Michigan Supreme Court hears major gay rights se | AP News

Contents:

• GAY RIGHTS VS. FREE SPEECHSUPREME COURT BACKS WEB DIGNER OPPOSED TO SAME-SEX MARRIAGE
• MICHIGAN SUPREME COURT HEARS MAJOR GAY RIGHTS SE
• GAY MARRIAGE

GAY RIGHTS VS. FREE SPEECHSUPREME COURT BACKS WEB DIGNER OPPOSED TO SAME-SEX MARRIAGE

Wa, Michigan’s first openly gay statewi office holr and a key player the US Supreme Court’s 2015 lg legalizg same-sex marriage, said Jtice Clarence Thomas’s ncurrg opn Friday’s anti-Roe cisn prents “an vatn” to opponents of marriage equaly. Kennedy, then the center of the High Court, rejected the optns before him, cidg agast sidg wh a same-sex uple who had been nied a ke for their Colorado weddg receptn and agast sidg wh the baker who said his oven was off-lims to gay upl. Jt a few weeks ago, when Transportatn Secretary Pete Buttigieg, the natn’s hight-rankg Senate-nfirmed gay member of the Bin Admistratn, joed TIME’s Washgton Bure for a wi-rangg nversatn, he was blunt: “I mean, Roe fell and that was the law of the land for longer than I’ve been alive.

Better this stance, we thk, to allow change through the ctomary polil procs, which the people, gay and straight alike, bee the hero of their own stori by meetg each other not as adversari a urt system but as fellow cizens seekg to rolve a new social issue a fair-md way. Allowg lovg and mted gay and lbian upl to marry would tell our children and grandchildren that Michigan we believe treatg others as we would want to be treated ourselv. WASHINGTON – Five years after the Supreme Court's landmark cisn extendg marriage rights to gay men and lbians natnwi, same-sex marriage has bee "so not a big al.

”The Supreme Court extend workplace protectns natnwi last week for the LGBTQ muny, lg 6-3 that a landmark civil rights law barrg sex discrimatn the workplace appli to gay, lbian and transgenr the urt's majory, led by nservative Associate Jtice Neil Gorsuch, did not close the door on relig exemptns, sayg "other employers other s may raise ee exercise arguments that mer reful nsiratn. "More:Rulg on LGBTQ rights reveals prer nature of Supreme Court's nservative majoryThe urt already is nsirg four major relign s, cludg several wh implitns for gay, lbian and transgenr people.

MICHIGAN SUPREME COURT HEARS MAJOR GAY RIGHTS SE

One of them, to be heard next fall, will ci if foster re agenci wh relig objectns n turn down gay and lbian seekg relig exemptns "are feelg tense public prsure... "'The air was electric'The high urt's 5-4 cisn that stat nnot ny marriage rights to gay men and lbians was hand down on June 26 – the same date as earlier landmark LGBTQ lgs agast state sodomy laws 2003 and the feral Defense of Marriage Act 2013. "Lookg back, the victory is equally gratifyg to those like Evan Wolfson, founr of the Freedom to Marry mpaign; Jam Esseks, director of the Amerin Civil Liberti Unn's Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgenr & HIV Project; Roberta Kaplan, who reprented Edie Wdsor of New York the 2013 se that forced the feral ernment to regnize same-sex marriage; and Mary Bonto, the natn's leadg LGBTQ rights lawyer, who won both the Massachetts se 2003 and the Supreme Court se 2015.

The cisn left unrolved whether other opponents of same-sex marriage, cludg bakers, florists, photographers and viographers, n refe mercial weddg servic to gay and lbian upl.

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.

GAY MARRIAGE

’”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.

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.

”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.