“Next we go after Obergefell v Hodges and then the rulings banning Christianity from public schools,” white nationalist Vincent James told his followers on Telegram last Tuesday afternoon, less than 24 hours after a draft opinion authored by Justice Samuel Alito indicated that the Supreme Court was poised to overturn Roe v. Wade.
James was among a chorus of far-right and Christian nationalist activists looking forward to using the SCOTUS decision to implement their theocratic agenda. Not satisfied with simply removing the right to abortion protected in Roe, they’re eager to pass a total abortion ban, dismantle the right to same-sex marriage, and institute their ultraconservative version of Christianity on others. They see an ally in the Supreme Court, and there’s reason to believe that they’re right.
Alito’s draft opinion overturning Roe explicitly criticizes both Obergefell v. Hodges, which legalized same-sex marriage, and Lawrence v. Texas, which legalized same-sex relations. “None of these rights has any claim to being deeply rooted in history,” Alito wrote in the draft opinion. While the draft opinion stresses that the decision would only apply to abortion, Alito’s critique creates room for both cases to be attacked as well as a pathway by which they could be overturned.
This wouldn’t be the first time Alito has leveled criticism at Obergefell, either. Clarence Thomas, writing for himself and Alito, blasted the 2015 decision in 2020, declaring, “Obergefell will continue to have ruinous consequences for religious liberty.”
James’ post was followed up with a May 3 livestream titled, “Women Lose, God Wins: Scotus to BAN Abortion, Sodomy, and Gay Marriage,” in which he applauded Alito and Thomas for creating a pathway to take away more rights.
“The Supreme Court has completely banned abortion, or they’re going to move to ban abortion. They’re going to ban sodomy, they’re going to ban gay marriage, they’re going to throw gays off roofs. Women lose, God wins, Christ wins,” James declared. “We shall have our theocracy very soon.”
Radical white nationalist Vincent James celebrates the leaked SCOTUS decision, hoping that it will eventually lead to us seeing Justices Alito and Thomas throwing gay people off of tall buildings: "We shall have our theocracy very soon." pic.twitter.com/uNBy2va1lB
— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) May 4, 2022
“This written opinion implies that Obergefell v. Hodges—the legalization of gay marriage in the country—is next on the chopping block,” he said. “Maybe after that, we can go after sodomy, we can ban sodomy in red states, and maybe after that we can go after the fact that in a 1962 decision, a 1963 Supreme Court decision that banned God from public schools. Maybe we can bring back God to public schools in red states.”
Reading a tweet that likened Alito’s draft opinion to “a stage 5 cancer diagnosis for LGBT rights” during a video published May 4 on Bitchute, James was ecstatic. “Yes, yes, yes, yes! This is awesome.”
He told his viewers that they had to push the Republican Party to do more, and he indicated that their role was to push the Overton window further to the right.
“You can never congratulate them,” he said. “We have to keep pushing. You have to say, ‘Great, that’s awesome, that’s a great win, on to the next thing. It doesn’t go far enough actually.’ This is the sort of mentality you have to have. And maybe, you know, you should just start doing these things to try to trigger a Supreme Court decision, it seems that they’re hungry for one on the gay rights thing, on the gay marriage thing, on the sodomy thing, on the stuff happening in schools. It seems like they’re hungry for one. So why don’t you stand up, stop being a pussy, and deal with the consequences later?”
“How about we just start banning gay marriage? How about we just start banning sodomy in red states?” James said in the May 3 livestream. “Do it, and worry about the consequences later.”
He followed up in a series of Telegram posts in the wee hours May 4. He urged Republicans to use the same strategy from their campaign to overturn Roe and apply it on same-sex marriage, contraceptives, and discussing LGBTQ issues in schools.
James was joined in such calls by white nationalist Nick Fuentes, who took to Telegram May 3 to declare, “We are going to end abortion, gay marriage, and sodomy and there is literally nothing liberals can do about it.” Ever the misogynist, he added, “Hey women we are gonna put y’all back in chains (you can’t murder babies anymore).”
Peter Brimelow, the founder of the white nationalist-promoting VDARE website whom Robert Murdoch once employed to write his memoirs, was looking even further back. Excited by the news, he wrote, “Next stop Brown vs Board!,” signaling his desire to see the landmark case outlawing racial discrimination in public schools overturned.
