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Diane Sykes

Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit

Updated: April 21, 2023

—Argued against parental rights for same-sex couples from the bench: “You can’t overcome biology. If the state defines parenthood by virtue of biology, no argument under the Equal Protection Clause or the substantive due process clause can overcome that.”

—Ruled that anti-gay groups can receive public funding even if they engage in discrimination.

—The extremely anti-LGBTQ Family Research Council (in a piece penned by FRC director and Trump transition team member Ken Klukowski) describes Sykes as “staunchly conservative.”

—Has twice served as guest lecturer for the “Moral Foundations of Law” seminar, an annual event hosted by the anti-LGBTQ Witherspoon Institute (confounded by National Organization For Marriage founder and Federal Marriage Amendment author Robert George). According to court documents involving another anti-LGBTQ justice who attended the seminar, her 2015 speech focused on the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s marriage equality decision (Audio/video/transcripts not readily available).

The GLAAD Accountability Project catalogs anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and discriminatory actions of politicians, commentators, organization heads, religious leaders, and legal figures, who have used their platforms, influence and power to spread misinformation and harm LGBTQ people.