Supreme Court opinions undermine LGBTQ+ rights, public education and church-state separation

Americans United denounced a pair of U.S. Supreme Court decisions in June that undermined LGBTQ+ rights, public education and church-state separation.

On June 27 in Mahmoud v. Taylor, the court’s ultra-conservative majority issued a 6-3 opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito that requires a large Maryland public school district to allow a handful of conservative religious parents to opt their children out of books and lessons that include LGBTQ+ characters or themes.

AU President and CEO Rachel Laser warned that such an opt-out system likely would be unworkable and public schools are more likely to strike content that could be challenged — which was the ultimate goal of the Christian Nationalists backing the case. “The court is allowing a handful of vocal parents with anti-LGBTQ+ religious beliefs to dictate what is taught in public school classrooms — a violation of other students’ and families’ religious freedom,” Laser said. She also warned that the decision could open the door to additional, far-ranging opt-outs, from “books featuring single moms” to “students learning about evolution.”

A week earlier, the same 6-3 court majority upheld Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming health care for transgender minors, ignoring arguments that such bans intentionally discriminate against transgender youth by denying them medications that are prescribed for other youth. The opinion in U.S. v. Skrmetti was written by Chief Justice John Roberts.

AU’s Laser said the decision allows “Christian Nationalists and their allies to legislate a narrow, religious view of gender that will harm countless children and families. …[T]his decision will encourage Christian Nationalists to further restrict any and all health care that doesn’t align with their narrow religious beliefs.”

AU’s reaction to a third Supreme Court opinion in June was more nuanced. In Catholic Charities v. Wisconsin Labor and Industry Review Commission, a unanimous court ruled that some religiously affiliated groups might be exempt from state unemployment taxes. The decision, authored by Justice Sonia Sotomayor, reaffirmed that the government can’t favor one religion over another. But the decision also will make it harder to decide which groups count as religious under the law, opening the door for more organizations to claim religious exemptions.

Laser warned that this case could lead to companies and organizations claiming religious motives in order to “erase important social safety nets and civil rights protections for workers.”