A lawsuit challenging Indiana’s controversial Religious Freedom Restoration Act will not proceed, for now, after the Indiana Court of Appeals declined to reverse summary judgment for four cities with nondiscrimination ordinances. The appellate panel found that the conservative organizations challenging the RFRA “fix” lacked standing to challenge the ordinances on free speech and religious exercise grounds.
Claiming the judiciary cannot interfere with church matters, the U.S. Department of Justice and the Indiana Attorney General have entered the fight between the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Indianapolis and a teacher who was dismissed from Cathedral High School in Indianapolis for being in a same-sex marriage.
Just as celebrations were starting over the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling that Title VII protections cover transgender workers, another opinion from the nine justices shielded religious organizations from lawsuits by expanding the ministerial exception legal doctrine and injected more energy into potential religious liberty challenges to anti-discrimination laws.
Here is a summary of two major U.S. Supreme Court employment rulings regarding LBGTQ employees and the ministerial exception for religious employers from the October 2019 term.
Justice Clarence Thomas spoke and Chief Justice John Roberts ruled. The US Supreme Court’s most unusual term featured victories for immigrants, abortion rights, LGBTQ workers and religious freedoms. The usually quiet Thomas’ baritone was heard by the whole world when the coronavirus outbreak upended the court’s traditional way of doing business. When the biggest decisions were handed down, the chief justice was almost always in the majority and dictated the reach of the court’s most controversial cases, whether they were won by the left or the right.
Diane Sykes, who has often been mentioned as a possible nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court, has become the chief judge of the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, assuming the leadership position July 5.
The Indianapolis Archdiocese and an affiliated high school have once again lost a bid to limit discovery in a fired employee’s same-sex discrimination lawsuit to the question of whether the plaintiff’s claims fall under the First Amendment’s “ministerial exception.”
Supreme Court watchers were left scratching their heads when they learned Justice Neil Gorsuch was the author of Monday’s landmark LGBT rights ruling, but not because the appointee of President Donald Trump might have been expected to side with his conservative colleagues in dissent.
Continuing its fight over parentage, Indiana has petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to review the appellate court ruling that allowed non-birth mothers in a same-sex marriage to be listed as parents on their children’s birth certificates.
The Supreme Court of the United States ruled Monday that a landmark civil rights law protects gay, lesbian and transgender people from discrimination in employment, a resounding victory for LGBT rights from a conservative court.
Citizenship in the United States is not required in order to obtain a name change, the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled Monday, reversing a trial court and ruling for two transgender men.
A federal court issued an order Tuesday requiring Indiana to include non-birth mothers’ names on their children’s birth certificates, marking a milestone in a long legal battle.
Anyone younger than 18 will need a judge’s permission in order to get married in Indiana under a law change approved by state legislators.
A transgender man denied a motion to privately change his name and gender on his birth certificate won a reversal from the Indiana Court of Appeals, which admonished a trial court for denying the man’s petition and treating him disrespectfully.
Indiana agencies are not allowed to use an “X” gender designation on identification documents for residents who don’t identify as male or female, the state attorney general said.
Three traditional-marriage organizations challenging the amendment to Indiana’s controversial Religious Freedom Restoration Act are asking the Indiana Court of Appeals for relief, asserting they have standing to sue four cities that have enacted anti-discrimination ordinances.
After a settlement conference was unsuccessful, oral arguments have been rescheduled for Tuesday in the case involving the former teacher at Cathedral Catholic High School in Indianapolis who was fired for being in a same-sex marriage.
The U.S. Supreme Court said Monday it will hear a dispute over a Philadelphia Catholic agency that won’t place foster children with same-sex couples, a big test of religious rights on a more conservative court.
In a cruel twist, Crystal and Noell Allen discovered even though Indiana prohibited them from being listed as parents on their twins’ birth certificates, the state did allow both mothers to be identified as parents on the babies’ death certificates. The couple prevailed in court, but their battle to be legally recognized as parents — along with other women in same-sex marriages — may not be over.
A potential fight over whether to repeal Indiana’s obsolete ban on same-sex marriages has sidetracked a widely supported proposal to raise the state’s minimum age for getting married.