Anxiety over Supreme Court arguments pervades Coming Out Day

National Coming Out Day festivities were tempered this year by anxiety that some LGBT folk may have to go back into the closet so they can make a living, depending on what the Supreme Court decides about workplace discrimination law.

But the mere fact that words like "transgender" are being uttered before the nation's highest court gives some supporters of LGBT workplace rights hope that the pendulum will swing in their favor.

"I want all members of our community to feel supported by the government, and often for a lot of us and a lot of friends of mine, it's the first time that they feel represented," said Jessica Goldberg, a bisexual senior at the University of Colorado Denver.

Supporters of LGBTQ rights hold placards in front of the U.S. Supreme Court, Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2019, in Washington. The Supreme Court heard arguments in its first cases on LGBT rights since the retirement of Justice Anthony Kennedy. (AP PhotoManuel Balce Ceneta)

Still, the arguments showed the continuing relevance of National Coming Out Day, first observed in 1988 and marked every Oct. 11, though observances happen over several days. This year that includes Philadelphia's OutFest on Sunday, billed as the largest National Coming Out Day event, many LGBT people said. The holiday aims to show that coming out of the closet helps individuals and the larger community win visibility and acceptance.

Emotionally, the victory for LGBT marriage equality was "huge," said Susan Horowitz, publisher and editor of Between the Lines, an LGBT newspaper in Michigan. But the workplace discrimination case, with its legal ramifications, is bigger, she said.

"You can get married one day and be fired tomorrow if you put your spouse's picture on your desk," Horowitz said.

In this Thursday, Oct. 10, 2019, photograph, Kyla Hines, assistant director of the LGBTQ Student Resource Center, poses for a photo outside her offices in the student union on the campus of Metropolitan State College in Denver. (AP PhotoDavid Zalubowski)

But some of the language thrown around in the arguments before the Supreme Court last week about whether the 1964 Civil Rights Act protects LGBT people from employment discrimination — including a question by conservative Chief Justice John Roberts that appeared to show confusion about gender transitions, and off-topic questions about bathroom use by liberal Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg — shows there is a long way to go, said Shannon Minter, a transgender man who is the legal director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights.

President Donald Trump's attempt to ban transgender people from military service , and the backlash to it, has helped educate people, and some of the questioning felt like "the justices had not caught up with that reality," Minter said, adding it felt like a throwback to a prior era.

"It was a wake-up call that the court is not always completely in sync with where the public is," he said. "I hope between now and the time of the decision that gap will close."

In this Thursday, Oct. 10, 2019, photograph, Kyla Hines, assistant director of the LGBTQ Student Resource Center, poses for a photo outside her offices in the student union on the campus of Metropolitan State College in Denver. (AP PhotoDavid Zalubowski)

The court is expected to rule by the beginning of June — which is also LGBT Pride Month, potentially bookending the court's considerations with gay rights observances.

Horowitz noted with some surprise the success of Pete Buttigieg's candidacy for the Democratic nomination for president. The gay mayor of South Bend, Indiana, is among the top-polling candidates after starting out as a long shot.

Buttigieg himself acknowledged Coming Out Day, tweeting that "Coming out requires finding the courage to share your truth. It requires you to stand on the hope that you will be accepted, and the faith that you can overcome rejection."

Kyla Hines — assistant director of the LGBTQ Student Resource Center for the University of Colorado Denver, Metropolitan State University of Denver and the Community College of Denver — hopes that people who are out or on the verge of coming out can find that courage despite anxiety over the impending LGBT job discrimination decision by the Supreme Court.

"I definitely see a lot of weight and heaviness in the community, on our campus and in our office," Hines said. "We really want to view this time as a celebration."

JERUSALEM (AP) — Yemen's Houthi rebels on Saturday claimed shooting down another of the U.S. military's MQ-9 Reaper drones, airing footage of parts that corresponded to known pieces of the unmanned aircraft.

The Houthis said they shot down the Reaper with a surface-to-air missile, part of a renewed series of assaults this week by the rebels after a relative lull in their pressure campaign over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.

U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Bryon J. McGarry, a Defense Department spokesperson, acknowledged to The Associated Press on Saturday that “a U.S. Air Force MQ-9 drone crashed in Yemen.” He said an investigation was underway, without elaborating.

The Houthis described the downing as happening Thursday over their stronghold in the country's Saada province.

Footage released by the Houthis included what they described as the missile launch targeting the drone, with a man off-camera reciting the Houthi's slogan after it was hit: “God is the greatest; death to America; death to Israel; curse the Jews; victory to Islam.”

The footage included several close-ups on parts of the drone that included the logo of General Atomics, which manufactures the drone, and serial numbers corresponding with known parts made by the company.

Since the Houthis seized the country’s north and its capital of Sanaa in 2014, the U.S. military has lost at least five drones to the rebels counting Thursday's shootdown — in 2017, 2019, 2023 and this year.

Reapers, which cost around $30 million apiece, can fly at altitudes up to 50,000 feet and have an endurance of up to 24 hours before needing to land.

The drone shootdown comes as the Houthis launch attacks on shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, demanding Israel ends the war in Gaza, which has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians there. The war began after Hamas-led militants attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and taking some 250 others hostage.

The Houthis have launched more than 50 attacks on shipping, seized one vessel and sank another since November, according to the U.S. Maritime Administration.

Houthi attacks have dropped in recent weeks as the rebels have been targeted by a U.S.-led airstrike campaign in Yemen. Shipping through the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden has declined because of the threat. American officials have speculated that the rebels may be running out of weapons as a result of the U.S.-led campaign against them and after firing drones and missiles steadily in the last months. However, the rebels have renewed their attacks in the last week.

A Houthi supporter raises a mock rocket during a rally against the U.S. and Israel and to support Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, in Sanaa, Yemen, Friday, April. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Osamah Abdulrahman)