YOUR BODY YOUR CHOICE! REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS ARE QUEER RIGHTS!

Official Statement of the Borderland Rainbow Center

Written by Ashley Heidebrecht, LMSW, DRIEP Director

Synthesized from Borderland Rainbow Center/DRIEP staff comments.

As an organization, the Borderland Rainbow Center stands firmly against the U.S. Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe vs. Wade. Since our founding as an organization in 2016, we have fought for autonomy and LGBTQ+ equity, and many of our staff and volunteers have been advocating for racial equity, LGBTQ+ equity, reproductive rights, and more, for decades. We know that overturning Roe V. Wade is about so much more than abortion. It is about control, and is part of a larger agenda to uphold white supremacy, patriarchal oppression, and classism.

Overturning Roe v. Wade has been a process, an erosion, sometimes slow and covert, and sometimes abrupt and violent. Overturning Roe v. Wade is violence. The constant legislative attacks against women's autonomy, LGBTQ+ equity and autonomy, is violence. We implore you to stand with us against this violence. Stand with us, because we stand with you.

We call on all corporations, all businesses big and small, every single one of you who uses the Pride filter for this month and puts it back in the drawer come July. Every single one of you, put your action and your money where your June rainbow is. Stand with us and with those whose health, and lives, are in jeopardy.

We will continue to speak out, to fight for, to support, and to stand with our community. Stand with us to educate, advocate, and mobilize.

This blog post can also be read via the Diversity and Resiliency Institute of El Paso.