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 si