Lowcountry LGBTQ+ community worries about rights since Roe v. Wade overturned

Published: Jun. 27, 2022 at 4:23 PM EDT|Updated: Jun. 27, 2022 at 8:15 PM EDT

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - The U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade on Friday prompted concerns in the LGBTQ+ community that future rulings could outlaw same-sex marriage.

This comes after Clarence Thomas, one of the justices who voted to overturn the ruling, said other decisions, like gay marriage, need to be revisited.

Since that decision, social media feeds have been flooded with concerns from the LGBTQ+ community wondering if same-sex marriage or transgender rights will be taken away next. Without these laws, Elliott Cumbee, an LGBTQ+ activist, said the community would completely change.

“It would be devastating because we don’t know what effects it could have in general,” Cumbee said. “If states will recognize marriages that are already there, and states will ban marriages as well. You know, in South Carolina, you probably wouldn’t be able to get married if you were a same-sex couple. You would have to move.”

Mark Peper, attorney at Peper Law Firm, said the Supreme Court doesn’t just take up subjects they’re interested in. They must take cases after someone is denied a right. That issue must then go through four courts before it even reaches the Supreme Court’s docket.

Peper said this is very unlikely.

“We’re dealing with apples right now trying to overcome what we can’t wrap our head around,” Peper said. “And oranges, the right to marry whomever you want of whatever sex has to deal with not only the Due Process clause, which was the only clause that they looked at, but also Equal Protection of the 14th Amendment. We still have both of those rights and I suspect we will forever and ever despite this latest ruling.”

Peper said there is currently nothing on its way to the Supreme Court’s desk that could harm the LGBTQ+ community.

“For everybody worried about this case, they’re apples and oranges, okay?” Peper said. “Which is a good thing, right? Two, we don’t have anything on the books right now that’s making its way up to the Supreme Court. So, while there are going to be disappointed viewers with this ruling, for those in the LGBTQ community, everybody’s fine.”

Although nothing is being questioned about LGBTQ+ rights as of now, it is unclear when that could change.

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