Ten Years After Obergefell: The Fight for Marriage Equality Isn’t Over
This summer marked ten years since the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges, the decision that made marriage equality the law of the land. It’s hard to believe that in just a decade, over 800,000 same-sex couples in the U.S. have married, and today, 67% of Americans say they support marriage equality—including half of Republicans.
But as Uncloseted Media recently reported in their deeply researched piece, the story doesn’t end there. In fact, the fight over Obergefell has been far from settled.
Uncloseted Media traces a detailed timeline of the past five years, showing how conservative legal groups, lawmakers, and religious organizations have steadily chipped away at LGBTQ rights with one eye squarely on undoing Obergefell.
2020: Justice Clarence Thomas and Justice Samuel Alito signaled their desire to revisit Obergefell, calling it harmful to “religious liberty.” That same year, Liberty Counsel—a group the Southern Poverty Law Center designates as an anti-LGBTQ hate group—announced plans to challenge the decision.
2021–2023: A series of Supreme Court rulings carved out exceptions, from siding with a Catholic foster agency that refused same-sex couples to backing a Colorado web designer who didn’t want to create wedding websites for gay clients. Each decision chipped away at protections for LGBTQ people, narrowing how public accommodation laws apply.
2022: The overturning of Roe v. Wade sent shockwaves, especially after Justice Thomas suggested Obergefellshould be reconsidered as well.
2025: Just this year, the Southern Baptist Convention formally voted in favor of a gay marriage ban, Idaho lawmakers called on SCOTUS to overturn Obergefell, and Kim Davis—the Kentucky county clerk who once refused marriage licenses to same-sex couples—filed a petition asking the Court to revisit the case altogether.
If Obergefell were overturned, same-sex marriage could once again be banned in 32 states that still have old bans on the books. While the Respect for Marriage Act (signed by President Biden in 2022) ensures federal recognition of existing marriages, the right to marry could disappear depending on where you live.
As Hillary Clinton recently warned, what happened to Roe v. Wade could just as easily happen here. The Supreme Court is expected to decide later this fall whether it will revisit Obergefell. If it does, oral arguments could take place in spring 2026, with a decision in June—Pride Month.
The story, as Uncloseted Media puts it, is that marriage equality is far from untouchable. Even with public opinion largely on the side of love and equality, organized opposition hasn’t slowed down.
For many of us in the LGBTQ+ community, marriage is about far more than paperwork—it’s about dignity, family, and the recognition that our love deserves equal protection. When we got married, we had a vision of our life together. It was about creating a family, knowing our love was seen and protected by the law. For us, marriage has been about building a home together, raising our kids, and feeling secure in the life we’ve chosen.
That’s why this fight matters. It’s not just politics. It’s our families, our kids, our futures.
Ten years after Obergefell, it’s clear that progress must be defended again and again.
If you want to dive into the full history of how we got here, we highly recommend reading the original Uncloseted Media piece. It’s a sobering but necessary reminder of what’s at stake.