More than 100 Protestors Arrested at Supreme Court
Demonstrators voice urgency as high court weighs discrimination cases
BY MATT TRACY
Led by Housing Works, more than
100 protestors were arrested at the
Supreme Court on October 8 as justices
heard oral arguments in a series
of cases that could determine whether sexual
orientation and gender identity are protected
classes under the law.
Capitol Police in Washington, DC, confi rmed
to Gay City News that 133 people were arrested
for unlawfully demonstrating at First and East
Capitol Streets, NE. All protestors arrested were
charged with “Crowding, Obstructing, or Incommoding,”
Capitol Police spokesperson Eva
Malecki said.
Protestors were yelling chants like, “No fear,
no hate, no licesnse to discriminate!”
The protests were scheduled in advance by
Housing Works, which announced plans in
September to sponsor multiple buses carrying
folks from New York City early in the morning
to the Supreme Court for the three pivotal cases
involving people who argued that they were
fi red due to their sexual orientation or gender
identity.
Specifi cally, the court is determining whether
sexual orientation or gender identity can be
covered under the defi nition of sex in the 1964
Civil Rights Act.
Housing Works stated that more than 500
➤ SUPREME COURT, from p.4
about the implications of a victory in the transgender
context was the main dish ADF lawyer
John Bursch was serving again and again, including
the probable canceling of all athletic
competitions and the purportedly terrifying
thought of a transgender counselor working at
a shelter for women fl eeing domestic violence.
Cole powerfully reminded Justice Gorsuch that
many transgender people at the Supreme Court
for the arguments were using the bathrooms in
the building without causing a “massive social
upheaval,” in Gorsuch’s words.
Meanwhile, Solicitor General Noel Francisco
was given time in both hours to offer the Trump
administration’s laughable-if-it-weren’t-sodangerous
position that fi ring gay and transgender
people should be legal as long as men
and women are both equally fi red for being gay
or transgender. During his second time at the
lectern, Justice Breyer memorably interrupted
him to describe the history of civil rights and
poignantly characterize the LGBTQ community
as “people who were suffering terrible discrimination.”
DONNA ACETO
Activists affi liated with the AIDS group Housing Works, including
Eric Sawyer, were arrested when they blocked the street near the
Supreme Court building.
DONNA ACETO
Actresses Sara Ramírez and Laverne Cox chat with Chase Strangio,
deputy director for transgender justice at the American Civil Liberties
Union.
Looking up at the bench, the arguments
could not help but bring home the dire reality
of the retirement of longtime gay rights ally
Justice Anthony Kennedy in 2018. His exit allowed
President Donald Trump and Senate
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to cement a
devastating fi ve-to-four conservative majority
on the court with the bitter nomination and
POLITICS
people participated in the protests, which
were supported by groups including ACT UP
NY, ACT UP Philadelphia, Amida Care, Bailey
House, Brown and Black Workers Cooperative,
Caribbean Equality Project, Center for Popular
Democracy, End AIDS Now, Harlem United,
New York Transgender Advocacy Group, New
York State Nurses Association, Queerocracy,
Reclaim Pride Coalition, Rise and Resist, and
VOCAL-NY.
“133 arrested and over 500 participants,”
Housing Works tweeted during the afternoon of
October 8. “Thank you, everyone.”
The cases, which are all appeals, represent
tests for President Donald Trump’s two Supreme
Court appointees, Neil Gorsuch and
Brett Kavanaugh. Two of the cases involve out
gay men who said they were fi red due to their
sexual orientation — Gerald Lynn Bostock was
booted from Georgia’s Clayton County Court
System and Donald Zarda was terminated from
a skydiving company, Altitude Express — while
a third case involves a transgender funeral
home director, Aimee Stephens, who said she
was fi red by her boss when she came out as
trans.
It is not clear if Housing Works is planning
further demonstrations, but a spokesperson
told Gay City News last month, “We are in this
for the long haul, and we encourage everyone to
bring their energy and talent to this fi ght.”
confi rmation of Justice Brett Kavanaugh last
year. Kavanaugh spoke only once, mysteriously
asking whether there is a distinction between
the literal and plain meanings of “because of
sex.”
Justice Clarence Thomas missed the arguments
for Monday’s cases entirely, amidst reports
he was suffering from a bout of the fl u.
He returned to the bench for the Title VII cases
on Tuesday, although he, as usual, did not ask
any questions.
Aside from the many LGBTQ legal luminaries
in attendance, famous actresses and LGBTQ
advocates Laverne Cox and Sara Ramírez
also brought some serious star power to the
courtroom and the post-argument press conferences
outside.
Decisions will be released by the Court by
the end of June 2020, but given how early these
cases have been argued in the term, they could
also potentially come earlier in the winter or
spring.
Matthew Skinner is the executive director of
The Richard C. Failla LGBTQ Commission of the
New York Courts .
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