FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | December 12, 2005

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Rights Groups Announce Opposition to Nomination of Samuel Alito

Nominee Would Roll Back Civil Rights Protections For LGBT Community

(San Francisco, CA, December 12, 2005) — The National Center for Lesbian Rights, the Human Rights Campaign, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, and Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays today announced their opposition to the Nomination of Samuel A. Alito to the Supreme Court of the United States.

The Supreme Court has the constitutional duty to protect the equality and liberty of all Americans and the respective authorities of the co-equal branches to act for the health, safety and welfare of all.

A nominee to the Court bears the burden of demonstrating that he or she is committed to rigorously enforcing the principles of equal protection and due process. Mere assurances before or during a hearing are not enough -- the professional and judicial record of Judge Samuel Alito makes clear that he cannot meet that burden. It also makes clear that the individual and equal protection rights of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender ("LGBT") people and their families would be in real jeopardy if he were confirmed.

"In striking down an anti-harassment law and arguing for a narrow interpretation of our Constitution's guarantee of liberty, Judge Alito has proven himself to be the wrong choice to replace moderate Justice Sandra Day O'Connor," said HRC President Joe Solmonese. "We also share our allies' concerns about his record on reproductive choice and the separation of church and state," Solmonese added.

"Judge Alito's appointment would spell disaster for LGBT Americans for decades to come. His judicial record fully reflects his embrace in the 1980s of the right wing agenda and is completely antithetical to the constitutional principles and values on which our rights and equal protection guarantees rest, " said National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Executive Director Matt Foreman. "His record shows open and declared hostility to reproductive rights, to the power of Congress to protect all Americans, to the values of diversity, to established, fair and effective rules in enforcing non-discrimination protections and to appropriate constraints on official and public space religious expression. We urge the Senate to reject his nomination."

"The U.S. Supreme Court is the final authority on a whole host of issues that have a direct impact on the lives of every citizen," noted Kate Kendell, Executive Director, National Center for Lesbian Rights. "With regard to procreative freedom in particular, he has worked actively to undermine Roe v. Wade and to roll back the clock on one of the most basic cornerstones of women's equality and freedom."

"Alito's record indicates that he would not protect all families equally," said Jody Huckaby, Executive Director of Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays. "As parents, family members and friends, we know that there is too much at stake now to leave GLBT rights in the hands of Alito."