Gay court case

Windsor v. United States

On June 26, , the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that section three of the so-called "Defense of Marriage Act" (DOMA) is unconstitutional and that the federal government cannot discriminate against married lesbian and gay couples for the purposes of determining federal benefits and protections.

Edie Windsor and Thea Spyer shared their lives together as a couple in New York City for 44 years. After a 40 year engagement they were finally married in Canada in May Two years later, Thea passed away, after living for decades with multiple sclerosis, which led to progressive paralysis.

When Thea died, the federal government refused to recognize their marriage and taxed Edie's inheritance from Thea as though they were strangers. Under federal tax law, a spouse who dies can leave her assets, including the family house, to the other spouse without incurring estate taxes.

Ordinarily, whether a couple is married for federal purposes depends on whether they are considered married in their state. New York recognized Edie and Thea's marriage, but because of a federal law

U.S. Supreme Court: Title VII Protects Gay and Transgender Employees

On June 15, , by a vote of , the U.S. Supreme Court held that an employer who fires an individual merely for being gay or transgender violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of Prior to the court’s historic decision in Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia, fewer than half the states had statutes banning discrimination against LGBTQ+ employees. Through the Supreme Court’s groundbreaking interpretation of Title VII, those protections now stretch across the nation.

Background

Title VII prohibits workplace discrimination “because of … sex.” For decades, courts held that “because of … sex” did not contain sexual orientation or gender identity. In , the Supreme Court held that discrimination based on sex-based stereotypes is prohibited by Title VII. Over the years, courts increasingly struggled to distinguish between claims based on sex-based stereotypes (which were actionable) and claims based on gender identity or sexual orientation (which were generally viewed as unactionable). Then in , the Supreme Court re

Once opponents in the Supreme Court case that legalized gay marriage, now they're friends

COLUMBUS, Ohio — The case behind the U.S. Supreme Court ruling legalizing same-sex marriage nationwide a decade ago is known as Obergefell v. Hodges, but the two Ohio men whose names became that title weren't so at odds as it would seem, and are now friends.

One year after the Supreme Court's June 26, , decision, head plaintiff Jim Obergefell was at an event for an LGBTQ advocacy organization when its former director asked if he wanted to meet Rick Hodges, who'd been the title defendant in his capacity as state health director in Ohio, one of the states challenged for not allowing same-sex couples to marry.

"I don't understand, you tell me. Verb I want to gather Rick Hodges?" Obergefell recalls responding.

The two met for coffee in a hotel and hit it off.

Hodges said he wanted to meet Obergefell because he's an "icon." He said he remembers telling Obergefell something along the lines of: "I don't perceive if congratulations are in order because this began with you losing your husband, but I'm gla

Lawrence v. Texas

Overview

Lawrence v. Texas () is a landmark case, in which the Supreme Court of the United States, in decision, invalidated sodomy law across the United States, making same-sex sexual activity legal in every State and United States territory. The majority opinion in this case, written by justice Kennedy, overturned the previous ruling of the Supreme Court on the similar issue in Bowers v. Hardwick (), where it upheld a challenged Georgia statute and did not find a constitutional protection of sexual privacy. The court in Lawrence v. Texas explicitly held that intimate consensual sexual conduct was part of the liberty protected by the substantive due process under the Fourteenth Amendment.

The decision in this case was a breakthrough for the gay rights movement and helped to set the stage for Obergefell v. Hodges, which recognized the same-sex marriage as a fundamental right under the United States Constitution.

Background

Before Lawrence v. Texas, legal punishments for sodomy included fines, life prison sentences or both. In the delayed 19th and early