Hi John,

I usually knock out this newsletter in one draft.

This month, it took four.

Staring down at my crumb-encrusted keyboard, I knew I was supposed to come up with something inspiring to say about June 24:

The day that the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year.

But when I think about the devastation that has swept our country since—the thousands who have been forced to carry pregnancies against their will—I am pissed off. And scared. And honestly, some days, on the brink of hopelessness.

So, I guess what I’m saying is that I need your help with this one; that maybe together, we can figure out how to keep going. Because we can’t afford to give up this fight, no matter how tempting or human that may be.

An insufficient thank you

A $100,000 fine.

Revocation of their medical license.

Years in prison.  

These are just a few of the legal consequences facing abortion providers in states where abortion is now banned. And yet, providers are still moving mountains to get people abortion care—not despite fear, but alongside it.

The same goes for friends, family, and supporters who also act despite threats from anti-abortion extremists to throw them in jail or harass them with lawsuits for their acts of community love.

I am so proud to announce that, on June 22, 2023, NWLC launched our groundbreaking Abortion Access Legal Defense Fund to help support those brave, selfless individuals.

This fund is designed to cover some of the legal expenses incurred by individuals and entities facing legal consequences because they sought abortion or helped someone obtain an abortion or information about abortion care and who face substantial financial hardship.

Learn more here.

Must-Do's:

• Donate to our Abortion Access Legal Defense Fund.
• Donate to your local abortion fund, a critical lifeline for people seeking abortion care.
• Donate to The Okra Project, a mutual aid collective “focused on supporting Black Trans people and alleviating the barriers that our community faces.”

Must-Reads:

This Pride Month, I’m reviving my colleague Hallie’s Banned Book Club!

So, get out that contraband reading light and open up the number one banned book in our country: Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe, a graphic memoir that documents the author’s exploration of their own gender and queer identity.

Check out more banned---and amazing—queer books here!

"What’s wrong with y’all?”

This past Sunday—while eating Shake Shack soft-serve for breakfast—I watched The Stroll: an incredible documentary created by two trans filmmakers to “highlight and foreground the stories of trans sex workers,” which for far too long have gone untold.

Dripping tears, sweat, and mediocre ice cream, I cried through a speech that Stonewall-veteran Sylvia Rivera gave at the 1973 Gay Pride Rally in New York City—during which she begs for the gay movement to finally include and protect trans people like her:

“I will no longer put up with this shit. I have been beaten; I have had my nose broken; I have been thrown in jail; I have lost my job; I have lost my apartment for gay liberation, and you all treat me this way? What’s wrong with y’all?”

The response from the crowd? Booing, and screaming at Rivera to “shut up.”

Now, I bring up this story during Pride Month not to diminish the progress we’ve made as a movement, or the queer joy that flourishes across our country every day.

But as we confront the recent, traumatic, and terrifying wave of anti-LGBTQI+ hatred—much of which has been aimed at eradicating trans people—we cannot repeat the mistakes of our past.

As we fight for a better future, we must always center those who are closest to the pain of injustice—trans women of color like Sylvia Rivera, whom we should not boo off the stage, but give a standing ovation instead.

Feminist moment of joy (or really, hope)

Okay, I also spent this past weekend watching a movie about Harvey Milk—the first openly gay official elected in California.

(Sometimes, you just need to vegetate your Saturday night away).

During one of Milk’s speeches—about young gay people who were facing a wave of hateful legislation, not unlike today—he proclaims:

“The only thing they have to look forward to is hope. And you have to give them hope. Hope for a better world, hope for a better tomorrow, hope for a better place to come to if the pressures at home are too great. Hope that all will be all right.”

This might sound cheesy, but listening to Milk’s speech, it finally hit me. Why the Law Center—why the gender justice movement as a whole—is so intent on looking at the “positives,” whether that be in the fight for abortion or for LGBTQI+ rights.

It’s quite practical: We are hopeful because we have to be. Because that’s the only way to persist—and ultimately, to win.

So, here’s to hoping,

Gemma Simoes Decarvalho
she/her/hers
Writer and Editor
National Women’s Law Center