The Supreme Court leak on their opinion of overturning Roe v. Wade now has members of the LGBTQ+ community concerned.
If the Supreme Court is comfortable overturning something of such precedence, what else can be overturned?
“If Roe v. Wade gets overturned, then they’re going to direct their attention now to LGBTQ rights. Absolutely that’s not a secret,” Deborah Rios said, president of LULAC Para Todos. "They've made that very clear. Every legislative session in Texas, they have targeted the LGBTQ community."
“We are starting to see a spiral into a country that we are not recognizing anymore,” Eric Holguin said, former president of LULAC Para Todos.
As members of the LGBTQ+ community, they said they have to start preparing for what comes next.
Holguin said when the leak came out, he immediately sent it to friends.
“They’re horrified," he said. "They are wondering where did this come from, I thought we were past this point in our history. I thought we were moving forward and now we’re starting to reverse backwards.”
It was the opinion of Justice Alito that specifically concerned Holguin. Alito states in the leaked draft that because abortion isn't mentioned in the U.S. Constitution, it doesn't fall under the protection of the 14th amendment.
"The right to privacy is not enshrined in our constitution," said Holguin. "So, what they're saying is we shouldn't be making these decisions on right to privacy, let's push it back to the states. And so, we have states like Texas where I was looking at a tweet last night, where Attorney General Ken Paxton is already readying to start challenging same-sex marriages in Texas."
What Holguin and Rios believe is, if SCOTUS said right to privacy matters are in state’s hands, same-sex marriage could be overturned based on the case Obergefell v. Hodges.
There are states like Texas that still have laws like banning same-sex intimacy. Although, that law cannot be enforced due to Lawerence v. Texas which said the Texas law violated the 14th Amendment.
“After years of being overturned by the Supreme Court it’s still there," said Rios. "So, you have to ask yourself why is it still there? Because the Texas Legislature has made it very clear that they want to be able to overturn these LGBTQ laws that have been afforded to us. These rights that have been afforded to us by the Supreme Court”
Holguin believes all this comes down to a small minority being more vocal than the majority.
“I keep going on social media and telling my friends please speak up," he said. "We need you to speak up. The saying is the squeaky wheel gets the oil. And so, the religious minority that is aggressively attacking these rights, are squeaking very loudly.”
A 2021 Gallup poll showed that 70 percent of people are OK with same-sex marriage. Another Gallup Poll from 2020 showed that 79 percent of American's were accepting of abortions with none or some circumstances.
Holguin and Rios agree what comes next is educating people and finding the right candidates to fight for LGBTQ rights in congress.
“We have to get them involved in knowing the issues and how it impacts down the road, further down, " Rios said.
She added that it is hard for people to understand that what happens locally can have an effect and lead to what is happening in Washington D.C.
As for the leaked draft document over Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court said on Tuesday is not a final opinion.
The highly-anticipated opinion is expected to be among the last issue this term in late June or July.
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