As the Supreme Court’s 2017-18 Term began in October, it looked like a banner term for LGBTQ-related cases at the nation’s highest court. Petitions were pending asking the Court to address a wide range of issues, including whether LGBTQ people are protected against discrimination under federal sex discrimination laws covering employment (from Georgia) and educational opportunity (from Wisconsin), whether LGBTQ people in Mississippi had standing to seek a federal order to prevent a viciously anti-gay … <Read More>
Barber v. Bryant
Another LGBT Case SCOTUS-Bound? Lambda Will Petition for Judicial Review of Ruling on Standing to Challenge Mississippi Statute
Mississippi enacted H.B. 1523 in 2016. The measure enshrines in state statutes a special privilege to discriminate for people whose religious or moral convictions oppose same-sex marriage and sexual relations outside of opposite-sex marriages, and who reject the idea that a person could have a gender identity different from their “biological sex” as identified through external observation of genitals at birth. As part of that special privilege, such individuals are immunized from any “discriminatory” … <Read More>
5th Circuit Tosses Challenge to Mississippi HB 1523 on Standing Grounds
A three-judge panel of the Houston-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit dissolved a preliminary injunction and dismissed two lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of H.B. 1523, a Mississippi law enacted last year intended to assure that people who hold anti-gay or anti-transgender views cannot be subject to any adverse action from their state or local governments. Barber v. Bryant, 2017 Westlaw 2702075, 2017 U.S. App. LEXIS 11116 (June 22, 2017).
U.S. District … <Read More>
Federal Court Blocks Implementation Mississippi HB 1523
Just minutes before Mississippi’s anti-LGBT H.B. 1523 was scheduled to go into effect on July 1, U.S. District Judge Carlton W. Reeves filed a 60-page opinion explaining why he was granting a preliminary injunction to the plaintiffs in two cases challenging the measure, which he consolidated for this purpose under the name of Barber v. Bryant.
According to Judge Reeves, H.B. 1523 violates both the 1st Amendment’s Establishment of Religion Clause and the 14th Amendment’s … <Read More>