High Court Rebuffs Gender Transition Case But OKs Case On Religious Rights
Justices declined to hear a case over whether a public school violates parents' rights when it encourages their child's social gender transition without their knowledge or consent, CBS News reported. In separate news, the Supreme Court said it will decide whether Catholic preschools in Colorado that decline to enroll 4-year-olds with gay or transgender parents can participate in a publicly funded state program, The New York Times reported.
The Supreme Court on Monday turned away a legal battle testing whether a public school violates parents' rights when it encourages their child's social gender transition without their knowledge or consent. In declining the appeal from Massachusetts parents who sued their child's school district, the high court left untouched a lower court ruling that rejected their claim that their rights had been violated. But the justices may have another opportunity to weigh in on the simmering issue of parental rights in public schools, since a similar case brought by parents in Florida is awaiting action by the high court. (Quinn, 4/20)
The Supreme Court agreed on Monday to decide whether Catholic preschools in Colorado that decline to enroll 4-year-olds with gay or transgender parents can participate in a publicly funded state program. Two Catholic parish preschools in the Denver area said admitting such children would require them to violate their religious convictions. A Colorado program pays for families to send their children to the preschool of their choice, public or private, including faith-based programs. But the state refused to grant an exception to its anti-discrimination rules to allow the preschools to participate. The church then sued. Lower court judges sided with the state. (Marimow, 4/20)
More news on LGBTQ+ health 鈥
The Bureau of Prisons could soon relocate transgender women inmates to men鈥檚 prisons. A federal appellate court in Washington, D.C., ruled that 18 inmates failed to make a case that such transfers inherently amount to 鈥渃ruel and unusual punishment,鈥 reversing a lower court鈥檚 decision. (Ogles, 4/20)
The state has agreed to pay $295,000 to settle a federal civil rights lawsuit filed by a transgender woman who was housed in an Oregon men鈥檚 prison and assigned to share a cell with a predatory sex offender. (Bernstein, 4/20)
The Missouri House passed a bill on Monday that would punish cities, public schools and other government entities that fail to prevent transgender people from using restrooms and other sex-specific spaces that don鈥檛 align with their sex assigned at birth. (Harvel, 4/20)
For Nikolas Indigo, the road to freedom was lined with warnings against a life of sin. Neither the road nor the message was a metaphor. Along nearly 250 miles of highway from Savannah to Atlanta, billboards preached: 鈥渢urn from sin,鈥 鈥淛esus is the way,鈥 鈥渞epent.鈥 It鈥檚 a common pilgrimage for transgender people, who often need to travel for affirming procedures. Indigo, 25, made appointments with four different surgeons before he was finally able to get masculinizing chest surgery in Atlanta in September. Despite Savannah鈥檚 reputation for being young, hip, and at least a little queer, few local physicians perform the basic procedure. (Gaffney, 4/20)