BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) – Emails and phone calls from same-sex couples, concerned about the legal status of their marriages and keeping their children, flooded Sydney Duncan’s lawyer’s office just hours after the court’s decision. Supreme Court that eliminated the constitutional right to abortion.
Last week’s ruling did not directly affect the 2015 decision that paved the way for same-sex marriage. But, Duncan said, it was still a warning sign for families headed by same-sex parents who fear their rights could evaporate like those of people who want to end a pregnancy.
“This is very scary and, I think, right,” said Duncan, who specializes in representing members of the LGBTQ community at Birmingham’s Magic City Legal Center.
Overturning a nearly 50-year precedent, the Supreme Court ruled in a Mississippi case that abortion was not protected by the Constitution, a decision that is likely to lead to bans in half of the states. Judge Samuel Alito said the sentence only involved the medical procedure, and wrote, “Nothing should be understood in this opinion to call into question the precedents that do not relate to abortion.”
But Conservative Judge Clarence Thomas asked his colleagues to reconsider cases that allowed same-sex marriage, gay sex, and contraception.
The three most liberal members of the court warn in their dissent that the sentence could be used to challenge other personal freedoms: “Either the mass of majority opinion is hypocrisy, or additional constitutional rights are threatened. It’s one or the other. “
This prospect alarms some LGBTQ couples, who worry about going back to a time when they did not have the same rights as legally married heterosexual couples. Many, fearing their marital status is in jeopardy, are now moving to eliminate possible medical, parental and financial problems.
Dawn Betts-Green and his wife Anna Green wereted no time in strengthening their legal formalities after the decision. They have already visited a legal clinic for same-sex families to begin the process of making a will.
“That way, if they make us go back to the Dark Ages, we’ll have legal protections for our relationship,” said Betts-Green, who works with an Alabama-based nonprofit that documents the history of Alabama. LGBTQ people in the south.
As a white woman married to a black transgender man, Robbin Reed of Minneapolis feels especially vulnerable. A decision that undermines same-sex marriage or interracial unions would completely change Reed’s life, which includes the couple’s 3-month-old son.
“I don’t expect anything from my marriage to be safe,” said Reed, a legal assistant.
Reed’s employer, Sarah Breiner, of the Breiner Law Firm, is organizing seminars in both the twin cities and the Atlanta area to help same-sex couples resolve possible legal needs following the court’s decision. . Breiner said helping people stay calm about the future is part of their job these days.
“We don’t know what can happen, and that’s the problem,” Breiner said.
As a sign of what might come next, the state of Alabama has already cited the abortion ruling to ask a federal court of appeal to allow it to enforce a new state law that makes it a crime that doctors prescribe puberty blockers and hormones to underage trans people. 19. The decision that gives states the power to restrict abortion means that states should also be able to ban medical treatments for transgender youth, the state stated.
Any attempt to undo gay marriage would begin with a lawsuit, and any possible setback is years away because there are no major legal threats on the horizon, said Cathryn Oakley, senior lawyer and state legislative director of the Washington Human Rights Campaign , an LGBTQ. defense organization.
“This is definitely a scary time and people are nervous, but people’s marriages are still safe,” Oakley said.
While the threat to same-sex couples feels especially acute in conservative states, Oakley said in recent days she has heard of people across the country seeking second-father adoptions, protecting a family having the names of both adoptive parents on the birth certificate. . People are also completing medical guidelines in case a spouse is disabled and does general property planning, he said.
Ryanne Seyba’s law firm in Hollywood, Florida, offers free second-parent adoptions, which are similar to stepparent adoptions, for qualified same-sex couples to help relieve some of the stress caused by possible effects. dominance of the abortion decision.
“We realized last week when (the sentence) came out that we had to do something,” Seyba of The Upgrade Lawyers said.
A Broward County judge plans to have a special day in August to end all adoptions at once, Seyba said. If nothing else, completing the process should give more security to nervous families, he said.
“If gay marriage goes away, we really don’t know what will happen,” he said. “It’s better to be on the safe side.”
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Associated Press writer Kim Chandler in Montgomery contributed to this report.