Justices Thomas, Alito, and Kavanaugh would have heard the First Amendment appeal. In a dissent, Thomas laid out an aggressively anti-transgender position.
If banning conversion therapy is, as Clarence Thomas says, a violation of the First Amendment in its purest form, why isn’t banning abortion also a violation of the First Amendment in its purest form? After all, both involve a polarizing issue that has split the states, and both involve regulation of the medical profession. The religious rightwing protects unborn fetuses but torments the same fetuses after they are born. If God exists, Clarence is in big trouble.
The crisis pregnancy ruling when Kennedy was still on the Court (5-4 with Breyer with a notably angry dissent) underlines the biased application likely if the Supreme Court took up Alito and Thomas' express argument that regulation of licensed medical speech was akin to the flag salute case (Thomas) or something.
Freedom of speech doesn’t include forcibly incarcerating minors, berating and abusing them, and refusing to release them until they sufficiently change their own speech to your liking. Though it’s easy to understand why those three justices would like it to.
"We don’t know why the justices voted against granting cert, but, they did — so the law stands and conversion therapy for minors remains banned in Washington." Is this the Court refusing to spend its severely diminished political capital on an issue that few people care about? (Not diminishing the issue's importance but just that like with most trans issues the number of people directly impacted is very small.)
Meanwhile, in Ohio ... Tomorrow, December 13th, will be a turning point in the years-long struggle in Ohio to prevent a blast of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation from passing. Up for possible votes are HB8, a deeply anti-child, anti-student, anti-teacher bill dressed up as ‘parental rights legislation, and HB68, a bill that would ban trans K12 students from participating in girls sports in school while simultaneously banning gender-affirming care to minors. Both bills are moving through the Ohio Senate Education Committee and the Ohio Senate Government Oversight Committee respectively, with possible full votes in both chambers of the legislature in the afternoon.
These laws are being sponsored by:
HB8: Reps. Swearingen(R) and Caruthers(R), two legislators from heavily rural districts in the state.
HB68: Rep. Gary Click(R), a pastor with a history of extreme views about LGBTQ people.
Equality Ohio (equalityohio.org) is spearheading the resistance to these bills, along with half-a-dozen other organizations in the state. Against all odds, they have prevented passage of all of these hateful laws to date. They will hold a press conference at 10:30am tomorrow in the heat of battle (see attached ).
Ohio is one of the most gerrymandered state in the country, and these bills would not be possible without the supermajority enjoyed by Republicans in the state. They would also not be possible in the court of public opinion, where more than 50 percent of the electorate regularly favor equal rights for Ohio’s LGBTQ+ citizens.
I hope you’ll be able to tune in to the festivities. The committee hearings and the House and Senate general sessions will be broadcast live on the Ohio Channel: https://ohiochannel.org/
If banning conversion therapy is, as Clarence Thomas says, a violation of the First Amendment in its purest form, why isn’t banning abortion also a violation of the First Amendment in its purest form? After all, both involve a polarizing issue that has split the states, and both involve regulation of the medical profession. The religious rightwing protects unborn fetuses but torments the same fetuses after they are born. If God exists, Clarence is in big trouble.
clarence thomas is evil
The crisis pregnancy ruling when Kennedy was still on the Court (5-4 with Breyer with a notably angry dissent) underlines the biased application likely if the Supreme Court took up Alito and Thomas' express argument that regulation of licensed medical speech was akin to the flag salute case (Thomas) or something.
The (very) occasional zephyr of salubrious air wafting through SCOTUS.
Freedom of speech doesn’t include forcibly incarcerating minors, berating and abusing them, and refusing to release them until they sufficiently change their own speech to your liking. Though it’s easy to understand why those three justices would like it to.
"We don’t know why the justices voted against granting cert, but, they did — so the law stands and conversion therapy for minors remains banned in Washington." Is this the Court refusing to spend its severely diminished political capital on an issue that few people care about? (Not diminishing the issue's importance but just that like with most trans issues the number of people directly impacted is very small.)
Meanwhile, in Ohio ... Tomorrow, December 13th, will be a turning point in the years-long struggle in Ohio to prevent a blast of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation from passing. Up for possible votes are HB8, a deeply anti-child, anti-student, anti-teacher bill dressed up as ‘parental rights legislation, and HB68, a bill that would ban trans K12 students from participating in girls sports in school while simultaneously banning gender-affirming care to minors. Both bills are moving through the Ohio Senate Education Committee and the Ohio Senate Government Oversight Committee respectively, with possible full votes in both chambers of the legislature in the afternoon.
These laws are being sponsored by:
HB8: Reps. Swearingen(R) and Caruthers(R), two legislators from heavily rural districts in the state.
HB68: Rep. Gary Click(R), a pastor with a history of extreme views about LGBTQ people.
Equality Ohio (equalityohio.org) is spearheading the resistance to these bills, along with half-a-dozen other organizations in the state. Against all odds, they have prevented passage of all of these hateful laws to date. They will hold a press conference at 10:30am tomorrow in the heat of battle (see attached ).
Ohio is one of the most gerrymandered state in the country, and these bills would not be possible without the supermajority enjoyed by Republicans in the state. They would also not be possible in the court of public opinion, where more than 50 percent of the electorate regularly favor equal rights for Ohio’s LGBTQ+ citizens.
I hope you’ll be able to tune in to the festivities. The committee hearings and the House and Senate general sessions will be broadcast live on the Ohio Channel: https://ohiochannel.org/
The press conference will be streamed live at https://www.facebook.com/ACLUOH
Press conference at 10:30 am EST