Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution

• Many of those bills seek to reduce or eliminate gender-affirming care for transgender minors or to ban drag performances in places where minors could view them.
• Anti-LGBTQ laws that federal judges have concluded do not pass constitutional scrutiny include anti-trans legislation in Arkansas and anti-drag legislation in Tennessee.
• A notable feature of these rulings for me - a First Amendment scholar – is how many rely on the First Amendment’s protection of free speech.

Drag performances

• Several states passed laws aimed at restricting drag performances.
• On June 2, 2023, a federal judge permanently enjoined Tennessee’s attempt to limit drag performances by restricting “adult entertainment” featuring “male or female impersonators.” When a law is permanently enjoined, it can no longer be enforced unless an appeals court reverses the decision.
• And in Utah, a federal judge required the city of St. George to grant a permit for a drag show, ruling that the city had applied an ordinance in a discriminatory manner in order to prevent the family-friendly drag show from happening.

Gender-affirming care

• Asa Hutchinson, preventing transgender minors from receiving various kinds of gender-affirming medical care, including puberty blockers and hormone therapy.
• The judge agreed that these were legitimate state interests, but rejected Arkansas’ claim that its law furthered those ends.
• The judge also held that Arkansas’ law violated the First Amendment free speech rights of medical care providers because the law would have prevented them from providing referrals for gender transition medical treatment.

Free speech for the LGBTQ community

• In his ruling on the St. George, Utah case, U.S. District Judge David Nuffer stressed that “Public spaces are public spaces.
• Public spaces are not private spaces.
• Free speech rights also extend to those who want to use speech in order to help promote the well-being of LGBTQ people.
• As additional anti-LGBTQ state laws are challenged in court, judges are likely to continue to use the First Amendment to show how such laws fail to respect Americans’ fundamental free speech rights.

• In a cry for help, brave and desperate inmates shared prohibited cell phone footage from inside.
• The documentary unpacks Parchman's disgraceful history, includes interviews with families with loved ones suffering in the decaying prison, and delivers a never-before-seen look at the inside of the notorious facility.
• "Exposing Parchman" is produced by ITV America's Good Caper Content, Roc Nation, and Red Summer TV for A&E Network.
• Desiree Perez, Lori York, Jana Fleishman, and Mario "Yo Gotti" Mims are the executive producers for Roc Nation.

• Both men have felt compelled to censor their own speech to reduce the risk that they will face charges.
• NCLA filed an amicus curiae brief in that case, Greenberg v. Lehocky, et al., opposing Pennsylvania officials’ attempt to revive the rule.
• The Second Circuit has repeatedly held that pre-enforcement First Amendment challenges to speech restrictions face relaxed standing criteria because they risk chilling First-Amendment-protected speech.
• Such penalties chill constitutionally protected speech, which is all that is necessary for NCLA’s clients to challenge the rule in court.”

• NCLA opposes Pennsylvania officials attempt to revive a rule that would use overly vague language to govern objectionable speech by members of the legal profession.
• Both the Supreme Court and the Third Circuit have repeatedly stated that speech restrictions that discriminate on the basis of content or viewpoint expressed are constitutionally impermissible.
• Pennsylvania has a long history of regulating both the conduct and speech of attorneys, where necessary, to maintain the integrity of the judicial system.
• Before Pennsylvania adopted Rule 8.4(g) of the Rules of Professional Conduct in 2020, it did not engage in viewpoint discrimination when regulating attorney speech.