While these last eight months have been awful to say the least, the outcome of this election was one of the few positives. The current president and his administration have repeatedly made jabs at the LGBTQ community, especially when it came to taking away rights for transgender individuals.  Although I’m not a fan of the president-elect, he offers more possibility for positive change in the years to come than the current president.

But with the appointment of new Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett, I fear that progress will be slowed. The Supreme Court case, Fulton vs. the City of Philadelphia is a very monumental case when it comes to the adoption rights of same-sex couples, and Barrett has a reputation to forget to separate faith and government.  In the past, she has stated her support for a baker in Colorado who wouldn’t sell a cake to a gay couple because of the fact that they were a gay.

From this, many people, as well as myself, are led to the conclusion that given the choice in deciding to defend the right of a Catholic adoption agency to deny same-sex couples the right to adopt a parentless child or insurance for same-sex couples that an adoption agency cannot deny them a child due to their sexual orientation, Barrett will very likely choose the former.

The appointment of Justice Barrett not only saddens me as a gay person but makes me fearful for the future. The appointment of someone who so blatantly shows disregard for members of the LGBTQ community and is now put in a place of authority in which she can slow the advancement of equal rights is yet another jab from the current president and his administration. This is another step in the opposite direction when it comes to the protection of rights of queer people.

While the current circumstances are not in our favor when it comes to preventing discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation, I personally still want to try and be hopeful of the situation.  In the summer of 2020, the Supreme Court ruled that Title VII applies to sexuality and gender identity while holding a conservative majority.  I hope that the current judges continue protecting the rights of individuals, especially within the LGBTQ community, and I hope that they do not perpetuate the issue of adoption discrimination.