What's at Stake: LGBTQ+ Rights and the US Supreme Court

PAST EVENT
Panel
Members at the President's Club level and higher participated in a conversation on the potential impacts of a court with a conservative majority.
A person waves the gay rights flag in front of the Supreme Court
Nov
18
Reuters
Speakers
Sharon M. McGowan
Ryan Thoreson
Juliet Sorensen
Event Date

About this Event

Less than five years after the landmark US Supreme Court ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges that declared same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry, two conservative justices have again made it clear they disagree with the high court's 2015 decision. LGBTQ+ rights and equality face similar challenges globally, whether it is Russia’s “traditional values” legislation pushing to suppress the rights of transgender citizens, or Poland’s widely accepted LGBTQ-free zones, or Egypt’s systemic jailing of LGBTQ+ people and activists using vague debauchery laws. With the passing of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Amy Coney Barrett's confirmation, what can the United States expect from a court with a conservative majority? What are the potential impacts on civil and human rights domestically and globally? 

About the Speakers
Sharon M. McGowan
Sharon M. McGowan, Chief Strategy Officer and Legal Director, Lambda Legal
Ryan Thoreson
Ryan Thoreson, Researcher, LGBT Rights Program, Human Rights Watch
Juliet Sorensen
Director, Rule of Law Institute and Program in Rule of Law for Development, Loyola University
Photo of Juliet Sorensen
Juliet Sorensen is a clinical professor of law and the director of Loyola's Rule of Law Institute and Program in Rule of Law for Development. She was previously on the faculty of Northwestern and served as the executive director of Injustice Watch, a nonprofit investigative journalism organization focused on systemic inequities in the courts.
Photo of Juliet Sorensen
Issues Global Politics
Regions North America Europe
Back to Event Listing