Two Federal Trial Judges in Texas Express Diametrically Opposed Views on First Amendment Protection for Drag Shows

U.S. District Judge Matthew J. Kacsmaryk, a Trump appointee who is the only judge assigned to the Amarillo Division of the Northern District of Texas and is among the most anti-LGBTQ judges in the nation, issued a ruling on September 21 denying a preliminary injunction to a student organization that was prohibited by Walter Wendler, the President of West Texas A&M University (WT), from holding a planned drag show on the WT campus intended to … <Read More>


District Court Rejects Constitutional Challenge to Washington State’s Conversion Therapy Ban

Senior U.S. District Judge Robert J. Bryan has dismissed constitutional challenges to Washington State’s Conversion Therapy ban (codified in Wash. Rev. Code Sections 18.130.20 and 18.130.180) brought by Brian Tingley, a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, who asserted a violation of his free speech and free exercise of religion rights, as well as alleging a violation of due process.  Tingley v. Ferguson, 2021 WL 3861657, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 164063 (W.D. Wash., Aug. 30, … <Read More>


Federal Court Issues Preliminary Injunction against Trump’s Anti-Diversity Training Executive Order

A federal court in San Jose, California, issued a preliminary injunction on December 22 against enforcement of two key provisions of President Donald Trump’s Executive Order 13950, which prohibits the Defense Department, civilian federal agencies, federal contractors and grant recipients from carrying out diversity and inclusion training programs that include concepts offensive to President Trump. District Judge Beth Labson Freeman found that the plaintiffs, a group of LGBT and AIDS organizations that provide such training … <Read More>