Opinion | Democrats Need an LGBTQ Wedge Issue of Their Own
politico.comSasha Issenberg 06/29/2022 04:30 AM EDT Link CopiedSasha Issenberg is the author of several books, including, most recently, The Engagement: America’s Quarter-Century Struggle Over Same-Sex Marriage.The first time he was asked about the opinion overturning Roe v.
Wade — when a draft of last week’s ruling leaked in May — President Joe Biden quickly turned the focus away from abortion. Instead, he brought up another right that he said would be threatened if the Supreme Court determined that the Constitution included no guarantee of privacy. “Does this mean in Florida they can decide to pass a law saying same-sex marriage is not permissible?” he asked.Remarks like Biden’s stand out because of how sparsely Democrats have spoken about the topic since the U.S.
Supreme Court in 2015 struck down state bans on same-sex marriage. In a divided country, what was once among the most fractious issues is today a subject of surprising consensus, with 70 percent of Americans, including most Republicans, and majorities in nearly every state in the country, supporting the right of same-sex couples to marry.Justice Clarence Thomas breathed life into Biden’s hypothetical, arguing in a concurring opinion that the court’s reasoning in the abortion case should prompt it to also revisit a pair of cases related to same-sex relations.
Democrats often quake when they see LGBTQ issues pushed into the public sphere by their opponents, most recently with Florida’s so-called “Don’t Say Gay” bill and a spate of state laws targeting transgender youth and families.
