Jonathan Rauch: “You may be aware that for decades the U.S. government fired homosexuals, the military discharged them, and police arrested them. Some of these actions are well within the living memory of most adults. Yet if you are like most people—including me, when I began researching this article—you have not fully appreciated that these policies were not discrimination of any ordinary sort. Beginning in the 1940s and continuing for more than six decades, the United States waged a campaign of legal, social, and psychological obliteration against its homosexual population.”

“The campaign was initiated by the federal government but recruited all of society. The pressure could be felt everywhere. It found you not only at work, where you could be fired, or in bars and clubs, where you could be arrested, but also on the street and in public spaces, where you could be harassed or assaulted; in a doctor’s care, where you might be deemed mentally ill; at home, where you saw gay people ridiculed and pathologized on TV.”

“The goal, as the historian and legal scholar William N. Eskridge Jr. writes in his 1999 book Gaylaw, was not merely to disadvantage homosexual people; it was to erase homosexuality from every corner of public life.”

“Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) struck down a bill that would have banned gender-affirming care for minors, preserving such care for residents beyond his state because families of transgender youths who live in states with bans have been traveling to Ohio for treatment,” the Washington Post reports.

“Republicans, who have a supermajority in the legislature, could override DeWine’s veto and are expected to push back.”

“Pope Francis has taken one of the most concrete steps in his efforts to make the Roman Catholic Church more welcoming to LGBTQ Catholics by allowing priests to bless couples in same-sex relationships,” the New York Times reports.

“Priests have long blessed a wide variety of people, offering a prayer asking for God’s help and presence. The Vatican had long said it could not bless same-sex couples because it would undermine church doctrine that marriage is only between a man and a woman.”

“For five months this year, homosexuality was prohibited in a Tennessee college town,” The Guardian reports.

“In June, the city council of Murfreesboro enacted an ordinance outlawing “indecent exposure, public indecency, lewd behavior, nudity or sexual conduct”. The rule did not explicitly mention homosexuality, but LGBTQ+ people in the town quickly realized that the ordinance references 21-72 of the city code, which categorizes homosexuality as an act of indecent sexual conduct.”

“A federal jury has awarded $100,000 to a Kentucky couple who sued former county clerk Kim Davis over her refusal to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples,” the AP reports.

“Some central Florida lawmakers said they were considering ‘all legislative, legal and executive options available’ to stop business owners in a small town from voluntarily displaying rainbow decals in their windows indicating that they are ‘safe place’ for LGBTQ+ people who feel threatened,” the AP reports.

Canada is advising travelers to the U.S. to be wary of state laws affecting LGBTQ+ people, Axios reports.

“House Republicans have embedded at least 45 anti-LGBTQ+ provisions into must-pass funding bills — many of which would weaken discrimination protections for same-sex couples or restrict gender-affirming care for adults and minors,” The 19th reports.

“The volume and severity of these provisions is an unprecedented attempt by federal lawmakers to restrict the rights of LGBTQ+ people, activists say.”

“The measures are not likely to make it through the Democrats who control the Senate as Congress finalizes a federal budget. But lawmakers’ willingness to tie these provisions to the federal budget raises the stakes for a community that has already seen its rights rolled back across many states this year. It is not guaranteed that all of the efforts can or will be blocked in the Senate.”

“Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has signed two bills banning so-called conversion therapy, a scientifically discredited practice intended to change a person’s sexual orientation, for minors in the state,” CNN reports.

New Republic: “In filings in the 303 Creative v. Elenis case is a supposed request for a gay wedding website — but the man named in the request says he never filed it.”