LGBT+ News and Discussions

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Supreme Court Rules Businesses Can Refuse Service to LGBTQ+ Customers
by Ivana Saric
June 30, 2023

Introduction:

(Axios) Businesses can refuse to serve same-sex couples if doing so would violate the owners' religious beliefs, the Supreme Court ruled on Friday.

Why it matters: The court has significantly expanded LGBTQ rights over the past several years, but is now carving out some exceptions.

Driving the news: The case concerns Lorie Smith, a Colorado web designer who wanted to create and sell wedding websites, but not to same-sex couples.

• Colorado's civil rights law prohibited her, or any business that serves the general public, from turning away customers because of their sexual orientation. She said complying with that law would force her to espouse views she does not agree with.

• "The artwork that I create is speech," Smith told Colorado Public Radio in December, adding that, "those messages must be consistent with my convictions."

The big picture: The conservative-majority Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in favor of Smith, saying she has a First Amendment right to refuse to design custom wedding websites for same-sex couples.

Read more here: https://www.axios.com/2023/06/30/supre ... website

Wasn't a similar case decided in exactly the same way years ago around the principle of compelled speech?

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Supreme Court Rules Businesses Can Refuse Service to LGBTQ+ Customers
by Ivana Saric
June 30, 2023

...

Read more here: https://www.axios.com/2023/06/30/supre ... website

Wasn't a similar case decided in exactly the same way years ago around the principle of compelled speech?

You are probably thinking of this case:

(Wikipedia) Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, 584 U.S. ___ (2018), was a case in the Supreme Court of the United States that dealt with whether owners of public accommodations can refuse certain services based on the First Amendment claims of free speech and free exercise of religion, and therefore be granted an exemption from laws ensuring non-discrimination in public accommodations—in particular, by refusing to provide creative services, such as making a custom wedding cake for the marriage of a gay couple, on the basis of the owner's religious beliefs.

The case dealt with Masterpiece Cakeshop, a bakery in Lakewood, Colorado, which refused to design a custom wedding cake for a gay couple based on the owner's religious beliefs. The Colorado Civil Rights Commission evaluated the case under the state's anti-discrimination law, the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act. The commission found that the bakery had discriminated against the couple and issued specific orders for the bakery. Following appeals within the state, the Commission's decision against the bakery was affirmed, so the bakery took the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.

In a 7–2 decision, the Court ruled on narrow grounds that the Commission did not employ religious neutrality, violating Masterpiece owner Jack Phillips's rights to free exercise, and reversed the Commission's decision. The Court did not rule on the broader intersection of anti-discrimination laws, free exercise of religion, and freedom of speech, due to the complications of the Commission's lack of religious neutrality.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masterpie ... Commission

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Federal Judge Rules Arkansas Trans Healthcare Ban Violates US Constitution
Posted on July 3, 2023 by Lauren Mulvey
https://globalcocktails.com/federal-jud ... stitution/

A bill seeking to ban trans healthcare in Arkansas has been struck down by a federal judge, a monumental decision in the fight against transphobic legislation nationwide. The rejection of this bill sets a precedent for at least 19 others states who have introduced similar legislation, attempting to curtail gender-affirming healthcare for youth under the age of 18.

The US District Judge Jay Moody ruled that the act violated the US Constitution and wrote in his ruling “Rather than protecting children or safeguarding medical ethics, the evidence showed the prohibited medical care improves the mental health and well-being of patient and that, by prohibiting it, the state undermined the interests it claims to be advancing.”

The Arkansas law would officially prohibit doctors from providing gender-affirming care to anyone under the age of 18 in the form of hormone treatments, puberty blockers and surgery. Arkansas was the first state to ban this type of medical care in 2021 with Act 262.

Republican Attorney General Tim Griffin expressed disappointment over the ruling and claimed he planned to appeal the ruling with the 8th US Circuit Court of Appeals.

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Trans Model Makes History with Miss Universe Pageant Win
https://boredbat.com/trans-model-makes- ... geant-win/

Rikkie Valerie Kolle has made pageant history. The model has been crowned Miss Netherlands 2023, making her the first-ever trans woman to be honored with the title.

Her predecessor was the reigning champion for the Netherlands, Ona Moody. She and R’Bonney Nola, Miss Universe 2022, passed the glittery tiara and proverbial torch (which, in this case was a literal bouquet) to Kolle to mark the occasion in Limburg, where the ceremony took place.

Kolle isn’t the first trans woman to ever compete for the coveted crown— Spain’s Angela Ponce participated in 2018.

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Wisconsin school district can't restrict bathrooms for transgender student, federal judge says
Source: AP

Published 9:40 AM CDT, July 10, 2023

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A federal judge has blocked a Wisconsin school district from requiring transgender students to use bathrooms and locker rooms that match the sex they were assigned at birth while a lawsuit plays out against the school.

U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman said Thursday that the Mukwonago Area School District must allow a transgender student to use facilities that align with their gender identity, temporarily blocking a policy approved last month by the school board, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.

The order comes in a lawsuit brought anonymously by an 11-year-old transgender student and her mother. The judge ruled that the school’s policy was causing emotional and mental harm to the student, who was described as a boy at birth but has identified as a girl since she was three years old.

According to court documents, school officials have monitored which bathrooms the student uses and forced her to go to boys’ bathrooms or gender-neutral bathrooms at Mukwonago High School, where she is enrolled in summer school classes.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/wisconsin-tr ... b4ea0c1e76

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Study shows same-sex sexual behavior is widespread and heritable in macaque monkeys
https://phys.org/news/2023-07-same-sex- ... table.html
by Imperial College London

Observations of a wild colony of macaques over three years show same-sex sexual behavior among males is widespread and may be beneficial.

The results, published in Nature Ecology and Evolution, suggest same-sex sexual behavior (SSB) has evolved and may be a common feature of primate reproduction.

Conducted by researchers at Imperial College London, the observations and genetic data form the first long-term study of SSB in males within one species. Their study challenges the beliefs of some that SSB is a rare behavior in non-human animals or solely the product of unusual environmental conditions.

First author Jackson Clive, from the Georgina Mace Center for the Living Planet at Imperial, said, "We found most males were behaviorally bisexual, and that variation in same-sex activity was heritable. This means that the behavior can have an evolutionary underpinning; for example, we also found that males that mounted each other were also more likely to back each other up in conflicts—perhaps this could be one of many social benefits to same-sex sexual activity."

"Our research therefore shows that same-sex sexual behaviors can be common among animals and can evolve. I hope our results encourage further discoveries in this area."'

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Japan's Supreme Court makes landmark decision on transgender rights
By unanimous decision, judges call bathroom restriction 'illegal,' overturning lower court ruling
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2023/ ... eme-court/

In a landmark decision, the Supreme Court on Tuesday said it was unlawful to restrict the use of bathrooms by a transgender woman at the economy ministry, overturning a lower court ruling. It is the first top court decision over bathroom usage by sexual minorities.

The ruling — a unanimous decision by the five judges on the bench — marks a significant step forward for the working conditions of transgender people, and could affect how companies and government ministries handle similar cases in the future.

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Maine Adds Gender Affirming Care To Youth-Consent Care At Age 16
With many states passing laws targeting transgender youth with care bans, Maine has gone in the opposite direction. A new law has passed allowing trans youth to consent to care at 16.
Erin Reed
Jul 12, 2023

In Maine, 16 year olds can consent to a variety of medical treatment without parental involvement. Abortion, birth control, STI testing, and more are all things that youth can consent to in Maine and in several other states. Now, a new law has been passed that allows transgender youth to seek gender affirming care at the age of 16 without involving parents.

House Bill 535, signed into law by Governor Janet Mills, specifies a variety of conditions that must be met in order for transgender youth to consent to care. The bill specifies that such youth must be 16 years old, that they must be denied care by their parents, and that they have been given all options around transition care so that they may make an informed decision. The care is limited to nonsurgical gender affirming hormone therapy only, and requires an evaluation of the minor’s ability to consent to the care.

https://www.erininthemorning.com/p/main ... rming-care

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