equal protection clause

In 2006 and 2009 the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) denied the Ang Ladlad LGBT Party’s request to register as a political party in the Philippines. The petitioner, Ang Ladlad, is an organization of individuals who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender. COMELEC denied their request under “moral” reasons, arguing that the organization is contrary to Christian and Muslim beliefs and thereby conflicts with the secularity of public morality.

Section 14 of the Constitution of Antigua and Barbuda prohibits discrimination by the government and public officials in relation to race, place of origin, political opinions or affiliations, color, creed, or sex. This provision guarantees equal protection by ensuring that all persons enjoy the rights and freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution.

Doe v. Horne, 115 F.4th 1083 (2024) addressed whether Arizona’s Save Women’s Sports Act, barring “students of the male sex,” including transgender girls, from participating in girls’ school sports, violated the Equal Protection Clause as applied to two transgender minor plaintiffs who had not undergone male puberty.

A Massachusetts statute made it “a felony for anyone to give away a drug, medicine, instrument, or article for the prevention of conception except in the case of (1) a registered physician administering or prescribing it for a married person or (2) an active registered pharmacist furnishing it to a married person presenting a registered physician's prescription.” The plaintiff, who was found guilty of violating the statute, challenged its constitutionality, claiming it violated the 

In the case People v. Santorelli, 80 N.Y.2d 875 (1992), two women were arrested under NYS Penal Law § 245.01 for publicly exposing the portion of their breasts “below the top of the areola” in a Rochester, New York public park.

In the case Planned Parenthood of Central New Jersey v. Farmer (2000), the Supreme Court of New Jersey reviewed the constitutionality of the state’s Parental Notification for Minors Seeking Abortion Act. The statute required a physician to provide at least 48 hours’ advance notice to a parent before performing an abortion on a minor, without imposing a similar requirement for minors seeking prenatal care or childbirth.

In Planned Parenthood of Heartland, Inc. v. Iowa Board of Medicine, 865 N.W.2d 252 (2015), the Iowa Board of Medicine ("the Board”) passed a rule of professional practice that prohibited telemedicine abortions, which are non-surgical abortions overseen by a medical practitioner via audio-visual connection (see: IAC 653 - 13.10(2) – 13.10(4)). Planned Parenthood of the Heartland, Inc.

In State v. Ware, the Supreme Court of Rhode Island rejected the argument that the state’s criminal statute outlawing carnal knowledge of a girl under 16 years of age violated equal protection of the law, even though it created a classification based on sex by designating females as the only possible victims and subjecting only males to conviction under the statute.

In West Virginia v. B.P.J., 609 U.S. __ (2026), the U.S. Supreme Court reviewed the constitutionality of laws determining eligibility for gender-segregated sports based on biological sex assigned at birth. The decision in B.P.J. was combined with the case Little v.