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Supreme Court declines to hear gay adoption case

Advocates say decision lets stand a ‘dangerous’ ruling

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U.S. Supreme Court (Blade file photo by Michael Key)

The U.S. Supreme Court announced on Tuesday it won’t hear an appeal of a case that sought to protect adoption rights for gay couples.

The court denied the petition for a writ of certiorari, which was filed by Lambda Legal, in the case of Adar v. Smith. Justices didn’t offer a comment on why they wouldn’t hear the lawsuit, which effectively ended the path for the litigation.

Kenneth Upton, supervising senior staff attorney in Lambda’s south central regional office in Dallas, said the Supreme Court is “leaving untouched a dangerous” previously issued ruling that leaves same-sex parents who have adopted or plan to adopt “treated differently from state to state.”

“By denying this writ, the Supreme Court is leaving untouched a dangerous Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that carves out an exception to the Full Faith and Credit Clause of the U.S. Constitution and to the uniformly recognized respect for judgments that states have come to rely upon,” Upton said. “This decision leaves adopted children and their parents vulnerable in their interactions with officials from other states.”

The case involves Oren Adar and Mickey Smith, a gay couple who in 2006 adopted their Louisiana-born son in New York, where a judge issued an adoption decree. In 2007, the couple attempted to obtain a new birth certificate for their child in part so Smith could extend his health insurance coverage to his son.

However, State Registrar Darlene Smith wouldn’t issue a certificate with both adopted parents’ names, saying Louisiana doesn’t recognize adoption by unmarried parents.

In October 2007, Lambda filed a lawsuit on the basis that the registrar was violating the U.S. Constitution’s Full Faith and Credit Clause and Equal Protection Clause. Lambda argued that under the Full Faith and Credit Clause, judgments issued by a court in one state, such as New York, must be legally binding in other states, such as Louisiana.

Judges have ruled in varying ways as the lawsuit has made its way through the courts. In 2008, a U.S. district court ruled in favor of plaintiffs and ordered the Louisiana registrar to issue a new birth certificate identifying both Adar and Mickey Smith as the parents. In 2010, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously affirmed the judgment.

However, under appeal, a ten-member majority of the full Fifth Circuit in April issued a decision ruling in favor of the Louisiana registrar and overturning the prior decisions. The Supreme Court’s decision not to take up the case leaves the appellate court’s decision as it stands.

Jennifer Chrisler, executive director of the Family Equality Council, expressed sadness over the high court’s decision not to take up the case.

“My heart breaks for these parents, and for children across the country who lack the legal relationship with their parents,” Chrisler said. “A growing number of LGBT parents are creating their families through adoption and although they are bound together by love, we cannot allow states to deny them legal recognition.”

Lambda’s Upton said advocates will take up the issue with the Louisiana state legislature to ensure same-sex couples have protections for their adopted children.

“This issue now moves into the legislative arena,” Upton said. “We need to push for a change in Louisiana state policy in order to stabilize and standardize respect for parent-child relationships for all adoptive children.”

Whether the push for change at the state level will be successful remains to be seen. The Louisiana House is controlled by Republicans; while the Senate has a Democratic majority. Republican Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal is known for holding anti-gay views.

Jennifer Pizer, legal director of the Williams Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles, said the Supreme Court’s decision lets stand a “troubling precedent” that could impact not just adoption but also other family rights and court judgments.

“And, yes, to be clear, the implications for LGBT people are potentially very substantial,” Pizer continued. “As states continue to diverge — with some offering full equality to LGBT people and others still moving firmly in the other direction — interstate questions are likely to proliferate, especially with respect to family issues involving same-sex couples, transgender people, and their children.”

Pizer said the push to have the Supreme Court take up the case was “an exceedingly long shot” because justices only accept “a tiny fraction of review petitions” each year. Over the course of the upcoming years, Pizer said she expects the Fifth Circuit’s reasoning will likely be rejected by other courts “as inconsistent” with the purpose of the Full Faith and Credit Clause.

“It is not uncommon for the U.S. Supreme Court to wait until a split develops among federal circuits, sketching out the different ways an issue can be seen and the scope of consequences in the various cases, before taking a case like this,” Pizer continued. “But it’s difficult for those affected during that process, especially when a new limiting principle newly closes courthouse doors and the needs of parents and children are ignored and, in most instances, ultimately denied.”

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Federal Government

RFK Jr.’s HHS report pushes therapy, not medical interventions, for trans youth

‘Discredited junk science’ — GLAAD

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HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

A 409-page report released Thursday by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services challenges the ethics of medical interventions for youth experiencing gender dysphoria, the treatments that are often collectively called gender-affirming care, instead advocating for psychotherapy alone.

The document comes in response to President Donald Trump’s executive order barring the federal government from supporting gender transitions for anyone younger than 19.

“Our duty is to protect our nation’s children — not expose them to unproven and irreversible medical interventions,” National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya said in a statement. “We must follow the gold standard of science, not activist agendas.”

While the report does not constitute clinical guidance, its findings nevertheless conflict with not just the recommendations of LGBTQ advocacy groups but also those issued by organizations with relevant expertise in science and medicine.

The American Medical Association, for instance, notes that “empirical evidence has demonstrated that trans and non-binary gender identities are normal variations of human identity and expression.”

Gender-affirming care for transgender youth under standards widely used in the U.S. includes supportive talk therapy along with — in some but not all cases — puberty blockers or hormone treatment.

“The suggestion that someone’s authentic self and who they are can be ‘changed’ is discredited junk science,” GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis said in a statement. “This so-called guidance is grossly misleading and in direct contrast to the recommendation of every leading health authority in the world. This report amounts to nothing more than forcing the same discredited idea of conversion therapy that ripped families apart and harmed gay, lesbian, and bisexual young people for decades.”

GLAAD further notes that the “government has not released the names of those involved in consulting or authoring this report.”

Janelle Perez, executive director of LPAC, said, “For decades, every major medical association–including the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics–have affirmed that medical care is the only safe and effective treatment for transgender youth experiencing gender dysphoria.

“This report is simply promoting conversion therapy by a different name – and the American people know better. We know that conversion therapy isn’t actually therapy – it isolates and harms kids, scapegoats parents, and divides families through blame and rejection. These tactics have been used against gay kids for decades, and now the same people want to use them against transgender youth and their families.

“The end result here will be a devastating denial of essential health care for transgender youth, replaced by a dangerous practice that every major U.S. medical and mental health association agree promotes anxiety, depression, and increased risk of suicidal thoughts and attempts.

“Like being gay or lesbian, being transgender is not a choice, and no amount of pressure can force someone to change who they are. We also know that 98% of people who receive transition-related health care continue to receive that health care throughout their lifetime. Trans health care is health care.”

“Today’s report seeks to erase decades of research and learning, replacing it with propaganda. The claims in today’s report would rip health care away from kids and take decision-making out of the hands of parents,” said Shannon Minter, legal director of NCLR. “It promotes the same kind of conversion therapy long used to shame LGBTQ+ people into hating themselves for being unable to change something they can’t change.”

“Like being gay or lesbian, being transgender is not a choice—it’s rooted in biology and genetics,” Minter said. “No amount or talk or pressure will change that.” 

Human Rights Campaign Chief of Staff Jay Brown released a statement: “Trans people are who we are. We’re born this way. And we deserve to live our best lives and have a fair shot and equal opportunity at living a good life.

“This report misrepresents the science that has led all mainstream American medical and mental health professionals to declare healthcare for transgender youth to be best practice and instead follows a script predetermined not by experts but by Sec. Kennedy and anti-equality politicians.”




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The White House

Trump nominates Mike Waltz to become next UN ambassador

Former Fla. congressman had been national security advisor

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U.N. headquarters in New York (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

President Donald Trump on Thursday announced he will nominate Mike Waltz to become the next U.S. ambassador to the U.N.

Waltz, a former Florida congressman, had been the national security advisor.

Trump announced the nomination amid reports that Waltz and his deputy, Alex Wong, were going to leave the administration after Waltz in March added a journalist to a Signal chat in which he, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and other officials discussed plans to attack Houthi rebels in Yemen.

“I am pleased to announce that I will be nominating Mike Waltz to be the next United States ambassador to the United Nations,” said Trump in a Truth Social post that announced Waltz’s nomination. “From his time in uniform on the battlefield, in Congress and, as my National Security Advisor, Mike Waltz has worked hard to put our nation’s Interests first. I know he will do the same in his new role.”

Trump said Secretary of State Marco Rubio will serve as interim national security advisor, “while continuing his strong leadership at the State Department.”

“Together, we will continue to fight tirelessly to make America, and the world, safe again,” said Trump.

Trump shortly after his election nominated U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) to become the next U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Trump in March withdrew her nomination in order to ensure Republicans maintained their narrow majority in the U.S. House of Representatives.

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U.S. Federal Courts

Second federal lawsuit filed against White House passport policy

Two of seven plaintiffs live in Md.

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Lambda Legal on April 25 filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of seven transgender and nonbinary people who are challenging the Trump-Vance administration’s passport policy.

The lawsuit, which Lambda Legal filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland in Baltimore, alleges the policy that bans the State Department from issuing passports with “X” gender markers “has caused and is causing grave and immediate harm to transgender people like plaintiffs, in violation of their constitutional rights to equal protection.”

Two of the seven plaintiffs — Jill Tran and Peter Poe — live in Maryland. The State Department, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and the federal government are defendants.

“The discriminatory passport policy exposes transgender U.S. citizens to harassment, abuse, and discrimination, in some cases endangering them abroad or preventing them from traveling, by forcing them to use identification documents that share private information against their wishes,” said Lambda Legal in a press release.

Zander Schlacter, a New York-based textile artist and designer, is the lead plaintiff.

The lawsuit notes he legally changed his name and gender in New York.

Schlacter less than a week before President Donald Trump’s inauguration “sent an expedited application to update his legal name on his passport, using form DS-5504.”

Trump once he took office signed an executive order that banned the State Department from issuing passports with “X” gender markers. The lawsuit notes Schlacter received his new passport in February.

“The passport has his correct legal name, but now has an incorrect sex marker of ‘F’ or ‘female,'” notes the lawsuit. “Mr. Schlacter also received a letter from the State Department notifying him that ‘the date of birth, place of birth, name, or sex was corrected on your passport application,’ with ‘sex’ circled in red. The stated reason was ‘to correct your information to show your biological sex at birth.'”

“I, like many transgender people, experience fear of harassment or violence when moving through public spaces, especially where a photo ID is required,” said Schlacter in the press release that announced the lawsuit. “My safety is further at risk because of my inaccurate passport. I am unwilling to subject myself and my family to the threat of harassment and discrimination at the hands of border officials or anyone who views my passport.”

Former Secretary of State Antony Blinken in June 2021 announced the State Department would begin to issue gender-neutral passports and documents for American citizens who were born overseas.

Dana Zzyym, an intersex U.S. Navy veteran who identifies as nonbinary, in 2015 filed a federal lawsuit against the State Department after it denied their application for a passport with an “X” gender marker. Zzyym in October 2021 received the first gender-neutral American passport.

Lambda Legal represented Zzyym.

The State Department policy took effect on April 11, 2022.

Trump signed his executive order shortly after he took office in January. Germany, Denmark, Finland, and the Netherlands are among the countries that have issued travel advisories for trans and nonbinary people who plan to visit the U.S.

A federal judge in Boston earlier this month issued a preliminary injunction against the executive order.  The American Civil Liberties Union filed the lawsuit on behalf of seven trans and nonbinary people.

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