President Trump last night nominated Neil Gorsuch to the U.S. Supreme Court, and as expected, his pick is ultra-conservative. Here’s what we know about Gorsuch and his possible impact on equality for LGBTQ families.
First, it’s telling that Lambda Legal has for the first time opposed a Supreme Court nomination before a confirmation hearing. Lambda writes that among other things, a Supreme Court nominee should be able to:
Adhere to Lawrence’s holding that lesbians and gay men are entitled under the U.S. Constitution’s protection of liberty to the same autonomy as heterosexuals in making personal decisions relating to marriage, procreation, contraception, family relationships, child rearing and education.
Gorsuch clearly hasn’t passed this bar for them. They have analyzed his record and observe that Gorsuch has “a vision of a society where religion prevails over law, and where the concerns of religious parties override the concerns of other citizens.” His opinions “open the door to all manner of assaults on the civil rights of ordinary citizens — including lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and transgender people and everybody living with HIV.”
GLAD adds:
Judge Gorsuch has expressed skepticism about the judiciary’s role in defining and protecting constitutional liberties and freedoms that are central to LGBTQ lives, in ways that could undermine established Constitutional protections such as marriage equality and access to reproductive health care.
Gorsuch also wrote an essay in 2005, Lambda tells us, inveighing against what he saw as an “addiction” of American liberals to using the courtroom “as the primary means of effecting their social agenda on everything from gay marriage to assisted suicide to the use of vouchers for private-school education.” Lambda notes, of course, that this practice is not only used by liberals, and that “the U.S. Supreme Court routinely hears conservative challenges to constitutionally protected rights.”
Gorsuch seems to have ruled directly on LGBTQ rights only once. In 2015, he joined an opinion rejecting arguments by an incarcerated transgender woman that “the Oklahoma Department of Corrections had violated her constitutional rights by denying her medically necessary hormone treatment and her request to wear feminine clothing,” explains Lambda.
All told, he seems likely to support the “right” of people to discriminate against us and our children on the basis of their religious beliefs.
That doesn’t mean all is lost. Associate Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor, and Elena Kagan still lean left. Anthony Kennedy sits in the middle but has authored every LGBTQ-related Supreme Court case and upheld our rights. Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and Chief Justice John Roberts lean right, but remain in the minority. Having said that, Gorsuch once clerked for Kennedy, and it is unclear if he would have any influence on him. And both Ginsburg and Kennedy are over 80 years old, putting their tenure into question.
Once again, I’ll remind readers that for two-parent families, second-parent adoptions or court orders of parentage are still recommended by LGBTQ legal organizations, even if both parents are on their children’s birth certificates. That seems like good advice.
Whatever happens, keep loving your kids. Support your friends, neighbors, and relatives who may need it in these uncertain times. Make your voice heard, in whatever way you can. Gorsuch won’t be the only obstacle we’ll face, and we can face these challenges if we work together.
