partner had a child earlier this year — reportedly the result of artificial insemination. It prompted a backlash such that there is now no path for same-sex couples to have children of their own, short of seeking treatment outside the country.
The Great Run isn’t so great
Scotland’s The Great Run has created a category in which non-binary and gender-neutral competitors can compete, which is great. Unfortunately, people who compete in that category can’t win top prizes or official rankings.
Karamo Brown deletes his Twitter
Following controversy yesterday after Queer Eye’s Karamo Brown defended his Dancing With the Stars castmate Sean Spicer, Brown has deleted his entire Twitter profile.
A moment of affirmation
Watch as 24-year-old Zach Brookes, a trans man who lives in Birmingham, receives his Gender Recognition Certificate confirming his gender identity as legally male:
Most weeks, you can hear me on the David Feldman Show, and this week in particular, we had a great conversation about the Log Cabin Republicans’ Trump endorsement and the way the country is so divided right now. I really appreciate where we took the discussion, and I hope you’ll listen.
Until next time, stay platinum! (For example, don’t mock ballet.) Have a great weekend!
(Supreme Court photo credit: Flickr/Ted Eytan.)