Now that Mr. Trump is President Elect, he has begun the process of picking a new Supreme Court Justice to replace the deceased Antonin Scalia.
And while some within the queer spectrum are feeling less tense because Trump recently said on television that same sex marriage is “settled law”, we would like to remind folks of one important fact
Donald Trump does not directly control the law. But his picks for the Supreme Court do – big time. And we already know that every single one of the 21 people he is considering to the court is vehemently opposed to gay rights.
But there is one name that is particularly terrifying and we don’t say this to be dramatic.
His name is William H. Pryor Jr.
You need to know this name and know it well – because he presents a real threat to marriage equality and other progressive causes, including reproductive rights.
In the past, Lambda Legal, a civil rights advocacy group that works on behalf of LGBTQ people everywhere, described Pryor as “most demonstrably anti-gay judicial nominee in recent memory”.
In 2005, when he was expected to be nominated to the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, they said Pryor ‘repeatedly shown clear hostility to the rights of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgender people and those with HIV – and also to women, people of color, disabled people and others.’
Related: 7 pro-gay civil rights organizations that need help right now
According to various reports, including one appearing on Gay Star News, when Pryor was expected to be nominated to the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, Lambda said that he, “repeatedly shown clear hostility to the rights of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgender people and those with HIV – and also to women, people of color, disabled people and others.”
Are you hoping to adopt a child with your same sex spouse one day? If so, Pryor likely isn't going to support that decision.
That’s because in 2004, he was the judge who cast the deciding vote against adoptions for gays and lesbians in Florida.
And it gets worse with Pryor.
In 2003, when he served as Alabama's Attorney General, Pryor defended Texas law that criminalized consensual gay sex in a person's private home and made strong arguments that states should be able to prosecute LGBTQ people as criminals.
In his court briefs, he compared the defending of gay rights to aiding those involved with “prostitution, adultery, necrophilia, bestiality, possession of child pornography, and even incest and pedophilia”.
Here is some more of what he wrote:
“This Court has never recognized a fundamental right to engage in sexual activity outside of monogamous heterosexual marriage, let alone to engage in homosexual sodomy” he scribed. “Such a right would be antithetical to the ‘traditional relation of the family’ that is ‘as old and as fundamental as our entire civilization.”
Pryor said Texas’ citizens “need to be protected’ from gay sex as it may have ‘severe physical, emotional, psychological, and spiritual consequences, which do not necessarily attend heterosexual sodomy”.
And there is more:
“[There was] no fundamental right to engage in homosexual sodomy just because it is done behind closed doors,” he said.
“Because homosexual sodomy has not historically been recognized in this country as a right — to the contrary, it has historically been recognized as a wrong — it is not a fundamental right.”
We encourage every person who cares about LGBTQ rights to join organizations like Lambda and the ACLU. We also advocate everyone educate themselves on all of Mr. Trump's potential Supreme Court picks from the list of 21.
h/t: Gay Star News
