Same-Sex Marriage in the U.S., a Decade On
Ten years since the Supreme Court's ruling in Obergefell, how do things look for LGBTQ rights?
Exactly a decade ago today, the U.S. Supreme Court published its decision in the case of Obergefell v. Hodges, holding that the country’s Constitution guarantees a right to same-sex marriage.
“No longer may this liberty be denied,” Justice Anthony M. Kennedy wrote at the time for the 5-to-4 majority in the decision. “No union is more profound than marriage, for it embodies the highest ideals of love, fidelity, devotion, sacrifice and family. In forming a marital union, two people become something greater than once they were.”
He added that marriage is a “keystone of our social order,” and that the plaintiffs in the case had simply been seeking “equal dignity in the eyes of the law.”
Even though this marked a tremendous victory for America’s LGBTQ community, progress has not been linear since. Over the last few years, and according to the ACLU, states have advanced a record number of bills that attack LGBTQ rights.
Under the current conservative Supreme Court, legal experts (as well as the original case’s namesake) have also warned that Obergefell could be overturned, especially in light of the 2022 Dobbs decision that upended Roe v. Wade and the constitutional right to abortion.
Last year, a poll of married same-sex couples found that more than half of respondents were worried the Supreme Court might overturn Obergefell.
Nonetheless, there are others who are more optimistic about the future of Obergefell. The attorney Elizabeth Brenner—an expert on LGBTQ rights and the law—noted in March last year that “there are many good reasons to believe a future Supreme Court would not apply Dobbs to same-sex relationships.” For one thing, she wrote, the Court’s decision in the Dobbs case explicitly said as much. That ruling, Brenner noted, states “unequivocally” that it is not intended to apply to same-sex relationships.
Brenner also makes the point that, in a 2017 decision, the Court reaffirmed Obergefell, holding that states must extend equal rights and benefits to same-sex couples. She notes that the vast majority of the public supports marriage equality and that, finally, in December 2022, Congress passed the Respect for Marriage Act.
“The law provides federal recognition of same-sex marriages and requires states to grant full faith and credit to same-sex marriages performed out of state,” she wrote.
