sexual orientation

Federal Court Dismisses Challenge to Religious Exemptions under Title IX

 

Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 prohibits educational programs or activities that receive federal funds from excluding, denying benefits to, or subjecting to discrimination any person on the basis of sex.  Title IX includes a provision exempting from this anti-discrimination rule any educational institution that “is controlled by a religious organization” with “religious tenets” inconsistent with complying with Title IX.

 

In 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Bostock v. Clayton … <Read More>

Washington Law Against Conversion Therapy Survives Constitutional Attack

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, which included the first member of that bench appointed by President Donald Trump, unanimously ruled in Tingley v. Ferguson, 2022 WL 4076121 (September 6) that a circuit precedent from 2014, Pickup v. Brown, 740 F. 3d 1208, which rejected a constitutional challenge to California’s ban on conversion therapy for minors, is still a binding precedent in the 9th Circuit, thus … <Read More>

Death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Removes a Staunch Advocate of LGBTQ Rights from the Supreme Court

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died on September 18, 2020, age 87, having served on the Supreme Court of the United States since August 10, 1993.  Throughout her tenure on the Court she had been a staunch supporter of LGBTQ rights, joining all of the pro-LGBTQ rights majorities and dissenting from all of the adverse decisions except for two in which the Court was unanimous.

In 1993, she joined Justice David Souter’s opinion for the Court … <Read More>

District of Columbia Court of Appeals Rules on Same-Sex Common Law Marriage Claim

“Brian Gill and Rodney Van Nostrand were in a romantic relationship and cohabited for several years beginning in 2004,” begins Judge Phyllis Thompson’s opinion for the District of Columbia Court of Appeals in Gill v. Van Nostrand, 2019 WL 1827998, 2019 D.C. App. LEXIS 159 (April 25, 2019).  “After their romantic relationship waned, and a few months after Mr. Van Nostrand had a ceremonial wedding in Brazil to another man he had met while … <Read More>

Appellate Courts Rule on Discrimination Against Gay Jurors

 

On May 3, two appellate courts issued rulings on appeals of criminal convictions in which gay men in the jury pool were dismissed on “peremptory challenges” by the prosecuting attorneys.  The California 3rd District Court of Appeal decided that the defendant in People v. Douglas, 2018 Cal. App. LEXIS 403, a gay man, is entitled to a new trial.  The Nevada Supreme Court ruled in Morgan v. State, 2018 Nev. LEXIS 31, 134 … <Read More>

U.S. Supreme Court Denies Petition to Review Texas Supreme Court Ruling in Houston Benefits Case

On December 4 the U.S. Supreme Court rejected without explanation a petition from the City of Houston seeking review of the Texas Supreme Court’s June 30 ruling in Pidgeon v. Turner, which had cast doubt on whether the City was obligated under Obergefell v. Hodges, the 2015 marriage equality ruling, to provide same-sex spouses of Houston employees the same employee benefits offered to different-sex spouses.

A decision by the Supreme Court to deny review of … <Read More>

West Virginia Supreme Court Sharply Split on State Hate Crimes Law Interpretation

A sharply-divided West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals voted 3-2 on May 9 to reject the application of the state’s Hate Crimes Law to the criminal prosecution of Steward Butler, who reacted to two gay men kissing each other on a sidewalk in Huntington, West Virginia, in the early hours of April 5, 2015, by exiting his car and slugging both men in the face. State v. Butler, 2017 WL 1905948, 2017 W. Va. LEXIS … <Read More>

Mississippi Defies the 1st Amendment with “Freedom of Conscience” Law

On April 5 Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant signed into law H.B. 1523, a measure that received overwhelming approval in both houses of the state legislature.  Titled the “Protecting Freedom of Conscience From Government Discrimination Act,” the law was clearly intended to encourage businesses and individuals in the state to discriminate against same-sex couples, LGBT people, and even sexually-active unmarried heterosexuals.

Despite the broad wording of its title, the measure does not on its face protect … <Read More>

The Obama Government Contractor Executive Order

The White House has announced that President Barack Obama will sign an executive order on July 21, 2014, amending Executive Order 11246 to add “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” as prohibited grounds of discrimination by government contractors.  Announcements emanating from the White House suggest that the addition of these terms to the existing executive order are the only substantive changes that will be made.  The non-discrimination requirements will be included in new federal contracts made … <Read More>

Federal District Judge Exhibits Ignorance in Evaluating Sexual Orientation Discrimination Claim

I glance at many court opinions almost every day in my ongoing quest of materials for my newsletter, Lesbian/Gay Law Notes, so I have a fairly good idea of what passes for constitutional analysis in federal district court opinions, but every now and then something just jumps out at me as reflecting sheer ignorance.  One example of this is Fletcher v. Little, a November 20 decision by U.S. District Judge Sue L. Robinson (D. Delaware), … <Read More>