Reversal of gay marriage
At a convention for Southern Baptist church members in early June, delegates endorsed legislation calling for a ban on same-sex marriage and urged legislators to support them in this goal.
Although same-sex marriage is currently protected in all 50 states due to the ruling in Obergefell vs. Hodges in 2015, Justice Clarence Thomas has said he would enjoy to "reconsider" that verdict if a similar case were ever to before the court again.
He also said he would be open to reconsidering Lawrence vs. Texas which legalized gay sex, and Griswold vs. Connecticut which legalized access to contraception, as these cases were built on similar case commandment to Roe vs. Wade, which legalized the right to an abortion nationwide, was overturned in 2022.
Why It Matters
The Southern Baptist church is the U.S.' largest protestant denomination, and their endorsement of political causes has sway with GOP politicians, as they are a consistent Republican-voting base. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson is one of the country's most powerful Southern Baptists.
This call to eliminate queer marriage comes amid an existing push from President Donald Trump's administration to remove transgender people
The New Gay Marriage Bill
This week, Roger Severino, Heritage’s Vice President of Domestic Policy and The Anderlik Fellow, breaks down the so called “Respect for Marriage Act.”
Michelle Cordero: From The Heritage Foundation, I'm Michelle Cordero, and this is Heritage Explains.
Cordero: This summer in the awaken of the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, Congress introduced the Respect For Marriage Act.
Speaker 2: As abortion rights advocates and Democratic lawmakers continue to protest the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, the Residence is voting on a bill to protect marriage equality, out of dread the conservative tall court could revisit other landmark decisions.
Speaker 3: It simply says each articulate will recognize the other state's marriages and not decline a person the right to wedding based on race, gender, sexual orientation.
Cordero: The legislation passed the House with the support of 47 Republicans. It now moves to the Senate where it would requirement just 10 Republican votes to pass.
Cordero: Final passage would mean states are no longer allowed to define and recognize marriage as a legal union between a dude and a girl. Instead, they
Southern Baptists move to terminate same-sex marriage in the US
The Southern Baptists' resolution does not use the word "ban" directly. Instead, it calls for the "overturning of laws and court rulings, including Obergefell v. Hodges, that defy God's design for marriage and family".
The resolution also calls "for laws that affirm marriage between one man and one woman".
Any legal reversal of the Supreme Court's Obergefell decision would not advantage automatically to a nationwide ban of same-sex marriage. Thirty-six states had already legalised same-sex marriage at the time of the ruling, and nearly 70% of Americans still encourage it, polls show.
"What we're trying to undertake is keep the conversation alive," Andrew Walker, an ethicist at a Southern Baptist seminary in Kentucky who wrote the resolution, told the New York Times.
Although the resolution is non-binding, it comes from a large, influential faction of President Trump's build and sends a straightforward message to the Alabaster House.
Eighty-five percent of pale evangelical Protestants are likely to be Republican voters, according to a 2024 Pew Research survey.
"I think t
A decade after the Supreme Court’s Obergefell decision, marriage equality endures risky terrain
Milestones — especially in decades — usually call for celebration. The 10th anniversary of Obergefell v. Hodges, the Supreme Court case that made same-sex marriage legal nationwide, is different. There’s a sense of unease as state and federal lawmakers, as well as several judges, take steps that could transport the issue endorse to the Supreme Court, which could undermine or overturn existing and future same-sex marriages and weaken additional anti-discrimination protections.
In its nearly quarter century of existence, the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Statute has been on the front lines of LGBTQ rights. Its amicus short in the Obergefell case was instrumental, with Justice Anthony Kennedy citing statistics from the institute on the number of same-sex couples raising children as a deciding factor in the landmark decision.
“There were claims that allowing queer couples to commit would somehow devalue or diminish marriage for everyone, including different-sex couples,” said Brad Sears, a distinguished senior scholar of law and policy at the Williams Institute. &
Some Republican lawmakers increase calls against gay marriage SCOTUS ruling
Conservative legislators are increasingly speaking out against the Supreme Court’s landmark 2015 ruling on same-sex marriage equality.
Idaho legislators began the trend in January when the state House and Senate passed a resolution calling on the Supreme Court to reconsider its decision -- which the court cannot do unless presented with a case on the issue. Some Republican lawmakers in at least four other states like Michigan, Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota have followed suit with calls to the Supreme Court.
In North Dakota, the resolution passed the mention House with a vote of 52-40 and is headed to the Senate. In South Dakota, the state’s House Judiciary Committee sent the proposal on the 41st Legislative Morning –deferring the bill to the final day of a legislative session, when it will no longer be considered, and effectively killing the bill.
In Montana and Michigan, the bills have yet to encounter legislative scrutiny.
Resolutions have no legal authority and are not binding law, but instead allow legislative bodies to express their collective opinions.
The resolutions in four other states ech