event description (repeats event info)

During the struggle for civil rights, restaurant owners and others invoked their religion to refuse service to Black people. Courts rejected that argument, but the Supreme Court re-visits it this fall in the Masterpiece Cakeshop case focused on the rights of same sex couples.

But there is much more at stake, as the improper invocation of religion is increasingly used as an excuse to deny civil rights, LGBTQ equality, and reproductive freedom, and as government policies target Muslims and favor other religious beliefs.

Join our prominent panel in an urgent discussion of the current state of the First Amendment’s Free Exercise and Establishment Clauses and what we need to do to protect these very important constitutional rights.

5:45pm: Reception and Refreshments
6:45pm: Panel Discussion

Speakers:
Prof. Jay Wexler, Boston University School of Law, Author: Holy Hullabaloos: A Roadtrip to the Battlegrounds of Church/State Conflict. Overview of America’s religious conflicts.

State Rep. Byron Rushing, Assistant Majority Leader, Mass. House of Representatives. Establishment and Religious Exercise: Their impact on racial and religious minorities.

Professor Jessica Silbey, Northeastern University School of Law; former board member, Planned Parenthood Advocacy Fund. Current threats to reproductive justice and rights.

Louise Melling, Deputy Legal Director of the ACLU/Director, ACLU Center for Liberty; How religion is invoked to excuse discrimination, including attacks on LGBTQ rights in Masterpiece Cakeshop case in Supreme Court

GLAD is co-sponsoring this special event. Free tickets available here.