Our Wizard Behind The Equality Curtain
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Unless you have been living under a rock for the last 7 months, you undoubtedly have seen the lawsuits and court cases to advance equality that have sprung up throughout the United States. One by one, states are coming in on the right side of history and accepting all families, allowing them to join their love together in legally recognized marriage.
What you may not have seen, or what tends to get overlooked, is the magic that happens behind the equality curtain and the names of those who are working to make these cases successful. From drafting complaints to the never ending responses and appeals, there are many long hours that are given to advance equality in the courts. There is a whole list of people shepherding these cases down the road to equality. Lawyers who work without pay, keeping long hours, away from family, giving up their personal time, pushed to the limit. One such lawyer is Scott J. Spivey. (Photo above)
Scott is a local New Orleans lawyer who was born in Orlando. Scott moved to Alexandria in 1976, and graduate from Alexandria Senior High where he was a nationally ranked swimmer. He was offered scholarships by both Tulane and Dartmouth and appointments to all of the service academies except West Point, (They said that he was not physically fit because he couldn’t do the long jump.) He accepted the appointment to the US Coast Guard Academy in 1985, and graduated in 1990. He was commissioned as an ensign  in the Coast Guard and served on board the USCG Cutter BEAR WMEC 901.
In June 1992, Scott transferred to Coast Guard Command District 8, here in New Orleans.  In August of the next year, he began law school at Loyola Law School in the evening program, while serving as detachable law enforcement duty officer and on-call law enforcement duty officer with Operations . In January 1996, he resigned his commission and began clerking with local law firms and practicing criminal law as a law student under the now Judge Darryl Derbigny. He graduated December 1996 and was licensed in 1997.
Scott practices multiple areas of law, including general civil practice with concentrations in business, commercial and real property transactions and litigation, contract preparation, business formation and dissolutions; federal and state workers’ compensation; property tax and business personal property tax appeals and sales; family business planning and litigation, wills and successions; immigration and customs enforcement defense; and traffic and criminal defense.
In July 2012, when my husband and I were contemplating the idea of suing the state of Louisiana to have our legal marriage recognized by the state, we didn’t know at the time that Scott would take on this fight singlehandedly. After putting out feelers to several lawyers, we got a response back. It was from our friend Scott, informing us that not only would he gladly take on our case, but much to our surprise, take it on PRO BONO.
There is much to be said about Scott, and still it would not be enough. Whether you needed a will, someone to represent you in court, or any other area that he can help in, Scott has always helped the LGBT community.
As Scott told us:
“I resigned my commission and became a lawyer because I wanted to advocate for those in need. I wanted to provide the last line of defense to an individual’s rights and freedoms. That can only be found in a court of law or with zealous legal advocacy.â€
So it came as no surprise that he would risk his neck and reputation for our cause. (At the time, we were getting a lot of pushback from different organizations and public opinion, saying that it wasn’t the right time here in Louisiana to attempt this.)
Just this week, our original complaint and motion to amend was denied, forcing us to re-file a new case, naming as defendants those the judge considers are the “proper parties”. When this happened, two days earlier than expected, Scott did not waiver in his dedication, nor did he flinch at the court’s decision. He woke up the next morning and filed the appeal for the original motion to amend, then immediately filed a new complaint with the “correct†defendants, adding more work to his already full plate.
We, as Scott’s friends and plaintiffs, are grateful for the work that he is doing. Not just anyone would take on this colossal work load without anything in return. The payoff he sees in the distance goes far beyond money. It is the betterment of the LGBT community that he considers as his reward, someday being able to marry his partner legally.
Most of the praise that gets dished out by the media in these cases, talks about the brave and heroic plaintiffs who expose themselves to the world. But in my opinion, the praise should also fall upon the lawyers and their families, who endure just as much exposure.
I cannot begin to tell you how proud I am of what Scott is doing for us. He has reached out to several more organizations, and we are proud to say, is on the cusp of joining us with resources for our case. With the trend that is being set in red states like Utah and Oklahoma, Louisiana doesn’t seem like that far of a stretch for marriage equality any longer and people are taking notice. Finally we are starting to see support from some of the bigger guns in our nationwide community.
Our cases have a long way to go, and we know that Scott will work hard all the way to what we hope will be a victory for all families here in Louisiana. We knew when we started the journey, that it would not be a smoothly paved nor a short path; we will see it to the end
If you would like to follow our cases you can like us on Facebook and visit our website.
We appreciate your support and vow to continue our fight no matter where or how long it takes us!
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Photo via Facebook
Catch up on Derek’s previous posts on his lawsuit against the State of Louisiana:
The Benefits Of Marriage
Robicheaux vs. Caldwell – Why We Are Suing To Be Married In Louisiana
A Blanchard Family Christmas
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Derek Penton, 35, is a native of Mississippi and a longtime resident of New Orleans. Â He holds degrees in computer information systems and paramedicine. Â After more than five years together, Penton and his husband, Jonathan Robicheaux, were legally married in Iowa on Sept. 23, 2012.
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Maine Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Graham Platner is under fire after releasing a video declaring that new allegations against him are false, yet he is “taking time to reflect” on a path forward.
Politico on Monday afternoon reported that a woman who dated Platner, Jenny Racicot, “says he forced her to have sex with him nearly five years ago despite her repeated objections, an allegation Platner denies.”
“Racicot said she had an on-and-off relationship with Platner,” Politico reported, “for more than two years before he entered her rural Maine home uninvited one night in late 2021, deeply intoxicated, and forced himself on her while she repeatedly told him to stop. She said she cut off contact with him after telling him the encounter was not consensual.”
In a video posted to social media eleven minutes after the Politico story dropped, Platner says, “I wanted to directly address the troubling, serious, and false allegations against me. Any accusation of nonconsensual behavior is categorically false.”
He said he and his supporters “were united in a love of Maine, a belief that our politics must change, in a focus on defeating Susan Collins.”
“So, regardless of the inaccuracy of the reporting, but mindful the political reality will inflict, we are taking the time to reflect on the best path forward for the state that I love, the people that I love, the movement I belong to, and the goal of defeating Susan Collins.”
“Those were the goals when we launched this campaign. And they remain my goals today.”
“Throughout it all, you never turned your back on me. And I will not turn my back on you now. Every one of you deserves to see that vision come to fruition and see Susan Collins defeated. And we will use every tool at our disposal to do so.”
The Bulwark’s Tim Miller, a political commentator who served as the communications director for the Jeb Bush 2016 presidential campaign, blasted Platner.
“I’m sorry but ‘we are taking time to reflect on the best path forward’ is not an option on the table,” Miller wrote. “Either it’s false and you campaign with vigor or it’s true and you get out / apologize to everyone you let down.”
Journalist Ryan Grim, commenting on Platner’s video, noted that Platner “strongly suggests he is considering dropping out. Already Troy Jackson and Chellie Pingree, both gubernatorial candidates, are being kicked around in Maine circles as potential replacements.”
Several others, including Puck News’ Peter Hamby, predicted Platner will be dropping out.
Platner had postponed several campaign events before the Politico story was published.
— Graham Platner for Senate (@grahamformaine) July 6, 2026
President Donald Trump is facing backlash after posting a video of children — including showing their unblurred faces — graduating from kindergarten, with some of the girls purportedly wearing hijabs.
“President Trump posted a captionless video of graduating kindergarteners on Truth Social on Monday, goading his supporters into verbally attacking little children simply for being Muslim,” The New Republic reported. “The clip is from Gateway STEM Academy, a majority-Black K-8 public charter school in St. Paul, Minnesota. It shows about 21 children in caps and gowns on stage singing a song together. Most of the girls are wearing hijabs.”
The original post of the video which Trump reposted reads: “Public school in St. Paul, Minnesota. Every girl is in a hijab … in kindergarten.”
Trump did not add any comments. TNR called the post “Islamophobic, weird, and creepy,” while noting that the comments section of Trump’s post was filled with calls “by racist, xenophobic MAGA supporters” to “deport the children and ban hijabs.”
TNR also noted that it “should come as no surprise that Trump isn’t above attacking children who just learned how to read, but this post is still particularly discomforting—and will certainly contribute to the already potent level of anti-Muslim sentiment in the U.S. and in Minnesota.”
Critics blasted Trump.
“There is something deeply unsettling about the president of the United States—the most powerful person in the world—going after kindergarten schoolchildren in Minnesota because they wore hijabs, as Trump has done this morning on his website,” The Bulwark’s Sam Stein wrote.
One social media commentator wrote, “Trump posted an unblurred video of more than a dozen Muslim kindergartners to Truth Social, exposing the children’s faces while targeting them for their religion.”
Another added, “Trump is a bigot. The president took to Truth Social to attack kindergarteners in hijabs. These are little kids. The president isn’t just a bigot, he’s also a coward.”
The original video was posted to the X social media platform in June.
U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) at the time commented, “If you are in a public school in America, you should be speaking english.”
Image via Reuters
President Donald Trump’s apparent efforts to delay releasing the $5.8 million civil judgment to E. Jean Carroll are being met with a warning by the journalist’s legal team, who suggest there could be a legal maneuver for Trump to employ to forgo paying the judgment in either of the two cases he lost.
According to The Guardian, on July 4, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan ordered Trump to release the $5.8 million judgment, which is in escrow, to Carroll by this coming Tuesday — or explain why he would not do so.
Carroll’s attorneys think Trump may be trying to buy time to mount another legal strategy, telling the judge that Trump’s request for an extension “appears to be little more than yet another play for time.”
“The case is separate from Trump’s appeal of a Manhattan civil jury’s 2024 award of $83.3m to Carroll for defamation,” The Guardian explains. “But her lawyers have suggested a legal scenario in which the president might seek to conjoin the cases and further delay payment of both.”
Carroll’s attorney Roberta Kaplan (no relation to the judge) wrote, “We can only assume that defendant is seeking … to buy time so he can try to concoct some new basis to put off paying plaintiff presumably in connection with his forthcoming petition and motion for a rehearing.”
Trump’s former attorney, Justin Smith, in one of his final acts, wrote to the Supreme Court suggesting that his client would be appealing the $83.3 million civil judgment.
Smith argued that the Supreme Court “may wish to consider the petitions together,” given they involve the same parties.
The larger judgment case involves possible questions of presidential immunity, and that has Carroll’s attorneys concerned.
“A conjoined case, Carroll’s lawyers fear, could result in both judgments being wiped out,” The Guardian reports.
The president has also made clear he is no fan of Judge Kaplan, after the jurist made several rulings that “angered” Trump.
“What else can you expect from a Trump Hating, Clinton appointed judge, who went out of his way to make sure that the result was as negative as it could possible be,” Trump wrote on Truth Social in 2023, “speaking to, and in control of, a jury from an anti-Trump area which is probably the worst place in the US for me to get a fair ‘trial’.”
Image via Reuters
Platner Scorched Over ‘Taking Time’ Video After New Accusation
Trump Sparks Fury Online After Posting Unblurred Video of Muslim Kindergartners in Hijabs
One Legal Maneuver Threatens to Undo Everything E. Jean Carroll Won
Inside the Group Helping MAGA Voters Walk Away — And What Finally Pushed Them
