ACLU Responds to Comments from Justices Thomas and Alito

WASHINGTON — James Esseks, director of the American Civil Liberties Union LGBT & HIV Project issued the following statement in response to comments made by Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito today:

“It is appalling that five years after the historic decision in Obergefell, two justices still consider same-sex couples less worthy of marriage than other couples. When you do a job on behalf of the government — as an employee or a contractor — there is no license to discriminate or turn people away because they do not meet religious criteria. Our government could not function if everyone doing the government’s business got to pick their own rules. That’s exactly what’s at stake in a case that will be argued on Nov. 4 — Fulton v. City of Philadelphia. We will fight against any attempts to open the door to legalized discrimination against LGBTQ people.”