June 26 was the tenth anniversary of the Supreme Court of the United States decision legalizing marriage between people of the same gender. It occurs as Pride month is coming to a close and just two days before the 56th anniversary of the start of the Stonewall Uprising in New York City.

The 2015 decision was an enormous victory for the LGBTQIA2S+ movement. It gave same-sex couples the same marital rights as heterosexual couples. 

This is not just a matter of challenging stigmas and stereotypes. There are thousands of concrete material benefits that come with marriage, from collecting Social Security or veterans benefits as a surviving spouse to being able to jointly adopt children to hospital visitation rights — and much more. 

The SCOTUS ruling also meant that transgender, gender non-conforming and non-binary people could marry their partners, regardless of their sexuality and whether or not the state they lived in recognized their gender identity.

Now that victory is under attack! As lead plaintiff Jim Obergefell stated in an email from the civil rights organization Equality Ohio: “Ten years later, anti-equality forces are attacking our rights like never before. In fact, they’re passing state laws and resolutions, trying to get the Supreme Court to overturn marriage equality.” 

Idaho and North Dakota legislatures have passed bills calling on SCOTUS to reconsider the Obergefell decision.

Obergefell adds: “Even worse are the attacks on the transgender community, including in my home of Ohio, where transgender youth are subject to laws that have torn their healthcare away, removed their right to play sports or use the correct restroom at school and subjected them to a forced outing law, even when doing so puts them at risk of abuse at home.”

The hard-fought gains of the queer movement are under attack at the federal, state and local levels. But the community is fighting back!

Now is no time for retreat. Every class-conscious worker must build solidarity with the LGBTQIA2S+ communities and help resist the right-wing attacks on trans rights, marriage rights and everything they have won through decades of struggle. This must be tied in with all of the battles confronting the multinational, multigendered working class — fighting white supremacy, defending migrants, joining the struggle against all forms of patriarchal oppression, supporting people with disabilities, stopping union busting and more.

Defend marriage equality! No going back!