LGBTQ+ Rights and America

Yep. It's an attempt to throw hurdles in the way of same-sex marriage.

A court will immediately smack this down (right now, I don't see Obergefell being overturned; Gorsuch won't put up with it and Roberts is trying very hard not to score more points for the Democrats) but in the meantime it'll cause more pain for Tennessee couples.

Let's wake this thread up with some good news.

Court rules that trans girl in West Virginia can participate in track alongside other girls. The Fourth Circuit was up until recently very conservative, but recently they've been on the cutting edge of expanding the rights of trans people.

This is a pretty nice ruling, especially since the Supreme Court are probably going to take a punt on this (they already refused to let the ban stand while the appeal was on) which will mean that Ms. Pepper-Jackson gets to run with her peers, as will other girls in the affected states.

Speaking of trans-athletes, I find it both amusing and annoying how whenever there's a news about them having "unfair advantages", it's almost always from a (far) right source.

Honestly, I used to believe that too, until I started to actually check my sources and went, "wait a minute...!"

Well, yeah. The right are the ones who came up with the term "reality-based community" like it was an insult. Of course their heirs will intentionally spew bullshit and pretend it's facts.

Edited by Ramidel on Apr 16th 2024 at 7:28:41 AM

Biden updated Title IX to protect Trasngender and Nonbinary students bathroom and pronoun use in schools.

It will go into effect in August.

Edited by Demongodofchaos2 on Apr 19th 2024 at 11:02:37 AM

The United Methodist Church will be lifting its 40 year ban on gay clergy on May 4th.

4th Circuit: Gender Identity Is A Protected Characteristic, Blocks State Coverage Bans

The 4th Circuit of Appeals stated that bans on gender affirming care from receiving state funds is unconstitutional, which affected state employees and Medicaid recipients, stating it is discriminatory based on protected characteristics of sex and gender identity.

Surprisingly based 4th Circuit. I think they through out a ban on trans girls and women in sports a few weeks ago as well.

Looking at the makeup of the court... how the hell is a Reagan appointee still there? Just fucking retire, dude.

Better. The court is writing that the plain meaning of the Constitution is that discriminating against trans people is discrimination based on sex.

In other words, they're actually writing specifically to Neil Gorsuch.

My bigger question when I looked it up was: are there still Carter appointees? And the answer is yes. In fact, they go as far back as Richard Nixon. They should probably retire, too.

There are three or so H.W. Bush appointees. Also, there are Reagan appointees in all but the Second Circuit. They're in the First Circuit (along with the aforementioned Nixon appointee, both in senior status), Third Circuit, Fifth Circuit (which also has one Carter appointee), Sixth Circuit, Seventh Circuit, Eighth Circuit, Ninth Circuit, Tenth Circuit, Eleventh Circuit (which also has a Ford appointee - yes, Gerald R. Ford '74 - '77), which was created during Reagan's presidency (1981), D.C. Circuit, and Federal Circuit (created in 1982).

So it's not just a problem with the Fourth Circuit. Since there's no auto-retirement age, and they never bother to retire... well, for what its worth, the single oldest federal judge today, as per Wikipedia, is Gerald Tjoflat (born 1929) who is a Nixon/Ford appointee. There was one LBJ appointee who was above him on the list when he was alive, but he died in 2019. Call me ageist if you will, but I really think they should retire too.

Oh, by the way, this is because there are way too many vacancies (see this article from 2018).

edit: Whoops, didn't check the date.

Edited by Floater on May 9th 2024 at 7:58:21 AM

Yeah, the judge issue dated back to the Trump Administration. Biden's filled most of that.