Holding the Levees as the Waters Rise: LGBTQ Legal Advocacy in the Current Crisis
October 26, 2022 at 4pm ET
Hosted by University of Michigan’s Institute for Research on Women and Gender
“The early twenty-first century saw progress in formal equality under the law for many LGBTQ people in the United States. But as the quarter-century mark approaches, the movement faces a backlash. LGBTQ legal advocates secured crucial victories in the federal courts and agencies during the Obama presidency but were powerless to stop the flood of far-right judicial appointments after the 2016 election, including three lifetime appointments to the Supreme Court. Although LGBTQ advocates have managed some wins in increasingly conservative federal courts, including the surprising Bostock decision in the Supreme Court (2020), the Dobbs ruling just two years later threatens to upend the LGBTQ movement’s last twenty-five years of progress. This progress has made many LGBTQ people’s lives safer, more stable, more fulfilling, and longer. But opponents of LGBTQ equality have dusted off old playbooks, and, giving them the new, stronger binding of social media platforms, they attempt to sway public opinion against the most vulnerable and inoculate a generation against principles of inclusion, diversity, and acceptance. The fate of LGBTQ people in the U.S. is bound up with that of other marginalized groups, all of whom are threatened by the Supreme Court’s shifting of the goal posts of our democracy. Carl Charles will discuss current developments in LGBTQ legal advocacy and engage with audience members on their questions, concerns, and ways to get involved.”
Note: This is not a MiVAN training. If you want this webinar to appear on your MiVAN Transcript, please fill out a Self-reported Course Form. Please provide a screenshot of the end of the video as proof of completion.