The Republican Party will score a major victory in its decades-long campaign to legalize discrimination against LGBTQ people if Judge Kavanaugh takes a seat on the Supreme Court. The LGBTQ community has much as stake, and Kavanaugh would threaten LGBTQ rights for decades to come.

Kavanaugh has repeatedly supported undermining discrimination protections under the guise of religious beliefs.

Vox: “He has, for example, argued fervently against the federal Health and Human Services mandate that required religious employers to cover employee’s contraception.”

Anti-LGBT groups,including the Family Research Council –a designated hate group, praised Kavanaugh’s support of discrimination based on religious beliefs.

Family Research Council: “Judge Kavanaugh has a long and praiseworthy history… We saw a growing assault on religious freedom and the courts became a battleground for secularists seeking to remove faith from the public square. Judge Kavanaugh resisted this trend in at least two instances.”

Kavanaugh dodged describing his own definition of marriage and failed to answer whether the courts should issue the definition.

Associated Press: “At Kavanaugh's 2006 confirmation hearing for his current post as an appellate judge — before the Supreme Court ruling that legalized same-sex marriage nationwide — he was asked whether he had a view on the definition of marriage and whether courts or legislatures should establish it. Kavanaugh didn't say, instead responding to a part of the question about judicial restraint.”

So much could be at stake with Kavanaugh’s nomination:

Marriage Equality: Though thought to be settled, anti-LGBTQ state officials like Kim Davis could eventually be given the authority to refuse the issuance of marriage licenses to LGBTQ couples due to their religious objection.

Business Discrimination: The same organization that brought the Masterpiece Cakeshop case is challenging other protections that prevent businesses from discriminating against LGBTQ people. A more conservative court could use one of these cases to set an extreme precedent protecting such discrimination.

Adoption Rights: Currently, nine states allow state-funded adoption agencies to discriminate against LGBTQ potential parents. With legal challenges against those discriminatory laws popping up in courts across the country, it is likely that the Supreme Court will need to be the final arbitor of LGBTQ potential parents ability to adopt children.

Transgender Military Members Ability to Serve: Kavanaugh’s views on expansive presidential power indicate he is likely to rule that President Trump’s decision to exclude transgender people from our military is within his authority as Commander-in-Chief.

LGBTQ civil rights protections could be limited or eliminated:

Employment Discrimination: Currently, three U.S. appellate circuit courts weighed in on whether the Civil Rights Act protects LGBTQ people from employment discrimination. This “circuit split” could force the Supreme Court to decide on the issue, putting LGBTQ workers’ rights at risk.

Health Care Discrimination:  Trump’s Department of Health and Human Services issued rules earlier this year allowing discrimination against LGBTQ people on the basis of “moral objection.” Litigation involving those rules, in addition to other discriminatory actions  against LGBTQ people (particularly transgender people), could be brought up to the Supreme Court in upcoming terms.