If the “right to privacy” that courts have ruled is provided by the U.S. Constitution were a home, Roe v. Wade would be the foundation and subsequent rulings enshrining LGBTQ rights would be akin to the floors built above.
LGBTQ activists and legal scholars say that’s why the revelation that the Supreme Court is set to overturn Roe v. Wade, the historic case protecting abortion rights, sent a wave of panic through the community as many question whether rulings protecting same-sex marriage and consensual sexual acts could be targeted next.
“If the foundation of a house crumbles, the whole house is threatened,” said Samuel Garrett-Pate, a spokesperson for Equality California, an LGBTQ advocacy group. “The court is clearly telegraphing exactly where they plan to go next.”
A draft opinion
leaked to Politico revealed that the court’s conservative majority is preparing to repeal Roe v. Wade, though it has not issued a formal ruling yet. The draft ruling, if made official, would allow individual states to decide whether to ban the procedure.
The situation led many in the LGBTQ community to question if overturning such a foundational section of privacy law in the United States could lead to a patchwork of laws in Republican states that roll back the community’s rights.
