The National Masturbators' Task Force; or, The Importance of LGBT Political Organizing for Evaluating LGBT Equal Protection Claims in Competition with Free Exercise of Religion Claims
William B. Turner, The National Masturbators' Task Force; or, the Importance of LGBT Political Organizing for Evaluating LGBT Equal Protection Claims in Competition with Free Exercise Claims, Journal of Law and Sexuality, Forthcoming
101 Pages Posted: 2 Jul 2016
Date Written: June 30, 2016
Abstract
This article points to LGBT political organizing, including litigation, to help explain why, in any contest between claims under the Equal Protection Clause and the Free Exercise Clause, the equal protection claim must prevail. The Constitution defines a political space in which the most important form of equal protection of the laws is equal access to the political process for purposes of self definition, which Christian conservatives take for granted, but which LGBT people have had to fight for continuously for the past sixty years. It argues that there really is no conflict between equal protection and free exercise because Christian conservatives and LGBT people have identical rights to participate in the political process and legal recognition of same sex marriages in no way infringes on anyone's right to free exercise of religion.
Keywords: equal protection, due process, substantive due process, marriage, same sex marriage, LGBT, free exercise, establishment of religion, davis, kim davis, license, marriage license
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