"Religious Freedom or License to Discriminate?" and "Ending Conversion Therapy: Legal and Legislative Strategies" were two of the many topics discussed at the National LGBT Bar Association's annual Lavender Law conference and career fair Aug. 6 at the Chicago Marriott Downtown Magnificent Mile.
The conference and career fair, which took place Aug. 5-8, returned to Chicago after a seven-year absence. This was the third time that the conference had been held in Chicago.
The "Religious Freedom or a License to Discriminate?" general session was moderated by Jennifer Pizer ( senior counsel and law and policy project national director for Lambda Legal ), and featured remarks by Tobias Barrington Wolff ( professor of law at the University of Pennsylvania Law School ), Dale Carpenter ( legal commentator and Earl R. Larson professor of civil rights and civil liberties law at the University of Minnesota Law School ), Louise Melling ( deputy legal director, American Civil Liberties Union—ACLU and director of ACLU's Center for Liberty ) and Douglas NeJaime ( professor of law at UCLA Law School and faculty director, Williams Institute ).
Pizer told the approximately 400 people in attendance that, in this past year, about 75 Religious Freedom Restoration Act ( RFRA ) bills have been introduced in about half of the states. She noted that these RFRA bills are not just being introduced at the state level, but they've also been introduced in both houses of Congress in recent months as well.
"The good news is that, of the 75 RFRA bills that were introduced, only seven of them passed," said Pizer.
When asked whether public employees can be compelled to serve all members of the public regardless of their religious or moral convictions against same-sex marriages, Carpenter ( who also noted that he is a libertarian-leaning Republican ) said that, in this post-Obergefell v. Hodges world, they are legally obligated to do so regardless of how they feel about the issue. He noted that public employees should be held to a higher standard than private entities and their employees. Carpenter explained that in order to push back against religious-exemption claims, one has to "litigate, agitate and legislate."
Regarding complicity claims, NeJaime explained that business owners are also claiming conscience and religious exemptions with regard to serving same-sex couples—which is tied into conservatives' approach to healthcare services covering abortion and access to contraception. He noted that the most famous example of this is the U.S. Supreme Court's Hobby Lobby case. NeJaime said that those who are against same-sex marriages are using the Hobby Lobby case to argue that they have a right to refuse service to same-sex couples.
In the area of for-profit businesses, Wolff said that those who would refuse service to same-sex couples do so based on First Amendment arguments and religious-freedom exemptions—arguments that have been largely unsuccessful.
When asked about the historical context to these RFRA bills, Melling said it's not OK to refuse service to LGBT people because that's not what equality looks like. She explained that it's vital to resist these RFRA bills that allow businesses to refuse service to LGBT people.
Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey, the nation's first openly LGBT state attorney general, made a surprise appearance at the close of the general session.
The "Ending Conversion Therapy: Legal & Legislative Strategies" workshop was moderated by Sam Wolfe ( founder of the LGBT Rights Project and senior staff attorney at the Southern Poverty Law Center—SPLC ) and featured remarks by Wolfe, Samantha Ames ( "#BornPerfect: The Campaign to End Conversion Therapy" campaign coordinator and staff attorney, National Center for Lesbian Rights ( NCLR ) ), Illinois state Rep. Kelly Cassidy ( lead sponsor of the Illinois General Assembly's successful effort to ban conversion therapy, which is awaiting Gov. Bruce Rauner's signature ) and Alison Gill ( senior legislative counsel, Human Rights Campaign ).
Wolfe told the approximately 60 people in attendance that he's a survivor of conversion therapy ( while attending Brigham Young University ). He noted that the main focus of the LGBT Rights Project, which he founded five years ago, concerns conversion therapy.
"We define conversion therapy as the practice that purports to change either a person's sexual orientation or gender identity or expression or lessen their same-sex sexual desires," said Gill.
Gill said that conversion therapy is inappropriate and ineffective, adding that mainstream mental health and medical organizations reject the practice.
Gill spoke about the state legislative work to ban conversion-therapy practices and noted the successes in California, New Jersey, Washington, D.C., Oregon and Illinois. She explained that 20 states have introduced similar bills to ban conversion therapy and said there's an effort on the federal level to ban conversion therapy with bills being introduced by Rep. Jackie Speier ( D-Calif. ) in the House of Representatives and by Sens. Cory Booker ( D-N.J. ) and Sherrod Brown ( D-Ohio ). She noted that both the White House and the Surgeon General's offices have released statements condemning conversion therapy.
Ames spoke about the Born Perfect campaign, a network of survivors of conversion therapy. She noted that the survivor's stories are used for advocacy and have afforded the NCLR with anecdotal data, which they don't have a lot of, about the harmful effects of conversion therapy.
Ames explained that lawsuits have been filed against states conversion therapy ban laws and the arguments that the opposition has used concern freedom of speech, freedom of religion and parents rights. She noted that they've all failed.
Cassidy outlined the work she did to get Illinois' conversion-therapy ban bill passed. She noted that the first time the bill was introduced it died, but that gave them an opportunity to reach out to more survivors and have them tell their stories. By doing this work, Cassidy noted that they were able to broaden the bill to include fraud language to go after anyone who is practicing conversion therapy on minors, not just licensed professionals.
Wolfe spoke about SPLC's lawsuit in which a jury found that a New Jersey provider of conversion-therapy services violated the state's consumer fraud law.
Q&A sessions followed both presentations.
See LGBTbar.org for more information.
