The Supreme Court yesterday heard its first LGBTQ rights case after Justice Amy Coney Barrett joined the already far-right-tilting bench.
The case, “Fulton v. City of Philadelphia,” argues that Catholic Social Services, whose foster care program bars same-sex couples from participating, be allowed to contract with the city. Philadelphia’s anti-discrimination policies will not allow the city to contract with agencies like CSS that discriminate.
The Boston-based GLBTQ Legal Advocates and Defenders (GLAD) explains why this case is important beyond the Philadelphia city limits and significant to other communities — like Boston and throughout New England — that have similar protections against discrimination on their books:
There is a possibility that a decision in Fulton could come to mean that nearly any religious entity, or even a private company asserting its religious beliefs, would have permission to refuse to serve or work with anyone simply because of who they are.
So many people rely on government-funded entities like CSS to fulfill essential needs — for food, housing, health care, and more. This case could lay the foundation for the reversal of protections on which the most vulnerable in our community rely to ensure equal access to goods and services. It could also require the government at all levels to fund discriminatory groups.
That’s why GLAD joined 27 other LGBTQ advocacy organizations across the country to file an amicus brief urging SCOTUS against CSS’s argument.
Reports the Boston Globe last night:
With the addition of three appointees of President Trump, Justices Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett, the court would seem poised to extend protections for religious objections to antidiscrimination laws.
Kavanaugh, for his part, suggested Wednesday there should be a way for Catholic Social Services to continue to work with foster families. The case, Kavanaugh said, requires the justices to think about how to balance “very important rights” the court has recognized: religious rights and the right to same-sex marriage.
“It seems when those rights come into conflict, all levels of government should be careful and should often, where possible and appropriate, look for ways to accommodate both interests in reasonable ways,” he said.
Even liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor seemed to recognize the court was sympathetic to Catholic Social Services. “If one wanted to find a compromise in this case, can you suggest one that wouldn’t do real damage to all the various lines of laws that have been implicated here?” she asked at one point. …
During nearly two hours of arguments, several justices brought up the fact that there’s no record that any same-sex couple has ever asked to work with Catholic Social Services and been turned away. If a couple did ask, they’d be referred to another of the more than two dozen agencies the city works with, Catholic Social Services says.
The justices, seven of whom are Catholic or attended Catholic schools, also asked about other hypothetical contracts officials might make.
Justice Stephen Breyer asked what would happen if a religious organization bidding on a transportation contract wanted men and women to sit separately, or women to wear head scarves.
“If there’s an agency that refuses to employ women, would the state have to contract with that agency?” Justice Elena Kagan asked at one point.
And Barrett, hearing her third day of arguments at the high court, asked about a hypothetical case where a state contract with a private Catholic hospital requires it to perform abortions.
The case is not the first in which a more conservative court has weighed the rights of LGBT individuals. Earlier this year, before Barrett joined the court, the justices by a 6-3 vote ruled that a landmark civil rights law protects gay, lesbian, and transgender people from discrimination in employment. The opinion was written by Gorsuch, who said it was not likely to be the court’s last word on a host of issues revolving around LGBT rights.
Read the Globe’s complete article here.
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