Marriage Equality Under Fire: What’s Really Going On

Every so often, an old fight we thought was settled comes knocking on our door again. This month, it’s marriage equality. Nearly a decade after the Supreme Court’s landmark Obergefell v. Hodges decision made same-sex marriage the law of the land, conservative lawmakers and activists are trying to chip away at it — and in some cases, asking the Court to scrap it entirely.

So, what’s happening, and how worried should we be?

THE PUSH TO OVERTURN OBERGEFELL

At the center of this latest challenge is Kim Davis, the former Kentucky county clerk who became a national figure in 2015 for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. She was briefly jailed, sued, and ordered to pay more than $360,000 in damages to the couples she turned away. Now, she’s petitioning the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn Obergefell altogether, calling it a “legal fiction” that violates her religious freedom.

Backing her is Liberty Counsel, a conservative legal group that has long fought LGBTQ rights. They frame her case as about the First Amendment — but the end goal is clear: if Obergefell falls, states could once again ban same-sex marriage.

STATE LEGISLATURES JOINING IN

While Davis’s petition works its way toward the Court, Republican lawmakers in at least nine states — including Idaho, Michigan, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, Oklahoma, Missouri, Tennessee, and Texas — have introduced or passed non-binding resolutions urging the Supreme Court to reverse Obergefell. These measures don’t carry legal weight, but they send a political message: there’s a coordinated effort underway to reopen the marriage equality question.

The momentum isn’t entirely surprising. After the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, Justice Clarence Thomas explicitly suggested revisiting landmark cases based on the same legal reasoning — Obergefell among them. And just this summer, the Southern Baptist Convention passed a resolution calling for marriage equality to be repealed.

COULD MARRIAGE EQUALITY ACTUALLY BE OVERTURNED?

Legal experts are skeptical. Davis’s case is narrow, focused on her personal damages, and the Court may see it as the wrong vehicle for a sweeping reversal. Public opinion is also strongly in favor of same-sex marriage — nearly 70% of Americans support it, a number that’s stayed high for years.

Even if Obergefell were overturned, the Respect for Marriage Act, passed in 2022, would still require:

  1. The federal government to recognize same-sex marriages, and

  2. All states to recognize marriages performed legally elsewhere.

What it wouldn’t require? States to issue new same-sex marriage licenses. That means if Obergefell fell, states with old, unenforced bans (at least 32 have them) could shut down marriage equality within their borders, forcing couples to travel to marry and sparking another round of legal chaos.

WHY THIS MATTERS RIGHT NOW

If you’ve been married to your spouse for years, like us, it’s tempting to assume your rights are safe. But history tells us rights are only as secure as the courts and lawmakers who defend them. The current wave of state resolutions, combined with Davis’s petition, is part of a broader pattern — testing the waters, gauging public reaction, and seeing how far the fight can be pushed.

The Supreme Court will decide this fall whether to take Davis’s case. In the meantime, advocates are urging people to stay engaged, push back against misinformation, and remember that public opinion matters — especially in an election year.

Because here’s the thing: marriage equality isn’t just about weddings. It’s about healthcare decisions. It’s about parental rights. It’s about financial security. And it’s about the basic dignity of being recognized, in the eyes of the law, as a family.

And if the past few years have taught us anything, it’s that we can’t take even the most fundamental rights for granted.

RESOURCES

PS: Here’s where the rubber meets the road: approximately 31–32 states currently have disabled or unenforced bans that would be reactivated if Obergefell were overturned. That’s about 60% of LGBTQ+ adults who could suddenly find themselves in a state that refuses same-sex marriage.

STATES WHERE SAME-SEX MARRIAGE COULD BE BANNED AGAIN

(Constitutional amendment and/or statutory bans still on the books)

  • Alabama

  • Alaska

  • Arizona

  • Arkansas

  • Florida

  • Georgia

  • Idaho

  • Indiana

  • Iowa

  • Kansas

  • Kentucky

  • Louisiana

  • Michigan

  • Mississippi

  • Missouri

  • Montana

  • Nebraska

  • North Carolina

  • North Dakota

  • Oklahoma

  • South Carolina

  • South Dakota

  • Tennessee

  • Texas

  • Wisconsin (and possibly others depending on legal definitions)

Several of these states are drafting ballot measures — or legislators are working to remove outdated bans — but until those bans are officially repealed, they could snap back into force if Obergefell were reversed. Notably, some states like Colorado, California, and Hawaii have already repealed their constitutional bans — some via ballot measures just this year — making their protections more secure.

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