While we have listed upcoming Pride activities this weekend in SF at the end of this post, recent Supreme Court decisions demand our awareness that the arc of history doesn’t always bend to greater choice, freedom, and justice especially in the short term. The monumental decisions by the Supreme Court will have a profound impact on the work that we do and the people who we serve, and it’s crystal clear that the Supermajority of the Supreme Court is just at the beginning in their efforts to dismantle a vast range of civil rights that we hold dear.
Thursday’s decision: Gun violence and safety is a significant issue for our residents, The decision by the Supreme Court making it possible for anyone to carry a concealed weapon is a direct threat to safety and health of our 2,000 residents and 300 staff. It will make our ability to enhance our violence prevention strategy even more challenging.
Friday’s decision: By overturning Roe v. Wade, women’s rights are now severely impacted and there will be both a monumental health care impact and a profound economic impact on the well-being of women and their children most acutely effecting low income woman and people of color. At HomeRise, we help the 2,000 people we serve secure healthcare services through permanent supportive housing, including 159 children and over 200 parents. Many more women in the U.S. will be forced to carry often unwanted pregnancies to term now, thrusting many of them into (or deeper into) poverty. The result will be an increase in homelessness on a system already struggling to manage the existing unhoused population in SF and beyond.
Future Erosion of Civil Rights:
Besides the freedom of medical choice, we know from Justice Clarence Thomas’s comments after yesterday’s decision, that life choice and the same undergirding principles which allow for LGBTQ marriage are next on the agenda of the Supermajority of the Supreme Court. So, the overturning of Roe should be both a wake up and a unifying call for every person regarding our right to privacy and broader civil rights. In the majority opinion overturning Roe, Thomas wrote:
“In future cases, we should reconsider all of this Court’s substantive due process precedents, including Griswold, Lawrence, and Obergefell,” Thomas wrote, referring to decisions on contraception, sodomy, and same-sex marriage.
Overturning these three other precedents would severely impact the LGBTQ community which make up a disproportionate percentage of people experiencing homelessness in San Francisco—see data below.
Please read on and help spread awareness for some of the community Pride gatherings this weekend.
While the Pride festivities we know today might normally appear like a city-wide party, it’s especially important to remember that the origins of Pride are rooted as much in liberation and struggle as in celebration – a struggle that remains relevant to today as we see the LGBTQ community come under attack by possible decisions of the court to erode hard won protections.
As important as the dates on your calendar are the very real facts and figures that affect the lives of the LGBTQ community well beyond Pride Month:
- 2 times: Sexual Minority groups are twice as likely as the general population to experience homelessness
- 20 percent of Black transgender people are unemployed and 38 percent in poverty, more than 2 times the average rate of non-transgender black people
- 28 percent of LGBTQ youth reported experiencing homelessness or housing instability at some point in their lives — and those who did had 3.5 times the rate of attempting suicide
- 40 percent of 4.2 Million youth experiencing homelessness identify as LGTBQ despite representing just 9.5 percent of the general population
- 50 Transgender people murdered in 2021
- 120 percent higher risk of homelessness for LGBTQ than the general population
For more information on the events this weekend, please visit:
- Pride Parade: https://sfpride.org/
- Trans March: https://www.transmarch.org/trans-march-2022/
- Dyke March: https://www.thedykemarch.org/
In the coming days and weeks there will certainly be a slew of more marches and demonstrations in SF and throughout the Bay Area. HomeRise stands in solidarity with all those who stand for the pursuit of justice, rights, choice, and freedom and will continue to post activities for people to make their voices heard.
For more information on the facts and figures listed in this post, please visit: