“If you fire a man for doing it but can’t fire a woman for doing it, its sex discrimination.” If only the cases before the Supreme Court these days were that simple. But maybe they are. Maybe we are over complicating this with so many hypothetical scenarios it makes even a Supreme Court judge confused.

Maybe it is just as simple as treating every human with the same respect and protections to start with.

Unfortunately, there are people who believe some folks just aren’t worth protecting or who cannot decide for themself. They don’t realize that epic mistake will turn to bite them, too.

But first we have we set aside a basic faith principle: humanity is created with inherent value. To make this twisted system work we have to believe something different; that in the moment of breathe and life someone is instantly less because of who they are. They are perfectly valued until they are born, and in that moment of revelation they are categorized for life, possibly as inherently flawed or insufficient as a human. 

But I just can’t smoke that with the haters. We all lose when we do this. Supreme court judgements are full of potential to help the marginalized or hurt all of us.

These decisions on marriage, abortion, or civil rights appear not to affect me now, But the more I think about it, there is no way it will ever NOT affect me. Because at one time, I was “property,” had no voice, no vote, and no right. Even in court. When those affect any person, they affect all of us.

Most of us cannot imagine a world where a woman can’t own property and isn’t protected from being fired for being a woman. And yet it is still all too recent a development in the bigger timeline. And the number one argument that won that right was that women are intelligent, capable humans worthy of rights. So then how are we even considering returning to a time when women, queer folk, and people of color are NOT also fully sacred human beings who can’t think for themselves and decide their own destiny? They are not any less worthy, capable, or human because we toss them into a category at birth. And the second we argue any are not worthy of protections we begin the process of deleting our own human status.

Are we really ready to go there? Well we already are.