I’m starting this thread as a place to keep track of proposed laws that to roll back rights that have already been fought for and successfully achieved here in the US. Since we already have the thread for abortion, this thread is to keep track of laws on all other topics. The hypothesis is that now that Roe v. Wade is presumably being struck down, we’re likely to see attempts made to reverse gains made in other areas.
Let’s limit it to non-fiscal topics. I don’t want to get into the weeds about tax cuts or general across the board budget cuts to social services. Let’s also limit it to things currently happening and future events, not about how some law from the 80s knocked back some progress that was made in the 60s. Otherwise, it’s all fair game. Proposed laws as well as those that have passed. Local, state, or federal. This is the thread to keep track of them.
Many states, such as Texas, still have the laws forbidding same sex sodomy and same sex marriage on the books. When this Supreme Court overrules Obergefell and Lawrence, those laws will immediately become enforceable again. There likely would be no need for states to enact new laws.
Also, according to HRC, there’ve been a bunch of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation that has been proposed and enacted.
In one of these other related threads, somebody mentioned “trigger laws” and somebody else asked what that means. This is a good place to point out that the kind of laws @Hamlet mentions are exactly what that means.
We could break these into two categories, if anyone thinks it’s relevant: Those pre-existing laws that would suddenly spring back into enforceability when their restrictions are removed, and those newer laws that were never enforceable but will immediately become enforceable when their restrictions are removed, and in fact were enacted with exactly that in mind.
I think both types of cases are relevant. With regard to the trigger laws, I think it would be helpful to mention what sort of court cases we should be on the lookout for and which precedent could be getting overturned for those particular cases.
I believe all anti-miscegenation laws have been actually repealed. The last holdout was Alabama, which amended its constitution in 2000.
As Hamlet wrote, many many states still ban same-sex marriage by (presently unenforceable) statute. Some of these laws were approved in the 21st century with overwhelming support… for example Tennessee, Alabama, and Mississippi each banned same-sex marriage in the 2000s with over 80% of voters supporting the ban. There was a failed movement in Florida - last year - to repeal our same-sex marriage ban.
When same-sex marriage is banned, some issues will need to be worked out.
(1) Will already-existing same-sex marriages be grandfathered? Or will they be declared null and void? If null and void, that will lead to massive chaos in dissolving all the existing same-sex marriages. But that wouldn’t necessarily stop regressive Republicans from doing that.
(2) Will states that outlaw same-sex marriages recognize same-sex marriages from other states that allowed it? This was already a problem before the SCOTUS made it legal nationwide – Despite the rule in the Constitution that states must “respect” the laws of other states, which some states didn’t.
When same-sex marriage is OUTLAWED, only OUTLAWS will have same-sex marriage!
Wouldn’t one potential problem with reinstating anti-miscegenation laws be establishing which partner is which race? I’m not sure how states used to determine black vs white – I’m guessing it was just an eye test – but with DNA testing now widely available, would it be sufficient to just say “he looks black, she looks white”? Or would there be some burden to determine race via genetics and/or traceable ancestry?
Even some blue states still have laws forbidding same-sex marriage. For example, here in Oregon, there’s a constitutional amendment that does that. It was passed in 2004. If they’d have tried even a year later, it probably wouldn’t have passed; two years, it definitely wouldn’t have passed. Unfortunately, no one saw fit to repeal this amendment since then. Now we’re going to have to rush to do that.