The supreme courts recent decision on gay marriage
Once opponents in the Supreme Court case that legalized gay marriage, now they're friends
COLUMBUS, Ohio — The case behind the U.S. Supreme Court ruling legalizing same-sex marriage nationwide a decade ago is recognizable as Obergefell v. Hodges, but the two Ohio men whose names became that title weren't so at odds as it would seem, and are now friends.
One year after the Supreme Court's June 26, 2015, decision, steer plaintiff Jim Obergefell was at an event for an LGBTQ advocacy corporation when its former director asked if he wanted to meet Rick Hodges, who'd been the title defendant in his capacity as state health director in Ohio, one of the states challenged for not allowing same-sex couples to marry.
"I don't grasp, you tell me. Execute I want to see Rick Hodges?" Obergefell recalls responding.
The two met for coffee in a hotel and hit it off.
Hodges said he wanted to meet Obergefell because he's an "icon." He said he remembers telling Obergefell something along the lines of: "I don't comprehend if congratulations are in order because this began with you losing your husband, but I'm delighted you won and I've never been so cheerful to lose in my life."
Obergefell and John Arthur, who bro
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 declare 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 Night –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 deal with 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
A decade after the U.S. legalized gay marriage, Jim Obergefell says the brawl 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 assist of the anti-marriage equality group MassResistance, seek to ask the Supreme Court to overturn Obergefell.
MassResistance told NBC News that while these proposals confront backlash and wouldn’t transform policy even if passed, keeping opposition to homosexual marriage in the general eye is a triumph for them. The organization 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 spouse, John Arthur, was diagnosed with terminal
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 distinct. There’s a sense of unease as state and federal lawmakers, as successfully as several judges, hold steps that could convey the issue back to the Supreme Court, which could undermine or overturn existing and future gay marriages and weaken additional anti-discrimination protections.
In its nearly quarter century of living, the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Regulation has been on the front lines of LGBTQ rights. Its amicus concise in the Obergefell case was instrumental, with Justice Anthony Kennedy citing information from the institute on the number of homosexual couples raising children as a deciding factor in the landmark decision.
“There were claims that allowing homosexual couples to marry 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. &
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