On August 13, 2021, Illinois Second District Appellate Court declared that Meggan Sommerville, a transwoman who was in a legal battle with her former employer — Hobby Lobby — over bathroom access, is no doubt a female and "just like the women who are permitted to use the women's bathroom."
On Aug. 11, 2021, a paradox unfolded during a school board meeting in Virginia. In a single statement, Laura Morris — a 5th-grade public school teacher — juxtaposed her school district's "cutting-edge technology" and the religious ideology of a "believer in Christ." Laura ruefully announced her resignation, failing to see that the liberal movement that allowed her to speak openly against a policy is the same movement that compels the board to respect transgender children.
"School board, I quit," she announced defiantly, with white tears.
On July 26th, the U.S. Court of Appeals held the lower court’s decision to deny a web designer’s petition to discriminate against the LGBTQ+ community in Colorado. There have been many other court rulings in the United States deciding if a business that denies service to LGBTQ+ people is considered prejudice or exercising their right to religious freedom.
On July 20, Archbishop Jose Gomez directed a memo to bishops in the US. In the message, he announced the resignation of Monsignor Jeffrey Burrill, the General Secretary of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) since November. Archbishop Gomez added that the monsignor’s resignation is immediate and cited “possible improper behavior,” referencing his presence in gay dating apps.
John Kluge, a former orchestra teacher in Brownsburg Community School from 2014 to 2018, sued the school over the transgender name policy. According to Kluge, he was “forced to resign,” citing the steep differences in the school’s policy and his religious beliefs. The Brownsburg Board of School Trustees accepted Kluge’s resignation on June 11, 2018. In the following year, he decided to sue the school.
On July 15, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz (US) signed an executive order that effectively bans the practice of conversion therapy to minors. A win for the LGBTQIA+ community in the state, and yet a divisive move in the politically mixed state. Many on the religious right-wing have expressed their outrage on the executive order with bad-faith arguments that go beyond the first amendment.
The Vatican had sent a letter to the Italian government to request a change in a new anti-homophobia law to be passed. On June 17th, a "verbal note" by the Vatican's secretary of relation with states, Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, was delivered to the Italian embassy, as confirmed by a spokesperson of the Vatican.
In Lakewood, Colorado, Jack Phillips, owner of Masterpiece Cakeshop, had won a partial victory in a 2018 Supreme Court case for refusing to design a wedding cake for a gay couple on account of his own religious beliefs. Now again, he finds himself being the subject of another case regarding state discrimination laws for refusing to bake a birthday cake for a trans woman.
