Recently appointed US Supreme Court justice Amy Coney Barrett – known for her controversial opinions on the LGBTQ+ community – is due to judge her first LGBTQ+ related case in her new position. On Wednesday November 4, Barrett and other justices will hear arguments on whether Philadelphia authorities have the right to enforce a non-discrimination policy for sexual orientation on Catholic Social Services (CSS), a faith-based child welfare agency that does not work with same-sex foster parents.
According to ABC News, local authorities refused to renew CSS’s contract with the city’s foster care programme in 2018 due to the agency’s unwillingness to accept LGBTQ+ people and couples as applicants. CSS took the issue to court where its claims of religious discrimination were rejected, so the case will be taken to the Supreme Court to settle the dispute. Philadelphia deputy mayor Cynthia Figueroa defended the non-discrimination stance, saying foster care agencies who signed the city contract were obligated to ‘serve all’.
However, many are fearful this case will be the beginning of Barrett eroding LGBTQ+ rights on the grounds of ‘religious freedom’. She was recently revealed to have been a trustee of a group of private schools where queer teachers or children of LGBTQ+ couples were not welcome, and her faith group, People of Praise, has been known to expel LGBTQ+ members. Rachel Laser, CEO of Americans United (a non-profit organisation against the separation of the church and the state), told NBC News: “Barrett has shown that she would allow claims of religious freedom to be misused to harm women, LGBTQ people, religious minorities and the nonreligious, among many others.”