Human Rights Campaign Interim President explains how the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade affects the LGBTQ+ community.
Transcript provided by YouTube (unedited)
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roe vs way has been overturned
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there’s no way around it
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this is a very scary time in america
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the court is removing our power to
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control our own bodies
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our lives our personal medical decisions
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and handing it to politicians
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make no mistake this decision goes far
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beyond abortion
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this destructive ruling is about who has
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power over you
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who has the authority to make decisions
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for you and who can control your future
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our rights are no longer safe
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this decision goes against the will of
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the people eighty percent of americans
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believe that abortion should be legal
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and it will do real harm to women and to
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lgbtq plus people right now
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vulnerable people across the country in
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states with trigger loss have
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immediately lost access to abortion and
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we know that the most vulnerable are the
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most at risk
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too many people in our communities
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particularly black people and other
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people of color already do not have
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access to the health care they need we
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are going to do all that we can
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to fight back
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and i want you to know
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that we are here for you
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and i want to answer some of the
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questions you may have about this ruling
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and what it means for our community
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first reproductive rights are lgbtq plus
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rights
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lgbtq plus people need abortion care and
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this will have a devastating immediate
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impact on all of us
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second
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there is no immediate impact on any
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other cases decided by the supreme court
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including lawrence versus texas which
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protects same-sex intimacy and
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obergefell versus hodges which protects
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the right to marry who you love
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but today’s decision does encourage
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state lawmakers panering to their base
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to test the limits of court recognized
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lgbtq plus equality
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third the majority opinion concurring
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opinion and dissent all make mention of
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lgbtq plus civil rights cases
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and here’s what that means
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the majority opinion notes that the
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court has previously overruled important
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constitutional decisions and cites
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lawrence and obergefell as examples
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yes it’s true that lawrence and
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obergefell overturned precedent
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but they did so in the order to offer
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people more rights the right to privacy
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in your home the right to marry who you
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love
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the dobbs decision does the opposite it
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strips away the rights of millions of
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women and lgbtq plus people to access an
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abortion to control their own bodies
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it is a devastating feeling to have your
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rights taken away
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justice thomas wrote a concurring
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opinion which agrees with the majority
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decision to overturn roe he also says
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that the court should reconsider other
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cases including lawrence obergefell and
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griswold which grants access to birth
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control
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to be clear the concurring opinion is
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not binding and no other justice agreed
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with justice thomas
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in fact the majority opinion explicitly
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disagrees it says that nothing in this
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opinion should be understood to cast
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doubt on precedents that do not concern
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abortion
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but it isn’t that simple those cases as
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the dissent said are all part of the
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same constitutional fabric
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so here’s the takeaways
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as i said earlier this decision is going
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to do real harm to women and lgbtq plus
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people right now
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this case doesn’t have an immediate
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impact on obergefell or lawrence and
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this decision will embolden our
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opponents to come after all of our hard
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won progress
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we are outraged we’re mad as hell and
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we’re ready for them
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we cannot we will not
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nor will we ever go backward and let a
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small group of radicals dictate control
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over our health care bodily autonomy and
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their right to make informed personal
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decisions for ourselves and our families
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so today
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let’s turn our anger into action let’s
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take to the streets
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let’s make our voices heard
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we will never be silenced and we will
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never stop fighting
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This post was previously published on YouTube.
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