Constitutional Accountability Center Constitutional Accountability Center
Civil and Human Rights

Toward a More Perfect Union: The LGBTQ Community and the Constitution

Join ACS and HRC for an afternoon symposium addressing the relationship between the LGBTQ community, the Constitution, and the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court has played an essential role in advancing LGBTQ rights, from striking down state sodomy laws as unconstitutional to recognizing the rights of opposite-sex couples to marry and establishing marriage equality nationwide. However, LGBTQ people have also had their rights denied at the Supreme Court, and the loss of Justice Kennedy may place certain unresolved legal rights in jeopardy. 

Details

Wednesday, August 22, 2018
3:30 pm
Equality Forum
Human Rights Campaign
1640 Rhode Island Avenue NW
American Constitution Society and Human Rights Campaign

Event description authored by host organization. Information here does not necessarily reflect the views of CAC and may not be up to date — please refer to RSVP link for the latest information.

Toward a More Perfect Union: The LGBTQ Community and the Constitution

Join ACS and HRC for an afternoon symposium addressing the relationship between the LGBTQ community, the Constitution, and the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court has played an essential role in advancing LGBTQ rights, from striking down state sodomy laws as unconstitutional to recognizing the rights of opposite-sex couples to marry and establishing marriage equality nationwide. However, LGBTQ people have also had their rights denied at the Supreme Court, and the loss of Justice Kennedy may place certain unresolved legal rights in jeopardy. In the coming years, the Supreme Court will be asked to decide cases that will have a critical impact on LGBTQ people, including:

  • Whether nondiscrimination laws include protections for LGBTQ people.
  • Whether individuals and organizations have a license to discriminate against LGBTQ people when receiving taxpayer dollars.
  • Whether LGBTQ people and families can be turned away from businesses open to the general public.
  • Whether qualified transgender people can be excluded from serving in the military.

We need a Justice who recognizes LGBTQ people’s fundamental rights and basic equality. Americans also need a Supreme Court Justice who is fair-minded, committed to impartial judgments and policies based upon fact—not ideology. This symposium will examine the current state of the law and what is at stake in the future.

Our agenda and confirmed speakers include:

1:30 Welcome

  • Caroline Fredrickson, President of ACS
  • JoDee Winterhof, Senior Vice President, Policy and Political Affairs, HRC

1:45 Due Process, Privacy, and LGBTQ Rights

  • Paul Smith, Campaign Legal Center (Confirmed)
  • Shannon Minter, National Center for Lesbian Rights (Confirmed)
  • Nancy J. Knauer, Temple University Beasley School of Law (Confirmed)

2:30 Equal Protection: Marriage Equality and Beyond

  • Sharon McGowan, Lambda Legal (Confirmed)
  • Ria Tabacco Mar, American Civil Liberties Union (Confirmed)
  • Steve Sanders, Indiana University Maurer School of Law (Confirmed)

3:30 What’s at Stake?

  • Katie Eyer, Rutgers Law (Confirmed)
  • Harper Jean Tobin, National Center for Transgender Equality (Confirmed)
  • Sarah Warbelow, Human Rights Campaign (Confirmed)
  • Praveen Fernandes, Constitutional Accountability Center (Confirmed)

More from Civil and Human Rights

Civil and Human Rights
October 7, 2025

Supreme Court Appears Poised to Strike Down Ban on Anti-LGBTQ ‘Conversion Therapy’

The New Civil Rights Movement
The U.S. Supreme Court appears poised to strike down a Colorado ban on so-called conversion...
Civil and Human Rights
October 6, 2025

Conversion Therapy Ban Case Tests Traditional State Police Power

Bloomberg Law
A therapist’s challenge to Colorado’s ban on treatment the state says harms LGBTQ+ youths may...
Civil and Human Rights
October 7, 2025

CAC Release: Colorado Banned Conversion Therapy Because It Is Harmful. That Conversion Therapy is Accomplished Through Speech Does Not Make Colorado’s Law Unconstitutional Under the First Amendment.

WASHINGTON, DC – Following oral argument at the Supreme Court this morning in Chiles v....
Civil and Human Rights
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit

A.C. v. Martinsville

In A.C. v. Martinsville, the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit is considering whether the Supreme Court’s recent decision in United States v. Skrmetti requires it to overrule its previous decisions recognizing...
Civil and Human Rights
U.S. Supreme Court

Landor v. Louisiana Department of Corrections and Public Safety

In Landor v. Louisiana Department of Corrections and Public Safety, the Supreme Court is considering whether an individual may sue a government official in his individual capacity for damages for violating the Religious Land Use...
Civil and Human Rights
U.S. Supreme Court

Chiles v. Salazar

In Chiles v. Salazar, the Supreme Court is considering whether Colorado can prohibit mental health professionals from practicing “conversion therapy” on children.