Trump win resets culture war debate on abortion, LGBT rights
Kelly Shackelford, head of First Liberty Institute, a legal group that specializes in religious freedom cases, said that, for his cause, the environment will transform from "brutal" under the Obama administration to friendly given GOP control of both Congress and the White House.
Planned Parenthood, whose services include birth control, sex education and abortions, has been a longtime target of Republican politicians, and is now bracing for intensified challenges.
On social media, many women were broaching the option of acquiring long-lasting intrauterine devices as their form of birth control, on the possibility that birth-control pills would no longer be available free if Obama's health care act is repealed.
LGBT activists are now wondering if same-sex marriage — legalized nationwide by a 2015 Supreme Court ruling — is in jeopardy given the prospect of Trump appointing conservative justices who might reconsider that decision.
On same-sex marriage and other issues, the Obama years brought one defeat after another for religious conservatives, who saw the president and his supporters on an inexorable march to curtail the rights of people of faith.
In a letter last month to Catholics, Trump decried what he called hostility to religious freedom and pledged, "I will defend your religious liberties and the right to fully and freely practice your religion, as individuals, business owners and academic institutions."
Due to the election results, Schultz expects the Justice Department will be friendlier to religious conservatives, and Congress more willing to enact legislation that advances conscience protections.
Retired Navy Chaplain Wes Modder, a Pentecostal minister, was the target of a complaint that he was disrespectful in counseling gay sailors when discussing his religious opposition to same-sex relationships.
The case became a rallying cry for Christian conservatives upset about the Obama administration's support for LGBT rights.