(SRN NEWS)- ( ) A New York judge has upheld a Long Island county’s law banning males from playing on female sports teams at county-run parks and recreational facilities. In a decision in a suit brought by a roller derby league, Judge Bruce Cozzens writes that Nassau County’s ban is designed “to protect women and girls”. […]
Religious News
RELIGION HEADLINES THR 10-9
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( ) A New York judge has upheld a Long Island county’s law banning males from playing on female sports teams at county-run parks and recreational facilities. In a decision in a suit brought by a roller derby league, Judge Bruce Cozzens writes that Nassau County’s ban is designed “to protect women and girls”. He also points out that transgender athletes can still play in coed sports leagues at the county’s facilities. Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman had first imposed a ban through an executive order last year but it was struck down after a lawsuit from the roller derby league. The New York Civil Liberties Union says it will challenge the decision.
( ) Legal experts say the conservative-majority Supreme Court is taking the American justice system back to its original purpose. For some years, the court had followed what people on the left call a “living reading” of the Constitution, which holds that the document should adapt to the changing cultural norms in the country. But the current court is adopting originalism, which aims to enforce the constitutional principles understood by the Americans who ratified them in the first place. Conservative justices say if the law is to be changed, it must be done by the elected legislature, not activist judges.
( ) State governments continue to add non-Christian holidays to their calendars. California is the third state to designate Diwali (dih-WAH-lee) as an official statewide holiday. Diwali is celebrated by Hindus, Sikhs, Jains and Buddhists. The California law allows public schools and community colleges to close on the holiday. State employees can take the day off, and students will get an excused absence. Pennsylvania and Connecticut have also recognized Diwali as a holiday. Meanwhile, Muslim holidays have been creeping into American school calendars for several years as the number of Muslims in the country has steadily increased.
( ) A majority of Supreme Court justices seem to be leaning in favor of a Christian counselor who is challenging bans on so-called “conversion therapy” as a violation of her First Amendment rights. Her lawyers argued this week that the laws passed in about half of U.S. states wrongly restrict voluntary, faith-based therapy. President Donald Trump’s administration is backing her challenge to Colorado’s law. The conservative-majority court seems unconvinced that states can restrict talk therapy aimed at helping a child abandon the homosexual lifestyle while allowing counseling that affirms kids identifying as gay.