LGBTQ news and entertainment
In her first TV interview since joining the Supreme Court, Justice Amy Coney Barrett says that the Supreme Court “should not be imposing its own values on the American people,” as the high courts considers whether to revisit its same-sex marriage ruling. Continue reading “Justice Amy Coney Barrett: ‘The Law Isn’t An Opinion Poll’ As High Court Considers Revisiting Same-Sex Marriage”
(image via Depositphotos)
As I reported last month, on the first day of the Supreme Court’s new term, conservative Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito chose to reignite their discontent with the 2015 decision that made marriage equality the law of the land. Justice Thomas wrote that the Obergefell ruling “enables courts and governments to brand religious adherents who believe that marriage is between one man and one woman as bigots, making their religious liberty concerns that much easier to dismiss.” Since that time, Amy Coney Barrett (who has a history of anti-LGBTQ views) has been confirmed to replace recently-deceased Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg increasing the conservative-leaning of the court to 6-3. Just this week, Barrett heard arguments in a case regarding a Roman Catholic adoption agency in Philadelphia (Catholic Social Services) that claims a First Amendment right to decline to match foster children with same-sex households even though it signed a contract with the city agreeing not to engage in anti-LGBTQ discrimination through its taxpayer-funded activities. According to Washington Blade reporter Chris Johnson, the court appeared to side with CSS after the oral arguments. With these Supreme Court developments in mind, state-based legal moves like Question 2 in Nevada become all the more important for LGBTQ Americans. (source: FOX5 News, Washington Blade)
Mike Taveira (photo: David-Simon Dayan)
• The Advocate: Parliament House, the iconic Orlando nightclub that has been serving central Florida’s LGBTQ+ population for 45 years, is closing, though the owners say it’s not a permanent closure. In a Facebook post, they tried to get the money for much-needed renovations, but they sadly couldn’t reach their goal. • The Signorile Report: Michelangelo takes a look at what it will take for a President Joe Biden to get The Equality Act passed in his first 100 days as promised. • KIT212: I’m catching up on Kenneth’s weekly round-up of LGBTQ publications like DNA Magazine’s 250th issue featuring cover model Julian Gabriel (below). 
(image via DNA Magazine)
Keegan Hirst (image via Twitter)
• Washington Blade: Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett continued to have no comment Wednesday on whether she’d overturn LGBTQ rights decisions, including the milestone Lawrence v. Texas ruling decriminalizing same-sex relations or the Obergefell ruling in favor of same-sex marriage. • New York Times: Amy Cooper, the white woman who called the police on a Black bird-watcher in Central Park, made a second, previously unreported call to 911 in which she falsely claimed that the man tried to assault her. When the police arrived, Cooper admitted that her reports were untrue. She’s reportedly negotiating a plea deal with prosecutors that would allow her to avoid jail. • BBC: Keegan Hirst (top photo), who became the UK’s first openly gay professional rugby player when he came out in 2015, has announced his retirement from professional rugby. “Be brave, be bold. Embrace change and f*cking go for it.”
Thank you Rugby League. It’s been emotional.
Thank you to all my teammates, opponents, coaches, staff and mostly, the fans. Remember, Rugby League is ALWAYS the winner. pic.twitter.com/Vtu8jjXnpA — Keegan Hirst (@KeeganHirst) October 8, 2020
L-R Judge Amy Coney Barrett, Sen. Mazie Hirono (screen captures)
Let me make clear – sexual preference is an offensive and outdated term. To suggest sexual orientation is a choice? It’s not. It’s a key part of a person’s identity. The LGBTQ+ community should be concerned with #WhatsAtStake with Judge Barrett on the Supreme Court. pic.twitter.com/4TWyATMX0Y
— Senator Mazie Hirono (@maziehirono) October 13, 2020
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) brought up LGBTQ rights and specifically marriage equality during today’s confirmation hearing with Supreme Court nominee Judge Amy Coney Barrett. Feinstein asked Barrett whether she believes marriage equality is settled law, but Barrett dodged on giving a clear answer. In public comments, Barrett has previously made it known she did not support the 2015 Obergefell ruling which made marriage equality legal across the U.S. She also believes Title IX doesn’t protect transgender people on the basis of sex discrimination. In responding today, Barrett used the anti-LGBTQ phrase “sexual preference” in referencing sexual orientation indicating that she believes it is a choice. The catchphrase is popular among those who oppose LGBTQ rights and maintain queer people could just choose to be straight if they wanted to.
The correct term is sexual orientation. “Sexual preference” is a term often used by anti-LGBTQ activists to imply that sexual orientation is a choice. https://t.co/rT6g95gsG1
— GLAAD (@glaad) October 13, 2020
IMPORTANT:
Barrett used “sexual preference” (not “sexual orientation”) when discussing her views on marriage equality. This is a dogwhistle. The term “sexual preference” is used by opponents of equality to suggest that being #LGBTQ is a choice.#BlockBarrett #SCOTUSHearing pic.twitter.com/kkftq9l2l5 — Lambda Legal (@LambdaLegal) October 13, 2020
Right: “Sexual preference” the kind of language used by Alliance Defending Freedom, a law firm that opposes equal rights for LGBTQ people (including basic non-discrimination protections) and supports the criminalization of homosexuality.
It’s frightening to hear Barrett use it. https://t.co/BhMlDm1EAs — Mark Joseph Stern (@mjs_DC) October 13, 2020
Barrett used the term “sexual preference,” the big tell that she believes homosexuality is a “choice.”
Which means she believes it can be changed/decided otherwise. Which means she believes in conversion therapy. Which certainly means she doesn’t recognize marriage equality. — Michelangelo Signorile, subscribe to my newsletter (@MSignorile) October 13, 2020
Feinstein: “Both decisions were decided by a 5-4 margin. Justice Ginsburg was in the majority. Justice Scalia dissented in both cases. You said in your acceptance speech for this nomination that Justice Scalia’s philosophy is your philosophy. Do you agree with this particular point of Justice Scalia’s view that the U.S. Constitution does not afford gay people the fundamental right to marry?”
Judge Barrett: “If I were confirmed, you would be getting Justice Barrett, not Justice Scalia so I don’t think that anybody should assume that just because Justice Scalia decided a decision a certain way that I would too. But I’m not going to express a view on whether I agree or disagree with Justice Scalia for the same reasons that I’ve been giving.
“Now, Justice Ginsburg, with her characteristic pithiness, used this to describe how a nominee should comport herself at a hearing. ‘No hints, no previews, no forecasts.’ That had been the practice of nominees before her but everybody calls it the Ginsburg rule because she stated it so concisely and it’s been the practice of every nominee since. So I can’t, and I’m sorry to not be able to embrace or disavow Justice Scalia’s position but I really can’t do that on any point of law.”
Feinstein: “Well that’s really too bad because it’s really a fundamental point for large numbers of people in this country. I understand you don’t want to answer these questions directly but you identify yourself with a Justice that you, like him, would be a consistent vote to roll back hard-fought freedoms and protections for the LGBT community. And what I was hoping that you would say is that this would be a point of difference where those freedoms would be respected and you haven’t said that.”
Barrett: “Senator, I have no agenda and I do want to be clear that I have never discriminated on the basis of sexual preference and would not ever discriminate on the basis of sexual preference.
“Like racism, I think discrimination is important. On the questions of law, however, I just, because I’m a sitting judge and because you can’t answer questions without going through the judicial process, can’t give answers to those very specific questions.”
Judge Amy Coney Barrett (photo: Rachel Malehorn/Wikimedia Commons)
While other justices have been approved in presidential election years, none has been voted on after July. Four years ago, Senate Republicans refused to even consider President Barack Obama’s nomination to replace Justice Scalia with Judge Merrick B. Garland, announced 237 days before Election Day, on the grounds that it should be left to whoever was chosen as the next president.
In picking Judge Barrett, a conservative and a hero to the anti-abortion movement, Mr. Trump could hardly have found a more polar opposite to Justice Ginsburg, a pioneering champion of women’s rights and leader of the liberal wing of the court.
And the Human Rights Campaign notes just some of Coney Barrett’s low-lights regarding LGBTQ rights:
Coney Barrett defended the Supreme Court’s dissenters on the landmark marriage equality case of Obergefell v. Hodges, questioning the role of the court in deciding the case:
[Chief Justice Roberts, in his dissent,] said, those who want same-sex marriage, you have every right to lobby in state legislatures to make that happen, but the dissent’s view was that it wasn’t for the court to decide…So I think Obergefell, and what we’re talking about for the future of the court, it’s really a who decides question.” – Coney Barrett
Coney Barrett says Title IX protections do not extend to transgender Americans, claiming it’s a “strain on the text” to reach that interpretation:
“When Title IX was enacted, it’s pretty clear that no one, including the Congress that enacted that statute, would have dreamed of that result, at that time. Maybe things have changed so that we should change Title IX, maybe those arguing in favor of this kind of transgender bathroom access are right. That’s a public policy debate to have. But it does seem to strain the text of the statute to say that Title IX demands it.” – Coney Barrett
Coney Barrett misgendered transgender people, referring to a transgender women as “physiological males,” while casting doubt on transgender rights:
“People will feel passionately on either side about whether physiological males who identify as females should be permitted in bathrooms, especially where there are young girls present.” – Coney Barrett
A new ABC News/Washington Post poll shows 57 percent of Americans say the next justice of the U.S. Supreme Court should be left to the winner of the presidential election and a Senate vote next year. Only 38 percent feel the confirmation should happen in the next weeks. The same poll shows: • 54 percent of respondents oppose increasing the number of Supreme Court justices versus 32 percent who support the idea • 50 percent said they trust Joe Biden more to handle the next SCOTUS nomination versus 42 percent who trust Donald Trump more to make the choice 
(graphic via ABC News/Washington Post poll)
Ellen Degeneres (screen capture)
