Durbin Statement On The Supreme Court Allowing Businesses To Discriminate Against LGBTQ+ Customers

Press Release

"It's shameful that the Supreme Court just issued a ruling that mistakes freedom of expression as a reason to deny service to LGBTQ+ people -- on the final day of Pride Month. It's nothing short of a license to discriminate, signed by the highest court in the land.

Yet again, the conservative Supreme Court majority is out of touch with the American people's expectations of its highest court. The majority of Americans embrace anti-discrimination protections for LGBTQ+ people -- protections that exist to ensure that no one is turned away because of who they are or who they love. Still, LGBTQ+ Americans are being subjected to a tidal wave of hateful rhetoric and legislation across the country by Republican lawmakers, particularly targeting transgender youth.

As Justice Sotomayor noted in her dissent, "the Court, for the first time in its history, grant[ed] a business open to the public a constitutional right to refuse to serve members of a protected class.' As a result, this case invites a return to a time when businesses regularly turned people away because of not just their LGBTQ+ status, but also their religion, race, national origin, sex, and more.

Mark my words: I will do everything I can to ensure that the freedom to exist unapologetically prevails. June 30th might conclude Pride Month, but today's ruling shows our work is far from over."

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