Yesterday, Lambda Legal filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the U.S. Supreme Court in Zubik v. Burwell and six related cases urging the Court to reject arguments made by religiously affiliated nonprofit organizations who argue that it burdens their religious beliefs simply to notify the federal government that they are opting out of providing their employees insurance coverage for contraceptives under the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
Lambda Legal filed a friend-of-the-court brief with the U.S. Supreme Court yesterday in support of the Texas abortion clinics, physicians who perform abortions and Texas women who need abortion services, who are challenging Texas’s unduly burdensome abortion regulations in Whole Woman’s Health v. Cole.
Lambda Legal sent an open letter to Indiana Gov. Mike Pence and leaders of the Indiana House and Senate urging them to include sexual orientation and gender identity to the existing categories that enjoy protection from discrimination under Indiana law.
On Friday, September 18th, Lambda Legal will honor two leaders whose public stance against Indiana’s so-called “Religious Freedom Restoration Act” (RFRA) this year elevated public outcry, outlined the costly impact of discrimination on business, and set important standard for corporate leadership on civil rights.
More than 100 state bills so far have aimed to use religious beliefs as an excuse for discrimination. The idea is to allow businesses and public employees to mistreat LGBT people and consider married same-sex couples as unmarried.
Following the introduction of the Equality Act in July, questions have arisen about just how the bill is designed to protect LGBT people and its potential impact on employers, businesses and religious entities.
Today Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley and Rhode Island Representative David Cicilline, together with lead co-sponsors Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Rep. John Lewis (D-GA), introduced the Equality Act, a bill to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity in employment, housing, credit, education, and jury service.
What Just Happened
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issued a landmark ruling this week that the sex discrimination provisions of Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act protect employees who suffer discrimination because of their sexual orientation.
President Obama’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing just finalized its report addressing the epidemic of police violence and discriminatory policing across the country. The White House also released recommendations yesterday by the President's Law Enforcement Equipment Working Group, which identified important first steps toward rolling back aspects of the militarization of policing. Lambda Legal was among seven LGBT and HIV advocacy organizations that formed a working group to develop recommendations to the President’s Task Force about how to effectively address the violence and discrimination that our communities face.
The following presentation was provided by Jennifer C. Pizer, Lambda Legal Law & Policy Project National Director, at a briefing convened by U.S. Rep. Bobby Scott on the harms of federal and state Religious Freedom and Restoration Acts (RFRA).