Denver, CO — On April 3, about 60 protesters gathered outside the Colorado State Capitol to oppose the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Colorado’s ban on conversion therapy in an 8-1 vote. The action was organized by the Denver Coalition Against Trump and Bread and Roses Legal Center.

Conversion therapy, widely regarded as a pseudoscience, is the practice of attempting to change a person’s gender or sexuality to cisgender or heterosexual norms. This often happens against the subject’s will and it has been shown to be highly ineffective, often causing psychological harm and effects such as significantly higher mental health disorder rates and higher suicide rates. Conversion therapy practices range from the seemingly innocuous, like talk therapy, to cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment, including treatment many experts would consider to be torture.

More than 20 U.S. states have banned conversion therapy for minors, and Colorado banned the practice as a whole in 2019.

Kacey Hicks of Denver Students for a Democratic Society, who emceed the action at the capitol, told the crowd, “This attack is just one of many carried out by the Trump administration and its allies on queer and trans people. It is one of many attacks used to try to make trans and queer people afraid while our rights keep getting stripped away.”

The crowd outside the capitol chanted “Donald Trump, let’s be clear, trans folks are welcome here!” and “Donald Trump, go away, trans folks are here to stay!”

After hearing speeches, the crowd took the streets of Denver. The protest leaders got on the back of a truck to continue chants throughout Capitol Hill, a neighborhood considered Denver’s main LGBTQ hub. Throughout the march, the crowd was cheered on by passersby in the local queer-owned businesses as they halted Friday night traffic.

After the protesters marched back to the capitol, Katherine Draken, a member of Teamsters for a Democratic Union gave a speech. Draken said, “It deserves to be repeated that conversion therapy has been thoroughly discredited! Doing conversion therapy on transgender children is child abuse!”

The protest closed out with more speeches, closing remarks, and chants calling for trans liberation.

#DenverCO #CO #LGBTQ #SupremeCourt #SCOTUS

Colorado Springs, CO – On April 1, the Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) was joined by Colorado Springs faith leaders and community organizations outside of anti-LGBTQ counselor Kaley Chiles’ office to condemn her litigation against Colorado’s “conversion therapy” ban and the 8-1 Supreme Court ruling.

Faith leaders included Reverend Josh Rumple of First Congregational and Pastor Amanda Udis-Kessler of Vista Grande United Church of Christ, both progressive churches in Colorado Springs respectively.

The Supreme Court ruling overturning Colorado’s ban on “conversion therapy” came on Trans Day of Visibility and is a continued escalation from the Trump administration against LGBTQ rights and protections. The case's primary litigant, Kaley Chiles, is a known bigot who works at Deeper Stories Counseling in Colorado Springs and worked with conservative law firm Alliance Defending Freedom”

Several community members shared speeches to a crowd of about 50 that condemned the Supreme Court's decision. “Claiming that conversion therapy is free speech is like calling a noose neckwear,” said Genevieve Richard of the FRSO. Lenny Lorenz, a college student and organizer with New Era Colorado College said, “The Supreme Court’s decision sets an alarming precedent that leaves queer youth open to dangerous and discredited practices.”

The crowd stayed strong despite rain and light hail. Chants rang loud through Cascade Avenue, “We won’t go back! These queers bash back!” and “We’re here! We’re queer! We won’t disappear.” Anger and a determination to fight back filled the air and everyone’s faces.

#ColoradoSpringsCO #CO #LGBTQ #SupremeCourt

This has been a long-time demand of right-wing anti-immigrant individuals and organizations, such as Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, former Arizona State Senator Russell Pearce (best known as the sponsor of Arizona’s anti-immigrant SB1070 law) and anti-immigrant organizations such as the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR).

In 1898, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the case of United States v. Wong Kim Ark that American-born Chinese were U.S. citizens under the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. The 14th Amendment states: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.” This amendment was passed in 1868 to overrule the infamous Dred Scott Decision of 1857, where the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that African slaves and their descendants could never be citizens of the United States and were not subject to the protections of the constitution.

Today, anti-immigrant forces try to argue that undocumented immigrants are not subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. This is the same argument that the anti-Chinese movement used to try to strip Wong Kim Ark of his birthright citizenship, saying that Chinese immigrants, who were banned from naturalizing by the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, were not subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. But the 1898 U.S. Supreme Court rejected this argument, pointing out that the only exceptions to birthright citizenship are the children of diplomats (who are immune from U.S. law) and the children of a hostile occupation force in the United States.

Many of the anti-immigrant forces today claim that the undocumented are an “invasion.” But we have all seen photos of undocumented families searching out the Border Control and turning themselves in. This is not the behavior of an occupying army.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruling in United States v. Wong Kim Ark extended the fundamental civil rights won by African Americans to Asian Americans. Later, this case was cited in the 1982 Plyler v. Doe U.S. Supreme Court ruling, which struck down a Texas state law that tried to exclude unauthorized Mexican immigrant children from public schools.

This move by anti-immigrant forces to target native born Americans shows that this movement is not about the legality of immigrants. The anti-immigrant movement is a right-wing movement that is all about stripping away the right to go to public schools and to be citizens. These rights were won by African Americans because of the Civil War, and later extended to Asian Americans and Latinos.

Asian Americans, African Americans, and Chicanos and Latinos who have historically faced discrimination need to support the immigrant rights movement. Not only are many or most of our communities immigrants, but even those of us who are native-born citizens could have our rights stripped away. When right-wingers say that they want to take America back, we need to be clear that they are talking about taking us back to before the Civil War. When the president of FAIR said, “We should not allow language from 1868 [referring to the 14th Amendment] enslave our thinking ... in the 21st Century,” we have to say that we are not going to be enslaved again. Ever.

Masao Suzuki is the grandson of an unauthorized immigrant from Japan and is a long-time activist in the San José Japanese American community. He recently retired from teaching economics at Skyline College and has written articles on the economic history of immigration such as “Important or Impotent: Taking Another Look at California Anti-Alien Land Law.”

#ImmigrantRights #Trump #SupremeCourt #Feature

Minneapolis, MN – On Tuesday, October 16, a group of students and community members rallied on the steps of Northrop Hall at University of Minnesota. They were there to protest U.S. Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett at the annual donor-funded Law School public lecture.

The rally was covered by over a dozen local and national news outlets. Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) at UMN and the Minnesota Abortion Action Committee (MNAAC) jointly organized the rally, where at least 250 people mobilized in support of abortion access, affirmative action, and the rights of marginalized peoples.

Justice Barrett is a key figure in the Supreme Court’s conservative supermajority and played an instrumental role in striking down Roe v. Wade (1973) in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization (2022). Roe v. Wade was a longstanding precedent for the Supreme Court which protected the constitutional right to an abortion. Since the Dobbs decision, 13 states have banned abortions, and many others imposed client and/or provider restrictions on abortions, according to the Center for Reproductive Rights.

Abortion rights movements in the Twin Cities, especially MNAAC, are currently in the struggle to expand legitimate abortion clinics and shut down the nearly 90 illegitimate “crisis pregnancy centers” across Minnesota.

Barrett also voted with conservative justices to strike down affirmative action in SFFA v. Harvard (2023) and SFFA v. UNC (2023). Student movements in the 1960s and ‘70s called for affirmative action in efforts to increase Black and brown enrollment in U.S. universities. Though legal decisions have debated what affirmative action can look like, affirmative action remains an important tool to increase diversity in higher education. Alongside attacks on diversity, equity, and inclusion in states like Florida, Texas and Louisiana, where SDS chapters are currently engaging in struggles against university administrations, the SFFA decisions are certain to make higher education for Black and brown students even less accessible.

Florida members of SDS, the Tampa 5, were arrested on felony charges and are being put on trial for protesting similar attacks on education by Governor Ron DeSantis.

Rally speaker Maggie Moynihan of MNAAC spoke about the contradictions the UMN presents when they invite a Supreme Court justice with a track record of harming women and students of color. “As a white-majority school, the University of Minnesota has an especially important duty to provide its marginalized students with a diverse and inclusive educational experience,” said Moynihan. “Amy Coney Barrett is a threat to all working-class and marginalized people in the United States and the university administrators have invited this threat to spread her hateful ideology to students on this campus. The message this decision sends is clear. The university does not value the safety of the women, people of color, immigrants, or queer people on this campus.”

Speaker Bryce Riesner of SDS reminded the UMN administration that when they invited Barrett to campus, they had invited “a representative of bigotry.” Speaking against the fallacy of “free speech,’”Riesner pointed out that the university has the power to draw the line at hate and intolerance. “I have so many conservative family and friends who have no hatred in their heart for anyone. [Barrett] does not represent them,” said Riesner. “Her fundamentalist beliefs are not conservative. What she practices in her home is her business, but when she takes a seat as a Supreme Court justice, her beliefs affect all of us!”

During the rally, a handful of experienced UMN SDS members disrupted Barrett’s lecture inside Northrop Hall, where over 1500 attendees sat. Video of the interaction posted to the chapter’s @umnsds Instagram account shows protesters chanting “Not the court! Not the state! The people must decide their fate!” and “When affirmative action is under attack, what do we do? Stand up, fight back!”

In their rally speech, Sasmit Rahman recounted the experience of being removed from the lecture, stating that the removal was a cowardly act by Barrett, who apparently refused to acknowledge the protesters. “You’re so comfortable stripping us of our rights,” Rahman said of Barrett, “but too scared to face the consequences of your bigoted decisions! Shame on you Amy, you fucking coward!”

Over a dozen rally speakers represented progressive grassroots organizations across the Twin Cities. These organizations include the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee, Young Democratic Socialists of America, Twin Cities Coalition for Justice for Jamar, Students for Climate Justice, Anti-War Committee, Freedom Road Socialist Organization, and local trade unions.

Progressive organizations agree that giving Barrett a platform is a disgrace to the UMN and that we must fight back.

Abortion is a human right!

Defend affirmative action and queer rights!

No to Amy Coney Barrett!

#MinneapolisMN #Minneapolis #AmyConeyBarrett #SDS #MNAAC #UMN #ReproductiveJustice #Abortion #SupremeCourt #AffirmativeAction #RoevWade

Carlos Montes, a member of the Central Committee of Freedom Road Socialist Organization, condemned the Supreme Court for their June 29 ruling that bans affirmative action at colleges and universities.

“The successful struggle for affirmative action in the late sixties opened the doors to higher education for thousands of African Americans, Chicanos and other underrepresented oppressed nationalities,” said Montes.

He continued, “This opened the doors to thousands of African Americans and Chicanos to become educators, lawyers, doctors and other professionals. This led to improvements in the quality of life for oppressed nationality communities!”

The Supreme Court ruling came on the heels of the one-year anniversary of the Dodd decision that overturned Roe v. Wade. The right-wing majority of the court is part of the growing attacks by the right on women, LGBTQ people and oppressed nationalities. There are bills in states around the country aiming to limit so-called “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” or DEI programs designed to admit and graduate more oppressed nationality students, and this ruling will just add fuel to the fire.

Those who are fighting back are being repressed by the government. The latest example is the Tampa 5, who the University of South Florida and the DeSantis administration is trying to jail. The campus activists were demanding more Black students and defending DEI programs.

#UnitedStates #SupremeCourt

Milwaukee, WI – In the calm before the storms hitting Milwaukee on July 4, over 1000 protested around the following six demands: True separation of church and state; repeal of Wisconsin State Statute 940.04; law enforcement shall not enforce abortion bans; the state of Wisconsin shall require law enforcement officials to read off Miranda Rights to those being detained; the city of Milwaukee and Milwaukee County shall not prosecute abortion cases – dismiss them all; and community control of the police now.

The protest was led by Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO), the Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, the Party for Socialism and Liberation, and Reproductive Justice Action Milwaukee.

“Oppressed people have never been free! Workers have never been free! And we can’t expect politicians or Supreme Court justices to hand us freedom,” said Rory Donovan of FRSO.

This sentiment was echoed by Lauryn Cross, co-chair of the Milwaukee Alliance, who told an attentive audience about the importance of recognizing “that when the Democrats, Republicans and people that are supposed to be ‘about us’ fucking fail, we check them with militant, organized, grassroots resistance.”

“Only we, the working people, set ourselves free.” This message resonated with the passionate Milwaukee crowd, and every speaker made sure to emphasize the importance of channeling the people’s energy and emotions towards organizing.

The action was primarily driven by the response to the recent Supreme Court Rulings overturning Roe v. Wade, preventing people from suing the police when they fail to read off Miranda Rights, and limiting the EPA’s ability to regulate greenhouse gas emissions.

The U.S. is removing its mask of “freedom and democracy” and is blatantly showing its ugly face of repression. In countries like Iraq, Afghanistan, Venezuela and Cuba, to name a few, the people know that this is what the U.S. has been and continues to be, the imperialist enemy.  More people in the U.S. realize what the rest of the world knows – that the U.S. only cares for the “freedom” of its capitalist class to exploit the world.

Milwaukee showed on this Fourth of July, the time is now to organize.

#MilwaukeeWI #InJusticeSystem #SupremeCourt #RoeVWade #AbortionRights

The Supreme Court is poised to overturn federal constitutional protections of abortion rights. A ruling on a case which would overturn Roe v. Wade is expected this month. The court usually releases announcements and decisions on Mondays and Wednesdays.

We call on all progressive people to make serious preparations now for mass protests in response to the ruling once it is announced.

The right to determine if and when one becomes pregnant, and to terminate that pregnancy, is a question of basic bodily autonomy. Women and other people with the ability to become pregnant cannot be free if this basic right is curtailed. Working class and poor women make up the majority of people getting abortions. They will bear the heaviest burden, facing a new reason for criminalization, lack of resources to travel for an abortion, and the risk of injury or death from back-alley abortions. Almost two thirds of abortions are obtained by African American, Chicano, and other oppressed nationality women. Removing the right to abortion would worsen national oppression in the United States.

Many of the so-called constitutional rights we take for granted today date only to the 1960’s, a time when the Civil Rights movement, the Women’s movement, the LGBTQ movement and many other important movements were at a very high level. The right to abortion access, like all the other rights working people in the U.S. have, was won through mass struggle. Only mass struggle will save it.

We must organize and mobilize thousands to take to the streets and show the ruling class that if they try to take our reproductive rights away, we will take them back, by any means necessary.

We will not go back! Prepare to fight!

#UnitedStates #SupremeCourt #RoeVWade #reproductiveRights #AbortionRights

New Orleans, LA – On May 7, over 100 people gathered on the steps across from Jackson Square in the French Quarter to fight for reproductive rights. The event was organized in response to a leaked draft decision from the Supreme Court that would overturn Roe v. Wade. Protesters carried signs and banners and raised their fists to chants of “Abortion is healthcare!” “We won’t go back!” and “Not the church, not the state! People must decide their fate!”

Organizers pushed three main demands: That the mayor and the district attorney must refuse to enforce any laws criminalizing abortion; that major hospital networks must enact a “No Snitching Policy” and refuse to report patients seeking care for self-managed abortions, and that the Louisiana State Police must leave New Orleans. Even if the city refuses to prosecute residents, they may still be subject to enforcement by state police.

Quest Riggs, a member of Freedom Road Socialist Organization of New Orleans, explained how anti-abortion laws would open the door to attacks on other reproductive rights, including the use of contraceptives. Riggs highlighted how these attacks would hit oppressed nationality women first and hardest. They called for everyone to unite in solidarity to beat back these legislative attacks, chanting, “An attack on one is an attack on all!”

J Martel, an organizer with New Orleans for Community Oversight of Police, highlighted how laws criminalizing abortion would put people at risk of experiencing increased police violence. They uplifted the demand for Louisiana State Police to leave New Orleans immediately. Martel connected the fight for reproductive rights to the fight against police crimes, including local struggles to establish community oversight of police.

David Eden Abraham of Real Name Campaign NOLA, an organization fighting for accessible name and gender marker changes, drew connections between women’s and reproductive rights movements and LGBT+ movements. He explained how trans masculine and non-binary people struggle to access both reproductive healthcare and gender-affirming healthcare. “The right to an abortion is inherently a part of women’s rights. But I also want people in this movement to pledge to include trans masculine, non-binary, and intersex people in this work”, he told the crowd. The Louisiana legislature is considering a bill that would classify abortion as homicide and effectively ban assistive reproduction and various methods of contraception (HB 813). The people of New Orleans are showing that they will not stand down in the face of these state and national attacks. Republicans will not back down and Democrats will not put up a fight unless the people continue to wage mass struggle.

Organizations leading the event included Women With a Vision, New Orleans Democratic Socialists of America, the Louisiana Communist Party, Freedom Road Socialist Organization, New Orleans for Community Oversight of Police, and Real Name Campaign.

#NewOrleansLA #LGBTQ #PeoplesStruggles #SupremeCourt #abortion #RoeVWade

Los Angeles, CA – On May 3, several hundred people gathered for an emergency action at the U.S. Federal Courthouse in downtown LA to voice outrage at the draft majority opinion overturning the historic Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade.

On the steps of the courthouse, gynecologists, reproductive rights activists, and women gave personal testimonies about the importance to fight for abortion rights and highlighted continued attacks on voting rights, gay marriage and migrant women locked in ICE detention centers. Demonstrators called on politicians to take action and protect women’s right to an abortion. As a crowd grew, they then marched down Broadway headed for Pershing Square. There they gathered again to hear speeches.

After almost an hour in at the plaza, as participants were leaving, a Federal Protective Service unit from the Department of Homeland Security attempted to drive through the intersection at a dangerous speed while they were crossing the street. Some protesters began to occupy the intersection and demanded that they leave.

As the confrontations began, a second squad car came through the intersection with two FPS agents come out with a nightclub and an FN 303 semi-automatic anti-riot gun. Unprovoked, they started shoving, tackling and using threats of violence. The FPS agents began pointing the anti-riot gun at protesters – ready to shoot at point blank range.

Multiple LAPD officers came to the scene after a call for help from FPS and immediately began shoving and ordered the crowd to disperse. A unit of rookie and intimidated officers attempted to arrest a protester but failed after others helped to de-arrest them and escaped. After a scooter was launched at the two officers, one of them reached his hand onto his firearm, scaring the crowd, then returned to their squad car.

An unlawful assembly was ordered on 4th Street and Hill Street after the crowd dispersed and returned back to the courthouse and continued the protest at City Hall. The FPS gave no answers as to why they were five blocks away from the courthouse, taunting and trying to intimidate pro-choice protesters.

#LosAngelesCA #LGBTQ #PeoplesStruggles #SupremeCourt #abortion #RoeVWade

Milwaukee, WI – On May 7, the Milwaukee International Women’s Day Coalition hosted an action to support reproductive rights and defend Roe v. Wade from the attack by the Supreme Court.

Over 1000 people turned out for the rally and march. The action started at Planned Parenthood and ended at the Milwaukee Federal Court building where Ron Johnson’s office is located. Johnson is an anti-choice U.S. Senator from Wisconsin.

Decorah Gordon, a member of the executive board of the Milwaukee Area Labor Council and the A. Philip Randolph Institute, spoke at the start of the rally. “Our human rights are no longer up for debate,” Gordon said, “therefore, keep your bans off of our bodies!”

A speaker from Freedom Road Socialist Organization, Piper Hogan, stated, “Capitalists have a vested interest in taking away reproductive freedom, because they rely on us to provide them with new workers- especially after they just allowed a million of us to die from COVID. The truth is that only socialism can pave the way for the liberation of women and all people who can give birth.”

The initial rally transitioned into a march that filled the streets with supporters and their banners and signs. Chants of “Keep abortion safe and legal!” and “Abortion rights are here to stay!” sounded off the high-rise buildings of downtown Milwaukee. Many people hurried to join the march as it passed. Once the more than 1000 people reached the Milwaukee Federal Court building, those in attendance were treated to several more speakers.

“If this were simply a matter of voting for this to happen, it would've happened already, and we would've had the legislation,” said Aurelia Ceja, representing Milwaukee’s International Women’s Day Coalition, “so we're not thinking that the fight isn't something we're going to win by asking politicians, it's something we're going to win by showing up.”

Organizations such as the Milwaukee Area Labor Council, Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, Freedom Road Socialist Organization, Coalition to Normalize Relations with Cuba, Planned Parenthood Wisconsin, Students for a Democratic Society – UWM, and many more joined in the action to show that Milwaukee is willing to stand up and fight against those who want to take away a person’s right to choose.

This was not the first rally that the Milwaukee International Women’s Day Coalition helped to host since the Supreme Court’s leaked majority opinion report, having been involved with an action on May 4. It won’t be the last either as another rally is being planned for May 14 in alignment with a national day of action called for by the political arm of Planned Parenthood.

#MilwaukeeWI #LGBTQ #PeoplesStruggles #SupremeCourt #abortion #RoeVWade

Dallas, TX – On Saturday, May 7, around 200 people gathered at Civic Garden park in downtown Dallas to protest the leaked Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade, thus allowing over half of U.S. states to ban abortion completely. Chants present at the rally included “When abortion is under attack, what do we do? Stand up fight back!” and “Healthcare is a human right!”

Jo Hargis of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization, criticized the Supreme Court's decision and the Democratic Party's inaction despite campaign promises, stating, “We have Democrats such as Obama and Biden claiming in their campaigns that they are going to enshrine Roe v. Wade into law. It's no surprise they haven't because the powerful here or anywhere else in the world have never taken action for the people, because power comes from the people.

A speaker with the Texas Equal Access Fund also spoke about the importance of legal low cost abortion and shared a story about how important being able to have an abortion was to her.

Kawana Scott of the Dallas Alliance Against Racism and Political Repression spoke out against the Supreme Court Decision and shared a story about how access to abortion was fundamental for her. “You shouldn't have to go out of the country, You shouldn't have to hide. You shouldn't have to do any of the things they are making us do to get a normal procedure.”

Ashley Winkler of Communist Party USA criticized the priority of the GOP and the Supreme Court to suppress abortion, whilst supporting the death penalty, anti-homeless legislation, and opposition to universal healthcare, stating “We protect the wallets of our ruling class while we allow our families who are alive currently in America to rot.”

Michelle Anderson, of the Afiya Center stated “Ever after the decision has been made, we still fight because Black women's fight is not over. It is not over for us, because now our families will be affected by not having abortion access.”

Local activist Olinka Green gave a speech discussing the long history of the white supremacist U.S. government taking away Black women's reproductive autonomy including human experimentation upon enslaved Black women by J. Marion Sims, known as the father of gynecology in the United States. “For 500 years they've had their hands in our vaginas, and in 2022 they want to do it again. We must understand, we've never owned our own bodies, so today we say my body, my choice,” stated Green.

After the speeches, the protesters marched around downtown Dallas demanding for abortion and reproductive healthcare to remain legal as well as be affordable.

The march was organized by the Freedom Road Socialist Organization Dallas, The Afiya Center, Texas Equal Access Fund – TEA Fund, Dallas Alliance Against Racism and Political Repression, and Communist Party USA.

#DallasTX #LGBTQ #PeoplesStruggles #SupremeCourt #abortion #RoeVWade

Tampa, FL – On October 7 and 8, Tampa Bay Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) rallied against the lack of federal job protections for LGBT workers. On October 8, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) began discussions on three cases that relate to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, which protects against job discrimination on the basis of “race, color, religion, sex, or national origin,” in order to decide whether sexual orientation and gender identity are also protected under Title VII. Tampa Bay SDS held two rallies in response to this, as a part of a National SDS call to action. SDS demanded that the Supreme Court rule in favor of federal job protections for LGBT workers.

The first event was held in front of the Sam M. Gibbons Federal Courthouse where, just days earlier, a city-wide ban on conversion therapy was lifted. Conversion therapy is a pseudoscientific practice that purports to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity. But it is a torturous practice that mainly targets LGBTQ youth and increases the chance of suicide for those who endure it. Several members of Tampa Bay’s police department tried to quiet the pro-LGBTQ chants. This is the same police department that has ignored attacks on Tampa’s LGBT community and even misgendered murder victim India Clarke in 2015.

The second event was held at the University of South Florida campus, which discriminated against LGBTQ workers and students during the Lavender Scare and the tenure of the Florida Legislative Investigation Committee, also known as the “John’s Committee.” There is even a building on campus named after notorious homophobe C. W. Bill Young, who worked on the John’s Committee to target and persecute LGBTQ teachers and students – causing numerous people to be ostracized, fired and one to attempt suicide. The administration at the university has ignored students’ calls to change the name of the building since 2015.

These rallies revealed that the fight for LGBTQ rights is not over. The mayor of the city of Tampa is a member of the LGBT community and on campus at the University of South Florida there are many references to diversity and inclusion. Yet, despite these superficialities, the LGBTQ community on campus, in the city, and across the country continues to be attacked. Tampa Bay SDS galvanized members of the community and students to take to the streets to defend the LGBTQ community from these attacks.

“It’s not identities or morality that make progressive political change, it’s the power of the people fighting back, in unity, for better conditions. And it is only through continuous struggle that we can maintain what we win,” said Tampa Bay SDS member, Elizabeth Kramer.

#TampaFL #PeoplesStruggles #LGBTQRights #SupremeCourt

The DAPA and expanded DACA programs were a result of DREAMers and immigrant rights activists hitting the streets demanding a halt to deportations. President Obama, who earlier had said that he did not have the power to more widely defer deportations, gave ground in 2014 to the protests, given the continued stonewalling by the Republican controlled House and Senate to block any legalization bills. Republican Texas Governor Greg Abbott and 25 other Republican state governments immediately filed suit in federal court to block the programs, and were able to persuade the lower court to do so.

The DAPA program would have expanded the DACA program to the undocumented parents of U.S.-born citizen children, granting them temporary relief from deportation and the legal right to work. DAPA, along with the expansion of the DACA, would have covered about 5 million people, or less than half the more than 10 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S.

The vast majority of the undocumented population is Mexican and Central American. Fleeing gang violence and government repression in their home countries, they enter the U.S. only to be met with further violence, government repression, exploitation and racist discrimination. Minutemen (a paramilitary group) and right-wingers like Donald Trump fuel the anti-immigrant fire, and call for increased attacks against the undocumented – including building another wall at the U.S./Mexico border.

“This decision confirms the need for the mass movements to unite with the demand for legalization for all 11 million undocumented people. The courts, the right wing which is the political voice of the corporations that exploit the undocumented, and an unwilling President Obama all fail to deliver. This government is in the hands of the ruling class and that means denials, delays, deaths and deportations for the undocumented workers and their families,” says Santiago Molina who is an activist in Tucson, Arizona.

The Legalization for All Network (L4A) supports protests of the Supreme Court ruling that continues to block DAPA. L4A is a network comprised of individuals and organizations around the country who support legalization for all; a stop to all deportations; no Bracero programs (Blue Visas); and a stop to border militarization. Encouraging all to rise up in a time of bad news, L4A condemns the ruling and will continue to fight back against deportations and for legalization!

#WashingtonDC #SupremeCourt #DACA #DAPA

The court will determine whether public sector unions can continue to collect ‘fair share’ or ‘agency fees’ from non-members who benefit from the collective bargaining agreement negotiated by unions, and could overturn the landmark case Abood v. Detroit Board of Education.

Cherrene Horazuk, president of AFSCME 3800 – the clerical workers union at the University of Minnesota, said, “The laws and courts cannot be counted on to defend the rights of working people and our unions. The right to unionize and the right to act together in our collective interest is a fundamental human right. Nobody can take that away.”

Horazuk continued, “Public sector unions throughout the U.S. gained legal recognition by organizing, going on strike and by breaking unjust laws. Working people want organizations that will fight for them. We must remember our history and once again build a labor movement that is willing to stand up and fight back against the bosses.”

#MinneapolisMN #SupremeCourt #PublicSectorUnions #FriedrichsVCalifornia

Yorek continued, “The upsurge of struggle that began with the Stonewall Rebellion has begun to bear fruit. This Pride weekend we should celebrate with all our hearts. On Monday we need to get back to work to defeat discrimination of all kinds, including employment discrimination, and redouble our efforts for transgender equality.”

#SanJoseCA #GayMarriage #PeoplesStruggles #LGBTQRights #SupremeCourt

The case was petitioned to the Supreme Court by the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation (NRTW), a right-wing anti-union group.  Harris v. Quinn narrowly looks at whether or not home care workers in the state of Illinois are public employees with the right to unionize. Illinois law allows home care workers to unionize, though in the case in question, the workers actually voted against having any union representation. Despite that, the NRTW appealed the case to the Supreme Court, seizing an opportunity to push the highest court to issue a sweeping ruling that would ensure no future unionization opportunities.

The NRTW is not content to have the court rule only on home care representation. They argued that it is unconstitutional for public sector unions to have exclusive representation rights and the ability to collect fair share fees for any public workers, even when the dues are used only for collective bargaining purposes. In essence, they want to turn every state into a ‘right to work’ state for public employees.

The questions posed by the most right-wing members of the Supreme Court made clear that they are salivating at the opportunity to strip the right to unionize from all public workers. A number of commentators have speculated that conservative Justice Antonin Scalia may end up the voice of ‘reason’ on this case. Though Scalia can in no way be considered a friend of labor, many speculate that he is less likely than the other conservatives on the court to reject 40 years of legal precedent recognizing the rights of public workers to unionize. Justice Scalia is also unlikely to want to restrict states’ rights to set their own laws. Union officials are counting on Justice Scalia to be the swing vote ruling in their favor on this case. A decision is expected later this year.

Harris v. Quinn is just the most recent in a series of court cases aimed at breaking unions. It is part of a concerted effort carried out in the courts, state legislatures and federal government to attack workers and defund unions (both public and private sector) by taking away a union’s ability to collect dues. These anti-union efforts have succeeded in Wisconsin, where public sector unions have lost at least 40% of their dues-paying membership since Governor Scott Walker succeeded in destroying collective bargaining for public employees. In Michigan, home of important sit-down strikes, ‘right to work’ is now the law.

Working people and the unions who represent us cannot rely on ‘moderate’ conservatives and narrow legal arguments to protect us. In fact, the law has been established to limit the effectiveness of union organizing and the Supreme Court has ruled time and again to strip us of our rights.

The more effective a strategy is, the more likely it is to be deemed illegal. Sit-down strike, where strikers occupy their worksite, thus preventing the company from bringing in scabs (‘replacement workers’) or finding other means to continue production, are a good example. This tactic was ruled illegal by the National Labor Relations Board after waves of sit-down strikes in the late 1930s led to significant gains for workers. The legality of the sit-down strike made it to the Supreme Court, which they ruled on Feb. 27, 1939, in the case of NLRB v. Fansteel Metallurgical Corporation, that sit-down-strikes were essentially illegal. The court ruled that workers who violated the law, regardless of whether that violation was provoked by a violation of the company, did not have to be reinstated. In other words, any worker who broke the law during a strike could be fired, no matter what.

As Joe Burns, labor lawyer and author of the book Reviving the Strike, states, “We cannot understand or overcome the weakness of the modern labor movement without addressing the role of the judiciary in suppressing labor rights. A century ago the labor movement had a crystal clear understanding of the role of the United States Supreme Court. From the early 1900s into the 1930s, labor activists railed against not just unfavorable labor law decisions but against the very idea that judges should be allowed to intervene in labor matters. From conservative AFL officials to radical unionists, labor activists understood that courts were engaged in judge-made labor law.”

As case after case is pushed to the Supreme Court by groups like the National Right to Work Foundation, labor activists must once again challenge the idea that judges can be trusted to determine labor policy. We must also challenge people to understand that if the laws are put in place to weaken our movement, those laws need to be broken.

The greatest upsurges in labor – the private sector in the 1930s and the public sector in the 1960s – were the result of hundreds of thousands of working people rising up and defying labor laws that were created to prevent us from winning. If we are to rebuild a strong movement of working people, we need to reclaim the tools of our historic successes, and not count on the courts to grant us the permission to use them.

Cherrene Horazuk is President of AFSCME 3800 which represents clerical workers at the University of Minnesota.

#MinneapolisMN #unionBusting #SupremeCourt #rightToWork #PublicSectorUnions #HarrisVQuinn

We strongly condemn the June 25 decision by the Supreme Court of the U.S. to gut the heart of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. On a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court struck down the requirement that seven southern and southwestern states have to get federal government approval for changes in their election practices. Such approval was to make sure that the changes do not prevent African American and Chicano voters from full participation in elections.

The Voting Rights Act was first passed in August of 1965, after a long struggle in the South led by the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) to allow African Americans to vote. SNCC was born out of the Feb. 1, 1960 sit-in by four Black college students at the Woolworth’s lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina. As waves of sit-ins at diners, buses and bus stations, and other segregated facilities exploded across the South, SNCC began to do voter registration among African Americans.

This effort peaked with the 1964 Mississippi Summer Project, which brought thousands of college students from across the country to Mississippi to register voters and open freedom schools deep in the heart of the Black Belt South. On June 21, 1964, three young organizers, James Chaney, aged 18, Michael Schwerner, aged 25, and Andrew Goodman, 20, were arrested by the local police in Neshoba County, Mississippi, brutally beaten and then murdered. But this violence did not stop the Mississippi Summer Project or the mass civil rights movement of African Americans.

50 years later, there has been progress for African Americans in electoral politics. There are now thousands of Black elected officials, including the President of the U.S. But at the same time the words of Martin Luther King, Jr., “Of the good things in life, the Negro has approximately one half those of whites. Of the bad things of life, he has twice those of whites,” continue to ring true: The unemployment rate for African Americans is twice that of whites, while African Americans are more than four times as likely to end up in jail. African Americans are half as likely to be college graduates as whites and African American wealth is just 1/20th that of whites.

What progress that has been made by African Americans in elections is under renewed attack by the Republican right. Many Republicans have adopted a strategy of ‘voter suppression’ against African Americans and other oppressed nationalities by making it more difficult to register and to vote. Many local elections have ‘at-large’ elections that can lead to all-white government bodies even where the population is a minority white. The U.S. Supreme Court decision opens the door to even more of these attacks on the political rights of African Americans and other oppressed nationalities. These attacks by the right must be met with even more struggle by the masses.

#UnitedStates #Editorials #Racism #SupremeCourt #VotingRightsAct #1964MississippiSummerProject

On June 28 the U.S. Supreme Court upheld most of the 2010 Affordable Care Act or ACA. In particular, the Court upheld the “individual mandate” that requires people with incomes above the poverty line to buy private health insurance. While the Court did not accept the government's argument that the mandate itself was constitutional, a slim majority (5-4) said that the fine for not buying insurance was like a tax and therefore was constitutional.

This ruling upholds the status quo in U.S. health care – a system based on private, for-profit health insurance, hospitals and drug companies. While rejecting the right-wing and Republican arguments against government health care, it upholds the Obama administration’s and the Democrats’ strategy of using government powers to aid big business, from Wall Street to health care corporations. This strategy will not provide universal coverage, nor will it bring down the cost of health care.

The Supreme Court struck down the part of the law that forces state governments to expand the Medicaid programs (health care for low income individuals) with federal help. If this ruling ends up blocking the expansion of Medicaid, some two-thirds of the uninsured, or more than 30 million people, will end up without any health insurance even after this ‘health care reform’ takes place.

Even if the Medicaid expansion were to come about, Medicaid is a second-rate government insurance. Because it pays as little as half what Medicare (government health care for the elderly and disabled) pays, many doctors don’t accept Medicaid patients and some hospitals even have separate clinics for Medicaid patients. People with Medicaid often have to rely on county hospitals and wait months or even more than a year for tests and treatment.

The Affordable Care Act also doesn’t bring down the cost of health care. Even though the U.S. spends the most on health care of any country, and 50% to 100% more than other capitalist countries like Britain, Canada, Germany, or Japan, our outcomes in terms of how long we live and how healthy our babies are worse than these countries. The main reason is that the U.S. is the only capitalist country with for-profit, private health insurance, which can skim off 25% or more of the health care dollar for profits and huge executive salaries and which only wants to cover those who can pay and aren’t sick, leaving millions without any health insurance.

Only a single-payer, government health insurance can eliminate the waste of private, for-profit insurance. The United States already has a form of this, which is Medicare. Medicare’s administrative costs take less than 2% of their premiums while 98% goes to pay for medical care. Medicare already covers the most expensive patients – the elderly and disabled – and it would be relatively simple to expand Medicare to cover the entire population, which would save up to $400 billion a year in health care costs. In Canada, which has single-payer government health insurance, medical drugs can cost as little as half of what they cost here in the U.S., because the Canadian government bargains with the drug companies for lower prices (something that drug companies blocked here in the United States).

The problem with single-payer government health insurance is not practicality, it is politics. The for-profit health insurance companies are part of Wall Street, and for-profit hospitals and drug companies are big business. With Wall Street and big business in control of both the Democratic and Republican parties at the national level, the best way forward at this time may be to fight for single-payer health care at a state level. Fight Back! encourages all of its readers to support efforts to win single-payer health care health insurance in their state.

#UnitedStates #Healthcare #Capitalism #SupremeCourt #singlePayer #healthCareReform

On April 2, 2012 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously in Rehberg v. Paulk that police investigators are immune from civil damage suits for giving false testimony to a grand jury. Grand juries are secret courts, run solely by prosecutors, with no judge, and those being investigated have no right to a lawyer or to having evidence favorable to them being presented. Now the Supreme Court rules that law enforcement agents who lie in these official proceedings cannot be held accountable in civil court for lying.

The Committee to Stop FBI Repression denounces this ruling and notes the official corruption it unleashes. Law enforcement should not be given a free pass to distort, lie, or obfuscate. The Supreme Court ruling sends the wrong message to the FBI and law enforcement, allowing them to frame people with impunity.

Justice Alito said that if witnesses could be sued over their grand jury testimony they “might be reluctant to come forward to testify.” The justices claim that witnesses who lie can be prosecuted for perjury and that that threat is significant enough. In reality, prosecutors are rarely willing to bring perjury charges against their own police investigators.

This is significant because there are ridiculously long sentences on the books designed to force people into plea agreements. 94% of federal cases end in plea agreements. Indictments based on fabrications can turn into prison time for innocent people. Encouraging lies in the American justice system does not promote justice. Impunity for the FBI and law enforcement erodes civil liberties and corrupts justice.

This is one of many rulings, including Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project, from the Roberts Court against the interests of justice, free speech, and democracy. It is important to remember that we need to continue to build a movement for social justice in the U.S. Instead more steps are being taken so the courts only promote the interests of the wealthy one percent. We need to continue to work for peace with justice both in the U.S. and around the globe.

#UnitedStates #InJusticeSystem #FBI #SupremeCourt #CommitteeToStopFBIRepression

The tens of thousands who filled the streets Jan. 20 to challenge Bush, his administration, and the system that he stands at the head of are a sign of things to come. That Bush felt the need to attack the right to protest, while surrounding himself with an army of cops that day, speaks volumes.

The wealthy elite that runs this country put Bush in office. They swarmed the capital for his inauguration. The rich and arrogant filled every D.C. hotel, with their furs, chauffeurs, and three-piece suits, clinking their champagne glasses to country western music. They had something to celebrate – another of their own moving in the White House, a drunken frat boy makes good. They had taken a man whose name is synonymous with ignorance, whose claim to fame is 135 executions in Texas, whose sole qualification for office was a deep and abiding interest in serving corporate America and made him President.

For the next four years, Bush will march along the path of Clinton and Gore, but with fewer attempts to hide his agenda. Bush is a yes-man for big banks, big oil and big money – a small-minded person whose idea of a joke is to mock a religious woman on death row in Texas, “Pleasssse don't kill me,” said Bush to his pals.

Bush is proposing gigantic tax cuts for the rich, even though more taxes are imposed on working people.

Bush will try to privatize what the Democrats could not. Expect more sky-high electricity and gas bills for your homes. The Federal Government will be busy spending your tax dollars on what the Military-Industrial Complex wants-a first strike nuclear attack system. The so-called “Missile Defense Shield”, aimed mainly at China, will spark a new arms race. Bush's war spending is sure to be above the $305 billion that Clinton and Gore raised it to last year.

Bush will talk about “compassionate conservatism” while the poor and the elderly, especially oppressed nationalities and immigrants fall through the holes cut in the social safety net. Those holes were cut by Clinton and Gore. As the economy goes sour, more families, especially women and children, will find themselves homeless. Members of Bush's cabinet want to fund religious groups who will “help” the homeless. Many of these groups are poverty pimps and will impose their will on poor people and keep people poor so they can stay in business. Bush will also try to privatize the Social Security system, making retirement uncertain for some and impossible for others.

The Bush presidency will shore up North American Free Trade Agreement and try to consolidate a Latin American economic bloc, making workers everywhere poorer, lowering health standards, and destroying more of the environment. At the same time, Bush will try extend the U.S. domination and control over Asia, Africa, the former USSR, and the Middle East.

Bush's father, the former President, was the “Butcher of Baghdad” – he rained down death and destruction on the people of Iraq. Clinton managed to kill more than Bush Sr. with the sanctions and his air war. We can expect more of the same from the new administration.

At home, workers and oppressed nationalities can expect attacks on their jobs and unions, on welfare rights, and on affirmative action. We can expect more executions and higher imprisonment rates because of the phony “War On Drugs.” The police will continue to target Black, Chicano/Latino, Asian and Native communities. Bush will try to roll back the gains made by women – he will do everything in his power to attack reproductive rights.

All the attacks under Clinton will continue to under Bush. One way of looking at is this: Clinton and Gore were enemies of the American people. Bush is Clinton-plus.

So, what is the battle plan? We must take to the streets like the protesters at the Bush inauguration! We must encourage workers to support union organizing and picket lines, do our part in getting working people together in our communities to stop racist police brutality, especially against Blacks and Latinos; protest until Congress stops funding U.S. War in Colombia; and rally to stop the execution of Mumia Abu Jamal! We must do the hard work of building movements for basic social change.

Bush is in the White House, we are in the streets!

#UnitedStates #Editorial #Editorials #PeoplesStruggles #electionFraud #electoralCollege #SupremeCourt