Congressional protection from activist SCOTUS justices codifying our lives

By: Nicole C. Lashomb The Rainbow Times’ Editor-in-Chief

EDITOR’S DESK

After the Supreme Court stunt of overturning decades worth of precedent in Roe v. Wade (https://is.gd/pRX9zW), stripping away the birthing autonomy of those with a uterus, there has been no time greater than the present in recent history to safeguard human rights.

If such significant protections for Roe v. Wade can be overturned, those same justices are not applying the law of the land to Supreme Court cases, but instead are in fact relying on personal opinion. And, if opinion is allowed to be the ultimate voice of the nation’s highest court, we are in serious trouble.

Recently, four Republicanappointed Supreme Court justices reportedly attended a 40th-anniversary celebration for the Federalist Society, a conservative legal group that has helped pack U.S. courts with anti-LGBTQ judges who will serve for decades to come.

Justices Samuel Alito, Amy Coney Barrett, Neil Gorsuch, and Brett Kavanaugh, according to Associated Press reporter Mark Sherman, attended the society’s event (https://is.gd/86hzMm). Three of the Justices were appointed by Trump, considered by many to be the most anti-LGBTQ+ president of all-time.

In fact, 85 percent of Trump judges are members of the Federalist society. But this goes much deeper than simply belonging to a society of lawyers.

According to similar reports, the Federalist Society is “an ideological clearing house of conservative lawyers,” published LGBTQ Nation (https://is.gd/86hzMm). “Approval by the group practically guarantees that a judicial nominee it approves of will rule against LGBTQ rights on the bench. The Society has also had a stated goal of undoing what it calls the ‘Judicial Legacy of Barack Obama.’”

Read redlining, white supremacy and anti just about anything that serves the well being of the most marginalized members of society. The group has been well known to prioritize “religious liberty” exceptions to human rights issues as if they are somehow “protecting” the rights of others to practice their religion.

The problem is that religious exemptions should not qualify under pretenses that infringe on the rights of Americans held under the law. We’ve seen religious exemptions and persecution go hand-in-hand in about every facet of daily life from cake decorating, refusing to provide marriage licenses to same-sex couples, to the adoption of children who are already falling by the wayside in the foster system. Only, no one’s right to practice their religion is actually being infringed upon.

It’s common knowledge that when driving, we must stop at a stop sign. Even if a stop sign was newly placed in an area where someone personally disagrees with its placement, the law still must be adhered to. You must stop. The members of the Federalist Society apparently disagree. Citing religious exemption is their MO, modus operandi, and that concept is clearly “code” for a license to discriminate against others disguised by “strictly held personal beliefs.”

Religious exemptions should not exist when it strips away rights from others. How many times has the Bible been used to justify enslavement, genocide, child abuse, the abuse of women, and so on? Mary Magdalene wrote a book of the Bible too, but that was intentionally left out by the church as well—conveniently.

As a global community, religious books are often the go-to when striving to deny rights to others. This time, however, it’s become gravely dangerous as a majority of sitting Supreme Court Justices ascribe to similar personal and

Equality Florida: Boards of medicine and osteopathy restrict life-saving care for transgender youth soon

Youth18-25 will qualify for temporary host homes, hosts will receive daily stipend for their licensure; Advocates to request additional hearing, workshop

ORLANDO, Fla.—Recently, the Boards of Medicine and Osteopathy finalized their proposed rules to restrict gender affirming care for transgender youth in Florida which, when in effect, will be the only ban on gender-affirming in effect in America. Similar measures in Alabama and Arkansas are currently blocked in court.

“With young lives on the line, another state agency has placed the political ambitions of Ron DeSantis over its duty to protect Floridians,” said Nikole Parker, Equality Florida Director of Transgender Equality. “These rules, as written, put transgender youth at higher risk of depression, anxiety, and suicidality. Those are the facts purposely ignored by a Board of Medicine stacked with DeSantis political appointees who have put their toxic politics over people’s health and wellbeing. Transgender Floridians exist. We are part of this community. Gender-affirming care is lifesaving care—and it is care that is supported by every major medical organization, an overwhelming majority of medical providers, and should be left to young people, their families, and their doctors. Not politicians. Shame on the Florida Boards of Medicine and Osteopathy for trading the suffering of trans- now professional ideologies and it is dismantling what remains of judicial precedent.

Anti-Trans legislation

We cannot rely nor trust in the Supreme Court any longer; They are after minority human rights, our rights The

Looking to the months ahead, we must pay particular attention to the “Protect Children’s Innocence Act,” a bill introduced by one of the most dangerous members of Congress, Marjorie Taylor-Greene (R-GA). This bill would deny trans youth from being able to access puberty blockers and gender-affirming healthcare. To no surprise, Taylor-Greene has ignored repeated medical evidence of how these medical interventions elevate trans youths’ overall sense of physical and mental health, substantially reducing suicide risk. Literally, they are life-saving treatments.

“The Protect Children’s Innocence Act would make it a class C felony for doctors to provide gender-affirming

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