GLAAD, the world’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) media advocacy organization, is responding to the swearing in of Ketanji Brown Jackson as Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. Justice Jackson is the country’s first Black female justice.
Statement from Sarah Kate Ellis, President & CEO of GLAAD, below and on Twitter:
“Justice Jackson will bring long-needed representation to the Supreme Court at a critical juncture in our nation’s history, and after the Court’s disastrous term dismantling personal liberty. It bears repeating the obvious that women, people of color and LGBTQ people are Americans deserving of equal protection under law. Justice Jackson will be a visible and inspiring presence on a Court currently dominated by extremists, reminding all that America should always be moving forward to expand freedom. Congratulations, Justice Jackson, and to our entire country, on this historic occasion.”
Justice Jackson served as a federal judge and is the high court’s first justice who was also a federal public defender. Her career has included cases where she defended essential civil and human rights important to LGBTQ Americans, including fair sentencing practices, disability rights, workers’ rights, immigrants’ rights, reproductive justice, and environmental protections.
The current Court term has included decisions to overturn five decades of precedent over abortion access, restrict rights to locally regulate gun safety and restrict federal agency oversight for environmental protection, and opinions where marriage equality, LGBTQ relationships, free speech and contraception have been directly challenged.
Supreme Court decisions expanding and upholding LGBTQ equality include:
Bostock v Clayton County (2020) – expanded Civil Rights employment protections
Obergefell v. Hodges (2015) – granted marriage equality
United States v. Windsor (2013) – overturned the discriminatory “Defense of Marriage Act”
Lawrence v. Texas (2003)- secured the Constitutional right to privacy and dignity for LGBTQ people and relationships
Romer v. Evans (1995) – struck down state laws banning LGBTQ nondiscrimination protections
