Printer who nixed gay pride shirt goes to Ky. Supreme Court
The Washington Post reported Kentucky print shop owner who refused to make a gay pride T-shirt argued before the Kentucky Supreme Court that he shouldn’t be compelled to promote messages that go against his religious beliefs.
Blaine Adamson is owner of Hands-On Originals in Lexington and declined to print a shirt promoting an LGBT pride festival in 2012. The city’s Human Rights Commission said that refusal violated its gay-rights fairness ordinance.
On Aug. 23, the high court heard an attorney for the T-shirt maker argue that the First Amendment protects him from having to print that message. An attorney for the Human Rights Commission says the T-shirt maker cannot pick and choose who it wants to serve in the Lexington community.
The Supreme Court heard oral arguments from attorneys and will issue a ruling at a later date.
Court: Idaho must provide trans inmate gender affirmation surgery
Boise State Public Radio reported a federal appeals court said Idaho must provide gender affirmation surgery to a transgender inmate who has been living as a woman for years but who has continuously been housed in a men’s prison.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday agreed with a federal judge in Idaho that the state’s denying the surgery for Adree Edmo amounted to cruel and unusual punishment, a violation of the U.S. Constitution.
U.S. District Court Judge B. Lynn Winmill in December ruled that Edmo showed she had a serious medical need and that failure to treat her medical condition could result in significant further injury or the unnecessary and wanton infliction of pain.
Idaho Department of Correction spokesman Jeff Ray said the department was reviewing the ruling and couldn’t comment.
Lesbian astronaut may have committed Earth’s first ‘space crime’
LGBTQ Nation reported a lesbian American astronaut Anne McClain has been accused of committing the first-ever recorded space crime after she allegedly accessed the bank account of her estranged spouse, Summer Worden, from the International Space Station (ISS).
The two women have been involved in “a bitter separation and parenting dispute for much of the past year.” After discovering that McClain had accessed Worden’s account from a NASA computer terminal, Worden filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission and NASA’s Office of Inspector General. She has accused McClain of identity theft and improper access to Worden’s private financial records.
But while McClain has admitted to accessing Worden’s account from the ISS, she denied any wrongdoing. Her lawyer said she was merely reviewing her former partner’s funds to ensure that Worden had enough to pay bills and for their child’s care, and that she didn’t move, transfer or withdraw any funds. McClain added that she simply used a password that she had used previously and that Worden never told her not to access the account.
Appeals Court reinstates lawsuit over same-sex wedding video
The Star Tribune reported a federal appeals court has reinstated a lawsuit filed by two Minnesota filmmakers who want the right to refuse to film same-sex weddings.
Carl and Angel Larsen, who run Telescope Media Group in St. Cloud, sued the state in 2016, saying Minnesota’s public accommodation law would result in steep fines and jail time if they offered services promoting only their vision of marriage.
A federal judge dismissed the case. But a three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Aug. 23 that the First Amendment gives the Larsens the right to choose when to speak and what to say.
The panel sent the case back to the lower court with instructions to consider a preliminary injunction that would allow the Larsens to operate their business without fear of violating Minnesota law.
Messages left with the state weren’t immediately returned.
Reporting via Associated Press