Lambda Legal, with the assistance of the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR), won a major gay and lesbian civil rights case before the California Supreme Court.
About the photo: The Justices of the California Supreme Court, 350 McAllister Street, San Francisco
Doctors in California must treat gays and lesbians the same as any other patient, regardless of religious objections, the California Supreme Court ruled today.
In a unanimous decision, the court rejected a San Diego County fertility clinic's attempt to use its physicians' religious beliefs as a justification for their refusal to provide artificial insemination for a lesbian couple.
Guadalupe Benitez sued North Coast Women's care in Vista and two of its doctors, saying they told her in 2000 that because she was a lesbian their Christian beliefs prohibited them from performing intrauterine insemination for her. The doctors later claimed they would have refused the treatment for any unmarried couple.
They referred Benitez to another clinic for the insemination. She did not become pregnant then, but since has borne three children and is raising them with her partner of 18 years.
Today's ruling, three months after overturning California's ban on same-sex marriage, strengthened the state's law that prohibits businesses, including medical clinics, from discriminating against customers because of their sexual orientation, as well as their race, sex or religion. The court said religious beliefs do not excuse discrimination.
The law "furthers California's compelling interest in ensuring full and equal access to medical treatment irrespective of sexual orientation," said Justice Joyce Kennard in today's ruling.
In language that would apply equally to abortions, Kennard said doctors who have religious objections to a particular procedure or treatment can refuse to perform it for any patient, but can't selectively reject gays and lesbians. She said they also have the option of referring a patient to someone else at the clinic who will perform the procedure, an option that wasn't available in this case.
Kennard cited the court's 2004 ruling requiring Catholic Charities to abide by a state law that compels company-sponsored health plans for employees to offer contraception for women. The court said Catholic Charities, which serves and employs many non-Catholics, did not qualify for an exemption that the law provides for religious employers.
In today's ruling, the court also rejected the doctors' claim that their freedom of speech was being violated, saying they remain free to criticize the anti-discrimination law as long as they comply with it.
The ruling means the doctors cannot use their religious beliefs as a defense to Benitez's claim that they discriminated against her because of her sexual orientation when her suit goes to trial. They can still argue, however, that they had religious objections to providing the infertility treatment to unmarried couples, whose rights under the anti-discrimination law were not clearly established when Benitez visited the clinic.
Read the rest of the story from SFGate.com, the online presence of the San Francisco Chronicle.This is a good day for civil rights and justice in California. This is a win for the good guys and a bad day for bigots and homophobes.
Resources:
California Supreme Court, San Francisco
Case Information - NORTH COAST WOMENS CARE MEDICAL GROUP v. S.C. (BENITEZ) (DO45438)
Lambda Legal - lead counsel for this case
National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) - involved with this case
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