Danger, Will Robinson! Danger!

The courts are going to have another round to strip our protections from us.

Supreme Court revisits cakes and gay marriage
MSN
By David G. Savage, Los Angeles Times
April 11, 2019

WASHINGTON — Wedding cakes and same-sex marriages are back before the Supreme Court, and this time the justices are being asked to rule broadly that the First Amendment’s protection of the “free exercise” of religion shields conservative Christians from state civil rights laws.

An Oregon couple who were fined $135,000 for refusing to make a cake for the marriage of two women have asked the justices to take their case. If the court does so, the new conservative majority could significantly change the law on religious liberty and LGBTQ rights. The justices could announce as early as Monday whether they will hear the case.

For nearly three decades, the court has followed a rule set down in a 1990 decision written by a conservative hero, the late Justice Antonin Scalia. Rejecting a claim brought by Native Americans who ingested peyote as part of a religious ceremony, Scalia said that the Constitution’s guarantee of the free exercise of religion did not provide a shield against a “neutral and generally applicable law.” In the peyote case, two men had been fired for using an illegal drug.

Is that test going to be thrown out?

Will the court make every non-discrimination law null and void?

Will it just apply to us? Or will someone be able to use it against race and religion?

In January, Justices Samuel A. Alito Jr., Clarence Thomas, Neil M. Gorsuch and Brett M. Kavanaugh suggested they were ready to reconsider how far the free-exercise clause reached. They issued a partial dissent when the court turned down an appeal brought by a football coach who said he was fired for leading prayers on the field after games. The coach unsuccessfully claimed his firing violated his right to free speech. Alito suggested he should have appealed based on his rights to freely exercise his religion.

If they do take up the case I think it will hinge on Chief Justice Roberts.

Louise Melling, the ACLU’s deputy legal director, said she doubts the court will take up this invitation. “This is about creating a constitutional right to discriminate. Ending discrimination is a compelling state interest, so I don’t expect them to open this door,” she said.

In recent weeks, the court has been unusually hesitant in deciding whether to take up culture war controversies.

I sure hope they don’t open this can-of-worms.

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Another trans women has been brutally attacked, this time in in Dallas.

Transgender woman assaulted in 'mob' attack caught on video in east Oak Cliff
Dallas News
By LaVendrick Smith
April 13, 2019

Dallas police are investigating a potential hate crime after a transgender woman was assaulted Friday in east Oak Cliff.

Officers spoke to the victim at a hospital around 11:30 p.m., several hours after the attack at the Royal Crest Apartments in the 3500 block of Wilhurt Avenue.

The victim told police she was attacked after a minor traffic accident at the apartment complex. Police said the woman knew her attackers and that they used homophobic slurs during the attack, which was recorded on video.

The Mayor Mike Rawlings said of the attack,

"I am extremely angry about what appears to be mob violence against this woman," Rawlings said. "I am in contact with the chief and she assured me that the Dallas Police Department is fully investigating, including the possibility that this was a hate crime.”

A spokesperson for the Resource Center in Dallas said…

"The scary part to me is, if this was the apartment complex where she lives, where does she go home?" McMurray said. "Where does she go home and feel safe?"

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Meanwhile across the pond earlier in the month,

Trans teen left with head injury after being attacked in school changing room
Pink News UK
By Ella Braidwood
4th April 2019

A trans teenager from Grimsby was left with a severe concussion and boot marks on her head after being assaulted by a girl as she tried to go to the school changing room.

Coron Kraatz, 15, was assaulted by another student on March 19 as she walked to a school changing room for a PE lesson at Oasis Academy Wintringham, reports GrimsbyLive.

Kraatz was reportedly assaulted by the 15-year-old pupil because of her gender identity.

She was grabbed by the girl, who smashed her head on the ground and stamped on her face.
[…]
It is reportedly the third time Kraatz has been assaulted because of her gender identity.

She was previously attacked in a local park and on her way home from school.
[…]
Suzanne praised Oasis Academy Wintringham, which has permanently excluded the other student, for its response to the assault.

Just like their counterparts here the conservatives are using us as scapegoats and stirring up  hate against us.