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Trump Has Chosen Right Wing Extremist Amy Coney Barrett for SCOTUS

New Civil Rights Movement | September 28, 2020

Topics: Amy Coney Barrett, Donald Trump, marriage equality, Roe v. Wade, US Supreme Court

Trump’s latest nominee for the Supreme Court is an anti-LGBTQ, anti-choice religious conservative whose appointment to the court may put marriage equality at risk of being struck down.

President Donald Trump has reportedly chosen a far right wing religious extremist, Judge Amy Coney Barrett, to be his third Supreme Court pick, according to The New York Times.

The Times is reporting, and contrary to Trump’s claims, that he did not interview any other candidates. Barrett was vetted, as much as any Trump White House candidates are, when he ultimately chose Brett Kavanaugh as his second SCOTUS choice.

Judge Barrett is anti-LGBTQ, anti-choice, and would vote to strike down Roe v. Wade and same-sex marriage.

In 2006 Barrett told Notre Dame graduates, “your legal career is but a means to an end, and . . . that end is building the kingdom of God.”

Coney Barrett has said she believes “life begins at conception.”

She has made clear she does not respect stare decisis, the legal tenet that says Supreme Court decisions are settled law.

Critical issues such as the right of women to obtain an abortion, the right of same-sex couples to marry, as well as the Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare) are seen as being overturned with her on the court.

Barrett is just 48 years old, and could sit on the bench for four decades should she be confirmed.

Written by David Badash, The New Civil Rights Movement. Image via Wikimedia

Trump and the GOP Are About to Give a Rabidly Anti-LGBTQ Judge a Lifetime Appointment

New Civil Rights Movement | May 26, 2020

Topics: Affordable Care Act, Cory Wilson, judicial appointments, marriage equality, Roe v. Wade, Trump administration, US Circuit Court

Part of a sweeping effort by President Trump and the Republican-controlled Senate to pack the courts with extremely conservative justices, Mississippi judge Cory Wilson has been open with his anti-LGBTQ political views.

On Wednesday, the Senate Judiciary Committee conducted a hearing of Cory Wilson, an anti-LGBTQ Mississippi judge nominated by President Donald Trump to have a lifetime appointment on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Pink News points out that in 2012, Wilson strongly opposed same-sex marriage, calling it “a pander to liberal interest groups and an attempt to cast Republicans as intolerant, uncaring, and even bigoted.”

Keep in mind that the Republican Party has repeatedly pushed ballot measures, statewide bans, and national laws to keep same-sex marriage illegal. In fact, the party’s 2016 national platform sought to overturn the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark 2015 decision legalizing same-sex marriage.

In 2016, Wilson also supported Mississippi House Bill 1523, a hideously anti-LGBTQ bill that would prevent lawsuits against anyone who discriminates on the basis of “sincerely held religious beliefs or moral convictions” opposing same-sex marriage, transgender identity, or premarital sex. In short, the bill allows businesses and medical workers of all sorts to deny service to LGBTQ people.

The bill was signed into law by Governor Phil Bryant on July 27, 2016, and though U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves issued a preliminary injunction blocking the law in 2017, the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals — the exact same court Wilson now wants to sit on — reversed Reeves’s decision.

Wilson also wants to overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court ruling legalizing abortion access, and the Affordable Care Act (aka. Obamacare). Wilson dodged questions about his desire to turn over the ACA during his senate questioning.

And if that wasn’t bad enough, Slate has a rundown of Wilson’s very vocal disdain for Obama, Hillary Clinton and the ACA:

Wilson called Barack Obama “King Barack,” “petty and small,” “a fit-throwing teenager,” the “Anointed One,” a “radical leftist,” and “shrill, dishonest, and intellectually bankrupt.” He charged Obama with running the “most paranoid and politicized White House since Nixon.” He has also called Hillary Clinton “Crooked Hillary,” “criminal and clueless,” and either “felony dumb or willfully ignorant.” And he falsely accused her of destroying documents under subpoena.

Then there’s Wilson’s loathing for the ACA. He has called the law “illegitimate,” “perverse,” “big intrusive government” that “is less about healthcare than it is about redistribution of wealth and power.”

He has also stood up for his state’s voter ID laws and mass purges of voter rolls, repeatedly (and falsely) claiming that voter fraud is a serious problem in Mississippi, Slate writes. In short, he’s just the sort of ideologue that Trump would love to install in the increasingly right-wing 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Thanks to Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Wilson is likely to get confirmation.

Written by Daniel Villarreal, The New Civil Rights Movement. Image via NCRM

Senate Republicans Just Gave a Lifetime Appointment to One of the Most Anti-LGBTQ Judges Trump Has Ever Nominated

New Civil Rights Movement | June 20, 2019

Topics: Alliance For Justice, anti-LGBTQ discrimination, Federal District Court, First Liberty Institute, Lambda Legal, Matthew Kacsmaryk, Roe v. Wade, Trump administration

He thinks transgender people are “delusional.”

He sees the fight for LGBTQ equality as a “clash of absolutes” where “religious liberty and sexual liberty” are forever at odds.

He says the Equality Act, which would add sexual orientation and gender identity to the Civil Rights Act of 1964, is “weaponizing” the Supreme Court Obergefell marriage ruling against Christians.

He’s said that “preventing sexual orientation-based discrimination cannot justify serious burdens on…constitutionally protected religious freedom.”

He works for an anti-LGBTQ legal group that seeks to defend Christians against  perceived religious discrimination. Among their clients have been Christian bakers Melissa and Aaron Klein of Sweetcakes by Melissa.

And on Wednesday Republicans in the U.S. Senate voted 52-46 to give him a lifetime appointment to the federal bench.

Matthew Kacsmaryk of the very anti-LGBTQ First Liberty Institute will soon be U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk for the Northern District of Texas.

All Democrats and one just one Republican, Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) voted against Kacsmaryk’s confirmation, as The Washington Blade reports.

Kacsmaryk is opposed by hundreds of LGBTQ and civil rights groups. The Leadership Conference, a coalition of more than 200 national organizations calls Kacsmaryk “a right-wing extremist who has made a career out of dehumanizing LGBTQ people, debasing women, and assailing health care rights. He has expressed staunch opposition to the Equality Act, marriage equality, and promoted the dangerous lie that being transgender is a ’delusion.’ He has attacked Roe v. Wade and challenged the Affordable Care Act’s contraceptive access.”

Lambda Legal is part of a 75-group coalition that also opposes Kacsmaryk, saying in a letter to Senate Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham and Ranking Member Dianne Feinstein. The group notes that Kacsmaryk defended Melissa Klein of Sweetcakes by Melissa, and argued that “preventing sexual orientation-based discrimination cannot justify serious burdens on…constitutionally protected religious freedom.”

The Alliance for Justice published a six-page report on Kacsmaryk, concluding “Kacsmaryk has built his legal career opposing equal rights for millions of his fellow citizens. His harsh and demeaning rhetoric regarding LGBTQ rights and reproductive rights sends a clear message that he has little regard for established legal precedent in this area. Kacsmaryk often couches his opposition to equal rights in religious language.”

The AFJ added, “Kacsmaryk’s statements demonstrate beliefs that discrimination against LGBTQ Americans is valid and should be condoned.”

Written by David Badash, The New Civil Rights Movement. Photo via NCRM.

Op-Ed: Gay Men Have a Stake In the Abortion Debate — The Women Who Have Always Supported Us

Zachary Brown | June 4, 2019

Topics: abortion, LGBTQ Allies, LGBTQ rights, reproductive rights, Roe v. Wade, Zachary Brown

Behind every gay man, there is a great woman — or, more accurately, great women. Joe Biden said of Will and Grace that the show “did more to educate the American public than almost anybody’s ever done so far.” And he was absolutely right. The sitcom was indeed groundbreaking, because it normalized gay people to American audiences.

Yet, perhaps just as important was how it portrayed the relationships between gay men and their straight female friends. Did Will and Grace slip into low-hanging fruit territory? Of course it did. But beyond tropes and cliches, at its core, it was a decisive and reverent portrayal of the bonds between gay men and straight women. For Will, Grace offered a brand of supportive love that is so familiar to gay men everywhere. The most unconditional, non-judgmental kind of love. A love rooted in compassion and commiseration.

As Pride Month begins, I am reminded of all of the ways straight female allies have supported me throughout my life, and how straight women have fought shoulder to shoulder with the LGBTQ community from the very beginning. They have no skin in the game. No horse in the race. They stood with us out of pure conviction.

So as we celebrate Pride and the legacies of the activists that have stood up for LGBTQ rights, we must remember the role that was played by our straight female allies. As we watch state after state pass legislation that blocks access to reproductive healthcare, we have a moral obligation to sound the alarm, to galvanize, and to fight. We must stand with them as they have always stood with us.

While gay men will never need an abortion, women have everything to lose if Roe is overturned. Their fight is beyond the right to choose — it is a fight for dignity and equality. And that is precisely why I am committed to protecting access to safe and legal abortions. Advocating for women’s reproductive healthcare is a moral imperative for anyone who has ever experienced inequality. The lesson my community should take away from the advocacy of straight women is that we are all in this together. As Martin Luther King Jr said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

To the women in my life, the women of my state and of my country: I stand with you. You are not in this alone. You have always been there for us, and we are here for you now.

Note: Op-Eds are contributions from guest writers and do not reflect GayRVA editorial policy.

Photo courtesy Zachary For Virginia

Opinion: Virginia Democrats should never abandon a woman’s right to choose

Cassie Jacobs | August 25, 2017

Topics: Democrats, Independents, pro-choice, Republicans, Right to Choose, Roe v. Wade, Virginia Democrats

When I was sixteen years old I attended a liberal school in a liberal town in New York. Across the street from the side entrance, two older men sat every day – rain, sleet, twelve feet of snow, whatever – with a bloody fetus doll stapled to thick poster board and the words “American Holocaust!” and “Will you kill your baby?”

As I walked to my car I would stare at these men, completely confused about what they were doing. I had seen protesters before, mainly protesting the Iraq War, but that was a cause I could understand and support. I couldn’t understand or support what these men were doing. Even at a young age, I realized that my body was my own. I decided to become an activist the day I saw those two old men sitting outside a public high school with that bloody fetus doll – no one was going to regulate my body or my life choices.

Photo by Alex Elwood

The political arena has changed between then and now, however, and inside the arena it has only become more complex. Nothing’s simple anymore. America elected Donald Trump, someone who promised to build a wall, get rid of all the “illegals,” and “make America great again.”

Yet many of these voters were moderates, and still remain perched on that moderate political line. So as Democrats lick their wounds from the loss of the 2016 presidential election and various special elections around the country, the following question appears to be hanging in the air: Is the way to win to go pro-life?

The Republican Party has always been home to those that are pro-life. Politicians like Vice President Mike Pence have run on this platform and won on this platform. A recent Gallup poll broke up attitudes on choice by partisan affiliation, showing that Democrats identifying as “pro-choice” rose from 56 percent to 68 percent since 2001. Another recent poll conducted by Pew Research Center also showed a percentage of Democrats that believe that abortion should be legal “in all or most cases” rose to 75 percent from 64 percent in 1995. (This same poll showed that 65 percent of Republicans believe abortion should be illegal “in all or most cases”). The numbers are there. Nonetheless, many contemporary Democrats are the generation of their parents and grandparents, many of whom were still connected to a traditional view of religion and culture that made the very idea of abortion taboo.

Regardless, present day Democrats continue to be liberal on social issues, economic issues, and on the issue of abortion – or at least we thought.

This question of pro-life vs pro-choice in the Democratic Party has caused an audible gasp from anyone that feels they are a true progressive. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee only this summer said they would not withhold funding for pro-life candidates in the party. Representative Ben Ray Lujan from New Mexico went so far as to say, “As we look at candidates across the country, you need to make sure you have candidates that fit the district, that can win in these districts across America.” Progressives see themselves as the next generation, the new generation, and the one that will solve the challenges left to us from the previous generation. How we define ourselves is by advocating for social reform and new ideas, not rehashing a core political value that was settled in 1973 after Roe vs Wade.

Ben Ray Lujan (D-NM). Photo by Daily Kos

Traditional centrists Democrats need to recognize that progressives are a large part of the movement we are seeing right now in Virginia. We are creating activist groups, non-profits, demonstrating, and starting organizations to stop the injustices caused from by the Trump presidency. And yet the party that progressives are supposed to belong to – the Democratic Party – is still trying to figure out how to create a winning strategy even though all the ingredients are there. This is leading many members of the Democratic Party to examine whether that means taking a more moderate stance on choice. Virginia Democrats should be wary of this. It was only in 2012 that disgraced former Governor Bob McDonnell infamously sponsored a mandatory transvaginal ultrasound bill.  

Image by Doomstead Diner

Interestingly, 60 percent of independent voters, according to a Pew Research Center poll that tracked views on abortion between 1995-2017 found that abortion should be legal in all or most cases. This is important because the same poll showed that in most cases 75 percent of Democrats believe that abortion should be legal in all or most cases. These numbers also show that independent voters were not utilized properly during the 2016 election and millions of votes were lost – something that could have easily been avoided.

We shouldn’t be pandering to pro-life moderates. Instead we should be asking ourselves, “how do we reach these independent voters?” How can Democrats stay true to the ideals of the party (protecting women and those most vulnerable) while still bringing in new progressive voters that feel disappointed and misled for the last eight years, if they don’t fully support choice?

The topic of abortion and choice is one of the most significant issues that will ever exist – not just for women, but also progressives and independents. But there is also a larger issue. The female body, including birth and breastfeeding, are things that neither party has figured out how to discuss, let alone legislate. Yet they are essential parts of our being.

Reproductive rights should be unequivocally synonymous with the Democratic party, as it was in the past. Fighting for women’s rights, continuing to fight for a woman’s right to choose… this is the way to engage and empower young and powerful progressives and independents. Unfortunately, this message is not one that the Democratic powers that be appear to have identified at this time.

Indeed, Democrats need a shift after the disastrous years of 2014- 2016. Democrats, too often, apologize for their own messaging, for their own leaders, for their own party. Democrats are too good at losing, and as a party we need to make changes in all aspects: from who is running to how their policies, platforms, and politics are marketed and messaged.

Nonetheless, Donald Trump didn’t win because he was pro-life. Donald Trump won because he played to the worst excesses of middle America. So I believe the answer is to ditch the word moderate, and to stop trying to disenfranchise the progressive base by going soft on things like reproductive rights and choice. It’s time for the Democratic Party to embrace its progressive base. That is the future. If they don’t, they risk losing them forever. The Democratic party does not have to shift its ideals around to placate moderates or independents who might be pro-life, especially in Virginia. That is a terrible idea. Instead the Democratic party would benefit by an overall shift in party identity, and recognizing the core values we will always stand for.

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