On the anniversary of the Supreme Court's Dobbs anti-abortion decision, with a major anti-LGBTQ decision expected this month, and hundreds of anti-LGBTQ bills pending in statehouses around the nation, organizers vow a rebirth of the spirit of Stonewall
CHICAGO — With a torrent of anti-abortion, anti-LGBTQ legislation and court decisions pounding the nation on the first anniversary of the Dobbs anti-abortion Supreme Court decision, local LGBTQ and women's rights activists are disavowing the vacuous pride parades of politicians and erstwhile corporate 'allies' that usually fill the month of June.
Instead, they will be counter-protesting a far-right anti-abortion group visiting Chicago at Saturday, June 24th. At 10:15 am — across the street from Federal Plaza, 219 S. Dearborn — they will put forward a positive vision of all people having the right to control their own bodies, especially those marginalized by our society: LGBTQs, BIPOC, and women.
"With the court attacks on medication abortion, 53% of abortions performed in the U.S., a Supreme Court decision this month that could allow discrimination against LGBTQs in places of public accommodation, and politicians grandstanding to see which of them can be the most viciously anti-Trans, this is NOT the time for a corporate party," said Kristi Keorkunian-Rivers, co-founder of the Chicago chapter of Stop Trans Genocide.
"These attacks target the most basic right that we as human beings have — the right to control our own bodies," said Linda Loew of Chicago For Abortion Rights. "To quote the classic abortion rights chant, 'Not the church, not the state, only WE must decide our fate.' If the right to control one's own body isn't one that should be reserved to the people, then nothing is."
The 10th Amendment to the Constitution states that "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."
Organizers of the June 24th protest note that most of the same organizations attacking the right to abortion also have led the attacks against LGBTQ people.
"The mis-named 'Alliance Defending Freedom' wrote the model legislation behind the anti-abortion Dobbs decision. They are also the attorneys promoting the 303 Creative v. Elenis case currently before the Supreme Court, with a decision expected this month that could nix local protections for LGBTQs in places of public accommodation," said Andy Thayer, co-founder of the Gay Liberation Network. "The ADF has long been the primary force promoting anti-LGBTQ legislation around the nation, such as the 400+ bills we're facing now, and a front group for them are the plaintiffs in the Texas case attempting to ban one of two drugs used to perform medication abortions."
Co-sponsors of the protest currently include:
Chicago Abortion Fund
Chicago For Abortion Rights
Chicago National Organization for Women
Clinic Vest Project
Cook County Green Party
Gay Liberation Network
Illinois Choice Action Team
Illinois National Organization for Women
Indivisible Evanston
Life Is Work
Party for Socialism & Liberation
Peoria Illinois National Organization for Women
Reproductive Transparency Now
Stop Trans Genocide
(list in formation)