‘Good’ LGBTQ Laws Outpace ‘Bad’ Ones In 2018

(photo via Getty)

For most of my life, people have looked to the courts to enforce civil rights and human rights. We can have interesting philosophical debates about whether courts are a true counter-majoritarian force in society, but when the majority culture tells you that you can’t eat there or kiss there or pee there, courts are often the last bastion of hope.

Unless we make a serious effort at court-packing and impeachment after the Trump era, reliance on the courts is not going to be a good option for the next generation. Donald Trump, Mitch McConnell, the Heritage Foundation, the Federalist Society, and other assorted forces of regression have packed the federal judiciary with judges and justices who are hostile to basic human equality and decency. Republicans don’t want the judiciary to be independent and they certainly don’t want the judiciary to be a check on the will of white men. The Trump courts can be expected to be the enforcement arm of the GOP over the next decades.

Which means those concerned about social justice will have to do this the old fashioned way: winning state and local elections, and then holding those winners accountable for passing real reform. Brett Kavanaugh can’t strike down all the laws. During the coming dark age, human rights proponents will have to do what they can in states diverse enough to value equality.

In 2018, that project was largely successful when it comes to LGBTQ rights. The Human Rights Campaign found that the 21 “pro-LGBTQ bills” became laws in the various states, against only 2 “anti-LGBTQ” successes.

From NBC:

LGBTQ advocates on the state level made progress along several fronts, but nondiscrimination measures and “gay conversion therapy” bans were among the most prevalent, according to the report…

Of the 25 states that were considering bans on so-called gay conversion therapy on minors last year, five states — Washington, Maryland, Hawaii, New Hampshire and Delaware — passed the bans into law . With New York’s ban on the practice being signed into law last month, the widely discredited practice is now prohibited in 15 states and the District of Columbia.

The HRC also found that the incredibly stupid “bathroom bills” had fallen out of favor. Republican anti-LGBTQ successes were limited to parenting bills that prevent LGBTQ couples from adopting. I guess now that the hypocrisy of the “pro-life” right has been completely unmasked by their refusal to stand up for born children separated from their families, keeping born children out of the hands of loving families is a logical step.

The Campaign is cautiously optimistic that these trends will continue in 2019.

I’m hopeful too. I do worry about the penchant of gay white males to feel like things are “safe” enough for them to go back to voting to protect their white privilege while abandoning everybody else. But relying on white men to do the right thing is a danger for every movement towards equality. Hopefully, we can continue bending the arc towards justice even in the face of hostile federal courts.

Pro-LGBTQ laws outpaced anti-LGBTQ laws in 2018, report finds [NBC]

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Elie Mystal is the Executive Editor of Above the Law and the Legal Editor for More Perfect. He can be reached @ElieNYC on Twitter, or at elie@abovethelaw.com. He will resist.

‘Good’ LGBTQ Laws Outpace ‘Bad’ Ones In 2018 curated from Above the Law