Are we seriously here again? What started as an explosive week after a leaked document from the now overly conservative-leaning Supreme Court detailed the plans to overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade decision has the queer community wondering if marriage equality will be on their radar next. And if you don’t think the answer is yes, you have not been paying attention.
This has been the plan for years, probably decades. Blame lands squarely on every single person who voted for the now disgraced twice-impeached one-term former president. “Let’s give him a chance,” they said. “But her emails,” they said. And the country voted into office a lying, cheating, sexist, racist, homophobic con man who was able to put THREE JUSTICES ON THE SUPREME COURT.
They found a Black person (Clarence Thomas) to gut the Voting Rights Act.
And they found a woman (Amy Coney Barrett) to take away women’s rights.
This is how Republicans play identity politics — by weaponizing handpicked women and people of color against their own communities.
— Keith Boykin (@keithboykin) May 4, 2022
If I lied under oath, I’d be in jail. And so would you. So why hasn’t Marjorie Taylor Greene been arrested for Perjury? Or Amy Coney Barrett? Or Neil Gorsuch? Or Brett Kavanaugh? What do we do when those who make the laws — decide to break the very laws they create? Where is DOJ?
— Dash Dobrofsky (@DashDobrofsky) May 7, 2022
As a proudly out gay man in his 40s, I’ve been involved in the Gay Rights Movement for decades. Marching, protesting, canvassing, fighting for rights that others are born with. It WAS amazing to see how far the queer community had come in ten, twenty, and thirty years.
I’ve also always believed in karma and that good will always prevail over evil. Friends even nicknamed me “Miss Congeniality” for my optimistic nature. But sitting here today, on a miserably rainy cold dark grey Saturday NYC afternoon, I feel defeated, sad, heartbroken, and pissed the fuck off.
I have been marching for decades. Am now I’m going to have to march for marriage equality for the next twenty years? HELL THE FUCK NO.
Related: With Ruth Gone, This SCOTUS Judge is Coming for Gay Marriage
I am pissed off because the GOP continues to lie and cheat with zero consequences. The FBI investigation into the background of suspected rapist, now Supreme Court judge for life Brett Kavanaugh was a sham. Completely unqualified for the Court, now Supreme Court judge for life Amy Coney Barrett was forced through a week before the 2020 election. And now here we are. Why hasn’t Biden expanded the Court? Why hasn’t any president in the past increased SCOTUS to 11 or 12 to match the number of U.S. District Courts (11) and the DC District Court? Now is the time for Biden to embrace the call and appoint two or three more liberal-leaning judges. Stop going high when they go low. FIGHT FIRE WITH MORE FUCKING FIRE.
As a survivor, I am thinking about how Brett Kavanaugh and Clarence Thomas are credibly accused of having violated and harassed women and are now the ones about to deny us our right to abortion care.
Abusers do not belong in public office. Period.
Brett Kavanaugh, Amy Coney Barrett, Neil Gorsuch, Clarence Thomas, and Samuel Alito lied under oath to the United States Senate and the American people.
— No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen (@NoLieWithBTC) May 3, 2022
Is now a good time to DEMAND a real investigation into Brett Kavanaugh?
Yes 👇 Yes 👇 Yes 👇
— CALL TO ACTIVISM (@CalltoActivism) May 3, 2022
— CAL
Earlier this week Douglas Hallward-Driemeier, one of the lawyers who won the landmark Obergefell v. Hodges case, tried to alleviate some of our communities concerns when he spoke to The Insider. Simply putting it there are a lot of married gay people in our country so overturning marriage equality would be extremely difficult,
“The reliance interests of already married same-sex couples are extremely powerful and would be an enormous obstacle, both practical and legal, to any attempt to undue Obergefell.”
Extremist Republicans who want to force disproportionately low-income women to give birth don’t also want to ensure universal child care or paid family leave. They’re not here to support families. They’re here to push a radical agenda. We must call it out and fight back.
— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) May 6, 2022
However, Jim Obergerfell himself does not have that same optimism or confidence in the Court. The lead plaintiff in the 2015 landmark U.S. Supreme Court case that affirmed same-sex marriage nationwide released a statement saying,
“The extreme U.S. Supreme Court should not be overturning decades of established law and denying the most basic human health rights to women to make their own decisions about their lives and their bodies. It’s also concerning that some members of the extreme court are eager to turn their attention to overturning marriage equality.”
Obergerfell who is currently running for a seat in the Ohio House of Representatives continued,
“The sad part is in both these cases, five or six people will determine the law of the land and go against the vast majority of Ohioans and Americans who overwhelmingly support a woman’s right to make her own health decisions and a couple’s right to be married. This is a sad day, but it’s not over.”
We here at Instinct echo Obergerfell’s last sentence in his statement, “WE HAVE FOUGHT THE GOOD FIGHT FOR TOO LONG TO BE DENIED OUR RIGHTS NOW.”
**This post is solely the opinion of this contributing writer and may not reflect the opinion of other writers, staff, or owners of Instinct Magazine.
Sources: Business Insider, Cleveland.com
