Latest news with #SameSexMarriage
CNN
3 days ago
- Politics
- CNN
Analysis: 10 years after Obergefell, is a backlash brewing?
Marriage equality was a major political issue in the United States for a generation, but today it's no big deal. The vast majority of Americans now believe same-sex couples should have the right to get married. But there are some new signs of a brewing backlash this year, and a very different Supreme Court could, at least in theory, take away what it gave same-sex partners 10 years ago. Ten years ago this week, in 2015, the US Supreme Court gave same-sex couples access to marriage nationwide, which was controversial at the time but today seems obvious to a large portion of the country. Seventeen years ago, in 2008, California voters voted to ban same-sex marriage in their state. Twenty-one years ago, in 2004, President George W. Bush's reelection campaign won in part — maybe in large part — because Ohio was among 11 states that year where voters also approved state constitutional bans to outlaw same-sex marriage, potentially driving turnout. That year, in CNN's presidential exit polls, just one-quarter of Americans thought same-sex couples should be able to legally marry. A larger portion approved of civil unions. Twenty-nine years ago, in 1996, a Democratic president, Bill Clinton, signed the Defense of Marriage Act, which defined marriage as between a man and a woman. But today, a decade after the Supreme Court's landmark Obergefell v. Hodges decision, close to 70% of Americans approve of same-sex marriage, according to some polls. The country has done a 180. 'It's been transformative for so many people to be able to have a family that is recognized as a family under law,' said Mary Bonauto, who argued in favor of marriage equality before the Supreme Court and is senior director of civil rights and legal strategies at GLAD Law in Boston. The decision changed lives for millions of Americans, Bonauto said: They can file taxes together, get health insurance together and plan for families together. In that regard, it strengthened marriage in the US. Opposition to marriage equality has never been a part of President Donald Trump's populist political message, and it has gone largely unremarked that his Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is a married gay man. Bessent is the first openly gay married man to be appointed by the Senate in a Republican administration. But while Trump has no issue with same-sex marriage, there is a brewing backlash among religious conservatives. ► Southern Baptists, at their annual meeting this month, called for the passage of laws challenging the decision. ► Symbolic resolutions calling on the court to revisit Obergefell have been introduced in at least nine state legislatures. ► Efforts to create a new legal class of marriage — covenant marriage, based on conservative religious teachings — that would be between a man and a woman and make divorce more difficult, have sputtered, so far, in Missouri and Tennessee this year. For context, House Speaker Mike Johnson entered into a covenant marriage in Louisiana. ► Kim Davis, a former county clerk from Kentucky who drew nationwide attention when she defied court orders and refused to issue marriage licenses in 2015 after the Obergefell decision, is still fighting to have the Supreme Court revisit the decision. There are Supreme Court justices who came to the bench decades ago, when opposition to gay marriage was a major political issue, who now — with a much more conservative court — would like to revisit the decision and take away nationwide marriage equality. When the court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, Justice Clarence Thomas called on justices to also revisit Obergefell. In answer, Democrats, who then controlled the House and Senate, worked with Republicans to pass a law, the Respect for Marriage Act, that voided the Defense of Marriage Act and would require states to honor marriage certificates in the unlikely event that the Supreme Court overturned Obergefell. Justice Samuel Alito, another vocal critic of the decision, has also endorsed taking another look. If Thomas and Alito were to get their wish, it's possible things could turn out differently. The ideological balance on the court has been upended in the past 10 years. Two justices who supported the majority in the Obergefell decision — Justice Anthony Kennedy and Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg — have been replaced by more conservative justices. But conservative does not necessarily guarantee a vote against gay rights. It was Justice Neil Gorsuch, who replaced Justice Antonin Scalia, who wrote a more recent landmark decision that extended federal civil rights protections to LGBTQ people. He has sided with Thomas and Alito in other decisions related to the LGBTQ community. Bonauto said she's optimistic the decision will hold, but 'that optimism also rests on continued vigilance since there are those who seek to undo it.' In opposing the Obergefell majority, Chief Justice John Roberts predicted that the court's action could actually mobilize opposition to same-sex marriage. Better to let states vote in favor of it in time, he argued. 'Stealing this issue from the people will for many cast a cloud over same-sex marriage, making a dramatic social change that much more difficult to accept.' He was wrong, according to public opinion surveys. Marriage equality is now the norm — although Gallup polling has shown Republican support declining over the past three years, from a peak of 55% in 2022 to just 41% this May. Kristen Soltis Anderson, a Republican pollster and CNN contributor, wrote for the New York Times about polling she conducted with a coalition of GOP pollsters for the organization Centerline Liberties. 'Republicans remain very open to the idea that the government should not be in the business of meddling with or punishing people because they are gay or lesbian,' she concluded. But that openness does not extend to the entire LGBTQ community, Anderson wrote, which was clear from how much Republican candidates, including Trump, focused on trans issues during the 2024 election. 'Republican voters seem to have made a distinction between the 'L.G.B.' and the 'T,' she wrote, noting opposition to things like gender-affirming care and trans women in sports. I asked Bonauto if she sees any corollary between the very long fight for marriage equality and other LGB rights and the current fight for trans rights. 'What I see is that it was easy when people didn't know gay and lesbian Americans, bisexual Americans, to treat them as dangerous outsiders,' Bonauto told me. 'And I feel like that's what's happening with transgender people now, where so few people know a transgender person or have a transgender person in their family. It is, in fact, a small minority of people.' Aggressive legal actions by states regarding trans rights today do somewhat mirror efforts to limit marriage rights years ago. But Bonauto said she's an optimist. 'When you get to know people, it can be the beginning of a process of just sort of awakening to this idea of, okay, that's just another person.' Americans, she said, tend to help one another once they get to know each other.
CNN
3 days ago
- Politics
- CNN
Analysis: 10 years after Obergefell, is a backlash brewing?
Marriage equality was a major political issue in the United States for a generation, but today it's no big deal. The vast majority of Americans now believe same-sex couples should have the right to get married. But there are some new signs of a brewing backlash this year, and a very different Supreme Court could, at least in theory, take away what it gave same-sex partners 10 years ago. Ten years ago this week, in 2015, the US Supreme Court gave same-sex couples access to marriage nationwide, which was controversial at the time but today seems obvious to a large portion of the country. Seventeen years ago, in 2008, California voters voted to ban same-sex marriage in their state. Twenty-one years ago, in 2004, President George W. Bush's reelection campaign won in part — maybe in large part — because Ohio was among 11 states that year where voters also approved state constitutional bans to outlaw same-sex marriage, potentially driving turnout. That year, in CNN's presidential exit polls, just one-quarter of Americans thought same-sex couples should be able to legally marry. A larger portion approved of civil unions. Twenty-nine years ago, in 1996, a Democratic president, Bill Clinton, signed the Defense of Marriage Act, which defined marriage as between a man and a woman. But today, a decade after the Supreme Court's landmark Obergefell v. Hodges decision, close to 70% of Americans approve of same-sex marriage, according to some polls. The country has done a 180. 'It's been transformative for so many people to be able to have a family that is recognized as a family under law,' said Mary Bonauto, who argued in favor of marriage equality before the Supreme Court and is senior director of civil rights and legal strategies at GLAD Law in Boston. The decision changed lives for millions of Americans, Bonauto said: They can file taxes together, get health insurance together and plan for families together. In that regard, it strengthened marriage in the US. Opposition to marriage equality has never been a part of President Donald Trump's populist political message, and it has gone largely unremarked that his Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is a married gay man. Bessent is the first openly gay married man to be appointed by the Senate in a Republican administration. But while Trump has no issue with same-sex marriage, there is a brewing backlash among religious conservatives. ► Southern Baptists, at their annual meeting this month, called for the passage of laws challenging the decision. ► Symbolic resolutions calling on the court to revisit Obergefell have been introduced in at least nine state legislatures. ► Efforts to create a new legal class of marriage — covenant marriage, based on conservative religious teachings — that would be between a man and a woman and make divorce more difficult, have sputtered, so far, in Missouri and Tennessee this year. For context, House Speaker Mike Johnson entered into a covenant marriage in Louisiana. ► Kim Davis, a former county clerk from Kentucky who drew nationwide attention when she defied court orders and refused to issue marriage licenses in 2015 after the Obergefell decision, is still fighting to have the Supreme Court revisit the decision. There are Supreme Court justices who came to the bench decades ago, when opposition to gay marriage was a major political issue, who now — with a much more conservative court — would like to revisit the decision and take away nationwide marriage equality. When the court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, Justice Clarence Thomas called on justices to also revisit Obergefell. In answer, Democrats, who then controlled the House and Senate, worked with Republicans to pass a law, the Respect for Marriage Act, that voided the Defense of Marriage Act and would require states to honor marriage certificates in the unlikely event that the Supreme Court overturned Obergefell. Justice Samuel Alito, another vocal critic of the decision, has also endorsed taking another look. If Thomas and Alito were to get their wish, it's possible things could turn out differently. The ideological balance on the court has been upended in the past 10 years. Two justices who supported the majority in the Obergefell decision — Justice Anthony Kennedy and Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg — have been replaced by more conservative justices. But conservative does not necessarily guarantee a vote against gay rights. It was Justice Neil Gorsuch, who replaced Justice Antonin Scalia, who wrote a more recent landmark decision that extended federal civil rights protections to LGBTQ people. He has sided with Thomas and Alito in other decisions related to the LGBTQ community. Bonauto said she's optimistic the decision will hold, but 'that optimism also rests on continued vigilance since there are those who seek to undo it.' In opposing the Obergefell majority, Chief Justice John Roberts predicted that the court's action could actually mobilize opposition to same-sex marriage. Better to let states vote in favor of it in time, he argued. 'Stealing this issue from the people will for many cast a cloud over same-sex marriage, making a dramatic social change that much more difficult to accept.' He was wrong, according to public opinion surveys. Marriage equality is now the norm — although Gallup polling has shown Republican support declining over the past three years, from a peak of 55% in 2022 to just 41% this May. Kristen Soltis Anderson, a Republican pollster and CNN contributor, wrote for the New York Times about polling she conducted with a coalition of GOP pollsters for the organization Centerline Liberties. 'Republicans remain very open to the idea that the government should not be in the business of meddling with or punishing people because they are gay or lesbian,' she concluded. But that openness does not extend to the entire LGBTQ community, Anderson wrote, which was clear from how much Republican candidates, including Trump, focused on trans issues during the 2024 election. 'Republican voters seem to have made a distinction between the 'L.G.B.' and the 'T,' she wrote, noting opposition to things like gender-affirming care and trans women in sports. I asked Bonauto if she sees any corollary between the very long fight for marriage equality and other LGB rights and the current fight for trans rights. 'What I see is that it was easy when people didn't know gay and lesbian Americans, bisexual Americans, to treat them as dangerous outsiders,' Bonauto told me. 'And I feel like that's what's happening with transgender people now, where so few people know a transgender person or have a transgender person in their family. It is, in fact, a small minority of people.' Aggressive legal actions by states regarding trans rights today do somewhat mirror efforts to limit marriage rights years ago. But Bonauto said she's an optimist. 'When you get to know people, it can be the beginning of a process of just sort of awakening to this idea of, okay, that's just another person.' Americans, she said, tend to help one another once they get to know each other.
BreakingNews.ie
26-05-2025
- Politics
- BreakingNews.ie
Irish MEP warns of dangers to LGBT community across Europe
Fine Gael MEP Maria Walsh has warned of the increasing dangers people of the LGBTQ+ community are facing across Europe. Ms Walsh was speaking on the 10th anniversary of the Marriage Equality referendum in Ireland, which saw 62 per cent in favour of same-sex marriage, on a high turnout of 61 per cent. Advertisement The Fine Gael MEP made headlines in 2014, as she was the first openly gay winner of the Rose of Tralee. Speaking to Breakingnews, Ms Walsh recalled the celebrations in Australia as Ireland voted for same sex couples to have the right to get married. "In many ways, it was a bittersweet moment", said Ms Walsh. "I wasn't in Dublin Castle for the announcement of equality for my peers and my generation, but I was on the dance floor in Perth, having just watched the new Perth Rose get selected, standing alongside a Labour politician, who is Dublin born but Australia raised of the name of Stephen Dawson. Advertisement "While he and his husband were married in 2013, he re-proposed right in front of us on the dancefloor. For him, his home country had seen this overwhelming change of welcome and removal of indifference. "It was such a unique moment to experience, but obviously I would have loved to have been in and around Dublin Castle, but probably more so the West of Ireland, where the perception coming into the election was rural communities would never see the equality that was needed." Ms Walsh admitted the referendum, combined with passing the referendum in 2018 for abortion rights in the country, were big contributing factors to her entering politics. However, she warned that referendums alone would not be enough to continue social change in the country. Advertisement "People were excited about themselves or a family member or a friend or an auntie or uncle who moved away in the 70s because of their orientation, was now being celebrated. "Repeal the eighth, just the very basic right to women's healthcare, it captured the change that was needed. It was a removal of the shackles in many ways for cultural beliefs. "That hold that we had of ourselves or of other people had of us as a country, that just lifted, which is incredible. "I remember having really deep and meaningful conversations around marriage equality and repeal the eighth, and one of the things that really frustrated me in those conversations was a general election would be coming on and I would ask if they are interested in that, and they would say "not at all, that's not really for me". Advertisement "We do know the circle of change happens when we elect people who want positive change and positive change. That disconnect was apparent in those two referendums. "They are sexy, they are trendy, they mobilised a vote, they got people home to vote. All of that became so relevant, which is fantastic. "Since then, I wonder how we can connect people to push that progressive change outside of these referendums." In the last few years, countries across Europe have seen a push from far-right politicians and groups which have targeted the rights of LGBTQ+ people. Advertisement Earlier this week, an event by the Labour party had to be postponed 'due to the threat of protest from far-right actors at the original venue'. Ms Walsh highlighted further examples of moments of feeling unsafe for herself and other members of the community, both in Ireland and across Europe. "There is a website dedicated to me from the 2019 election created by a very infamous family from the west of Ireland, that says by going to schools I brainwash children into becoming LGBTI people, which is so far away from the truth it is laughable. "In June last year, Wicklow Pride was forced to cancel due to threats from protestors. Research from the Midlands LGBTI+ project show 20 per cent of gay people feel unsafe. "Panti Bliss shared on the radio over the weekend that she has never felt more unsafe in the last 10, 15, or 20 years. "I feel safe, but I'm not walking around Dublin city all the time. I am not coming out of gay pubs or nightclubs every weekend. "I absolutely felt unsafe when I was in Belgrade in the Euro Pride parade two years ago. I absolutely felt unsafe attending Budapest pride a couple of years ago, I have no doubt I will feel unsafe when I attend again at the end of June. "There is points over the campaign where do I feel unsafe, no, but it is certainly unsafe online. It doesn't take a whole lot to shift from online to the physical space. "Equality is so hard fought, and very quickly lost, and that is the epicentre of the work we still need to do."
