Aníbal Rosario Lebrón (Rutgers Law School; New York University School of Law; University of Puerto Rico) has posted The Comorbidities of SSOGIE Equality: A Crisis Lens to Understanding its Future (Northern Kentucky Law Review | Vol. 52:2 | 2025) on SSRN. Here is the abstract:
This article examines the current legal and political juncture of sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity and expression (SSOGIE) equality in the United States through Antonio Gramsci’s theory of the interregnum. It argues that the ongoing backlash against LGBTQ+ and reproductive rights reflects what Gramsci describes as an organic crisis (one in which the dominant hegemonic order is destabilized, but a new order has yet to emerge). As anticipated under Gramsci’s framework, a myriad of comorbidities or contradictory developments resulting from anti-SSOGIE equality actors reasserting their hegemonic power have materialized in this crisis.
Among these comorbidities, the article examines how such actors have sought greater state independence to regulate private conduct while simultaneously imposing federal standards to restrict civil rights; reappropriated minorities’ litigation strategies and constitutional frameworks; weaponized civil liberties to shield private discrimination; increased criminalization through citizen-led policing; and overtaken the courts by appointing more minorities to the bench while curtailing their rights by judicial fiat. In addition, the article discusses the contradictory developments of the temporary embrace by conservative Justices of favorable outcomes to minorities while progressive Justices accept the conservatives’ new narratives to the detriment of SSOGIE equality; the reappropriation of minorities’ worldviews and language by anti-SSOGIE equality actors while defunding SSOGIE equality initiatives and engaging in LGBTQ+ history erasure; the self-depiction of anti-SSOGIE equality actors as nascent minorities; and the reshaping of their bigotry and misogyny narratives as needed of legal protection. The article also studies the comorbidities of internal fractures within the SSOGIE equality movement and the retreat of pro-SSOGIE equality actors from litigation in the face of aggressive anti-SSOGIE equality mobilization.
By mapping these comorbidities, the article ultimately contends that this interregnum poses both a threat and a critical opportunity. Departing from Gramsci’s organization response to the organic crisis, the article conceives this moment as one to reassess strategies, reimagine frameworks of equality, and mobilize toward a transformative political future. It urges pro-SSOGIE equality actors to seize this juncture not by retreating or compromising but through bold legal innovation, coalition-building, and cultural resi