Lori Lightfoot, the lesbian mayor of Chicago, has warned America’s LGBTQ+ community that the Supreme Court would be “coming after us next” following the leaked opinion which strikes down Rowe v. Wade, the 1973 precedent which required all states to provide safe and legal abortion facilities.
Writing on Twitter, Mayor Lightfoot said, “To my friends in the LGBTQ+ community – the Supreme Court is coming for us next. This moment has to be a call to arms.” A second Tweet continues, “We will not surrender out rights without a fight – a fight to victory!”
Democratic politicians have expressed concern that the Court’s ruling on abortion may lead to the the overturning of Obergefell v. Hodges, the 2015 case that established equal marriage. These concerns appear to have been echoed by President Biden, who claimed that the leaked opinion on Roe v. Wade “basically says all the decisions related to your private life – who you marry, whether or not you decide to conceive a child or not, whether or not you can have an abortion, a range of other decisions [are at risk from being legislated against].”
In a reference to Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill, the President continued, “does this mean that in Florida they can decide they’re going to pass a law saying that same-sex marriage is not permissible, that it’s against the law in Florida?” The President went on to suggest that Griswold v. Connecticut (1965), the ruling giving married people the right to access contraception, could be under threat and some people have even cited the landmark 1967 ruling – Loving v. Virginia – which outlawed state bans on interracial marriage. We can’t believe we’re actually writing this in 2022.
Lori Lightfoot has also responded to the Court’s abortion ruling by vowing to make Chicago an “island of reproductive freedom”, pledging $500,000 towards the provision of safe abortion facilities, including subsidising accommodation and transport for women coming from out of state.
