Anger

I haven’t reacted to the latest big news, in Norway and the world, because my parents have been visiting from France and it took all my energy to translate, organize and guide. All I can really say is that I’m angry, like this kind of deep dark anger that shakes and petrify you at the same time.

The first thing is the US Supreme Court’s decision to reverse Roe vs Wade amendment, a decision taken in 1973 that guaranteed « generally » the protection of the liberty to choose an abortion by the Constitution. Now, it means that any State can decide it will make it illegal to get an abortion, and all that is fine according to the Constitution. Of course, many conservative States jumped on the wagon and are voting new laws, some more restrictive than others, in regards for example for abortion after an incest, a rape, or in case of health and mental health dangers for the mother.

The United States have definitely proven that Western countries are not « better » in any kind of way on the question of women’s rights. It also opens an open road for countries considered as modern and « advanced » to review those laws everywhere, without shame. Simone Veil had said it a while ago, that we must keep an eye on those rights because they can always be taken away.

So this happened on Friday the 24th of June. On Saturday the 25th, I woke up to more local news, and horrific as well. A man opened fire at a gay bar in Oslo that same night, killing two and injuring others. It was the night before the official international pride day, which was also scheduled to happen in Oslo. It’s clearly a hate crime and has been treated as such by the police, who could arrest the culprit very fast.

More than the terrifying attack on the queer community in Norway, that up until now felt quite safe, what angered me is the decision of the authorities to cancel Pride, while stating it quite safe to keep a music festival and a major football game going the same day. That was honestly quite a blow in the face, especially that Pride is about being seen and facing the threats head high and colors on.

Thankfully, the community is hard to bring down and the protestors decided to make it happen anyway, gathering in different areas before joining for a Pride full of emotion and unity. I do understand that keeping streets safe for a large crowd is harder than a definite space with a set amount of people, but come on! What kind of signal are you sending here? It’s good we can always rely on our own to bring colors back to a grim grim world.