Gay Marriage Is in Cross Hairs as Right-Wing Attacks Expand
Leading Off: Marriage equality faces a direct challenge in the U.S. Supreme Court, while a Texas judge opens the door to marriage discrimination. The administration pursues new attacks on trans care and queer people. The week's top story lines.
photo illustration by Aly Gibbs
by Assigned Media
Just a decade after the justices enshrined marriage equality into law, the U.S. Supreme Court is set to discuss on Friday whether to take on a challenge to Obergefell v. Hodges filed by a Kentucky court clerk, Kim Davis, who had refused to issue licenses to gay couples based on her personal religious beliefs.
The court, whose composition is more conservative today, will hold a private conference on whether to hear the case, which would have far-reaching implications for marriage equality nationwide. A decision whether to consider full arguments in the case may be telling in itself, as SCOTUSblog reported.
“Whether the court will grant review boils down to whether there are four votes to take up the question,” Amy Howe reported in SCOTUSblog. “Moreover, even if there are four justices who might be inclined to do so, they won’t want to grant review unless they are confident that there is a fifth vote to overturn Obergefell.”
In Texas, which has led anti-gay bigotry, a state court ruled late last week that judges there may refuse to marry same-sex couples on the grounds of “sincerely held religious beliefs.” This ruling comes as the conclusion to a lawsuit brought one year ago by a Texas judge who was publicly sanctioned for refusing to officiate same-sex marriages.
The Department of Health and Human Services has proposed new rules that would dramatically restrict access to gender affirming care for youth nationwide. The proposals seek to, among other things, deny any medical provider or hospital Medicare or Medicaid funding if they provide any type of GAC for trans youth.
These rules, if put into effect, would effectively ban GAC for youth all across the country, as virtually all medical institutions have at least some reliance on this funding. A ban for youths under 19 on this scale would be a massive escalation of attacks on health care for trans people by the Trump regime, and could potentially serve as a precedent for instituting a similar ban for trans people 19 and older in the future.
The rules are still a long way off as HHS will need to take a number of procedural steps before codifying them.
The Department of Education released a new rule barring people who work for LGBTQ+ nonprofits and other organizations from having access to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program; a program that ordinarily would provide student loan forgiveness for government employees or people who work for nonprofits.
This rule change has been in the works since at least March when Trump released the executive order: Restoring Public Service Loan Forgiveness, wherein he accuses pro-trans organizations of child abuse and trafficking.
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