By John Riley on October 27, 2020 @JRileyMW

On Monday night, the U.S. Senate confirmed Amy Coney Barrett to the U.S. Supreme Court by a vote of 52-48, giving Donald Trump his third successful appointee to the nation’s highest court and cementing in a 6-3 conservative majority for the foreseeable future.
LGBTQ advocates have slammed Senate Republicans for rushing to confirm Barrett, who has a “troubling anti-LGBTQ record,” describing the process as a “sham” and a “power grab.”
With Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) the only Republican voting no, and no Democrats supporting her, Barrett becomes the first Supreme Court Justice to be confirmed with only one-party support since the 19th century.
Democrats objected to Barrett’s confirmation, which was pushed through by a Republican-led Senate within a month of when President Donald Trump first nominated the 48-year-old appeals court judge.
Many accused Republicans of hypocrisy for pushing through a Supreme Court nomination during an election year, citing Republicans’ refusal to hold hearings for Merrick Garland, a federal judge nominated by former President Barack Obama in 2016 to replace Antonin Scalia.
But Republicans pushed back, arguing that the refusal to consider a Supreme Court nominee during an election year only applies when the party controlling the Senate is different from the party controlling the White House.
Democrats countered that Obama’s nomination of Garland took place months before the 2016 election, whereas Barrett was being pushed through just eight days before the next federal election on Nov. 3 — the closest to an election that a justice on the high court has ever been confirmed.
Barrett’s confirmation was slammed by LGBTQ advocates, who see the newest justice as a Trojan horse who is determined to use her position to roll back any progressive or liberal laws, and reverse decisions on hot-button social issues like access to abortion, same-sex marriage, or nondiscrimination laws.
“Despite Amy Coney Barrett’s troubling anti-LGBTQ record and rhetoric, Senate Republicans rushed through the fastest Supreme Court confirmation process in modern history. This was a power grab, plain and simple, and voters must hold these Senators — and Donald Trump — accountable at the polls,” Alphonso David, the president of the Human Rights Campaign said in a statement.
“The process was a sham, the hearings were fast-tracked, and once again, Mitch McConnell and Donald Trump have chosen power over people,” David added. “We must reject this bald power grab and elect officials — especially in the White House and the U.S. Senate — who will ensure our judicial branch lives up to its potential. Voters should hold Sens. Daines, Ernst, Gardner, Graham, McSally, Sullivan and Tillis accountable at the ballot box. Our democracy and our lives depend on it.”
Speaking at a ceremonial swearing-in ceremony at the White House on Monday night, Barrett promised to act “independently of both the political branches and of my own preferences,” promising to rule on the merits of a case rather than her own personal beliefs.
But many LGBTQ advocates point to past statements she made criticizing the Obergefell v. Hodges decision that legalized marriage equality, and her skepticism that transgender Americans deserve protection under federal civil rights statutes, contending that those criticisms are reflections of her personal opinions.
Mat Staver, the founder and chairman of the conservative legal firm Liberty Counsel, celebrated Barrett’s confirmation, praising her views as an “originalist” who will interpret laws according to the plain meaning of the text.
“Justice Amy Coney Barrett will bring irrefutable character, education, and experience to the U.S. Supreme Court,” Staver said in a statement. “She will serve our nation well as an originalist who applies the intent and text of the Constitution and the laws she reviews.”
See also: Support for marriage equality reaches an all-time high
Calling Barrett’s confirmation “alarming for LGBTQ people and for all Americans whose fundamental rights should never be up for debate,” GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis cast doubt on Barrett’s ability to be impartial.
“Barrett’s time at a school that discriminated against LGBTQ families and hurt LGBTQ youth is disturbing and should disqualify her from the Court. Her stated views against marriage equality, rulings against access to abortion, and her public criticism of the Affordable Care Act are out of step with fair-minded Americans and threaten the progress our country has made to become a stronger and more equitable home for all,” Ellis said in a statement. “Her record against LGBTQ famiies and rights has no place in American life, let alone the highest court in the land. The rush to confirm her in this unprecedented way will undermine Judge Barrett’s credibility throughout her time on the court, and will be another point of evaluation for voters witnessing this process during an out-of-control pandemic, economic crisis and as millions are casting ballots.”
Kevin Jennings, the CEO of Lambda Legal, called Barrett’s confirmation a “dark day for our justice system and American democracy.”
“The Supreme Court of the United States, the court of last resort for justice in our country, should not be up for a power grab, but that is exactly what happened today,” Jennings said in a statement. “Amy Coney Barrett deeply alarmed us during her confirmation hearings when she refused to say whether she believed cases that are the backbone of the legal rights of LGBTQ people — such as Lambda Legal’s landmark case, Lawrence v. Texas, which decriminalized same-sex intimacy, and Obergefell v. Hodges, which legalized same-sex marriage — were correctly decided. We fear that all the progress we have made in recent years is now at risk.”
Related: Trump SCOTUS nominee Amy Coney Barrett would “dismantle” LGBTQ rights
Jesse Milan, Jr., the president and CEO of AIDS United, lamented Barrett’s confirmation, noting that she is “very likely” to provide the key vote striking down the Affordable Care Act in a case slated to come before the court on Nov. 10. Such a decision would leave hundreds of thousands of people struggling to find health insurance coverage in the middle of a pandemic — including many people living with HIV, which, as a pre-existing condition, would likely make them uninsurable.
“Justice Barrett’s ascent to the court is a frightening blow to HIV-related care in the United States,” Milan said in a statement. “Those of us living with HIV are right to be worried. Protections for those of us with pre-existing conditions would vanish. Credits that help to make health insurance affordable would disappear. The expansion to Medicaid would be rolled back. Particularly, anything done to Medicaid has a huge impact on people living with HIV.”
Medicaid is estimated to cover 42% of all people living with HIV in the United States.
Milan also expressed concerns that Barrett’s hostility to abortion would lead her to revisit and reverse the decision in Griswold v. Connecticut, a case involving a married couple’s ability to use birth control that established a constitutional right to privacy, which in turn serves as the legal basis for a slew of cases ranging from the ability to obtain an abortion to the ability to engage in same-sex relations to marriage equality.
“Justice Barrett’s railroaded confirmation is an affront to American democracy. As a lawyer, I’m offended. As a LGBTQ person, I’m worried. And as a person living with HIV, I’m afraid with Justice Barrett on the Supreme Court,” Milan added. “We need Congress and voters to stand ready to fix whatever damage she might do to our health care and our rights.”
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By John Riley on December 30, 2025 @JRileyMW
Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana, the first out gay leader of the Israeli parliament, angered the ultra-Orthodox parties within the conservative Likud-led governing coalition after voting in favor of a civil marriage bill last week.
The proposed bill, which was ultimately defeated, was introduced by the centrist Yesh Atid party, the largest faction in the opposition. It would have established a legal framework for regulating same-sex partnerships in Israel, including a couples registry, eligibility requirements, registration procedures, and mechanisms for dissolving civil marriages.
By John Riley on November 23, 2025 @JRileyMW
Justine Lindsay, the NFL's first out transgender cheerleader, recently revealed that she was fired this year, a decision she alleges was motivated by transphobia and Donald Trump's election as president.
"I was cut because I'm trans," Lindsay said in an Instagram Live with Gaye Magazine. "I don't wanna hear nobody saying, 'She didn't wanna come back.' Why the hell would I not wanna come back to an organization that I've been a part of for three years? That makes no sense to me. So I was cut. I was devastated. It stung. I was hurt."
Lindsay, who made history as the NFL's first transgender cheerleader when she tried out and made the Carolina Panthers's TopCats squad in 2022, told the magazine that her teammates "know the truth" about the decision to cut her from the squad.
By Will O'Bryan on December 22, 2025
The year's nearly out. Sometimes that calls for taking sweet stock of the past months' wonderful events. Coming to the end of 2025, on the other hand, is more like getting to that denouement in the action movie where the survivors take a breath and pat each other on the back for having made it out alive. At this stage, we are Newt getting tucked-in to her Sulaco hibernation tube.
With some effort and a pinch of luck, may we all fare better in 2026 than poor Newt's end at the start of Alien 3.
Why such a shitty year? So much of it, obviously, can be laid at the feet of Lame Duck Donald. Not that he hasn't had loads of assistance in his evil efforts to erase our transgender family and friends, colleagues, and leaders during 2025. The purge, as promised, began right out of the gate on Inauguration Day.
These are challenging times for news organizations. And yet it’s crucial we stay active and provide vital resources and information to both our local readers and the world. So won’t you please take a moment and consider supporting Metro Weekly with a membership? For as little as $5 a month, you can help ensure Metro Weekly magazine and MetroWeekly.com remain free, viable resources as we provide the best, most diverse, culturally-resonant LGBTQ coverage in both the D.C. region and around the world. Memberships come with exclusive perks and discounts, your own personal digital delivery of each week’s magazine (and an archive), access to our Member's Lounge when it launches this fall, and exclusive members-only items like Metro Weekly Membership Mugs and Tote Bags! Check out all our membership levels here and please join us today!
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