This Pride weekend started with heartbreak and despair, disbelief, anger, fear for the future, you name it. SCOTUS overturning Roe v. Wade, taking away rights we consider fundamental, attacking the right to privacy, feels surreal and beyond warped. Undoing 50 years of progress is absurd and enraging, a waste of the activism, time, and sacrifice that has gone into cementing the freedoms we had gained. Except the 50 years of progress cannot truly be undone. For here we stand knowing all that we have learned during this time, generations of people committed to freedom, to a more open, inclusive society, to opportunities for all. Six justices with antiquated notions can change the way they interpret the Constitution. They cannot change how we, the people of today and of tomorrow, think of freedom, equality, and social justice. And so, once the shock of it all wears off, we will continue the irreversible march of progress. We will find ways to surmount the current obstacles and we will keep doing good work.
There are things I draw strength from: art, music, books, my wonderful friends going out and celebrating Pride despite it all. Also, the ACLU. I love the ACLU and wish I could donate to them in a big way. In fact, whenever someone buys my 36×48 inch Pride painting, I will donate 25%.
For today my act of support for anyone who loves the Right to Privacy and abhors seeing it under attack, was bringing the painting to the closing reception of Places in Between. It hasn’t yet found its owner/ACLU donor, but I know it will, and for tonight, just it being in the room with us was fortifying.
