Fifty years after the passing of Roe v Wade, six of our nine Supreme Court Justices took away our constitutional right to govern our own reproductive healthcare and placed this power in the hands of government lawmakers. The Bergen County LGBTQ+ Democratic Caucus recognizes the severe implications of this Supreme Court restriction of freedom of choice that, as Clarence Thomas’s concurring statement makes clear, could extend beyond reproductive healthcare to all areas of our life, including rights to contraception access, same-sex relationships, same-sex marriage and the rights of the Transgender community. We stand in solidarity with the women’s movement to support the rights of all people, as articulated in the Declaration of Independence, to self-government.

The removal of the right to choose comes at a time when over 250 anti-gay laws are being considered at the state level – laws that include destroying the rights of transgender people to obtain the healthcare they need and for transgender children to delay puberty as a part of their transition to their authentic self. It comes at a time when LGBTQ+ people across the country are being robbed of their First Amendment right to talk about who they are with their teachers, colleagues and peers in the public arena.

The mission of the Bergen County LGBTQ+ Democratic Caucus is to recruit and empower LGBTQ+ candidates to run for office who will advocate for diversity, inclusion and racial, economic and social justice. We seek candidates that believe our right to make personal choices about what we do with our own bodies is fundamental to the core of our Democratic form of government. It is a right that is threatened by the loss of self-governance in all communities.

The basic human rights of women and LGBTQ+ people are not explicitly included within our federal or state Constitutions. This oversight, combined with inequalities between state laws, are among the reasons why we need our country’s constitution to be amended to include the now-ratified Equal Rights Amendment. It is also why we need to demand passage of the Equality Act, and to ensure that we maintain a Democratic majority in the state and federal legislature. We will do the work to encourage others, especially those in swing districts and states, to get out the vote in November.