QUEERING REPRODUCTIVE JUSTICE AT THE NATIONAL LGBTQ TASK FORCE

The National LGBTQ Task Force recognizes that everyone has a fundamental right to sexual and bodily autonomy, which includes the right to decide whether or when to become a parent, parent the children we have, and to do so with dignity and free from violence and discrimination. We support the reproductive health, rights, and justice (“repro*”) movements because LGBTQ people need access to reproductive healthcare and services, but we continue to face pervasive discrimination designed to block recognition of our identities and relationships and to hinder our ability to access the healthcare we need, including gender-affirming care and sexual and reproductive healthcare.

LGBTQ people need access to reproductive health care, including contraception, abortion, assisted reproductive services, HIV care, pregnancy care, parenting resources, and more.  Although many people talk about reproductive health as a “women’s issue,” many LGBTQ people—including lesbian and bisexual women, transgender men, two-spirit, intersex, nonbinary and gender non-conforming individuals—can get pregnant, use birth control, have abortions, carry pregnancies, and become parents.

Further, our hard won legal rights as LGBTQ and reproductive rights movements have long been intertwined through Supreme Court decisions dating back over 40 years. From Roe v. Wade to the Supreme Court’s 2015 marriage decision, our ability to live our lives fully and to not be discriminated against are dependent on each other’s mutual progress.

We also have the same opposition. Controlling sexuality and gender expression usually share an agenda with controlling reproductive choices. Most recently, our opponents have been using religion and “conscience” as a guise for discrimination against LGBTQ people and people seeking access to reproductive health services.

Supreme Court Leaked Draft Opinion: Dobbs vs. Jackson Women’s Health

Abortion rights are under attack. This morning, the nation woke up to the horrifying news that the Supreme Court made an initial draft decision in Dobbs vs. Jackson Women’s Health that would overturn Roe vs. Wade. This draft signals a total reversal by the court and the potential to undermine and overturn other important decisions impacting LGBTQ+ people, people of color, and others whose rights were gained after the Constitution was ratified. Today we must grapple with the real possibility that our highest court will not further equity and justice but instead choose to take away from more than half of the population in this country. Abortion rights are Queer rights, and we must take action.

Executive Director, Kierra Johnson, Responds to Leaked SCOTUS Draft Opinion That Would Overturn Roe

EMERGENCY NATIONWIDE PROTESTS

Tuesday, May 3

• WASHINGTON D.C. – SUPREME COURT STEPS ALL DAY
• NYC: 5:00 pm Foley Square – Contact IG: @Rise4AbortionRights
• LA: 12:00 pm through the day US Courthouse 1st & Hill – Contact IG: Rise4AbortionRightsLA
• Atlanta: 5:00 pm CNN downtown
• Austin: 5:00 pm Capitol Building, 1100 Congress Ave. – Contact on IG: @tx4abortion
• Chicago: 3:00 pm State & Jackson – Contact on IG: riseup4abortionrightschi
• Dayton, OH: 5:00 pm Dayton Municipal Court 301 West Third St. @end40days on IG
• Detroit: 5:00 pm 231 Federal Courthouse, 231 West Lafayette St.
• Houston: 5:00 pm Mickey Leland Federal Building 1919 Smith St.
• Little Rock: 5:00 pm State Capitol, 500 Woodlane St.
• Louisville, KY: 5:00 pm Jefferson County Courthouse, W. Jefferson & S. 6th St. 
• Philly: 6:00 pm City Hall
• San Francisco: 5:00 pm Federal Building Louisiana & St. Joesph

Wednesday, May 4

• New York City: Emergency Speakout, Revolution Books, 437 Malcolm S. Blvd, 7:00 pm, co-sponsored by Rise up 4 Abortion Rights
• Honolulu: 4:00 pm Federal Building along ala Moana Blvd.