On the role of lesbians in the pro-choice movement, FeministLawProf Pamela Bridgewater wrote in “Transforming Silence: The Personal, Political, and Pedagogical Prism of Abortion Narrative:”
[W]hile straight women tend to question the lesbian presence in the reproductive rights movement, I have never heard a woman being escorted into the clinic complain about who is making sure she makes it safely inside….[L]esbians who support and defend reproductive freedom recognize that it is not only women who conceive from having made a conscious decision to engage in reproductive sex who have abortions. Lesbians who engage exclusively in nonreproductive lesbian sex, like all women and girls, are vulnerable to rape, molestation, incest, and other forms of sexual violence that may result in conception. Abortion is a lesbian issue because abortion is a woman issue.
NARAL-NY is embracing the connections between queer issues and reproductive-rights concerns by having information tables at several of the New York-area Pride Parades (the Brooklyn Pride Parade on Saturday, June 9; the Long Island Pride Parade on Sunday, June 10; the Rockland Pride Parade on Sunday, June 10). NARAL’s goal is to spread awareness about New York State’s Reproductive Health and Privacy Act and support pride at the same time. Anyone interested in volunteering can sign up here.
-Bridget Crawford and Amanda Kissel
My understanding of queer rights is the right to control your body…not the state, not your father, sibling, etc. YOU get to control your body and your destiny.
Consequently, reproductive rights are tied to queer rights. If you can’t control what happens to your body, you will have no control over your life.