In 2015, the US Supreme Court rendered a historic judgment, which legalized same-sex marriage across the country. But in light of the leak last week of a document hinting at the reversal of the shutdown Roe v. wade on abortion, the protection of the rights of the LGBTQ+ community also appears to be weakened.
In the United States, the rights of LGBTQ+ people have been won hard and are still contested by some, as is the right to abortion. “What would happen if a state changed the law saying LGBTQ children cannot be in classrooms with other children? Moreover, launched the American president, Joe Biden, on Wednesday, clearly expressing his fear of seeing judicial conservatism extend to questions of sexual diversity.
Véronique Pronovost, doctoral student in sociology at the University of Quebec in Montreal, recalls that, to judge whether the right to abortion was protected by the American Constitution, the judges who signed the draft unveiled last week applied the “test of Glucksberg”, named after the Court’s 1997 decision on medical assistance in dying. This test stipulates that, for a right not enumerated in the Constitution — the right to abortion is not — to be deemed constitutional, it must meet at least one of these two criteria: be rooted in history and the traditions of the nation, or be implicit in the concept of freedom.
“This way of interpreting the right to abortion opens the way to a questioning of several others”, notes the expert at the To have to. And the rights of the LGBTQ+ community are obviously part of that.
Besides the legal aspect of this decision, it is also its symbolic power that could galvanize the conservatives. Yes Roe v. wade is canceled, “it’s a safe bet that the conservative movements will try to use this opportunity to further advance their political program,” said Ms.me Pronovost.
Andréanne Bissonnette, researcher in residence at the Observatory on the United States of the Raoul-Dandurand Chair, nevertheless notes that in addition to the issue of same-sex marriage, issues related to the LGBTQ+ community are not necessarily governed by the Supreme Court. . “The rest of LGBTQ+ rights rely more on the Bill of Rights and on discrimination on the basis of sex, gender or sexual orientation,” she notes.
Social acceptability
A poll published in June 2021 by the Gallup firm reported that 70% of Americans were for same-sex marriage. A survey conducted by the same firm a month earlier indicated that barely 32% of Americans believe that abortion should be legal “in all circumstances”.
It therefore seems that same-sex marriage enjoys greater social acceptability than abortion, which has come under increasing attack in recent years.
“Until 2018, there was a structure within the Republican Party bringing together elected officials defending the right to abortion: Republicans for Choice”, recalls Véronique Pronovost. “This structure ceased to exist because of the party’s polarization over abortion. »
However, she believes that other rights may be attacked before that of gay marriage: the rights of trans people, for example. Especially since the latter have recently been undermined in the United States.
Increasingly strict laws
In recent months, several laws with a transphobic or homophobic flavor have been adopted in conservative states.
In Alabama, in April, two laws were passed to ban classroom discussions of gender identities and to outlaw “transformative” care for transgender minors. In Florida, a law prohibiting the teaching of gender identity and sexual orientation in public elementary schools has been dubbed ” Don’t Say Gay (“Don’t say the word gay”) by his opponents.
“The worry [pour les droits des personnes LGBTQ+] is very real, says Mr.me Bissonette. We see it, we feel it, we hear it. »
Several laws targeting the rights of people from sexual diversity have also been adopted in very specific “laboratory states”, such as Texas or Florida. “These states are going to kind of test conservative laws,” she explains. “If it successfully passes the test of judicial reviews, that is to say the law is challenged in the courts but they let it be applied, there may be copycats, that is, the law is transposed into the reality of another State, where it is adopted in turn. A practice that can create a domino effect.
The fact that several laws of this kind have recently been adopted in Texas and Florida can therefore be seen as “an indication of the possible transposition of these laws in other conservative states”, believes the researcher.
As if, in the United States where polarization reigns supreme, two distinct regions — one progressive, the other conservative — were increasingly emerging.