Once Again, My Timing is Terrible

So, last week I posted about Pride-Friendly Fiction, and then on Friday the US Supreme Court rolled back LGBTQ+ protections in Creative vs. Elenis, which ruled that a person can deny services that can be interpreted as “speech” (loosely) that go against their beliefs.

I’m sure NO ONE will attempt to abuse that decision to excuse horrible behavior toward minority groups. No one. At all. Ever.

Despite my calendars repeatedly telling me it’s 2023, there are no federal laws protecting against LGBTQ+ discrimination, and this case chips away at state-by-state attempts to do so.

When I was in school, I remember learning landmark Supreme Court decisions on a continuum flowing one way: Plessy vs. Ferguson to Brown vs. The Board of Education, Korematsu vs. the United States and the “Admission of Error” in 2011. We simplify history in schools, but the trajectory was there. Now tests are going to get a lot harder as we need to start memorizing the unjust decisions, the ones that established key rights, and the ones that chipped away at those rights because a third of a court was appointed by a president who didn’t even win the popular vote. At least, the tests will get harder in states that are allowed to teach history. Florida should still be fine.

Whoo. I’m feeling spicy today.

Yep, feels like my timing was awful, though perhaps not as awful as a SCOTUS waiting until the last day of PRIDE month to OK discrimination while one justice claimed, “Our decision today does not concern – much less endorse – anything like the ‘straight couples only’ notices the dissent conjures out of thin air.” That from the guy who just decreed laws against providing services only to straight couples unconstitutional. It was also the same day he decided that it’s fine to forgive poorly regulated PPP loans but not crushing student debt. Not my favorite guy at the moment.

So, I will refrain from wishing anyone a happy 4th of July today, but not because I think America is completely terrible and beyond saving. There are lots of groups pushing to make our country a more equitable, more welcoming, and more supportive to all its citizens. In a lot of cases, the majority of Americans are already on the same page, despite groups trying to game the system and drag it all backwards. No, I’m just going to hold off celebrating America for fear of jinxing some other political calamity into existence next week.

Fingers crossed, everybody.