Topics on the Page

 

 

History of Landmark LGBT Rights Court Cases

 

• Romer V. Evans (1996)

 

• Lawrence and Garner v. Texas (2003)

 

Marriage Equality Cases

 

• Goodridge v. Massachusetts Department of Public Health (2003)

 

• Obergefell v. Hodges (2015)
  

   

The Masterpiece Cakeshop Case

 

 

LGBT Servicemembers & Military Policy

 

• Don't Ask/Don't Tell Policy
  

 

Recent Developments

 

• Bostock v. Clayton County (2020)

 

Transgender Athletes

 

• Restrictions and Protections 

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History of LGBTQ Rights in Courts

 

 

Landmark Cases from Lambda Legal

 

• Includes state-by-state interactive to explore decisions related to employment and rights in the workplace; marriage and relationships; transgender rights; military service and more
  

 

Learning Plans - Teaching and learning about gay rights

• New York Times article discussing the introduction of gay rights into curriculums and useful lesson plans

 

 

Learning Plans - Students will view a series of video clips that examine six major Supreme Court cases that dealt with LGBT issues. Students will identify the key issues and arguments made in these cases.  

 

 

LGBT Rights Milestones Fast Facts (CNN) 

 

A Brief History of Gay Rights at the Supreme Court, FiveThirtyEight blog (June 26, 2015)
 

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Romer V. Evans (1996)

 

• Court held, 6 to 3, that the equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution prevents states from denying civil rights protections to sexual minorities, including lesbian, gay and bisexual people
• View Romer v. Evans Quiz Cards

 

 

Lawrence and Garner v. Texas (2003) 

 

• This decision overturned a Texas statute outlawing sexual conduct between two members of the same sex.
• For more, see the following overview of the case.

See also the book, Flagrant Conduct: The Story of Lawrence v. Texas--How a Bedroom Arrest Decriminalized Gay Americans. Dale Carpenter, W. W. Norton, 2012.

Click here for more information on a right to privacy under the Constitution.

 

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Marriage Equality Cases

 

The Marriage Equality Battle is Now History, NPR History Department (June 27, 2015) 

 

The Improbable Victory of Marriage Equality, Brennan Center for Justice 

 

For other cases, see The Gay Rights Controversy from the University of Missouri Kansas City. This site includes an updated map of states recognizing marriage for same-sex couples.

 

 

• 1993 Baehr v. Miike (originally Baehr v. Lewin)

 

• Hawaii’s high court issues first-of-a-kind ruling that a barrier to marriage is discrimination, launching the freedom to marry movement.

  

 

 

Goodridge v. Massachusetts Department of Public Health (2003).

 

• Massachusetts became the first state to legalize gay marriage.

 

• The Goodridges reflect on the passing of Goodridge v. Massachusetts Department of Public Health, 10 years later

 

• Click here for a summary with questions about Goodridge v. Massachusetts Department of Public Health. 

 

 

U.S. v Windsor (2013)

 

• In a 5 to 4 decision, the Court held that the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) deprived same-sex couples of their 5th Amendment rights for equal protection under federal law.

 

 

Obergefell v. Hodges (2015). The court held that the fourteenth Amendment requires a State to license a marriage between two people of the same sex and to recognize a marriage between two people of the same sex when their marriage was lawfully licensed and performed out-of-State.

 

 

See also, Same-Sex Marriage, Around the World for countries that have legalized gay marriage (from NPR, June 27, 2013).

 

Same-Sex Marriage: Landmark Decisions and Precedents from The New York Times, June 26, 2015

 

Backlash Against Same-Sex Marriage Kim Davis, a Town Clerk in KY, refuses to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples

 

 

The Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), 1996

 

 Learning Plans

 

Marriage Equality:  Different Strategies for Attaining Equal Rights, Teaching Tolerance

 

First Comes Love, Then Comes Marriage (Equality):  Welcoming Diverse Families in the Elementary Classroom, Social Studies and the Young Learner (2018)

 

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Masterpiece Cakeshop Case

 

Does a business open to the public has a constitutional right to discriminate about what people or groups to serve?

 

 

 

Why You Shouldn't Freak Out about the Masterpiece Cakeshop Ruling

 

Drawing a Line in the Gay Wedding Cake Case, New York Times (November 27, 2017)

• Case involves a baker who refused to make a gay couple's wedding cake saying it violated his religious beliefs protected under the free speech clauses of the First Amendment 

 

Here is a link describing the case in which these two men were discriminated against based off of their sexual orientation, and became a landmark case for the LGBTQ community: http://www.adfmedia.org/news/prdetail/8700

 

Masterpiece Cakeshop Ltd. v. Colorado Civll Rights Commission

Colorado Court Rules Bakery Illegally Discriminated Against Gay Couple, ACLU Blog

 
John Oliver on LGBT Discrimination (2015)

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LGBTQ Servicemembers & Military Policy

 

Executive Order 10450--Security requirements for Government employment

 

• April 27, 1953 - President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs an executive order that bans homosexuals from working for the federal government, saying they are a security risk.

 

EXTRACT FROM DOD DlRECTlVE 1332.14 - ENLISTED ADMlNlSTRATlVE SEPARATIONS

 

• January 28, 1982 - "Homosexuality is incompatible with military service. The presence in the military environment of persons who engage In homosexual conduct or who, by their statements, demonstrate a propensity to engage in homosexual conduct, seriously impairs the accomplishment of the military mission. The presence of such members adversely affects the ability of the Military Services to maintain discipline, good order, and morale; to foster mutual trust and confidence among servicemembers, to ensure the integrity of the system of rank and command; to facilitate assignment and worldwide deployment of servicemembers who frequently must live and work under close conditions affording minimal privacy: to recruit and retain members of the Military Services; to maintain the public acceptability of military service; and to prevent breaches of security."
  
  

Don't Ask Don't Tell

 

• July 19, 1993 - President Bill Clinton signs military policy prohibiting openly gay or lesbian Americas from serving in the military while prohibiting the discrimination/harassment of closeted gay or lesbian Americans servicemembers.

 

WATCH - CNN - "History of Don't Ask Tell"

 

 

 

Trump Approves New Limits on Transgender Troops in the Military

 

• March 23, 2018 - President Trump rescinds his previous policy to allow a new policy to take effect that will likely disqualify most transgender people from serving in the US military. The White House announces that the policy will say "transgender persons with a history or diagnosis of gender dysphoria -- individuals who the policies state may require substantial medical treatment, including medications and surgery -- are disqualified from military service except under certain limited circumstances."

 

• Vice - Trump's Transgender Military Ban

 

• Link here for an article about Donald Trump's position of LGBT Rights, specifically the transgender military ban.

 

 

 

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Recent Legal Developments

 

Bostock v. Clayton County (2020) 

 

• This landmark Supreme Court civil rights case held that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 protects employees against discrimination because they are gay or transgender.
• Successfully argued that an employer who fires someone in a same-sex relationship for that reason is doing so unconstitutionally. Essentially, if a gay man and a straight woman were both married to men, and only the former was fired, it is evident that the sex of the employee played a role in their firing, which is unconstitutional under Title VII.
   
• Read how the ramifications of the case developed in 2021 and why they matter. 

 

This ruling has huge ramifications. Under some interpretations, this case would extend nearly all gender & sex-based legislation to LBGTQIA folk. The first link is to the Oyez breakdown of the case, and the second is to an article dissecting the case's ramifications in simple terms. A description of the case and how the Judges reasoned is included on the page as well.

 

 

Transgender Athletes

B.P.J. v. West Virginia Board of Education

 

• Supreme Court Rules for Transgender Girl in School Sports Dispute, The New York Times (April 6, 2023)

 

• In this case, the state of West Virginia to enforce a ban on transgender student athletes and kick 12-year-old Becky Pepper-Jackson off her middle school’s cross-country and track and field teams.  A state law prohibits girls who are transgender from participating in school sports.

 

 

Restrictions and Protections

 

• According to the American Civil Liberties Union in 2023, 19 states have enacted measures restricting transgender athletes in the past three years.

 

• Under a rule change to Title IX proposed by the Biden administration on Thursday (April, 2023), schools would not be able to “categorically” ban transgender athletes.

 

 

Links to Pictures Used:
http://milkfoundation.org/

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/09/opinion/pentagon-transgender.html

 

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