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Hobby Lobby and Sexual Orientation: A European Perspective

By humanrightsathome

In the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores many advocates have expressed concern that the decision opens the door for religiously-couched discrimination based on sexual orientation.  The New York Law Journal (Sept. 8) published Laura Redman’s careful analysis of the pertinent decisions of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) balancing sexual orientation and religious rights.   Not surprisingly, the ECHR has taken a different approach to this balancing than that suggested by the Hobby Lobby decision.  Given that the Supreme Court has cited ECHR decisions for their persuasive value on several occasions, these decisions may be useful in U.S. advocacy as this issue continues to develop.

More analysis of Hobby Lobby from a human rights perspective is available here.