Women of color, young people, and community activists led the hard work that dried up the “Red Tsunami” predicted for the 2022 Midterms. Defying both powerful historical precedents and our current toxically polarized political landscape, Democrats, particularly Democratic women kept their seats and gained new ones at the federal, state and local levels. Outrage about the “fall-of-Roe” Dobbs decision, powered this work.
Yeah, black women led once again to save the Democrats’ butts.
Almost immediately post-elections, Congress rushed to pass legislation citing the potential for a future Supreme Court decision that might restrict the right/ability of same gender couple to get a marriage license all the while trumpeting self-serving congratulations. (If you think this bill amounted to anything other than confirming religious rights trump LGBT rights, then read Jonathan Capehart’s Opinion “Gee, thanks for this tiny step to protect my same-sex marriage” www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/11/29/respect-marriage-act-protections-insufficient/; and “The Respect for Marriage Act Is Also a Victory for Same-Sex-Marriage Opponents” www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/the-respect-for-marriage-act-is-also-a-victory-for-same-sex-marriage-opponents
But wait, what about an actual Supreme Court decision that just degraded women’s human rights!? The Women’s Health Protection Act sits moldering in the Senate – and puleeze don’t tell me that nothing can done. Something always can be done. If Democrats were really committed to women’s full humanity, then efforts to enact federal legislation stating that women’s right to reproductive healthcare cannot be abridged would be a constant priority.
The Respect for Religion-Oops-Marriage Act tosses a bone to LGBT communities and lets the Senate claim a fig-leaf for their disregard for women’s human rights. Yeah, same sex marriage involves no challenge to structural patriarchy/misogyny; progressive LGBT activists, usually lesbians, have always questioned prioritizing this most patriarchal institution. But, dangerous indeed to the patriarchy would be codifying women’s human rights, reproductive justice foremost among the rights gaining legal protection.
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