The Hawai`i Supreme Court today rejected a petition from a Hawai`i bed & breakfast seeking review of a lower court ruling that the business had violated Hawai’i’s anti-discrimination statute when it denied a room to a lesbian couple because of their sexual orientation.
Aloha Bed & Breakfast, whose owner says same-sex relationships “defile our land,” is represented by the anti-LGBT legal group Alliance Defending Freedom, which claimed a religious justification for the discrimination. In February, the Intermediate Court of Appeals affirmed the lower court ruling, and today the Hawai`i Supreme Court declined to review that decision.
“In letting the existing decision stand, Hawai‘i today joined a long line of states across the country that understand how pernicious and damaging a religious license to discriminate would be,” Lambda Legal Senior Attorney Peter Renn said. “In fact, since the U.S. Supreme Court’s narrow ruling in Masterpiece Cakeshop in early June, three state courts – in Arizona, Oregon and now Hawai`i – have either ruled against or refused to review rulings against business owners who have claimed religious justifications to discriminate.”
The Aloha Bed & Breakfast case was launched in 2012.
The Trump administration is reportedly draining money from HIV treatment programes in order to fund child migrant detention.
Slate reports that budget documents show funding has been reallocated within the Department of Health and Human Services from the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program to pay for the Trump administration’s aggressive stance on child migrants, which may require thousands of people to be detained.
According to documents leaked to the outlet, funding is already being drained from the primary government programme for HIV/AIDS care in the US to fund the surge in detention work undertaken by the Office of Refugee Resettlement.
Slate alleges that “the process of transferring those HIV/AIDS funds has already begun”, while the department is set to seek further appropriations from Congress.
ORR documents project that 25,400 beds for minors being detained will be required by the end of the year, according to the outlet, leaving a budget shortfall of $585 million in fiscal year 2018, and $1.3 billion in the first quarter of fiscal year 2019.
The Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program, which was set up in 1990, has been funded across multiple Presidential administrations and works to “provide a comprehensive system of care that includes primary medical care and essential support services for people living with HIV”.
David Stacy, the Human Rights Campaign’s Director of Government Affairs, told pinkNews: “This administration’s cruelty toward undocumented children and families has been unconscionable.
“Now, we learn they are considering diverting funds from programs to provide health care for people living with HIV and medical support for refugees in order to pay for this president’s heartless obsession with imprisoning kids.
“The Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program is one of our nation’s premier public health efforts, and it is unthinkable that this administration would divert funds away from HIV treatment to fund its cruel attacks on kids and families at the border.”
On a 2000 Congressional campaign website, Pence wrote: “Congress should support the reauthorization of the Ryan White Care Act only after completion of an audit to ensure that federal dollars were no longer being given to organisations that celebrate and encourage the types of behaviours that facilitate the spreading of the HIV virus.
“Resources should be directed toward those institutions which provide assistance to those seeking to change their sexual behaviour.”
Former President Bush, who is often praised for setting up PEPFAR despite his broadly regressive stances on LGBT issues, penned an op-ed for the Washington Post warning against any cuts.
He wrote: “My administration launched PEPFAR in 2003 to address the HIV/AIDS pandemic that threatened to wipe out an entire generation on the continent of Africa. Nearly 15 years later, the program has achieved remarkable results in the fight against
“Nearly 15 years later, the program has achieved remarkable results in the fight against disease. Today, because of the commitment of many foreign governments, investments by partners, the resilience of the African people and the generosity of the American people, nearly 12 million lives have been saved.”
He added: “As the executive and legislative branches review the federal budget, they will have vigorous debates about how best to spend taxpayers’ money — and they should.
“Some will argue that we have enough problems at home and shouldn’t spend money overseas. I argue that we shouldn’t spend money on programs that don’t work, whether at home or abroad.
“But they should fully fund programs that have proven to be efficient, effective and results-oriented.
“Saving nearly 12 million lives is proof that PEPFAR works, and I urge our government to fully fund it. We are on the verge of an AIDS-free generation, but the people of Africa still need our help.
“The American people deserve credit for this tremendous success and should keep going until the job is done.”
Though diplomatically worded, the former Republican leader’s statement serves as a coded warning to Trump – and will be a rallying cry for moderates in Congress on the issue.
The former President said: “We need to do more to reach those who are at risk for contracting HIV/AIDS, and the United States is helping shape the world’s response to this crisis and working alongside the international community to end this epidemic by 2030.
“We have strengthened and expanded the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), with now more than $70 billion invested, to accelerate our progress and work to control this epidemic with comprehensive and data-focused efforts.
“With PEPFAR support for more than 11 million people on life-saving treatment and through contributions to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria — including a new pledge of more than $4 billion through 2019 — there are now more than 18 million people getting HIV treatment and care.
“Because in sub-Saharan Africa young women and adolescent girls are over eight times more likely to get HIV/AIDS than young men, we launched a comprehensive prevention program to reduce HIV infections among this population in 10 sub-Saharan African countries.
“We have also helped prevent millions of new infections worldwide, including in more than 1.5 million babies of HIV-positive mothers who were born free of HIV.”
He warned: “Although we have come far in recent decades, our work is not yet done and the urgency to intervene in this epidemic is critical… accelerating the progress we have made will require sustained commitment and passion from every sector of society and across every level of government around the world.”
Judge Kavanaugh would guarantee 40 more years of Trump’s values on the Supreme Court. Like every other judicial nominee who has a seal of approval from the Heritage Foundation and the Federalist Society, Judge Kavanaugh shares Donald Trump’s same distorted view of the law. We have good reason to fear that Judge Kavanaugh will abuse his power on the Court to protect the wealthy and the powerful while depriving LGBT Americans of our dignity, demeaning our community, and diminishing our status as equal citizens. There is too much at stake to allow Judge Kavanaugh to sit on the Court that, over its history, has decided who can marry, who can vote, and who is equal.
From the ACLU:
Brett Kavanaugh may bring the requisite experience, but given Donald Trump’s promise to overturn Roe v. Wade, the decision that recognized the right to an abortion, and efforts to reverse progress on civil rights and civil liberties, that’s not enough. If confirmed, Kavanaugh could very well be the decisive vote Trump needs in the Supreme Court to give his concerted campaign to undermine civil liberties and civil rights long-term impact. And in light of President Trump’s promise to appoint justices who would overturn Roe, this nomination could jeopardize the right to an abortion millions of women and families have relied on for more than four decades.
From the National Center For Lesbian Rights:
To date, there is nothing in Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s record to indicate that he understands the real-world impact of discrimination on LGBT people or the importance of construing our nation’s laws to enable them to participate fully and equally in society. The Supreme Court must be a court for all, not just for the privileged few. It is sobering that a president who has shown disregard for many of our nation’s most cherished rights and freedoms has an opportunity to appoint a second justice to the Supreme Court. This moment is a wake-up call to LGBT people and others about the critical importance of elections and the need to vote this November.
From the Human Rights Campaign:
This nominee was hand-picked by anti-LGBTQ, anti-choice groups in an explicit effort to undermine equality — and the prospect of a Justice Kavanaugh threatens to erode our nation’s civil rights laws, block transgender troops from bravely serving this nation and allow a license to discriminate against LGBTQ people in every aspect of American life. The 2018 midterm elections just became the most consequential elections of our lifetime, and we must seize the opportunity to pull the emergency brake on this regime. We need to vote this November like our lives depend on it — because they do.
From GLAAD:
If confirmed, Brett Kavanaugh will have the chance to codify President Trump and Vice President Pence’s dangerous anti-LGBTQ record and the agenda of anti-LGBTQ groups into law for decades to come. Like Neil Gorsuch before him, Kavanaugh is an ideologically driven pick designed to create an activist Supreme Court that will undermine rights and protections for women, LGBTQ people, immigrants, and all vulnerable people. President Trump’s concerning selection of Brett Kavanaugh, and his record of appointing anti-LGBTQ federal judges, have put hard won LGBTQ rights and protections in jeopardy. GLAAD is encouraging people to contact their Senators and ask them to support pro-equality judicial nominations and oppose Kavanaugh’s confirmation.
From the Transgender Law Center:
Trump’s pick for the Supreme Court is a divisive, radical conservative whose appointment would pose a devastating threat to the rights and well-being of transgender people nationwide. We need a Supreme Court that will uphold the values of freedom, fairness, and equal protection enshrined in our Constitution, not green-light discrimination against transgender people, communities of color, immigrants, people with disabilities, and others under attack by this administration. The person who fills this seat will likely have a deciding vote on issues like health care, reproductive justice, and transgender people’s freedom to be our authentic selves and participate in public life, so our lives hang in the balance.
Today, Cyndi Lauper and the True Colors Fund, in partnership with the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty, unveiled the State Index on Youth Homelessness –a first-of-its-kind resource that evaluates all 50 states and the District of Columbia on their efforts to prevent and end youth homelessness. The two organizations have also launched a campaign to empower the public to contact their governors to improve their state’s index scores.
The State Index on Youth Homelessness provides a snapshot of some of the legal, systemic, and environmental barriers that youth experiencing homelessness face. The State Index assigns all 50 states and the District of Columbia a score of up to 100 and provides concrete steps that states can take to protect the safety, development, health, and dignity of youth experiencing homelessness. The State Index will be updated annually and will act as a barometer of the progress each state makes year over year in their efforts to prevent and end youth homelessness.
“It doesn’t matter if you’re from Kansas or California. In the United States of America, everyone deserves a place to call home. As Americans, we have a responsibility to protect the safety, health, and dignity of every young person experiencing homelessness,” said Cyndi Lauper, co-founder and board member of the True Colors Fund. “Youth who experience homelessness are the some of the most resilient people I know. It is our dream for this State Index to help each state amp up its work to ensure these young people can reach their full potential.”
“Young people experiencing homelessness face steep barriers in exiting homelessness – and even simply surviving – when laws prevent them from securing a job, renting an apartment, or accessing health care,” said Maria Foscarinis, founder and executive director of the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty. “States must take action now so that these youth have a chance for a better future. The State Index provides practical tools for states to do that and helps the public hold them accountable.”
According to a recent study by Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago, one in 30 youth ages 13 to 17 and one in 10 young adults ages 18 to 25 endure some form of homelessness in the U.S. each year. The study also found that lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning (LGBTQ) youth are 120% more likely to experience homelessness than non-LGBTQ youth. The State Index on Youth Homelessness takes LGBTQ inclusion into account in its findings and provides recommendations on how states can address the unique needs of LGBTQ youth.
Cyndi Lauper, the True Colors Fund, and National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty are asking the public to take action by contacting their governor over email and Twitter to improve their state’s index scores. People can take action in a matter of seconds at https://truecolorsfund.org/index/
As the True Colors Fund launches its tenth anniversary celebration this month, the State Index is the latest example of Cyndi Lauper’s and the organization’s commitment to ending homelessness among LGBTQ youth through federal, state, and local public policy efforts. Lauper has been an unwavering advocate for equality throughout her entire life, which lead to her co-founding the True Colors Fund in June 2008. Today, the True Colors Fund is the national leader on preventing and ending LGBTQ youth homelessness and is fulfilling its mission through a broad array of advocacy, training and education, and youth collaboration programs.
For nearly 30 years, the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty (the Law Center) has used the power of the law to prevent and end homelessness in America. Maria Foscarinis, who founded the Law Center in 1989, has advocated for solutions to homelessness at the national level since 1985, having served as a primary architect of the Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act, the first major federal legislation addressing homelessness. Today, the Law Center serves over 3.5 million Americans experiencing homelessness through impact litigation, policy advocacy, and public education. The Law Center also provides training and technical assistance to schools and advocates, and legal support to families, to ensure children have access to quality education under the federal McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act.
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Co-founded by Cyndi Lauper, the True Colors Fund works nationally to end homelessness among lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning youth. Through a broad continuum of training & education, youth collaboration, and advocacy programs, the True Colors Fund is creating a world where all young people can be their true selves. www.truecolorsfund.org
The National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty (the Law Center) is the only national organization dedicated solely to using the power of the law to prevent and end homelessness. With the support of a large network of pro bono lawyers, we address the immediate and long-term needs of people who are homeless or at risk through outreach and training, advocacy, impact litigation, and public education. www.nlchp.org
Meghan Kelly, a spokeswoman for the Middlesex District Attorney’s office, said Sugrue also stood accused of intimidating a witness and using anti-gay slurs, according to The Boston Globe.
The alleged victim told police that he was using drugs with Sugrue on the Wednesday, but when he tried to leave, the teenager refused to let him go, the Associated Press has reported.
Sugrue then struck the victim multiple times and refused to give him food or water, the alleged victim added.
He told police that he managed to escape the flat on the Saturday night.
The 19-year-old has had his bail set at $1,000, ordered to stay away from the alleged victim and also told to avoid the Philadelphia Baptist Church in Framingham.
Authorities have not clarified how the church is involved.
Sugrue’s attorney rejected the alleged victim’s assertions in the arraignment hearing yesterday, saying that his client was actually the victim.
He added that the 50-year-old man was trying to take advantage of Sugrue.
The alleged assault comes after a string of horrendous atrocities over the past year in the US, with anti-LGBT prejudice being cited as a motivating factor in some of the cases.
Avalos, who suffered head injuries and had cigarette burns all over his corpse, told the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Families before his death that he had been beaten, locked up and left unfed.
When Sean Cole, 29, discovered that his eleven-year-old son “compromising position” with another boy, he told his 20-year-old girlfriend Khadeijah Moore to perform sex acts on his son when he visited his home on Thanksgiving.
Change could come to Washington after the congressional mid-term elections in November, and the bid of Gina Ortiz Jones to represent Texas’ 23rd congressional district certainly represents that possibility.
Jones, who recently emerged a victor in the Democratic primary after a run-off in May, is a lesbian first-generation Filipino-American who served as an intelligence officer in the Air Force in Iraq under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”
In a phone interview with the Washington Blade on Friday, Jones said her campaign is an effort “to protect the opportunities that allowed me to grow up healthy, get an education and serve my country.”
“My own story: I’m a first-generation American, I was raised by a single mother, I know what it’s like to need a little bit of help,” Jones said. “Reduced lunch, subsidized housing — I know why those are important because I actually needed those investments, and those allowed me to get an education.”
Jones also acknowledged her race has significance for the LGBT community. If elected, she’d be the first openly gay person elected to Congress from Texas.
“I’d be honored to be the first, but it is more important that I am not the last. And that’s what this race is about,” Jones said. “It’s about protecting all the opportunities that allowed me even just to get to this place, right? So, we are overdue in terms of representation, and I think we’re seeing every single day just how quickly the progress that we fought for can be ripped away from us if we don’t stand up.”
The Democratic Party seeks to raise Jones’ profile as political observers rank the race for Texas’ 23rd congressional district, a Hispanic-majority district, as a toss-up at a time when progressive energy is high amid frustration and anger with President Trump.
Jones is among the women politicos set to speak Monday at the annual LGBT gala in New York City hosted by the Democratic National Committee, an event she said she’s planning to attend because “now is the time to ensure that your voice is heard.”
“That is a gathering of people who know exactly about the moment of time that we’re in,” Jones said. “Many people in the room have fought so hard for our rights, for our equality. And so, that makes me able to share my own story and talk about what’s going on in Texas and what I’m looking to fight for, and certainly, on behalf of the LGBT community and the opportunity that we have.”
Lucas Acosta, LGBT media director for the Democratic National Committee, said Jones is the right candidate for the LGBT community facing continued hostility from the Trump administration.
“In the face of sustained Republican efforts to roll back the progress we’ve made, leaders within the LGBTQ community, and LGBTQ women of color in particular, are stepping up, running for office and fighting back,” Acosta said. “Ortiz Jones will be a strong advocate not only for her constituents, but also for the LGBTQ community and for all queer women of color, who deserve a voice in Congress.”
Jones had stern words for Trump, whose administration has worked to roll back LGBT rights despite his promise during the election to be a friend to LGBT people — a promise Jones said he hasn’t kept.
“The answer is that he has not,” Jones said. “He’s anything but a friend. I mean, with friends like that, who needs enemies?”
The anti-LGBT rollbacks in the Trump administration have included a transgender military ban the courts have blocked the Pentagon from enforcing, executive actions for “religious freedom” seen to undermine LGBT rights and exclusion of LGBT people from the enforcement of federal civil rights laws.
“For this administration to deny Americans ready and willing to serve our country, willing to die for our country and this administration has made policies essentially based on nothing but bigotry to deny those people the opportunity to serve in our military,” Jones said.
With the Trump administration’s separation of migrant families seeking to enter the United States as a result of its “zero-tolerance” immigration policy, Jones — who’s running in a border district – also criticized the administration on that front.
“I think it’s a travesty, it’s inhumane, it’s unjust and we have to get these families united as quickly as possible,” Jones said.
Asked what the policy should be for migrant families seeking to cross the border, Jones cited problems with changes in how immigrants can seek and be considered for asylum, a backlog in judgment of those case and access of legal resources to asylees.
Gina Ortiz Jones is a lesbian candidate running for Congress in Texas. (Photo by Ana Isabel Photography)
“That’s very concerning that people who may have legitimate cases are not even being able to make the case, right?” Jones said. “That’s not the kind of country we are. So we need much greater clarity on why people are not able to make their case.”
Jones’ opponent in her race is Rep. Bill Hurd (R-Texas), who was the first black Republican elected to Congress from Texas and worked for the Central Intelligence Agency between 2000 and 2009.
Hurd was seated in Congress in 2015, so has only been in Congress a short time, but nonetheless has developed an anti-LGBT record.
In the previous Congress, Hurd was a co-sponsor of the First Amendment Defense Act, federal “religious freedom” legislation seen to enable anti-LGBT discrimination. Last year, Hurd also voted on the floor in favor of an amendment that would have barred the U.S. military from paying for transition-related care, including gender reassignment surgery, for transgender troops.
Jones criticized Hurd for voting for the anti-trans amendment, citing as it as hypocrisy on the basis he claims to support national security “and then takes votes like that that undermine military readiness.”
“As someone that’s served in the military and under ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,’ I know that if one person on that team is not 100 percent, that unit is not 100 percent and the mission is at risk, so this is now an issue of military readiness,” Jones said.
Jones also said Hurd is “certainly no friend to the LGBT community” because he hasn’t spoken out against rollbacks of LGBT rights under the Trump administration.
“In these times, when you are silent as the most vulnerable in our community are targeted and their rights are stripped from them, you are silent when those you need you the most, that’s just as telling,” Jones said. “He has not uttered one word on behalf of the LGBT community as…our rights are under threat.”
If elected to Congress, Jones identified reversal of Trump’s transgender military ban as a priority in her effort to advance LGBT rights as she recalled her own time in the military having to serve under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”
“When I think of national security, I don’t just think of Iraq and Afghanistan and China, Russia, I think about the pipeline of talent in the interest of national security, and that certainly includes members of the LGBT community who are, again, ready and willing to serve,” Jones said.
Also on Jones’ priority list is expanding federal non-discrimination protections to include a prohibition on discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and transgender status.
“I think every single day that this administration is intent on rolling back those protections, and they want to leave it up to states to decide, but that’s not how this discussion needs to happen, right?” Jones said. “Americans deserve to have equal access to health care, equal opportunity to serve their country and equal opportunity to provide for themselves and their families.”
Asked if her sexual orientation has come up as an issue during her race, Jones said her now-defeated Democratic primary opponent had accused her of “hiding being a member of the LGBT community, which could not be further from the truth.” Jones said she “actually deliberately brought it up” during her campaign.
This Texas race isn’t the only one of importance to LGBT people. U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke (R-Texas) is seeking to unseat Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who has built a substantial anti-LGBT record that includes introducing a constitutional amendment against the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in favor of same-sex marriage nationwide.
On whether O’Rourke would prevail in his race and defeat Cruz, Jones said she’s hopeful her fellow Democrat would prevail and defeat the anti-LGBT senator.
“I certainly hope so,” Jones said. “For the good of the state, for the good of the country, Ted Cruz needs to be retired. So, I think we are all hopeful that we will have a new junior senator from Texas.”
Jones also had high praise for Lupe Valdez, the lesbian former Dallas County sheriff who’s seeking to defeat Texas Gov. Greg Abbott in his bid for re-election. Like Cruz, Abbott has an anti-LGBT record that includes signing anti-LGBT “religious freedom” adoption legislation, urging the Texas Supreme Court to undermine marriage equality and calling for a special session of the legislature to pass anti-trans bathroom legislation.
“For the LGBT community, I think that would actually be more important,” Jones said. “And so, again, we’re certainly hopeful we’ll have change at that level as well. And so, we can do this if we work together, and I think we have to, again. One in ten kids in the country goes to school in Texas, so there’s a lot at stake and we need representation that is going to fight for our kids, not against them.”
With the changing demographics in Texas, political observers have predicted the state will soon become “purple” and maybe even a “blue” Democratic state in years to come.
Jones, however, said the potential for Texas to reverse its longstanding history as a “red” state is “already there” and just needs high voter turnout for it to happen.
“What we need to work on is actually voter turnout. Folks are registered,” Jones said. “So it is, in fact, about turnout, so this is not a red state, it’s a non-voting state, and once we get people voting, this is, I think, a safely blue state. But we just got to get people voting.”
Congressman Jared Polis is on track to be the first openly gay Governor ever elected in the United States.
On Tuesday, the Colorado congressman was successfully nominated as the Democratic candidate for Colorado Governor after winning the party primary with over 44 percent of the vote.
Polis said: “I think it really gives Colorado an opportunity to stick a thumb in the eye of Mike Pence, whose view of America is not as inclusive as where America is today.”
The congressman has consistently supported LGBT rights during his time in office, including campaigning for the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.
The Democrat was first sworn in as Governor in Oregon in 2015 with just five days’ notice, drafted in after the resignation of Governor John Kitzhaber.
After winning praise for her level-headed approach, Governor Brown successfully stood for election to carry on in the role.
After announcing his retirement following 30 years on the U.S. Supreme Court, U.S. Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy leaves a profound legacy in favor of gay rights — but questions linger over whether his legacy is in jeopardy and same-sex marriage rights are in danger now that he’s stepping down.
That legacy includes decisions guaranteeing the constitutional right of same-sex couples to marry. In 2013, Kennedy wrote the opinion in Windsor v. United States striking down the anti-gay Defense of Marriage Act, which barred federal recognition of same-sex marriages. Two years later in 2015, Kennedy wrote the decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, which struck down state laws against same-sex marriage and spread marriage equality nationwide.
But Kennedy’s legacy on gay rights extends beyond marriage and goes back decades. In 1996, Kennedy wrote the opinion in Romer v. Evans, striking down Colorado’s Amendment 2 on the basis that bare animus cannot justify anti-gay laws. In 2003, Kennedy was the author of the ruling in Lawrence v. Texas, which found state laws criminalizing same-sex relations are unconstitutional.
More recently, Kennedy wrote the decision in the Masterpiece Cakeshop case in favor of Colorado baker Jack Phillips, who refused to serve a custom-made wedding cake to a same-sex couple. But that opinion was a narrow ruling based on the facts of the case, only applied to Phillips and invoked strong language in favor of laws barring discrimination against LGBT people.
Now that Kennedy has announced he’ll step down, will the precedent those decisions established for gay rights and same-sex marriage in particular remain in place, or will Trump’s pick to replace him be enough for the Supreme Court to reverse course and roll back constitutional protections for gay people?
James Esseks, director of the LGBT & HIV project at the American Civil Liberties Union, once said in 2016 before Trump was elected the “chances are virtually nil” the marriage-equality decision would be reversed. With Trump in the White House and a second opportunity for him to name a Supreme Court justice, Esseks now has increased those odds ever so slightly, but still minimized them.
“I wouldn’t say they are virtually nil right now, but I also don’t think the chances are super great that Obergefell itself would be overruled,” Esseks said. “My sense at the moment is that, look, it’s absolutely part of our opponents’ objective to overturn Obergefell. They’re going to try, and depending on what it looks like, maybe they’ll have some chances there.”
Such a reversal would likely be the result of a state passing a law against same-sex marriage in defiance of Obergefell, or simply refusing to give marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
Both of these possibilities would be increasingly politically difficult with strong support for same-sex marriage throughout the country. A recent poll from the Public Religion Research Institute found a majority of voters in 44 states support same-sex marriage.
If nonetheless a state moved to ban same-sex marriage, it would be challenged in court, giving the Supreme Court an opportunity to review the precedent.
Jocelyn Samuels, executive director of the Williams Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles, said “it is, of course, a concern” Kennedy’s successor might bring a new perspective to the court on marriage, but remained optimistic.
“I am hopeful that in conjunction with stare decisis, which, of course, counsels against overruling precedent absent really compelling reasons to do so, the new court will maintain what has become an established right that is part of the fundamental constellations of protection that LGBT people need in order live full and equal lives,” Samuels said.
Trump considers his pick to replace Kennedy — a choice he said would come from a list of 25 predetermined options of conservative possibilities and would be announced Monday — about a year after he said during an interview on CBS News’ “60 Minutes” he’s “fine” with the ruling for same-sex marriage and considers the matter “settled.”
White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders has said Trump is “not going to talk to judges about specific cases” in deciding his pick, and another White House spokesperson dodged last week when asked if Kennedy’s successor would uphold the justice’s legacy on LGBT rights. The White House didn’t respond to the Washington Blade’s request for comment on whether Trump still thinks same-sex marriage is “settled” and if that view will inform his Supreme Court pick.
Samuels said “given this administration’s hostility to LGBT rights” any nominee Trump puts forward to replace Kennedy should come under intense scrutiny.
“There is, of course, a concern that any person nominated by this administration will pursue policy and legal analysis that advances and anti-LGBT agenda, and that’s why it’s so critical to evaluate the record of any nominee that the president puts forward to evaluate whether their history of either judicial decision-making or policy determinations, or arguments before courts, reflect a willingness or a desire to roll back existing protections or reject new ones,” Samuels said.
Legal experts who spoke to the Blade said that while the marriage ruling itself will likely remain intact after Kennedy leaves the Supreme Court, opponents of LGBT rights may try to chip away at same-sex couples marriage rights, such as spousal benefits or birth certificates, even though the Obergefell ruling assured them the “constellation of benefits.”
That has already taken place: Texas Gov. James Abbott pressured the Texas Supreme Court to consider whether Houston needs to provide spousal health benefits to city employees in same-sex marriages. Despite the Obergefell decision, the Texas Supreme Court last year determined the guarantee of those benefits remained an open question. The court remanded the case to a district judge, where it remains pending.
In 2016, the Arkansas Supreme Court ruled the state has no obligation to place the names of both lesbian parents on their children’s birth certificates. Last year, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed that ruling on appeal in a per curiam decision, which stated Obergefell “applies with equal force” to birth certificates.
As opposed to a decision overturning Obergefell outright, Esseks said opponents of same-sex marriage will likely pursue a case similar to those lawsuits to undermine the marriage equality decision.
“What we will need to be on guard for is efforts to chip away at what it means to be married,” Esseks said. “What they may say is the government will give you the marriage license, but they may allow businesses to treat our marriages differently than straight people’s marriages, they may allow the government to treat our marriages differently than straight people’s marriages, and that could create intense inequality in many different contexts all across the country.”
With Kennedy gone, supporters of LGBT rights may begin to look to U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts to uphold same-sex marriage when challenges come to the Supreme Court, even though he was among dissenters to the marriage equality decision.
There are signs Roberts may have changed his tune, or believes the issue of same-sex marriage has been settled and he’ll adhere to precedent on the issue.
When the Arkansas Supreme Court ruled the state could refuse to place both names of lesbian parents on the birth certificate of their child despite the Obergefell ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed that decision in a per curiam decision. Joining the dissent written by U.S. Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch was U.S. Associate Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, but Roberts wasn’t among them.
In the Masterpiece Cakeshop decision, Roberts was among the seven justices who joined the majority opinion narrowly in favor of the Colorado baker. The chief justice didn’t sign any of the concurring opinions, including one written by Thomas arguing for a more expansive decision finding that Colorado’s LGBT non-discrimination law infringed upon First Amendment rights.
Amid discussion in the media Roberts will become the new centrist on the court, Samuels said she hopes he’ll “pursue the institutional integrity of the court” when he feels justices are called upon to make political, rather than legal, decisions.
“My hope would be in the same way that he committed during his confirmation hearings to just call balls and strikes, that he will carry that forward to recognize the need to respect settled precedent and to really take into account the fundamental rights that are at stake when the LGBT community is subject to discrimination or ostracism,” Samuels said.
Aside from marriage, a host of other LGBT issues could come before the Supreme Court in cases where the outcome may be in question with Kennedy gone from the court.
Much like the Masterpiece Cakeshop decision, cases seeking religious exemptions to discriminate against LGBT people will likely reach the court because that decision didn’t explicitly spell out precedent on the issue. The U.S. Supreme Court recently sent back to the Washington Supreme Court a petition filed by Arlene’s Flowers in Washington State, a florist seeking to refuse service to same-sex weddings, with instructions to reconsider the case in light of the Masterpiece decision.
Esseks predicted “there will be more cases” raising questions on religious exemptions that reach the Supreme Court, but was optimistic about their outcome for LGBT people based on the Masterpiece Cakeshop decision.
“In Masterpiece, there’s a lot of very good language in the majority opinion that talks about the importance of civil rights laws, how harmful discrimination is and the stigma that it causes and talks about how unthinkable it would be for businesses to be able to put up a sign saying, ‘No Gay People Here,’ or ‘Cakes for Heterosexuals Only,’” Esseks said. “That’s not the holding of the case, but it’s strong language that six justices signed on to.”
Another potential issue for the Supreme Court is whether federal civil rights laws against sex discrimination, which include Title VII of the Civil Rights Acts of 1964 for the workplace and Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, apply to anti-LGBT discrimination.
Two petitions are already pending before the Supreme Court seeking an answer on whether anti-gay discrimination amounts to illegal sex discrimination under federal law. Alliance Defending Freedom, an anti-LGBT legal group, is expected in August to file a petition seeking review of a U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals decision affirming Title VII applies to transgender people and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act doesn’t enable employers to engage in anti-trans discrimination.
One more issue that could soon come before the Supreme Court is Trump’s transgender military ban. Although four district courts and two appellate courts have enjoined the administration from enforcing the policy as result of litigation filed by LGBT groups, those cases continue to percolate through the judiciary.
It’s hard to say when and if that issue would reach the Supreme Court because the U.S. Justice Department last year turned down an opportunity to ask justices to review preliminary injunctions against the ban. It may be years if the government waits for final decisions from these courts, very soon if the government reverses course and seeks to appeal or never if the administration abides by lower court rulings.
Any decision on the transgender military ban from the Supreme Court will come in light of its ruling in Trump v. Hawaii upholding Trump’s travel ban on Muslim majority countries. The Pentagon issued the ban after Trump announced on Twitter he’d ban transgender people from the military “in any capacity,” much like the administration enacted the travel ban — and the Supreme Court upheld it — after Trump on the campaign trail called for a “complete shutdown” on Muslims entering the United States.
Esseks said the outcome of the travel ban case is “troubling” for the prospects of the transgender military ban before the Supreme Court, but nonetheless he’s optimistic about the chances of litigation against the policy if it reached justices.
“As it stands now, it seems like the ban is so clearly based on animus toward transgender people, clearly stated by the president with no factual basis for any of the concerns he raises about trans people, in fact, a military record that goes the other way, says that there’s no problem,” Esseks said. “That’s the kind of record where I think it shouldn’t be for the court to say that that’s a problem.”
Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained transgender women in all-male facilities and locked them up on average for more than twice as long as immigrants overall, according to figures the agency provided to Rep. Kathleen Rice (D-N.Y.).
The figures ICE shared with Rice shed light on how LGBTQ immigrants are treated in such facilities at a time when the Trump administration is seeking to dramatically expand detention ― including for asylum-seekers and LGBTQ people who may be uniquely vulnerable to sexual abuse.
ICE doesn’t publish annual reports on allegations of sexual assault or treatment of LGBTQ people within its detention centers but provided figures to Rice in response to her requests.
Self-identified LGBTQ people made up only about 0.14 percent of the immigrants detained last fiscal year by ICE, but accounted for more than 12 percent of the alleged victims of sexual abuse and assault, according to the figures.
Rice said she was “deeply disturbed” by the information ICE shared with her office. She and 36 other Democratic House members on Wednesday are sending a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen to ask ICE to use its discretion to release more LGBTQ immigrants on parole or other alternatives to detention.
“ICE should not be using its limited resources to detain hundreds of people who are vulnerable to abuse and pose no threat to public safety,” she said in a statement provided to HuffPost.
ICE has not yet begun to publish annual reports on sexual assault allegations in detention as required by the Prison Rape Elimination Act. The first report is under internal review and the agency plans to begin publishing relevant statistics online in the near future, a spokesperson said.
ICE received 227 reports of sexual abuse and assault in the 2017 fiscal year, 28 of them involving an LGBTQ victim, the agency told Rice. Overall, there were 467 people who disclosed being LGBTQ during intake, of the total 323,591 people detained that year, according to the figures.
Those figures were slightly different than the ones ICE gave to HuffPost. A spokesperson said there were 237 reports of sexual abuse and assault in the 2017 fiscal year and that 26 involved an LGBTQ victim. ICE could not confirm the number of immigrants who self-identified as LGBTQ during their intake. In April, ICE told The Intercept there had been 237 allegations and that 23 involved LGBTQ victims. (A spokesperson said figures can change in ICE’s database if allegations are added or are found to be duplicates.)
ICE should not be using its limited resources to detain hundreds of people who are vulnerable to abuse and pose no threat to public safety.Rep. Kathleen Rice (D-N.Y.)
In each set of figures, though, self-identified LGBTQ immigrants made up a sizeable share of the total alleged victims of sexual assault in ICE detention last fiscal year ― more than 10 percent.
ICE detained 247 self-identified transgender immigrants in the 2017 fiscal year, the agency told HuffPost. And many of those individuals spent lengthy periods in detention. ICE told the congresswoman that the average length of time transgender people were detained in the 2017 fiscal year was 99 days, compared to an average of about 44 days for all immigrants, according to Rice’s office. One in eight transgender people in ICE detention during that fiscal year was placed in solitary confinement, the agency told Rice’s office.
Some transgender immigrants were detained in facilities that did not correspond to their gender identity. Transgender women were detained in five all-male detention centers over the course of the 2017 fiscal year, along with 14 other facilities that housed only women or both genders.
An ICE spokesperson said that it makes decisions about where to hold detainees on a case-by-case basis, considering factors including the individual’s preference and their safety and well-being.
But that doesn’t seem to be happening as much as it should, said Sharita Gruberg, an associate director of the progressive Center for American Progress think tank who for years has tracked LGBTQ treatment of detained immigrants.
“They’re detaining people regardless of the vulnerability that they face in detention,” she said. “It doesn’t seem like there is really an assessment happening ― if you are deportable and you’re arrested, you’re getting detained.”
The White House affirmed on Thursday President Trump has started the process for nominating a successor to U.S. Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy, but won’t say if that choice will uphold his legacy on LGBT rights.White House Deputy Press Secretary Lindsay Walters dodged a question Thursday on whether LGBT rights would inform Trump’s pick from a reporter during a press gaggle on Air Force One en route to Wisconsin for a Trump rally.
Asked about the timing for Trump would make his announcement for his pick to replace in the aftermath of his announced retirement this week, Walters vaguely said “the process has already begun.”
“The president’s nominee to replace Justice Kennedy will have a tremendous intellect, judicial temperament and impeccable qualifications,” Walters added. “He or she, above all, will have a duty to uphold the law and the Constitution. And this is a process that the President has begun.”
Pressed for clarification on this process, Walters referenced Trump’s remarks in which he said he’d make his pick from a previously established list of 25 choices, but offered no further details.
“As the president said yesterday, he is going through the process of finding a nominee,” Walters said. “He will pick one off of the list that you all have previously seen. This is something that the president takes very seriously, and we will move through that process.”
When asked if Trump’s pick would carry the Kennedy legacy of upholding LGBT rights at the Supreme Court, Walters repeated her first response.
“As I said, the president’s nominee to replace Justice Kennedy will have a tremendous intellect, judicial temperament, and impeccable qualifications,” Walters said. “He or she, above all, will have a duty to uphold the law and the Constitution.”
During his 30 years on the Supreme Court, Kennedy was the author of milestone gay rights decision. The 1996 decision in Romer v. Evans held state laws barring municipalities from enacting LGBT non-discrimination ordinances are unconstitutional. Kennedy also wrote the 2003 decision in Lawrence v. Texas, which struck down state laws criminalizing same-sex relations.
Kennedy wrote decisions enacting marriage equality throughout the country, first with the 2013 decision in Windsor v. United States against the Defense of Marriage Act, a federal law barring federal recognition of same-sex marriage, then with the 2015 decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, which struck down state bans on same-sex marriage and guaranteed marriage equality through the country.