Happily Never After: Inside the Shadowy War to End Gay Marriage

In 2015, the landmark Supreme Court case Obergefell v. Hodges legalized same-sex marriage across the United States. Though gay marriage was legal by law or statute in 36 states and Washington D.C., 14 states prohibited same-sex unions. But in a single ruling, same-sex couples won the right to freely marry those that they love.

Many believed that to be the end of the fight: The LGBTQ+ community won. But two years ago, the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade sent shockwaves through the nation, and suddenly the security of same-sex marriage felt very much in question.

With President-elect Trump taking office in a few months, and a rightwing control of both chambers of Congress… is same-sex marriage on the chopping block?

The Culture War

It’s no secret that LGBTQ+ issues are on the forefront of the culture war. From book bans to pronoun showdowns to beer boycotts to outrage any time there’s a same-sex kiss on television, the gay community is constantly under fire legally and culturally.

And although LGBTQ+ acceptance in America is higher than in decades past, the backlash against the community also seems louder than ever, amplified by a massive conservative media ecosystem. 

That’s why many say that Obergefell isn’t safe - especially in the wake of Roe’s reversal. 

When Roe was overturned a few years ago, Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas issued a joint statement in which they said Obergefell had “ruinous consequences for religious liberty," and in the majority opinion for overturning Roe, Justice Thomas wrote that “in future cases, we should reconsider all of this Court’s substantive due process precedents, including Griswold, Lawrence, and Obergefell.”

There’s clearly an appetite in Washington by some to overturn Obergefell. And one Christian activist group believes they can make it happen.

Guess Who's Back

For a decade, one woman has been at the center of the gay marriage debate: Kim Davis. Davis is a former Rowan County, Kentucky county clerk who made national headlines in 2014 when she refused to issue a marriage license to same-sex couples. Davis then received a court order to issue marriage licenses to LGBTQ+ couples, but defiantly refused, citing her religious beliefs. She was ultimately thrown in jail for contempt of court, becoming a martyr for religious freedom for one side and a symbol of bigotry to the other.

Now one group, the Christian legal activist group Liberty Counsel, is using her case as a springboard to overturn Obergefell. 

The Religious Push to Overturn Obergefell

Earlier this year, Liberty Counsel filed a brief to overturn a 2023 jury verdict ordering Davis to pay $100,000 to a gay couple she denied a marriage license to. Their goal is to get the case before the Supreme Court, where they think they can find five votes amongst the Court’s six conservative justices to render the initial judgment against Davis a “mistake” and overturn same-sex marriage on the grounds that it’s “neither carefully described nor deeply rooted in the nation’s history.”

“Kim Davis deserves justice in this case since she was entitled to a religious accommodation from issuing marriage licenses under her name and authority,” argues Liberty Counsel founder Matt Staver. “This case has the potential to overturn Obergefell v. Hodges and extend the same religious freedom protections beyond Kentucky to the entire nation.”

So what happens if the Supreme Court overturns gay marriage? At least 25 states have statutory bans on gay marriage on the books which would go into effect immediately.

In an instant, same-sex marriage would be illegal in half the country.

What do you think? These are uncertain times for the LGBTQ+ community, and their right to marry - once widely considered settled law even by opponents - suddenly seems up in the air. 

Is same-sex marriage seriously at risk?