June 18, 2025 The Newspaper Serving LGBT Los Angeles

Is California Failing Lesbian Couples?

There’s an old myth about lesbians and Victorian England that you’ve probably heard about one way or another–you might even have thought it was true at one point. Although homosexuality was famously criminalized during Queen Victoria’s reign, any specific reference to lesbian sex acts was left out, according to the fact that (they say) Victoria refused to believe lesbians existed.

While the anecdote is most likely untrue, it’s important to think about. Although our era may feel less primitive than Queen Victoria’s in certain ways, in many others, oppressive remnants of the Victorian age live on.

  Throughout history, a feigned ignorance about (or pure denial of) lesbian individuals and partnerships has lead to two things: An ability to fly beneath the radar of certain restrictive lifestyle-based laws, and a total and utter lack of representation.

Today, this lack of representation, both in the media and in politics, is harming lesbians more than ever. Two cases in California this week show just how underserved the lesbian population is, despite the progress we’ve made in the fight for LGBTQ+ rights. In the eyes of too many companies, politicians, and state laws, lesbians relationships are still viewed as invalid.

Take Judith Dominguez and her wife Patricia Martinez. The two women live in Alhambra and have been together for 29 years, having tied the knot officially in 2013 when the Supreme Court finally legalized gay marriage on a federal level. For years the women have enjoyed coverage from the joint health care Dominguez received from her job. That is, until this January, when Dominguez re-enrolled only to be told her 29-year-long relationship did not meet her insurance’s “one man, one woman” criteria for spousal benefits. Dominguez filed a suit and was met with a vicious counter-suit by the insurance company. But not before they made sure her health plan was retroactively canceled, resulting in tens of thousands of dollars in debt for services already performed and cleared by insurance.

    It doesn’t seem like something that could happen in California, or anywhere across the anti-Trump oasis of the West Coast. But cases like Dominguez’s are becoming more common in the wake of Trump’s election. Dominguez’s attorney Dan Stormer has been able to see the change first hand, in civil rights court cases across the state. “It is absolutely clear to us that once Trump was elected, these people saw their opportunity to carry out their bigotry,” Stormer told the Los Angeles Times, “[and] that without the election of Trump, the [federal] Civil Rights Division would clearly have moved on them, would clearly have determined that their actions were unlawful.”

Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, another years-long fight was coming to a close.

White and Videckis have been fighting Pepperdine on a discrimination charge since 2014. Just this month, they lost the case.

Back in 2014, two college basketball players filed a lawsuit for discriminating against them because they were in a relationship with each other. Plaintiffs Layana White and Haley Videckis claimed that their coach at Pepperdine University had harassed them for their sexual orientation and blamed them (specifically their relationship) for losing games. Not only did Videckis and White claim that they were discriminated by their coach but also by the university, which failed to process White’s NCAA appeal to become eligible to play for the 2014-15 season after her transfer to Pepperdine.

Pepperdine University is a private Christian university that “Niche” ranks as the 9th most conservative college in California and one of the more conservative universities in the United States. It is located in Malibu and is undoubtedly, as the plaintiffs’ lawyer described, “not a great university to be gay in,” according to the Los Angeles Times. The former players of the university’s basketball league stated the multiple times that the staff tried to pry into their relationship with questions about sleeping arrangements to gynecology records. The university even tried to argue that Title IX, which protects athletes in schools from gender discrimination, does not extend to protection against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

The case was closed in early August, with the jury coming down on the side of University on the basis of a lack of evidence. The case still remains a landmark suit by being the first to go to trial under the Title IX law. When the case was ruled by a federal judge to fall under Title IX, it propelled it to trial and ultimately told the American people that LGBTQ discrimination is inextricably linked to discrimination based on gender.

The case not only gave LGBTQ athletes representation and courage to pursue legal action against discrimination in an academic setting but also marked the first of its kind under the Title IX law, further proving its importance. If another academic institution tries to create a loophole through denying LGBTQ+ protection from discrimination in Title IX, the 2015 case ruling by the federal judge who allowed Videckis and White Vs. Pepperdine University to go trial will remain a starting point for fighting against it. That landmark 2015 ruling by a California Federal judge opened up the Title IX anti-discrimination measure (first instituted in 1972) to apply to discrimination based on sexual orientation as well, giving Layana White and Haley Videckis their well-deserved spot in history.

But what good is a spot in history when the current legal system keeps failing you? Just this May, the two women underwent psychological evaluations to measure the extent of the stress caused by the lawsuit as well as their exclusion from the team. The moral of the case, if there is one, is that lesbian and queer-identified women continue to suffer from not being considered, heard, or taken seriously in our society at large.

These cases can be taken as examples of Trump’s presidency has already started a wave of unpleasant changes in our court systems. They can also, however, be seen as progress. As women continue to be ignored and ill-treated by the government, they learn to push back harder every time.

Related Posts

Justice Served by the Slice: L.A. Chefs Rally for Pies for Justice Fundraiser

June 18, 2025

June 18, 2025

Sweet, Savory, and Pizza Pies to Support Foster Youth and Civil Rights Chefs and restaurants from across Los Angeles and...

Downtown Santa Monica Goes All Out for Family-Friendly Pride Celebration

June 17, 2025

June 17, 2025

SaMo Pride’s Biggest Celebration: Live Music, LGBTQ+ Vendors, Giveaways Downtown Santa Monica will come alive with color, music, and celebration...

Trump Executive Order Lets VA Doctors Deny Care to Trans Patients or Marital Status

June 17, 2025

June 17, 2025

New VA Policy Tied to Anti-Trans Order May Allow Refusals of Treatment Medical professionals across the Department of Veterans Affairs...

Journalist Files Lawsuit After Being Hit by ‘Less Lethal’ Munition Fired by Sheriff’s Deputies

June 17, 2025

June 17, 2025

LASD Faces Legal Claim After Journalist Wounded at Anti-Ice Rally  Independent photojournalist Nick Stern has filed a civil rights claim...

CAP UCLA’s 2025–26 Season Spotlights Queer Voices, Global Visionaries, and Musical Trailblazers

June 17, 2025

June 17, 2025

The New Lineup Celebrates Boundary-Pushing Performances Across Disciplines The UCLA Center for the Art of Performance (CAP UCLA) has announced...

Cedars-Sinai Seeks Public’s Help Identifying Unconscious Man Found in Beverly Grove

June 17, 2025

June 17, 2025

Man Remains Hospitalized After Being Discovered Near Cedars Sinai Cedars-Sinai Medical Center is asking for the public’s assistance in identifying...

US Marines Temporarily Detain Civilian Near Federal Building in West Los Angeles

June 17, 2025

June 17, 2025

Military Confirms First Known Detention by Active-Duty Troops Deployed by Trump U.S. Marines temporarily detained a civilian near the Wilshire...

Judge Orders NIH to Reinstate LGBTQ+ Health Research Grants Cut Under Trump Policies

June 17, 2025

June 17, 2025

Federal Court Finds Dei-Related Grant Cancellations Unlawful; Ruling Restores Funding Funding for hundreds of medical research projects, including critical studies...

GLAAD and eBay Launch Celebrity Auction for Pride Month, Up for Bid Through June 26

June 16, 2025

June 16, 2025

Exclusive experiences with Shakira, Orville Peck, Andy Cohen, Dylan Efron, and More  GLAAD and eBay have joined forces to launch...

Tyler Malek Celebrates New Ice Cream Cookbook With Sweet Pop-Ups in West Hollywood

June 16, 2025

June 16, 2025

Chef to Appear at Book Soup and Debut Limited-Edition Matcha Sandwich at GGiata Tyler Malek, co-founder and head chef of...

(Video) Home Front Build Maintains Original Architectural Vision For Modern Homes

June 16, 2025

June 16, 2025

For More Information, Go to homefrontbuild.com For More Information, Go to https://t.co/kip9luQwxX pic.twitter.com/sTuVgfiGkj — Palisades News (@PalisadesNewsLA) June 16, 2025

Nearly One Thousand Rally in West Hollywood to Protest ICE Raids and Trump Policies

June 16, 2025

June 16, 2025

‘No Kings’ Demonstration Draws Large, Peaceful Crowd Through the Rainbow District West Hollywood was the site of another ‘No Kings”...

Tribeca Premiere Honors Carl Bean, Musician, Activist and LGBTQ+ Faith Leader

June 15, 2025

June 15, 2025

New Doc Features Interviews With Lady Gaga, Billy Porter, and Dionne Warwick The life and legacy of Archbishop Carl Bean,...

Americans Split on Immigration and Tariffs’ Impact on Housing Affordability, Survey Shows

June 15, 2025

June 15, 2025

Survey Finds Over Half Believe Less Immigration Could Drive Up Home Prices  A new Redfin-commissioned survey reveals that U.S. homeowners...

Two Suspects Arrested in Fatal Stabbing of Elderly Man in Hancock Park

June 15, 2025

June 15, 2025

LAPD and FBI Apprehend Palmdale Pair Accused of Killing 84-Year-Old LAPD West Bureau Homicide has arrested two suspects in connection...