In 2015, Obergefell v. Hodges legalized same-sex marriages in the United States and now the Idaho House committee has passed a resolution asking the Supreme Court of the United States to repeal the legalization nationwide and allow the state to ban such unions.
Representative Heather Scott was the one to propose this idea. She said that the decision in 2015 to legalize same-sex marriage was “illegitimate overreach” and that the court should reinstate the “natural definition of marriage” saying that it should only be between a man and women. Another part of this argument is that since states hand out marriage certificates than the states should have the power to deny wed same-sex marriage couples.
“I feel like this isn’t fair to anyone at all, people deserve to be able to get married without others caring about what they do or what gender or sexuality they are,” junior Elise Davis stated.
If the Supreme Court were to overrule Obergefell, it would likely not affect the “Respect for Marriage Act” that established federal protections for all marriages regardless of race, religion, or sex in 2022. However the act does not require states to uphold such protections and if Obergefell v. Hodges was overturned, dozens of states would automatically revert to anti-marriage statutes.
The latest polls on marriage equality, which were published in 2023, shows that 69 percent of Americans believe that same-sex marriages should be legal. In 2022 was the peak when 71 percent were supportive of same-sex marriage within the country. When polls released in 2024 slightly fewer Americans were supportive putting the number at 64 percent and saying it is “morally acceptable” suggesting that they felt the legalization was fine but didn’t personally like it, which was all stated by Newsweek.
“It would create a snowball effect of states repealing the act,” junior Quill Reyonlds states.“It just makes me wonder where it would be safe.”
This ask from the committee has caused panic in many people in the LGBTQ+ community. A concern from some people feel that if Obergefell v. Hodges is overturned others will become depressed and they feel that this will cause suicides to increase exponentally due to lack of resources and care from people in the community, the state and the country.
