NFT Overview

June 26, 2015: The Supreme Court of the United States ruled in Obergefell v. Hodges that the Constitution guarantees same-sex couples the right to marry, declaring one of humanity's oldest and most precious unions to be, finally, recognized for all.

Coming 28 years after the Second National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights, where advocates staged a mass same-sex wedding and demanded legal recognition for same-sex relationships, Obergefell v. Hodges would require all 50 states and the District of Columbia to grant that recognition.

In 2004, Massachusetts became the first US state to recognize same-sex marriage, with more states following suit over the next decade. By 2015, 36 states had established same-sex marriage, but fourteen continued to ban it - some staunchly. A wave of court cases began to challenge the constitutionality of these bans, and when they produced a split between different Circuit Courts, the cases were combined and brought to the Supreme Court to resolve.

In the court's majority opinion, Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote, "No union is more profound than marriage, for it embodies the highest ideals of love, fidelity, devotion, sacrifice, and family. In forming a marital union, two people become something greater than once they were. As some of the petitioners in these cases demonstrate, marriage embodies a love that may endure even past death. It would misunderstand these men and women to say they disrespect the idea of marriage. Their plea is that they do respect it, respect it so deeply that they seek to find its fulfillment for themselves. Their hope is not to be condemned to live in loneliness, excluded from one of civilization's oldest institutions. They ask for equal dignity in the eyes of the law. The Constitution grants them that right."

Since the decision, hundreds of thousands of same-sex couples have married, and popular support for same-sex couples has continued to grow. Meanwhile, the LGBTQ+ civil rights movement continues its march towards full equality in law and society regardless of one's sexual orientation or gender expression.