For the last few months, this column has focused on the upcoming general election on Nov. 5. As has been mentioned repeatedly, this is the most important election we’ll vote in — whether you’ve been voting for many years or are a first-time voter.
This column, unlike others, has specifically addressed how this election directly affects our community. I could use this space to discuss the dog-whistle, anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric from Donald Trump or the $20 million anti-LGBTQ+ ad budget of his campaign. I could explain how government spending on your health care, community centers, LGBTQ+ affordable senior housing and youth homelessness would be cut, along with hopes for an Equality Act — a piece of legislation blocked by Republicans since 1976 — ever becoming law. But the most crucial part of this election is the impact it could have on our marriages.
If you are married or hope to marry one day, there is only one vote that can protect that right: Kamala Harris. Marriage equality was established by a Supreme Court decision, but unless it is written into law by Congress, the Supreme Court could overturn it. If you doubt this, remember Roe v. Wade — a woman’s right to control her own body was taken away by a reconfigured Court. Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas have publicly suggested that the marriage ruling should be revisited, signaling intentions to alter the Court in the same way they did to overturn Roe.
The next president will likely appoint at least one, if not two, Supreme Court justices. Do you have any doubt, if they are nominated by Trump, how those justices would vote?
There’s a saying: “Vote like your life depends on it.” If you love your spouse or hope to marry someday, vote to keep marriage equality legal. Vote for love. Your vote depends on it.