Trump’s nominee for the Supreme Court called this gay attorney’s marriage ‘a wonderful thing’
Conservative justice Neil Gorsuch sided with the liberals in the ruling (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
A gay attorney who previously worked with Trump’s nominee for Supreme Court has revealed that he was supportive of his marriage.
Neil Gorsuch’s former employee told the Huffington Post that he never saw Gorsuch express anti-gay opinions and even congratulated him on news of his wedding.
“I have never felt the least whiff from him of homophobia or intolerance toward gay people,” said Joshua Goodbaum, who worked as a law clerk for Gorsuch in 2009.
Since getting married in 2014, Goodbaum said that his former boss had nothing but warm words about his marriage.
“He said, ‘This is a wonderful thing. You’ll see how your relationship grows,’” Goodbaum added.
Campaigners fear that Gorsuch will not be an ally to the LGBT community after he wrote an article in the National Review that said the court was not the place to decide on social issues, including marriage equality.
“[Liberals] have become addicted to the courtroom,” he wrote, “relying on judges and lawyers rather than elected leaders and the ballot box, as the primary means of effecting their social agenda on everything from gay marriage to assisted suicide to the use of vouchers for private-school education.”
Gorsuch’s ruling history is short in terms of LGBT rights, but he has ruled in favour of protecting “religious objections” to contraception in the Hobby Lobby case. This particular ruling has played into evidence that he may support efforts to deny LGBT equality.
Gorsuch back in 2015 joined a ruling against a trans woman who was denied access to hormone replacement therapy while in prison.
He agreed with the ruling which stated that the woman’s treatment while incarcerated did not amount to cruel and unusual punishment under the US Constitution.
Concerns have also been raised by the Human Rights Campaign over his joining in a decision by the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision in the Hobby Lobby v Sebelius case.
The HRC states that the case “asserted that some private corporations are “people” under federal law and have a right to deny basic healthcare coverage if it violates their religious belief. This expansive ruling could allow employers to deny transgender employees access to hormone treatment, access to birth control and other crucial health care for LGBTQ people.”
“Never in the history of our movement have we had more at stake as a community, or as a country,” said HRC President Chad Griffin.
