On June 24, 2022, the Friday of Pride weekend for many major cities, the United States Supreme Court announced the reversal of Roe v. Wade with their decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. We wanted to catch up with our Federal Policy Director Julianna S. Gonen to find out more about what this means for the LGBTQ community and our families – and what NCLR is doing to ensure reproductive justice for everyone going forward. What was your initial reaction when then...
This past Saturday marked the 49th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the historic U.S. Supreme Court case recognizing the right to abortion as a fundamental right protected by the U.S. Constitution in all 50 states. Since that historic day in 1973, we have continued to see relentless attacks on abortion access that chip away at the fundamental right to reproductive autonomy. These attacks have escalated dramatically in the last few last years, most recently culminating in the passage of SB 8 in...
NCLR’s Federal Policy Director Julie Gonen penned a powerful OpEd for the Los Angeles Blade about the perils of Texas’ recently enact SB 8 anti-abortion bill – and why the future it may usher in should terrify our LGBTQ community as a whole. Give it a read and share widely. SB 8 puts us one step closer to life in Gilead – and that should worry every LGBTQ person SB 8 should alarm the LGBTQ community as we also find ourselves the targets of religious and right-wing ideologues I...
CONTACT YOUR SENATORS SUMMARY OF ISSUE The Equality Act (S. 393) would prohibit discrimination based on an individual’s sexual orientation or gender identity in employment, housing, credit, education, public accommodations (things like restaurants, hotels, and theaters), and jury service. It would also prohibit discrimination based on sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity in programs receiving federal funding. It passed the House of Representatives on February 25, 2021 – and now...
Reflections on Week One of the Biden-Harris Administration President Biden has certainly been busy, hasn’t he? As of January 29, 2021, Biden has issued 22 executive orders and seven other types of executive actions, such as presidential memoranda. (By the time you read this, those numbers will surely have increased.) Of these dozens of policy announcements, a few of them, viewed together, tell an interesting story. Those of us in the LGBTQ community were thrilled, of course, that an Executive...
I recently experienced acute déjà vu when writing our amicus brief in the Supreme Court case June Medical Services v. Russo, which deals with a challenge to a 2014 Louisiana restriction on abortion. That’s probably because the Supreme Court heard a case about an identical state abortion restriction just four years ago. In Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt, the Court found that a Texas law requiring that abortion providers have hospital admitting privileges did virtually nothing to protect...
The Trump administration’s Department of Health and Human Services has proposed a rule that would open the door to increased discrimination in health care against LGBTQ people and those who use reproductive health care services. But they can’t start applying this rule before they hear from the public. We need to let them know that this new rule is unacceptable. Use the form below to tell the administration that all people deserve access to health care free from discrimination. If you are an...
As an organization that litigates cases to protect equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender(LGBT) people, we do not take lightly a decision to oppose judicial nominees. The records of these two individuals, however, compel us to take this position. We believe the unvarnished animus towards LGBTQ people exhibited by Mr. Bush and Mr. Schiff render them unfit to serve as federal judges. Click here to read the full text of our letter to the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary....
In 2014, President Obama issued an Executive Order prohibiting discrimination against LGBTQ people by entities that contract with or receive grants from the federal government. This was an important milestone in expanding essential job protections for our community, and it is now under serious threat. Sweeping language in the House version of the National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2017 (NDAA) would nullify that Executive Order and authorize taxpayer-funded discrimination in each and...
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) recently issued a regulation that requires any homeless shelter that receives federal funding to treat transgender people equally. The rule expressly requires that shelters must house transgender individuals based on their gender identity. The rule is an important coda to the groundbreaking Equal Access Rule issued by the agency back in 2012, which prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity, and marital...
