Emails and phone calls from same-sex couples worried about the legal status of their marriages and to keep their children flooded Sydney Duncan’s office just hours after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling overturned the constitutional right to abortion. The decision last week did not directly affect the 2015 decision that paved the way for same-sex marriage. But, Duncan said, it was still a warning shot for families with same-sex parents who fear their rights will disappear like those of people who want to end a pregnancy. “This has scared a lot of people, and I think rightly so,” said Duncan, who specializes in representing members of the LGBTQ2S + community at Magic City Legal Center in Birmingham. Reversing a history of nearly 50 years, the Supreme Court ruled in a Mississippi case that abortion is not protected by the Constitution, a decision that could lead to bans in about half of the states. Judge Samuel Alito said the decision was only about the medical procedure, writing: “Nothing in this opinion should be understood to raise doubts about a history of abortion.” However, Conservative Judge Clarence Thomas called on his colleagues to reconsider cases that allowed same-sex marriage, homosexual sex and contraception. The three most liberal members of the court warn in their disagreement that the ruling could be used to challenge other personal freedoms: “Either the majority opinion is hypocritical or additional constitutional rights are threatened. It’s one or the other. “ This prospect worries some LGBTQ2S + couples, who are worried about going back to a time when they did not have equal rights with legally married heterosexual couples. Many, fearing that their marital status is in danger, are now moving to address potential medical, parental and property issues. Dawn Betts-Green and her husband Anna Green did not waste time supporting their legal bureaucracy after the decision. They have already visited a legal clinic for gay families to begin the will process. “That way, if we are thrown back into the Dark Ages, we have legal protection for our relationship,” said Betts-Green, an Alabama-based nonprofit that documents the history of LGBTQ2S + people in the South. . As a white woman married to a black transsexual, Robin Reed from Minneapolis feels particularly vulnerable. A decision that undermines same-sex marriage or interracial relationships would completely upset Reed, who includes the couple’s 3-month-old child. “I have no expectation that anything about my marriage is safe,” said Reed, a legal assistant. Reed’s employer, Sarah Breiner of the Breiner Law Firm, runs seminars in both the Twin Cities and the Atlanta area to help same-sex couples meet potential legal needs following a court ruling. Breiner said helping people stay calm about the future is part of her job these days. “We do not know what could happen, and that is the problem,” Breiner said. In an indication of what could happen, the state of Alabama has already invoked the abortion decision, asking a federal appellate court to let it enforce a new state law that makes it a felony for doctors to prescribe adolescent inhibitors and hormones to transgender people. 19. The decision giving states the power to restrict abortions means that states should also be able to ban medical treatment for trans young people, the state argued. Any attempt to overturn gay marriage would start with a lawsuit and any potential reversal is years away, as there is no significant legal threat on the horizon, said Kathryn Oakley, senior adviser and law director to the State Legislature for Human Rights Campaign. Washington, an LGBTQ2S + defense organization. “This is definitely a scary time and people are nervous, but people’s marriages are still safe,” Oakley said. Although the threat to same-sex couples is particularly strong in conservative states, Oakley said she has heard of people across the country in recent days seeking second-parent adoptions, which protect a family by having the names of both two adoptive parents on the birth certificate. People also fill out medical instructions in case one spouse is incompetent and does general estate planning, he said. Ryanne Seyba Law Firm in Hollywood, Florida, is offering free second-child adoptions, similar to adoptive parents, to same-sex couples who are qualified to help relieve stress ripple consequences of the abortion decision. “We realized last week that when (the decision) came out, we had to do something,” said Seyba of The Upgrade Lawyers. A judge in Broward County plans to have a special day in August to finalize all adoptions immediately, Seyba said. If nothing else, completing the process will give more security to nervous families, he said. “If gay marriage disappears, we really do not know what will happen,” he said. “It’s better to be on the safe side.”
Associated Press writer Kim Chandler in Montgomery contributed to this report.
