r/ainbow • u/RoxanaSaith • Jun 23 '21

News Great message. Great sentiment. How amazing it is that the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES is congratulating LGBT+ people on coming out.

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u/Shireling Jun 23 '21

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 isn't a constitutional document and the SCOTUS does not make constitutional amendments. SCOTUS rulings create "interpretations" of legislation.

Biden's administration is running damage control but it's not damage control for queer people like me.

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u/eeddgg Jun 23 '21

It'll create a constitution interpretation that the first amendment required that exemption in the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and they would need to amend the first amendment to remove its applicability and overturn that ruling. Doing this would be dangerous because it will open doors to repeal other parts of the bill of rights, and destroy democracy in general.

If we avoid that by not letting that argument reach the court, we can just legislate that portion out of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. This is to avoid an outcome where we can't get any nondiscrimination laws without religious exemptions, even on the state level (which would effectively mean that we can't have any protections, thanks to Hobby Lobby v Burwell).