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| Courtesy Wake Forest School of Law |
Roe v. Wade and Gay Rights
Why it matters!
22 January, 2013 marks the 40th
Anniversary of the Roe v Wade decision in the USA recognizing a woman’s right
to an abortion and an American’s Right
to Privacy – a cornerstone of LGBTQ rights in the United States.
Is this anniversary important for the LGBT community? You bet!
I would guess that many queer men and women
would state that abortion rights matter primarily because we understand how
difficult it is to live under the “conservative
religious patriarchy” or with our rejection for having failed to live up to
often unrealistic, even hypocritical religious expectations, ethics and
realities.
While we do not necessarily understand the
complications of hetero-pregnancy, we do understand hurt, suffering, potential
rejection, blame, fear and all of the other complex feelings and situational
complications surrounding sexuality, difficult personal decisions, and the need
to take responsibility for ones’ own life and move beyond the
consequences. While we have opinions, we
have traditionally hesitated to express moral judgment. We tend to be accepting, come what may.
However, Roe v Wade did more than recognize
abortion rights, RvW recognized the individual’s right to privacy and the implied
right to private fulfillment regardless of the dominant public morality. The
Economist quotes the court’s decision as follows: "the
penumbras of the Bill of Rights" enshrine "a right of personal
privacy, or a guarantee of certain areas or zones of privacy". It found
that this right of privacy "is broad enough to encompass a woman's
decision whether or not to terminate her pregnancy" (Full Court Press, 22 Jan 2013).
Without this right to privacy, there would
be no Lawrence v. Texas in 2003. Lawrence
is the monumental court case that legalized sodomy or the right to private
fulfillment free from outside interference.
Justice Kennedy wrote for the majority, “"The petitioners are entitled to respect for their private lives. The
State cannot demean their existence or control their destiny by making their
private sexual conduct a crime."
In his landmark court decision declaring
California’s Prop 8 anti-same-sex marriage amendment unconstitutional, Justice
Vaughn R. Walker indirectly references RvW and directly refers to Lawrence and
an individual’s right to privacy, “[I]t
would demean a married couple were it to be said marriage is simply about the
right to have sexual intercourse (Lawrence) … The Supreme Court recognizes that,
wholly apart from procreation, choice and privacy play a pivotal role in the
marital relationship.”
