Since the appointment of Justice Amy Coney Barrett, the LGBTQ community has been consumed with fear due to the fact that their fundamental right to marry is in jeopardy. For decades, the LGBTQ community has received backlash in forms of legislation, hate crimes, and discrimination. Yet, just five years ago, the Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage nation-wide. However, there is a chance that the Court will repeal that. The Supreme Court now holds a Republican majority, since the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. She was not only a feminist icon, she was also a Human Rights activist. Since the appointment of Justice Barrett, many fear that the progress made possible by Justice Ginsburg will be tarnished. 

Two conservative justices have publicly agreed that the same-sex marriage equality should be overturned. Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito argued that the matter should be left to state legislatures and that the LGBTQ community’s right to marry restricted religious freedoms. 

Obergefell v Hodges was the biggest turning point in the LGBTQ community, which gave same-sex couples the fundamental right to marry. Justice Thomas stated that people with strong religious beliefs concerning marriage feel that it is hard to participate in society. If people with such extreme religious beliefs find it that difficult to accept people for who they are, it shows how ignorant and close minded those individuals are. However, people are entitled to their opinion, but when it comes to people’s lives, then it’s unacceptable.

Just because someone has a different sexual orientation than another person, does not make them less human. The possibility of same-sex marriage equality being overturned is infuriating and outright disrespectful. LGBTQ rights should be not a political playground for politicians, or anyone for that matter, to walk all over. LGBTQ rights are human rights, and that should never change. It is simply no one’s business to dictate a group of individual’s lives who have done nothing wrong and who are just unapologetically themselves. 

With all respect to the justices, I believe that the “ruinous consequences for religious liberty” do not compare to the oppression that members of the LGBTQ community have faced. Also, everyone deserves human rights, and religious freedom goes under that umbrella term. Therefore, choosing a “novel” constitutional right over religious liberty interests is not true.

It is interesting that the Supreme Court is debating on overturning a five-year-old ruling. Marriage is a basic legal protection and the genders of the couple should not matter. Some of the journalists for Vox, which is a news and opinion editorial website, have been speaking out against the possible repeal. Vox journalist Ian Millhiser called it “astonishing” that two Supreme Court Justices want to take away a basic civil right. 

Ever since the Stonewall Riots in 1969, the LGBTQ community has not stopped fighting for their rights as humans. Hopefully, this battle with society ends shortly and the Supreme Court will continue to recognize LGBTQ rights as valid.