Gay rights court case
Unlike children, gays and lesbians do not have a special section in the Bill of Rights loyal to their rights. Rather, the relevant part of section 9 of the Constitution, entitled "Equality", states that:
"(3) The state may not unfairly discriminate directly or indirectly against anyone on one or more grounds, including race, gender, sex, pregnancy, marital status, ethnic or social beginning, colour, sexual orientation, age, disability, religion, conscience, conviction, culture, language and birth."
Gays and lesbians are protected by the inclusion of sexual orientation as one of the listed grounds on which unfair discrimination may not take place.
The listing of specific cases in section 9(3) does not mean, however, that to be considered unconstitutional, discrimination would have to be based on one of the grounds mentioned.
Gay rights might enjoy protection even in the absence of the specific reference to sexual orientation. But their explicit mentioning gives our Bill of Rights a special place in the world: South Africa was the first nation to enshrine gay rights in its Constitution and, in so doing, provide its citizens with constitutional protection from discrimination on the
In The Courts
Court Cases
LGBTQ Rights
Featured
Jun 2020
R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Homes v EEOC & Aimee Stephens
Aimee Stephens had worked for nearly six years as a funeral director at R.G. and G.R. Harris Funeral Homes when she informed the funeral home’s owner that she is a transgender lady. She was fired, the EEOC sued on her behalf, and the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Aimee’s employer engaged in unlawful sex discrimination when it fired her because she’s gender diverse. We represented Aimee Stephens in front of the U.S. Supreme Court — and won.
Status: Closed (Judgment)
Sep 2019
Altitude Express Inc. v. Zarda
Don Zarda loved to skydive. He worked as a skydiving instructor at Altitude Express, a company on Long Island, N.Y. He was fired for existence gay.
Status: Closed (Judgment)
Once opponents in the Supreme Court case that legalized gay marriage, now they're friends
COLUMBUS, Ohio — The case behind the U.S. Supreme Court ruling legalizing same-sex marriage nationwide a decade ago is famous as Obergefell v. Hodges, but the two Ohio men whose names became that title weren't so at odds as it would seem, and are now friends.
One year after the Supreme Court's June 26, 2015, decision, command plaintiff Jim Obergefell was at an event for an LGBTQ advocacy group when its former director asked if he wanted to meet Rick Hodges, who'd been the title defendant in his capacity as state health director in Ohio, one of the states challenged for not allowing same-sex couples to marry.
"I don't comprehend, you tell me. Execute I want to see Rick Hodges?" Obergefell recalls responding.
The two met for coffee in a hotel and hit it off.
Hodges said he wanted to meet Obergefell because he's an "icon." He said he remembers telling Obergefell something along the lines of: "I don't recognize if congratulations are in order because this began with you losing your husband, but I'm content you won and I've never been so joyful to lose in my life."
Obergefell and John Arthur, who bro
Case Summary and Outcome
The Upper Court in Nairobi, Kenya held that the provisions in the Penal Code which criminalize same-sex sexual conduct were constitutional and did not infringe the rights to equality, dignity, privacy, health, expression, autonomy and security of the person, and the right to a fair hearing. The case had been brought by individuals and human rights NGOs in Kenya who argued that individuals experienced discrimination and physical attacks as a result of their actual or perceived sexual orientation. The Court held that there was insufficient evidence brought in the case to demonstrate infringement of the rights, and held that decriminalizing same-sex sexual conduct would lead to cohabitation of same-sex couples which would infringe the constitutional provisions that guard the family as the “natural and fundamental unit of society” and the important role of “culture as the foundation of the nation and as the cumulative civilization of the Kenyan people and nation.”
Facts
On June 9, 2016 the Kenyan High Court in Nairobi certified a Petition brought by EG, a Kenyan lawyer and director of an NGO, which challenged sections 162(a)
.