If gay marriage is overturned what happens
The New Gay Marriage Bill
This week, Roger Severino, Heritage’s Vice President of Domestic Policy and The Anderlik Fellow, breaks down the so called “Respect for Marriage Act.”
Michelle Cordero: From The Heritage Foundation, I'm Michelle Cordero, and this is Heritage Explains.
Cordero: This summer in the wake of the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, Congress introduced the Respect For Marriage Act.
Speaker 2: As abortion rights advocates and Democratic lawmakers continue to protest the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, the Property is voting on a bill to protect marriage equality, out of terror the conservative high court could revisit other landmark decisions.
Speaker 3: It simply says each state will recognize the other state's marriages and not decline a person the right to marry based on race, gender, sexual orientation.
Cordero: The legislation passed the House with the assist of 47 Republicans. It now moves to the Senate where it would need just 10 Republican votes to pass.
Cordero: Final passage would mean states are no longer allowed to define and know marriage as a legal union between a human and a woman. Instead, they
What Happens if Obergefell is Overturned?
The Trump Administration and Project 2025 have a target to overturn Obergefell v. Hodges, the landmark Supreme Court decision that legalized same-sex marriage across the USA.
- How would it procure overturned?
- What happens if it is overturned?
Understanding the legal landscape and potential consequences is crucial for same-sex couples navigating an uncertain future.
The Legal Foundation of Same-Sex Marriage
The right for same-sex couples to marry is based on two key Supreme Court cases:
United States v. Windsor (2013)
- Edith Windsor challenged the federal government’s definition of marriage as only between one male and one woman under the Defense of Marriage Behave (DOMA).
- Windsor and her wife Thea were legally married in Canada, and New York recognized their marriage. However, Edith was denied the spousal exception to federal estate taxes.
- The Supreme Court commanded in Windsor’s favor, invalidating DOMA and requiring the federal government to notice any marriage legally performed in a state.
Obergefell v. Hodges (2015)
- The Supreme Court ruled:
“[T]he right to marry is a fundamental right characteristic in theMAP Report: The National Patchwork of Marriage Laws Underneath Obergefell
MEDIA CONTACT:
Rebecca Farmer, Movement Advancement Project
rebecca@lgbtmap.org | 303-578-4600 ext 122
As the Respect for Marriage Act moves through Congress, MAP’s March 2022 report on the landscape of varying state marriage laws around the country is a resource. MAP researchers are available to reply questions and our infographics are on hand for use.
MAP’s report, Underneath Obergefell, explores the patchwork of marriage laws around the country. The inform highlights the evidence that a majority of states still have existing laws on the books that would exclude marriage for lgbtq+ couples – even though those laws are currently unenforceable under the U.S. Supreme Court decree in Obergefell.If the U.S. Supreme Court were to revisit the Obergefell choice, the ability of same-sex couples to marry could again fall to the states, where a majority of states still have in place both bans in the rule and in mention constitutions.
The policy lands
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 homosexual marriage legal nationwide, is unlike. There’s a sense of unease as state and federal lawmakers, as well as several judges, take steps that could carry the issue back to the Supreme Court, which could undermine or overturn existing and future same-sex marriages and weaken additional anti-discrimination protections.
In its nearly quarter century of existence, the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law has been on the front lines of LGBTQ rights. Its amicus brief in the Obergefell case was instrumental, with Justice Anthony Kennedy citing facts from the institute on the number of same-sex couples raising children as a deciding factor in the landmark decision.
“There were claims that allowing same-sex 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. &