The Supreme Court has sided with a Christian fascist businessman in Colorado who refused services to a gay couple, effectively enshrining discrimination against LGBT people. In the 7-2 decision, two liberal justices, while voicing disagreements, ultimately sided in favor of the supposedly “unfairly treated” bigot and delivered a result that utterly delighted Christian fascists – particularly the rabidly anti-LGBT Family Research Council.¹ Would you accept a business’ “right” to hang “whites only” or “Christians only” signs in their shops, as protected “freedom of religion” or expression of “philosophical objection”? Does this not pave the way for something like an expanded system of segregation, against anyone who is not white or Christian? This is an illegitimate ruling, and we do not and should not have to accept this.
These latest attacks are another flagrant exposure of the logic and operation of this regime’s fascist agenda, from openly characterizing transgender people as a “burden”² to setting up Christian fascist headquarters in the Office for Civil Rights within the Department of Health & Human Services to protect healthcare practitioners who deny services to LGBT people & others on the basis of “religious freedom”³, and so much more.⁴
The normal political channels have shown they CANNOT and WILL NOT resolve this urgent crisis. We are seeing right now how fascism, here particularly through packing the courts with Christian fundamentalist ghouls like Neil Gorsuch, destroys the normal political channels, along with all other obstacles, to implementing its program.⁵ We see Trump’s brazen insistence that he is above the law and has the “absolute right to pardon himself,” to hell with any investigation!⁶
Now more than ever we must act using the most important power we have – preparing urgently now to bring forward millions to take to the streets together in mass, nonviolent protest to drive out this whole illegitimate regime and not stopping until that demand is met. All our efforts must be directed towards getting organized and prepared to launch a new kind of protests all over the country that do not stop until the regime is removed.
As Pride parades and gatherings begin, everyone who refuses to accept a fascist America must be in the mix acting in full force. Wielding the RefuseFascism.org Call to Action, letting people know that there is only one way out of this and we have a the plan to make that happen; introducing them to the film of a talk by Bob Avakian “THE TRUMP/PENCE REGIME MUST GO! In The Name of Humanity, We REFUSE To Accept a Fascist America: A Better World IS Possible;” helping people overcome obstacles in their thinking that are holding them back; enlisting folks on the spot to distribute materials, stickers, gather sign-ups, and other creative ways to get involved right away; and incorporating fundraising all throughout this to seal people’s commitment and ensure this mission has the resources to be sustained and spread throughout society.
The Trump/Pence Regime wants us degraded and vilified, they want to strip away recently-won civil rights and liberties, and ram LGBTQ people back into the closet… all while they demonize Muslims, round up and terrorize immigrants, deny women’s reproductive freedom, and threaten the world with nuclear annihilation and environmental catastrophe. We must instead courageously stand up in defiance of all this! Not just for ourselves and our communities, but for all of humanity and the planet itself. Boldly declaring in both word and deed – NO! In the Name of Humanity, We REFUSE to Accept a Fascist America!
¹ “This is a big win for the First Amendment and religious freedom, and a brutal defeat for government activists who are hostile to people of faith,” said the Family Research Council’s Ken Blackwell. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/06/04/supreme-court-gets-religion-but-gay-rights-live/669520002/
² https://finance.yahoo.com/news/trump-says-transgender-people-apos-162044373.html and https://refusefascism.org/2017/07/26/trumps-transgender-ban-must-be-fought/
³ https://tonic.vice.com/en_us/article/8xdjnp/trump-office-of-civil-rights-doctors-denying-care
⁴ https://refusefascism.org/what-the-trumppence-regime-has-done-and-says-they-will-do/#women
⁵ https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/26/us/politics/trump-judges-courts-administrative-state.html