Okay, But Why is Gay Marriage at Risk?

In June of 2015, the Supreme Court made history by ruling that Jim Obergefell and other same-sex couples deserve the right to have their marriages legally recognized — not just in a few states, but across the country. 

It’s strange to think that only happened ten years ago. Gay couples across the country have only had the right to marry the person they love since the year of Jurassic World and the first run of Hamilton and that dress on the internet that nobody could agree was blue and black or white and gold. And it was only eleven years before that, in 2004, that the very first legal gay wedding was held anywhere in the country.

As we saw with Roe v Wade, though, Supreme Court cases can be overturned and rights can be taken away. Right now, there’s real concern that the Supreme Court will re-examine Obergefell in the next year. In 2022, after Roe v Wade was struck down, Justice Clarence Thomas wrote that the Court should turn their attention to other cases of equal rights… like Obergefell. 

And now, he might get his chance. Kentucky country clerk Kim Davis filed an official petition this month asking the Supreme Court to re-examine the case.

Yes, that Kim Davis. The one who went to jail for 5 days in 2015 for refusing to sign marriage licenses for gay couples. Doesn’t she have better things to do than work this hard to take away other people’s rights?

We have more than a decade of studies now that prove how much of a difference the right to marry has made for gay couples across the country. Married same-sex couples report better life satisfaction, better physical health, and higher rates of homeownership than unmarried same-sex couples. Once married, they can get on each other’s health insurance, file taxes jointly, and act as legal next of kin in cases of life or death.

By contrast, not a single study has been able to prove any negative effects. Divorce rates across the board have fallen for all types of married couples and children of same-sex couples have the same educational and health outcomes as those in a household with a mother and father.

The majority of Americans believe in marriage equality and the separation of church and state. But for hundreds of thousands of gay couples across the country, the right to get married isn’t abstract — it affects their daily lives, their finances, their health, and their family.

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