Almost lost in the rush of other events since Monday....!
The Supreme Court turned down a request to revisit its 10-year-old decision in Obergefell v. Hodges at the behest of Kim Davis, former county clerk in Rowan County, Ky., whose original complaint, back in 2015, was over her religious objection against having to issue a marriage license to a gay couple.
Davis was represented on the petition for review by her original law firm, Liberty Counsel (with support from the Foundation for Moral Law, as well as from the National Organization for Marriage, which was represented by John C. Eastman, yes, that guy).
Procedural and other grounds were alleged for the petition, including the fact that the Constitution doesn't mention same-sex marriage.
Commentary has included a mixture of relief and caution. For example:
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NEW: Kim Davis is done. The Supreme Court is not reconsidering Obergefell. What happens now?
There is a reason people were afraid that the Supreme Court would take up case. The reason is the Supreme Court itself. Here's why I'm taking this whole experience seriously.
Today, at Law Dork:
— Chris Geidner (@chrisgeidner.bsky.social) 2025-11-11T20:32:26.045Z
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Meanwhile for those of us whose memories have faded or who weren't tuned in at the time, a touching interview published just four months ago in Out, with Jim Obergefell while he awaited this decision, revisits history.
Jim Obergefell wasn't trying to order a wedding cake. He wasn't trying to get a marriage license issued; denied the right to marry in Ohio, he and his husband had simply married in another state. He wasn't seeking access to monetary benefits.
After his husband passed away from ALS, Obergefell merely wanted to be listed as surviving spouse on his husband's death cerificate.
His determination is why the United States government today recognizes same-sex marriage and all the states are required to do the same.
The Kim Davises of this world notwithstanding.
INTERRUPTION: Trying out the idea of a regular Sunday evening column on LGBTQIA+ issues. Contributions welcome.
MEANWHILE: I finally buckled down to working on the next monthly LGBTQIA+ Literature column, which I've had so much trouble facing up to, because of being pledged to review a book about Magnus Hirschfield's pioneering work in Berlin during the Weimar Republic.
My attitude's transformed. Because, despite the tragic ending, there is so much of good in this history that is fascinating and inspiring. History that was not erased. And even the life story of one survivor.
So much is there that I now plan to divide the review of The Intermediaries by Brandy Schillace into two parts.
Couple corrections to false notions I've had about this, btw:
First, Schillace is a Ph.D. historian, yes, but also so much more: a truly outstanding storyteller. Not the academic tome I expected.
Second, I was under the wrong impression that Dr. Hirschfeld's work had been specifically all about trans identities. COMPLETELY MISTAKEN.
Hirschfeld himself was gay. And his research and advocacy spanned the absolute entirety of what today we today might call the LGBQTIA spectrum. I mean entirety!
Really looking forward to sharing Part I on Sun., Nov. 30, two weeks from today.
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Forward!
Things are extremely tough for trans people right now. Much too much of the wrong kind of awareness from the wrong people.
Not trans, but know someone? Ask how they are doing.
Tiny ray of sunshine?
Not entirely new, however. A group of trans women first broke bread with a pope in 2022 , but were not at the head table or with opportunity for real conversation. (Tbh cis women wanting to become priests have also received but slight recognition.)
Meanwhile, Wednesday:
There will be more about trans issues blowing up, further along in the diary.
Nother nice little victory:
...[A] federal judge ruled that the BMV violated Saki’s free speech rights by denying his license plate applications for “GAY,” “QUEER,” and “HOMO” even though the bureau allowed him to apply for license plates reading, “STR8,” STR8 PWR,” “NO GAYS,” “NO HOMOS,” and “NO F**S.”
He's got the plates now.
Sadly, however: The official state Church of England (though it recently made history by appointing its first woman Archbishop of Canterbury to head the whole shebang) has backed off what had seemed like a good step towards fully accepting gay marriage, which would have been to permit same-sex church blessings (though not weddings as such) and allow priests to be in a civil marriage with a spouse of the same sex.
More in-house approvals for this change are needed, the word came down--approvals unlikely to be forthcoming.
Dr. Mark Oakley, dean of the Church's parish of Southwark Cathedral (Southwark was the location of Shakespeare's Globe theater btw) had a few words to say that, while not without its dry English humor, was not only religious but very personal and from the heart.
Reportedly left parishioners weeping and was followed with a standing ovation, which you can see on the video:
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(What do you think, shall we start a U.S. branch of The Scream Club?) :-/
In Texas, a a ban on drag shows is on again after having been found unconstitutional back in 2023. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit lifted a hold on enforcement of the law and sent the case in question back to the lower court for a rethink.
The law can't be applied to all drag performances, however, just those that are “sexually oriented” or “erotic" and performed in front of minors, the two-judge majority asserted. They stated that the organizations originally charged under the law no longer have to worry.
Per Politico, the partially dissenting judge
"warned that his colleagues were ignoring the clear intent of the legislature and top Texas officials to prohibit drag performances in public and in private spaces where children are present."
What constitutes sexually oriented or prurient could be differently interpreted by enforcers, he noted.
"Hurst said the trend exposes a stark contrast with anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric in conservative circles. 'Right-wing Christians often claim LGBTQ+ people are a danger to children, but accusations against drag queens and trans people are virtually non-existent', he said."
Kids born intersex continue to be lied to and subjected to traumatic gender-assignment surgery, often very young, without their comprehension or consent. Results can be disastrous. This piece is about the efforts to change such practices in the UK.
OK, in the last week
It's not like there are a lot of transgender girls and women in sports at all, let alone at this level, but the Olympic Committee is not only set to ban them but to target anyone who doesn't seem feminine enough, for gender policing. If found to be intersex they'd be banned.
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The International Olympic Committee is set to ban trans and intersex women from competition. This is despite the fact that for 20 years, the IOC has allowed trans athletes to compete and only 1 has ever competed and none have ever won a medal.
www.the-independent.com/sport/olympi...
— Alejandra Caraballo (@esqueer.net) 2025-11-10T15:23:57.822Z
Until now the IOC has offered sports non-binding guidance on the issue of transgender women competing in the female category, but has allowed individual sports to make their own policies.
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What this policy will do is wreak havoc on intersex women who will have had no idea they were intersex until they are forced to undergo an invasive DNA test. They will be disqualified and have their entire lives upended. Athletes have completed suicide over this.
— Alejandra Caraballo (@esqueer.net) 2025-11-10T15:25:15.326Z
The [IOC] meeting in Lausanne reportedly featured medical and scientific director Dr Jane Thornton, formerly an Olympic rower, presenting scientific evidence that athletes who were born male retained physical advantages, including those who had since undergone treatment to reduce their levels of testosterone.
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There's some speculation that this is being done, at least in part, to please the Trump administration, since the next Olympics are being held in L.A. :-/
There has also been an almightly flap about transgender identity at the BBC.
As you probably know, the BBC got hammered by Trump over an interview with him that he claimed was biased, specifically, dishonestly edited.
(They aren't used to dealing with Trump across the pond; good-faith behavior and even bending over backwards getting you absolutely nowhere, being taken as signs of weakness.)
The management agreed the editing was biased. They apologized. The head of the BBC stepped down. Trump says he's suing for a billion dollars anyway.
Meanwhile the Telegraph newspaper came out with a claim of some kind of pro-trans cabal at the BBC being grossly unfair to "gender-critical" viewpoints.
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So the Telegraph’s “BBC bias dossier” - supposedly written by ex-BBC adviser Michael Prescott - is being used to claim there’s a rogue LGBT+ unit “censoring” gender-critical voices inside the BBC.
Let’s look at what’s actually in it. Spoiler: it’s nothing but recycled transphobic talking points!
🧵
— Helen 🏳️⚧️✊🏻💕 (@mimmymum.bsky.social) 2025-11-10T02:27:54.942Z
Surprise, the truth turns out to be just the opposite.
Maitlis was major figure at the BBC until she got in a spot of trouble herself over a supposedly biased interview and left in 2022.
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The BBC, quite consciously, sets out to demean and belittle trans people. This is both morally contemptible and in breach of its Charter obligations. We've made it super easy for you to write to the BBC and tell it to stop.
Please use - and share with your networks.
goodlaw.social/2j5q
— Jolyon Maugham KC (@goodlawproject.org) 2025-11-14T12:39:07.395Z
Odds and ends
Gender squabbles complicate climate negotiations
The Vatican, which rarely intervenes in climate negotiations, called for a reference to “sex” rather than “gender” during discussions on the need for disaggregated data.
Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iran and Egypt have previously opposed references to gender, which is widely understood to reflect their opposition to the inclusion of trans and non-binary people.
How convenient for the fossil fuel lobby.
Texas prof discussed gender identity in class and got fired. Faculty pushing back.
More on the state of things in the UK
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We believe in doing what the NHS should be - reporting honestly and transparently on the state of gender services in the UK
https://www.wearequeeraf.com/gender-clinic-files-how-i-discovered-the-waiting-times-for-every-gender-clinic-in-the-uk/
— QueerAF (@wearequeeraf.com) 2025-11-13T10:33:29.874904Z
China
History
The bad
The invisible
Straightwashing Baron von Steuben
www.lgbtqnation.com/…
The good
Geography
Gay Russians fleeing to Argentina
www.lgbtqnation.com/…
If you got this far, thanks for hanging in!
I ran out of time to make a poll! Create your own question and answer?
Shameless footnote: If you leave a comment, that encourages others to read and to comment also, which helps helps the diary stay visible rather than dropping quickly off the FP. Just sayin'. :-)
