Supreme Court: Businesses can refuse service to gay people

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Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor The Supreme Court rejected an 11th-hour bid to stop Microsoft’s $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard, maker of popular games like Call of Duty, Candy Crush and World of Warcraft, knocking down what appears to be the last legal challenge standing in the way of the deal’s closing. Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan on Tuesday turned down the request, filed by a group of gamers, for an emergency injunction to halt the merger. On Friday, the federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals denied a request by the Federal Trade Commission to stop the merger, coming after a federal district court judge on July 11 rejected the FTC’s request to block Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard. Kagan, who reviews emergency applications to the Supreme Court from the Ninth Circuit, did not provide an explanation for her decision in rejecting the motion.

The only thing worse than a bad ruling at the U.S. Supreme Court is a bad ruling that sets up the prospect that the worst is yet to come.

Thania Garcia Though it started as a video-sharing app, TikTok has become an effective (and totally unpredictable) tool for musicians and record labels looking to shed some light on a new single. Now the app is putting its music industry skills to the test with the launch of “Elevate,” a new rising artist platform that will make the most of the app’s built-in music discovery tools to support fresh talent. The initiative launches today with musicians: Chinchilla, Sam Barber, Omar Courtz, Isabel La Rosa, Kaliii, and Lu Kala. TikTok will provide the selected creators resources including early access to new features, and will additionally receive support from TikTok’s official social handles. “Elevate’s” inaugural program will run through October.

attempted to prosecute a transgender woman who had entered and used a women’s restroom despite not having officially transitioned.The ministry said in a statement that it would examine the ruling closely and “take appropriate measures after consulting with the relevant ministries and agencies.” It also said it would continue to make efforts to respect the diversity of its staff.The ruling comes after a series of mostly pro-LGBTQ court rulings regarding the legalization of same-sex marriage in the country, with courts finding, in the majority of the cases, that laws blocking same-sex nuptials are unconstitutional.Japan is currently the only G7 nation where same-sex marriage hasn’t been legalized. Japanese law is vague about the ability of same-sex couples to adopt, and the country also lacks nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ individuals, permits conversion therapy, and does not recognize nonbinary genders, reports Reuters.On June 16, Japan enacted a law declaring that “unjust” discrimination is unacceptable, but doesn’t explicitly provide specific rights for LGBTQ people — in part due to opposition from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, a right-wing political party that controls both chambers of the country’s National Diet, or national legislature.Despite the law being overly vague and not promising any specific rights, it still sparked a backlash from conservatives, who began campaigning for moves to protect women in multi-user, publicly-shared facilities.The plaintiff, whose name remains anonymous, celebrated the ruling.“All people should have the right to live their lives in society based on their own sexual identities,” she said in a statement.

Results of a new poll conducted by the D.C.-based Data for Progress released last week showed that 65 percent of voters believe businesses should not be allowed to turn away customers who are of a particular race, religion, disability, or sexual orientation because of the business owner’s personal beliefs.

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Instagram. “Some people have not gotten the irony I was expressing so I thought I’d be more explicit … The post referred to here was a satirical and symbolic take on where blatantly discriminatory Supreme Court decisions are taking us as a nation: into utter division and possibly far worse.”“The White Lotus” actor’s initial comments followed the U.S.

Michael Imperioli is reacting to the Supreme Court ruling that made it legal for a web designer to refuse to work with a same-sex couple.

Michael Imperioli is taking a stance against the recent Supreme Court ruling in the United States earlier this week.

J. Kim Murphy Michael Imperioli is among many actors in Hollywood speaking out against the Supreme Court, with the “Sopranos” star making a statement against the group’s ruling in favor of a Christian web designer who sought legal protection to discriminate against same-sex marriages due to her religious beliefs. Imperioli shared a screenshot of a news story about the ruling on Instagram, with the headline “Supreme Court protects web designer who won’t do gay wedding websites,” along with a caption railing against the decision. “I’ve decided to forbid bigots and homophobes from watching ‘The Sopranos,’ ‘The White Lotus,’ ‘Goodfellas’ or any movie or TV show I’ve been in,” Imperioli wrote Saturday morning. “Thank you Supreme Court for allowing me to discriminate and exclude those who I don’t agree with and am opposed to. USA! USA!”

LGBTQ advocates and allies are lamenting the Supreme Court’s recent decision in favor of a website designer who sought an exemption from her state’s nondiscrimination law to allow her to refuse to create wedding websites for same-sex couples.Despite one of the alleged requests for service from a gay couple allegedly being fabricated or submitted under false pretenses, as reported by The New Republic, the high court ultimately decided in favor of Lorie Smith, the owner of 303 Creative, LLC, finding that Colorado’s law infringes on her free speech rights.The court further found that, because Smith creates “custom” websites that contain “expressive content,” she should have been granted a “free speech” exemption to the Coloraod Anti-Discrimination Act allowing her to not only refuse service to same-sex couples, but to post a notice that she will refuse to create websites celebrating same-sex marriages.Many allies of the LGBTQ community noted that while the decision is not as broad as to overturn nullify laws prohibiting LGBTQ discrimination, it does create a massive carve-out for businesses providing “custom-made” goods or services, allowing them to discriminate against prospective customers — in this particular case, LGBTQ individuals, but potentially members of other groups in the future — on free speech grounds. “The Supreme Court just gave businesses a license to discriminate,” Ben Olinsky, the senior vice president of Structural Reform and Governance at the left-leaning Center for American Progress, said in a statement.

landed serious blows to the American education system this week.First, on June 29, the Court struck down at the University of North Carolina and Harvard before President Joe Biden's student loan forgiveness program, which offered up to $20,000 of debt relief to millions of Americans, just a day later. Each of these decisions is considered a major victory for the conservative faction.Regarding the rulings against affirmative action, here's everything you need to know.Affirmative action programs and policies are aimed toward the inclusion of underrepresented groups, based on race, gender, sexuality, etc.

The Directors Guild said today that it “remains steadfast in our fight for an equitable and inclusive society” despite the Supreme Court’s rulings this week that rolled back affirmative action and LGBTQ+ rights.

Marc Malkin Senior Film Awards, Events & Lifestyle Editor Recently engaged couple Ben Platt and Noah Galvin are reacting to Friday’s Supreme Court ruling that favors a Colorado web designer refusing to make a wedding website for LGBTQ couples because she is against same-sex marriage. “I think it’s a distraction from things that are actually important, like the planet melting,” Platt told me Friday morning during an interview for on an upcoming episode of the “Just for Variety” podcast. “I also think it’s the people who are losing clout, it’s like the last rageful fiery, ‘This is not how it should be!’ before they go away forever. “It’s my only hope. That’s the only way to stay any kind of optimistic about it because otherwise it’s just fully going back in time and harming people for no reason,” he continued. “It feels so backwards, so directly backwards.”

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled in favor of a graphic designer who denied service to same-sex couples.

As justices accept lavish, six-figure gifts, they don’t dare to help Americans saddled with student loan debt, instead siding with the powerful, big-monied interests.Justice Alito accepted tens of thousands of dollars in lavish vacation gifts from a billionaire who lobbied to cancel the student loan forgiveness.After the gifts, Alito voted to overturn. This SCOTUS’ corruption undercuts its own legitimacy by putting its rulings up for sale.The decision to block Biden’s plan came within minutes of the Supreme Court also ruling in favor of a web designer with anti-LGBT beliefs, saying that the First Amendment protects her right to refuse service to gay people, which prompted even further outrage.“Happy f— the supreme court day to all who celebrate,” one person wrote, posting a screenshot of back-to-back news notifications about the decisions.happy fuck the supreme court day to all who celebrate pic.twitter.com/7I0pxAlgVkTime to email my student loan providers and let them know they can refuse to accept my gay moneyThe Supreme Court decided against gay rights in a case that didn't involve any gay people and against debt forgiveness in a case where the lenders were fine with the issue.

The Supreme Court ruled that a website designer could refuse to provide services for same-sex weddings, despite a Colorado non-discrimination law.