Deborah Louise Cook is a senior United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit,based in Akron,Ohio. She served as a justice of the Ohio Supreme Court from 1995 to 2003.
John Marshall Rogers is a Senior United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.
Martha Craig "Cissy" Daughtrey is a Senior United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.
Robert Lewis Hinkle is a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida.
Amul Roger Thapar is an American attorney and jurist serving as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. He previously served as a U.S. district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky from 2008 to 2017 and as the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky from 2006 to 2008. Thapar was President Donald Trump's first Court of Appeals appointment and Trump's second judicial appointment after Justice Neil Gorsuch. Thapar was discussed as a candidate for the Supreme Court of the United States.
In the United States,the rights of transgender people vary considerably by jurisdiction. In recent decades,there has been an expansion of federal,state,and local laws and rulings to protect transgender Americans;however,many rights remain unprotected,and some rights are being eroded. Since 2020,there has been a national movement by conservative/right-wing politicians and organizations to target transgender rights. There has been a steady increase in the number of anti-transgender bills introduced each year,especially in Republican-led states.
United States v. Windsor,570 U.S. 744 (2013),is a landmark United States Supreme Court civil rights case concerning same-sex marriage. The Court held that Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA),which denied federal recognition of same-sex marriages,was a violation of the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment.
Lesbian,gay,bisexual,transgender,and queer (LGBTQ) people in the U.S. state of Arkansas face legal challenges not experienced by non-LGBTQ residents. Same-sex sexual activity in Arkansas was decriminalized in 2001 and legally codified in 2005. Same-sex marriage became briefly legal through a court ruling on May 9,2014,subject to court stays and appeals. In June 2015,the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Obergefell v. Hodges that laws banning same-sex marriage are unconstitutional,legalizing same-sex marriage in the United States nationwide including in Arkansas. Nonetheless,discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity was not banned in Arkansas until the Supreme Court banned it nationwide in Bostock v. Clayton County in 2020.
Lesbian,gay,bisexual,transgender,and queer (LGBTQ) rights in the U.S. state of Indiana have been shaped by both state and federal law. These evolved from harsh penalties established early in the state's history to the decriminalization of same-sex activity in 1977 and the legalization of same-sex marriage in 2014. Indiana was subject to an April 2017 federal court ruling that discrimination based on sexual orientation is tantamount to discrimination on account of "sex",as defined by the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The ruling establishes sexual orientation as a protected characteristic in the workplace,forbidding unfair discrimination,although Indiana state statutes do not include sexual orientation or gender identity among its categories of discrimination.
Lesbian,gay,bisexual,transgender,and queer (LGBTQ) people in the U.S. state of Tennessee may experience some legal challenges that non-LGBTQ residents do not. Same-sex sexual activity has been legal in the state since 1996. Marriage licenses have been issued to same-sex couples in Tennessee since the Supreme Court ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges on June 26,2015.
Lesbian,gay,bisexual,transgender,and queer (LGBTQ) people in the U.S. state of South Carolina may face some legal challenges not experienced by non-LGBTQ residents. Same-sex sexual activity is legal in South Carolina as a result of the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Lawrence v. Texas,although the state legislature has not repealed its sodomy laws. Same-sex couples and families headed by same-sex couples are eligible for all of the protections available to opposite-sex married couples. However,discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity is not banned statewide.
Lesbian,gay,bisexual,transgender,and queer (LGBTQ) people in the U.S. state of Kentucky still face some legal challenges not experienced by other people. Same-sex sexual activity in Kentucky has been legally permitted since 1992,although the state legislature has not repealed its sodomy statute for same-sex couples. Same-sex marriage is legal in Kentucky under the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges. The decision,which struck down Kentucky's statutory and constitutional bans on same-sex marriages and all other same-sex marriage bans elsewhere in the country,was handed down on June 26,2015.
The lead cases on same-sex marriage in Kentucky are Bourke v. Beshear,and its companion case Love v. Beshear. In Bourke,a U.S. district court found that the Equal Protection Clause requires Kentucky to recognize valid same-sex marriages from other jurisdictions. In Love,the same court found that this same clause renders Kentucky's ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional. Both decisions were stayed and consolidated upon appeal to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals,which heard oral arguments in both cases on August 6,2014. On November 6,the Sixth Circuit upheld Kentucky's ban on same-sex marriage.
Tanco v. Haslam was the lead case in the dispute of same-sex marriage in Tennessee. A U.S. District Court granted a preliminary injunction requiring the state to recognize the marriages of the plaintiffs,three same-sex couples. The court found the equal protection analysis used in Bourke v. Beshear,a case dealing with a comparable Kentucky statute "especially persuasive." On April 25,2014,that injunction was stayed by the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. Tanco was appealed to the Sixth Circuit,which reversed the district court and upheld Tennessee's refusal to recognize same-sex marriages from other jurisdictions on November 6.
In Brenner v. Scott and its companion case,Grimsley v. Scott,a U.S. district court found Florida's constitutional and statutory bans on same-sex marriage unconstitutional. On August 21,2014,the court issued a preliminary injunction that prevented that state from enforcing its bans and then stayed its injunction until stays were lifted in the three same-sex marriage cases then petitioning for a writ of certiorari in the U.S. Supreme Court–Bostic,Bishop,and Kitchen–and for 91 days thereafter. When the district court's preliminary injunction took effect on January 6,2015,enforcement of Florida's bans on same-sex marriage ended.
Obergefell v. Hodges,576 U.S. 644 (2015),was a landmark decision of the Supreme Court of the United States which ruled that the fundamental right to marry is guaranteed to same-sex couples by both the Due Process Clause and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution. The 5–4 ruling requires all 50 states,the District of Columbia,and the Insular Areas to perform and recognize the marriages of same-sex couples on the same terms and conditions as the marriages of opposite-sex couples,with equal rights and responsibilities. Prior to Obergefell,same-sex marriage had already been established by statute,court ruling,or voter initiative in 36 states,the District of Columbia,and Guam.
Eli Jeremy Richardson is a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee.
Eric Earl Murphy is an American lawyer and jurist serving since 2019 as a U.S. circuit judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. He previously served as the Solicitor General of Ohio from 2013 to 2019.
Bostock v. Clayton County,590 U.S. 644 (2020),is a landmark United States Supreme Court civil rights decision in which the Court held that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 protects employees against discrimination because of sexuality or gender identity.
United States v. Skrmetti is a pending United States Supreme Court case on whether bans on gender affirming care for transgender minors under the age of 18 violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.
