With the reversal in June 2022 of the judgment Roe v. wade in the United States – which made access to abortion a federal right – it is clear that the debate on reproductive rights has crossed borders to be imported directly into Canada and Europe. Now, it is the rights of queer people who are threatened with the proliferation of anti-LGBTQIA+ bills in the US Supreme Court. The risk of seeing these same trends reinforce in the rest of the world is alarming.
“Land of the Free”, “Land of the Free”. Words Washington has assumed almost messianically since the days of Manifest Destiny. Words that resonate with the idea of the “American dream” and the promise of a democratic society, respectful of human rights. Yet these same rights have never been challenged as much as they are today and, like the butterfly effect, American political life continues to influence international trends.
In recent years, the American political polarization between Democrats and Republicans has radically increased, so much so that it has become pernicious for democracy. The loss of confidence in the institutions has led to the proliferation of antidemocratic decisions proposed by certain elected representatives of the Grand Old Party, calling into question decades of progress in this area.
With the reversal of the judgment Roe v. wade last June, American states are now free to restrict or prohibit abortion on their territory. Already 13 traditionally Republican states such as Texas, Alabama and Tennessee have officially banned abortion, with no exceptions for cases of rape or incest. Justice Clarence Thomas, who worked to overturn Roe v. wade, now invites legal challenges to contraception and same-sex marriage. A jump of 50 years back.
Washington’s questioning of this right has already revived waves of anti-abortion (voluntary termination of pregnancy) demonstrations all over the world, particularly in Canada and France, while the latter is about to enshrine the right to abortion in its constitution. Although without any negative impact on these laws where abortion is accepted, this trend risks serving as an example for countries with more restrictive policies to reinforce them, or even legitimize them.
More recently, it is the rights of LGBTQIA+ people, and more particularly of trans people, who in turn threaten to be violated. There are already nearly 361 anti-LGBTQIA+ bills filed by lawmakers in the US Supreme Court since the start of 2023, surpassing the total for 2022. Several of them have already been passed by some states Americans. Seven have already banned access to gender affirmation care for minors. The state of Oklahoma has proposed a law banning this same care for adults. Tennessee has banned drag performances. Other bills aiming in particular to prohibit the teaching of questions of gender identity and sexual orientation in schools, to use public toilets for trans people or to obtain a valid identity document to her gender identity are now likely to make their way to the Supreme Court.
Even if not accepted, these bills criminalize the very existence of LGBTQIA+ people. These laws were enacted when 16-year-old Brihanna Ghey was stabbed over her trans identity in England, where Kelly, Daniel, Raymond, Derrick and Ashley lost their lives in a shooting at a queer nightclub in Colorado Springs and where Lucas, a 13-year-old French schoolboy harassed at school because of his homosexuality, ended his life. The legislators of these laws somehow carry the blood of these victims on their hands.
Similar to the cancellation of Roe v. wade and its potential influences against reproductive rights, the rise of anti-LGBTQIA+ laws in a country as influential as the United States is dangerously fueling this historic wave of human rights backlash. The “land of the free” then seems to have more in common with the panoply of authoritarian regimes that it openly condemns. One thing is certain, America “of freedom” is no longer legitimate to bear this name.