Supreme Court nomee John G Roberts Jr's pro bono legal advice to advot for gay rights helped them w landmark 1996 lg protectg gay men and lbians om state-sanctned discrimatn; he was at time workg for private law firm Washgton, DC; lawyers volved se say he did not wre legal briefs or argue se, but that he provid valuable strategic guidance to formulate legal theori and ach them moot urt ssns; Roberts did not disclose his role se to Senate Judiciary Commtee when asked about his pro bono work; news of his participatn gay rights se sets off scramble both left and right, upendg perceptns of Roberts both mps; Whe Hoe seeks to reassure his nservative backers by downplayg his volvement se (M)
Contents:
- GAY RIGHTS
- HISTORY OF THE ANTI-GAY MOVEMENT SCE 1977
- GAY RIGHTS BATTLEFIELDS SPREAD TO PUBLIC SCHOOLS
- SCHWARZENEGGER VETO GAY MARRIAGE BILL
- COURT NOMEE ADVISED GROUP ON GAY RIGHTS
- GAY RIGHTS VS. FREE SPEECHSUPREME COURT BACKS WEB DIGNER OPPOSED TO SAME-SEX MARRIAGE
- THE HUMAN RIGHTS OF LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, TRANSGENR, QUEER, 2-SPIR AND TERSEX PERSONS
- ROBERTS DONATED HELP TO GAY RIGHTS CASE
GAY RIGHTS
The gay rights movement is the stggle for equaly and marriage rights for gay, lbian and transgenr people. Learn about the Stonewall Rts, Harvey Milk, the Pri flag and more. * gay rights 2005 *
Pl Cameron, former psychology stctor at Universy of Nebraska, begs publishg psdo-scientific pamphlets "provg" that gay people m more serial murrs, molt more children, and tentnally spread diseas. At the first Congrsnal heargs on anti-gay vlence, Kathleen Sarris of Indianapolis tells of beg stalked and asslted by a "Christian soldier" who held her at gunpot, beat and raped her for three hours, explag that "he was actg for God; that what he was dog to me was God's revenge on me bee I was a 'queer' and gettg rid of me would save children.
Callg lbians and gay men "the ultimate enemy, " Dannemeyer acc straight people of "surrenrg to this growg army whout a shot, " and predicts gay rights will "plunge our people, and ed the entire Wt, to a dark night of the soul that uld last hundreds of years. The battle over gay marriage is igned when the Hawaii Supreme Court l that nyg same-sex upl marriage licens vlat "basic human rights" guaranteed the state nstutn — unls the state legislature n show a "pellg reason" to prevent gay marriage. The Pk Swastika: Homosexualy the Nazi Party, by fundamentalist activists Stt Lively and Kev Abrams, claims gays weren't victimized the Holot, but stead helped mastermd the extermatn of Jews.
HISTORY OF THE ANTI-GAY MOVEMENT SCE 1977
Embolned by the polil right's growg fluence on public policy, opponents of school activi aimed at tg stunts about homosexualy or promotg acceptance of gay people are mountg challeng to such programs, at dividual schools, at stateho and Congrs. Chief among the targets are sex tn programs that clu discsns of homosexualy, and after-school clubs that brg gay and straight stunts together, two iativ that gaed assent numero schools over the last . * gay rights 2005 *
A aln of fundamentalist groups led by Coral Ridge Mistri sponsors "Tth Love, " a ln-dollar advertisg mpaign promotg "ex-gay mistri, " which e discreded psychologil methods to "cure" gay people. "Teletubbi" rtoon character Tky Wky is "outed" as gay a "Parents' Alert" Jerry Falwell's Liberty Journal, which asserts, "He is purple — the gay-pri lor; and his antenna is shaped like a triangle — the gay-pri symbol.
On "The 700 Club" two days after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Jerry Falwell blam the tragedy on "the Pagans, and the abortnists, and the femists and the gays and lbians who are actively tryg to make that an alternative liftyle.
AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTJune 9, 2005Embolned by the polil right's growg fluence on public policy, opponents of school activi aimed at tg stunts about homosexualy or promotg acceptance of gay people are mountg challeng to such programs, at dividual schools, at stateho and among the targets are sex tn programs that clu discsns of homosexualy, and after-school clubs that brg gay and straight stunts together, two iativ that gaed assent numero schools over the last many s, the opponents have been succsful.
GAY RIGHTS BATTLEFIELDS SPREAD TO PUBLIC SCHOOLS
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed a bill Thursday legalizg gay marriage California, sayg the issue should be cid by voters or the urts. * gay rights 2005 *
In Montgomery County, Md., for example, parents went to urt to block a health tn urse that offered a discsn of homosexualy, while Cleveland, Ga., gay and lbian stunts were barred om formg a high school club of gay and straight youths. "The growg nflicts are centerg on three issu: whether classrooms are an appropriate venue to explore issu of homosexualy, whether schools should lend sanctn to extracurricular activi which gay culture is a foc and whether textbooks that acknowledge homosexual relatnships are suable for younger sprg, one stance of the nservative rponse, the Alliance Defense Fund anized s first natnal Day of Tth for high school stunts unfortable wh the Natnal Day of Silence, an event sponsored for ne years by the Gay, Lbian and Straight Edutn Network to prott discrimatn schools. Kev Jenngs, founr and executive director of the gay tn work, said more than 3, 700 junr and senr high schools took part his group's Jenngs and other gay rights lears say the growg opposn to their efforts is keepg wh a predictable trend set off by disput over issu like same-sex marriage that are playg out on the natnal stage.
"The are a bunch of people who very much want to remove om public disurse any mentn of homosexualy, " said Jam Esseks, ligatn director of the Lbian and Gay Rights Project of the Amerin Civil Liberti Unn.
"The stggl have broken out month Montgomery County, Md., a parents' group, alarmed bee revisns to a health tn urse for 8th and 10th gras clud a discsn of homosexualy and a vio that monstrated how to e a ndom, went to feral urt and gaed a rtrag orr to halt them. The rolutn implor Baptist church to terme whether schools their area have "homosexual clubs or curricula or programs" and, if so, to enurage parents to remove their children om the schools. Shortt, a Hoton lawyer who is a -thor of the clubs known as Gay-Straight Allianc, which draw together stunts to share mon experienc and ncerns, have bee a particular source of nflict.
SCHWARZENEGGER VETO GAY MARRIAGE BILL
* gay rights 2005 *
Feral law often owns on admistrators' barrg some clubs while allowg others, but Cleveland school officials told the stunts that they would abolish all after-school anizatns before allowg a gay-straight alliance. Issue probably will go to state Supreme CourtSchwarzenegger noted that a state appeals urt was nsirg whether the state's ban on gay marriage is nstutnal and that the issue would likely be cid by the California Supreme Court. Roberts Jr., the Supreme Court nomee, gave advice to advot for gay rights a ago, helpg them w a landmark 1996 lg protectg gay men and lbians om state-sanctned Roberts, at the time an appellate lawyer for the Washgton firm of Hogan & Hartson, did not wre legal briefs or argue the se, lawyers volved said.
COURT NOMEE ADVISED GROUP ON GAY RIGHTS
By a 6-to-3 vote, the Supreme Court stck down a provisn of the Colorado Constutn that nullified existg civil rights protectns for gay men and lbians and also barred the passage of new antidiscrimatn laws.
Kennedy, the urt said the Colorado provisn had put the state's gay men and lbians a "solary class, " sglg them out vlatn of the Constutn's equal protectn guarantee a manner that was so sweepg as to be explible on any basis other than anim. ImageLorie Smh said her Christian fah requir her to turn away ctomers seekg servic to celebrate same-sex Woolf for The New York TimThe Supreme Court sid on Friday wh a web signer Colorado who said she had a First Amendment right to refe to sign weddg webs for same-sex upl spe a state law that forbids discrimatn agast gay people. ’”The se, though amed as a clash between ee speech and gay rights, was the latt a seri of cisns favor of relig people and groups, notably nservative cisn also appeared to suggt that the rights of L.
The liberal jtic viewed as somethg else entirely — a dispute that threatened societal protectns for gay rights and rolled back some recent an impassned dissent, Jtice Sonia Sotomayor warned that the oute signaled a return to a time when people of lor and other mory groups faced open discrimatn. Kavangh and Amy Coney Barrett, shifted the urt to the urts have generally sid wh gay and lbian upl who were refed service by bakeri, florists and others, lg that potential ctomers are entled to equal treatment, at least parts of the untry wh laws forbiddg discrimatn based on sexual owners of bs challengg those laws have argued that the ernment should not force them to choose between the requirements of their fahs and their livelihoods.
GAY RIGHTS VS. FREE SPEECHSUPREME COURT BACKS WEB DIGNER OPPOSED TO SAME-SEX MARRIAGE
A baker refed to make a weddg ke for their receptn on relig Cote for The New York TimHad there been an actual gay person who was refed a weddg-related service at the center of 303 Creative L. Irish-Amerin Gay, Lbian and Bisexual Group of Boston, Inc., a se om 1995 which the urt sid wh the anizers of a veterans para that blocked a group of gay, lbian and bisexual people om marchg the event.
Jtice Sotomayor seemed pecially ncerned about the way the urt’s opn would send a disapprovg msage to the public about people who are gay, lbian, bisexual or transgenr, or who were same-sex relatnships.
Addnally, several stat terpret existg laws agast sex discrimatn to apply to bias relatg to sexual orientatn and genr inty, even though they do not have laws explicly forbiddg such stat that do not offer protectns to gay and transgenr people on those grounds, municipal laws ver many Human Rights Campaign, an L. McCoy for The New York TimThe urt’s cisn favor of a Colorado web signer, Lorie Smh, had an unual feature: It was based on njecture and Smh, who objects to providg weddg-related servic for same-sex marriag, never turned down a gay uple. ETFriday’s lg was another reassurg cisn for relig celebratory moment outsi the Supreme Court on Friday, after the urt livered the latt a strg of judgments favor of relig Zuhaib/Associated PrsConservativ who have moral and theologil objectns to gay marriage saw the Supreme Court’s cisn on Friday as reassurance that they would be able to assert their beliefs a public square that they see as creasgly hostile to a 6-to-3 vote, spl along iologil l, the jtic agreed wh a web signer Colorado who said she had a First Amendment right to refe to provi servic for same-sex marriag, spe a state law that forbids discrimatn agast gay people.
THE HUMAN RIGHTS OF LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, TRANSGENR, QUEER, 2-SPIR AND TERSEX PERSONS
”Acrdg to pollg om 2021 by the Public Relign Rearch Instute, majori of most major relig groups — cludg Catholics, Jews and Mlims — oppose allowg small-bs owners to refe to serve gay and lbian people on relig grounds. Several siar s have centered on nservative Christian small bs owners who object to workg on gay weddgs specifilly, cludg a baker Colorado, two vatn signers Arizona and a Kentucky-based a news nference shortly after the lg was issued, Krist Waggoner, general unsel for Alliance Defendg Freedom, which reprented Ms.
” She said her nsiratn acceptg work as a webse signer was the “msage” of the se, not the inty of the Smh’s portfol clus webs for church, real tate pani and polil many nservative Christians hailed the cisn on Friday, drew cricism om some progrsive Christians and terfah groups, cludg those that serve gay people of fah. “Broad exemptns to allow relig-based discrimatn hurts people of fah, too, ” Francis DeBernardo, executive director of New Ways Mistry, which advot for gay Catholics, said a statement.
McCoy for The New York TimGay and transgenr rights anizatns on Friday nmned the Supreme Court lg backg a Colorado webse signer’s bid to refe to provi servic for same-sex marriag, llg the cisn a dangero backslidg on L. ETHere’s how urt battl over servg same-sex upl have played out the Cote for The New York TimIn the latt se volvg same-sex marriage rights, relig eedom and discrimatn, the Supreme Court on Friday led favor of a web signer Colorado who said she had a First Amendment right not to provi servic for same-sex marriag spe a state law that bans discrimatn agast gay ’s a brief look at some of the most proment s before Friday’s:A Colorado baker ws urtIn June 2018, the Supreme Court led favor of a Colorado baker who refed to bake a weddg ke for a gay uple.
ROBERTS DONATED HELP TO GAY RIGHTS CASE
Kennedy wrote that the missn’s members had acted wh “clear and impermissible hostily” to people wh scerely held relig Bra, a kemaker prevailsBra’s Supreme Court led favor of a bakery October 2018 that had refed to make a ke bearg the slogan “Support Gay Marriage, ” sayg the refal was not discrimatory.
The urt’s cisn mak easier for bs Bra to cle ctomer requts that are at odds wh their dispute began 2014, when Gareth Lee, a gay rights activist Northern Ireland, sought to buy a ke for a party om Ashers Bakg Company Belfast that showed two “Same Street” characters, Bert and Ernie; a logo for his group, QueerSpace; and the slogan supportg gay marriage.
A florist Washgton State says her rights were vlatedIn 2013, Barronelle Stutzman, the owner of a flower shop the small cy of Richland, southeastern Washgton, refed to create floral arrangements for a gay uple’s two grooms, Robert Ingersoll and Curt Freed, had prevly bought flowers at her store, Arlene’s Flowers.