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Conservatives have falsely claimed the mantle of the Constitution. In truth, we need not choose between progressive goals and fidelity to the Constitution’s text, history, and values. This panel takes as its conversational starting point the Reconstruction Amendments (particularly the 14th Amendment), which profoundly altered our equality landscape. What did the text of the 14th Amendment specifically mean for the LGBTQ equality movement? How do perennial conversations about intent and meaning in the constitutional context inform courts as they examine contemporary statutory language conflicts, such as what discrimination on the basis of sex means? What do surprising victories, such as the Supreme Court’s unanimous New Prime v. Oliveira decision (which echoed textualist arguments put forth by progressives), mean for future LGBTQ litigation strategy?

Speakers: Praveen Fernandes (Constitutional Accountability Center); Diana Flynn (Lambda Legal); Nan Hunter (Georgetown University Law Center); Ashwin Phatak (Constitutional Accountability Center); Harper Jean Tobin (National Center for Transgender Equality)