The AmazonSmile Foundation, a tax-exempt corporation affiliated with Amazon.com, declined an application by Coral Ridge Ministries Media, a Christian ministry and media corporation, to participate in the AmazonSmile program, because the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) listed Coral Ridge as a “hate group” on its website, due to Coral Ridge’s expressed views about homosexuality. Under the Amazon Smile program, Amazon customers designate charities from a list approved by the Foundation to receive a donation from … <Read More>
11th Circuit Court of Appeals
Federal Appeals Court Rules Laws Against Conversion Therapy Using Solely Speech Violate the First Amendment
A three-judge panel of the Atlanta-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit ruled on November 20 in Otto v. City of Boca Raton, 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS 36589, 2020 WL 6813994, that laws enacted by Boca Raton and Palm Beach County, Florida, prohibiting licensed therapists from performing conversion therapy on minors, violate the therapists’ rights to freedom of speech under the First Amendment. The panel voted 2-1. Two judges appointed by Donald … <Read More>
Federal Court Dismisses Challenge to Maryland Law Against Conversion Therapy for Minors
On September 20, U.S. District Judge Deborah K. Chasanow of the federal district court in Maryland granted that state’s motion to dismiss a lawsuit brought by Liberty Counsel on behalf of a conversion therapy practitioner who was challenging the state’s recently enacted law that provides that “a mental health or child care practitioner may not engage in conversion therapy with an individual who is a minor.” The ban is enforceable through the professional licensing process … <Read More>
Gay Man Wins New Trial of His Claims Against Key West Police
A unanimous three-judge panel of the Atlanta-based 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on October 5 that Raymond Berthiaume is entitled to a new trial of his claims against the City of Key West and Police Officer David Smith stemming from Berthiaume’s arrest by Smith early on October 27, 2013. A jury ruled against Berthiaume at the first trial, after the judge had refused Berthiaume’s request that potential jurors be questioned about any anti-gay bias. … <Read More>
11th Circuit Rejects Tax Deductibility of Surrogacy Expenses
A gay male couple that wants to have a child who is genetically related to one of the men needs to retain the services of at least one and possibly two women, depending whether they are going to use ordinary surrogacy or gestational surrogacy to have the child. Should those expenses be deductible if they exceed the threshold set by the Internal Revenue Code for deductible medical expenses? On September 25, the 11th Circuit … <Read More>
Justice Department Tells 2nd Circuit That Gays Are Not Protected from Discrimination Under Federal Civil Rights Law
The U.S. Department of Justice filed a brief on July 26 with the New York-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit, weighing in on the question whether Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 bans discrimination because of sexual orientation. Not surprisingly, the Trump Administration’s answer is “No.”
Title VII lists forbidden grounds for employment discrimination: race or color, religion, sex and national origin. After it went into effect … <Read More>
Lecture for Investiture as Robert F. Wagner Professor of Labor and Employment Law
Arthur S. Leonard, Lecture for Investiture as Robert F. Wagner Professor of Labor and Employment Law, New York Law School, April 26, 2017
A Battle Over Statutory Interpretation: Title VII and Claims of Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Discrimination
I feel particularly honored to have my name associated with that of United States Senator Robert F. Wagner, Sr., NYLS Class of 1900, a hero of the New Deal whose legislative leadership gave us such important … <Read More>
11th Circuit Panel Splinters Over Lesbian’s Appeal of Title VII Dismissal
A three-judge panel of the Atlanta-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit issued a divided ruling on March 10 holding that a lesbian plaintiff suing for discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 could file an amended complaint alleging that she suffered discrimination because of sex stereotyping, but upholding the district court’s dismissal of her claim that sexual orientation discrimination violates the statute. A dissenting judge, agreeing with … <Read More>
Retroactivity of Marriage Rights Continues to Occupy Courts
In two recent decisions courts have had to deal with the question whether marriage rights for same-sex couples, declared by the U.S. Supreme Court on June 26, 2015, should be projected backwards in time in particular cases involving the death of gay men and the rights of their surviving partners. In one, the surviving partner received the spousal benefit he sought, proceeds from a wrongful death lawsuit, although the court ended up not ruling directly … <Read More>
Surprising Development in Florida Marriage Equality Case
When U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle ruled on August 21 in Brenner v. Armstrong and Grimsley v. Armstrong that Florida’s ban on same-sex marriage was unconstitutional, he stayed his preliminary injunction until January 5, 2015, to give the state a chance to appeal to the 11th Circuit. He indicated that if the state wanted to have the decision stayed longer until the Court of Appeals could decide on the merits, it should ask the Court … <Read More>