LGBTQ community fears their rights may be next after SCOTUS abortion ruling

JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) - There’s a lot of uncertainty about what the ripple effects may be if the Supreme Court issues an official opinion overturning Roe v. Wade. And some worry LGBTQ rights could be in jeopardy next.

“LGBTQ plus people have marriage equality protections,” said Jason McCarty, Capital City Pride Executive Director. “And so I want to hold on to that.”

But Executive Director of Capital City Pride Jason McCarty admits there’s a concern that it’s in jeopardy as the draft opinion in the abortion case was leaked.

”This is a dangerous moment in our time,” he said. “Where does it stop? If it starts with abortion and the women’s right to choose with their health care, it goes to LGBTQ plus people, our marriage equality, what’s next? I don’t want to think about that. I want us to know that we are a land that should respect all people.”

It’s a conversation happening throughout the LGBTQ community.

“Not only are they coming for us next, they’re coming for us right now,” noted Human Rights Campaign Mississippi State Director Rob Hill.

Human Rights Campaign has been sounding the alarm on anti-LGBTQ legislation for the last several years. And they fear that one of those bills passed at a state level could be the one to open the door to questions at the high court.

“It’s clear that we’ve got to work hard to make sure that rights are intact, and that we continue in the legislative process on a federal level and wherever we can to enshrine protections for LGBTQ plus people by law,” added Hill.

But it’s not just the what ifs at play. ACLU of Mississippi explains there’s a legal connection of why some are raising a red flag.

“There’s kind of different strains of constitutional protections,” described McKenna Raney-Gray, ACLU of Mississippi LGBTQ Staff Attorney. “And some of them that we rely on in the LGBTQ space come from the same lineage as the Roe v. Wade case, and Planned Parenthood versus Casey. So what you have the right to do with your own body and how it is that you choose to interact with other people in your own personal life based on the rights to privacy and autonomy found in the Constitution.”

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