Will gay marriage be next
A decade after the U.S. legalized gay marriage, Jim Obergefell says the combat isn't over
Over the past several months, Republican lawmakers in at least 10 states have introduced measures aimed at undermining homosexual marriage rights. These measures, many of which were crafted with the support of the anti-marriage equality group MassResistance, seek to ask the Supreme Court to overturn Obergefell.
MassResistance told NBC News that while these proposals tackle backlash and wouldn’t modify policy even if passed, keeping opposition to queer marriage in the universal eye is a conquer for them. The community said it believes marriage laws should be left to states, and they question the constitutional basis of the 5-to-4 Dobbs ruling.
NBC News reached out to the authors of these state measures, but they either declined an interview or did not respond.
“Marriage is a right, and it shouldn’t depend on where you live,” Obergefell said. “Why is queer marriage any different than interracial marriage or any other marriage?”
Obergefell’s journey to becoming a leader for same-sex marriage rights began with his own love story. In 2013, after his boyfriend, John Arthur, was diagnosed with terminal
MAP Report: The National Patchwork of Marriage Laws Underneath Obergefell
Rebecca Farmer, Movement Advancement Project
rebecca@lgbtmap.org | 303-578-4600 ext 122
As the Respect for Marriage Act moves through Congress, MAP’s March 2022 report on the landscape of varying state marriage laws around the country is a resource. MAP researchers are available to reply questions and our infographics are available for use.
MAP’s report, Underneath Obergefell, explores the patchwork of marriage laws around the country. The report highlights the proof that a majority of states still have existing laws on the books that would ban marriage for same-sex couples – even though those laws are currently unenforceable under the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Obergefell.
If the U.S. Supreme Court were to revisit the Obergefell decision, the ability of same-sex couples to wed could again fall to the states, where a majority of states still have in place both bans in the statute and in state constitutions.
The policy landscape for state marriage laws can be broken into four major categ
Some Republican lawmakers grow calls against queer marriage SCOTUS ruling
Conservative legislators are increasingly speaking out against the Supreme Court’s landmark 2015 decision 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 acquire followed suit with calls to the Supreme Court.
In North Dakota, the resolution passed the declare House with a vote of 52-40 and is headed to the Senate. In South Dakota, the state’s Dwelling Judiciary Committee sent the proposal on the 41st Legislative Day –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 include yet to confront legislative scrutiny.
Resolutions acquire no legal rule and are not binding law, but instead allow legislative bodies to state their collective opinions.
The resolutions in four other states ech
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 get up 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 Home is voting on a bill to protect marriage equality, out of horror the conservative lofty court could revisit other landmark decisions.
Speaker 3: It simply says each declare will recognize the other state's marriages and not refuse a person the right to wed 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 require 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 guy and a female. Instead, they
The Supreme Court could overturn its landmark 2015 decree that established a nationwide right to same-sex marriage if a case addressing the matter is brought before it, experts told Newsweek.
Why It Matters
Last month, Idaho lawmakers approved a resolution that called for the Court to undo its Obergefell v. Hodges decision that declared a constitutional right for same-sex couples to marry.
After President Donald Trump appointed three conservative justices to the Court in his first term, cementing a 6-3 conservative supermajority, the Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022 stripping away the constitutional right to an abortion. Since then, there have been concerns that the Court's conservative justices could accomplish away with other rights, including the right to same-sex marriage.
Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, two conservative justices who dissented in Obergefell v. Hodges, hold suggested that the conclusion should be reconsidered.
What To Know
Gallup polling shows that a majority of Americans continue to believe marriage between same-sex couples should be legal (69 percent), though support has declined slightly from the register high of 71 percent recorded in 2022 and