“These regressions feel… like a horror movie. The killer makes this one a revival of another and the audience gets breathless because they think everyone is safe,” Jeremy Atherton Lynn said.
They led the fight for marriage equality
The marriage of Obergefell and Arthur was a fight to get married by Ohio to grant marriage recognition, which ultimately led to marriage equality across the country.
I’m exhausted and terrified. That’s Obergefellv, the 10-year-old Supreme Court ruling that Jeremy Atherton Lynn legalized same-sex marriage in the United States. Here’s how I explained the recent appeals attempting to overturn Hodges.
On July 24, former Kentucky County Clerk Kim Davis filed an appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court over approximately $100,000 she was ordered to pay a gay couple who refused to issue a marriage license in 2015 due to her religious beliefs.
“Currently, the High Court has the opportunity to ultimately reverse this terrible opinion since 2015,” said Matt Staber, head of Liberty Advisor, a conservative legal group representing Davis, in a statement.
But experts like Kenneth Gordon, a Florida couple and family lawyer, say the possibility of overturning Obergefell is a “long shot.” Obergefell is healthy from a legal standpoint, and same-sex marriage is widely accepted by the public, Gordon said.
Regardless of the possibility that Obergefell will be overturned, some strange people, especially Roev. They continue to fear the future of their rights, triggered by the Supreme Court’s willingness to overturn Wade and effectively end positive actions in recent years in college admissions.
“These regressions… feel like a horror movie. The killer makes this one a revival of another and the audience gets breathless because they think everyone is safe,” Atherton Lynn told USA Today.
Now based in the UK, Atherton Lynn writes extensively about the history of same-sex marriage in the United States in his new book, Deep House: The Gay Love Story has told so far. His second book, released in June, introduces readers to her relationship with her husband for nearly 30 years. Atherton Lynn’s partner, whom he calls “famous” in his book, wanted to remain anonymous.
Where were you when Obergefell was announced?
Atherton Lynn couldn’t remember exactly where he was or what he was doing when Obergeffel’s ruling was announced, but he and his husband had actually already tied the “first” knot with the UK’s civic partnership in 2007.
In 2016, after Obergefell’s ruling, the two changed their civil partnership to marriage in the US, Atherton Lynn said.
Aaron Schekorra, executive director of Glo Center, an LGBTQIA+ resource center in southwestern Missouri, recalls “vividly” when he learns about Obergefell.
“I recently graduated from university,” Shekora told USA Today. “I went early lunch break and sat in the drive-thru and cried. I had to run away from my desk to get that emotional release and that sense of security. I was in a serious relationship with time.
Like many LGBTQIA+ people, Schekorra wasted no time. He bought an engagement ring the same week of the award and was married by November 2015.
“Many times people talk about it as just a marriage or just a relationship or something like that, but that’s a lot to it,” Shekora said.
Shekora later divorced, but he said that his rights were important as well.
Brook Friedman of Missouri remembers where she was when she learned of the ruling. She hadn’t been out with the family yet, but Friedman said she was in a good mood for the group.
“We were excited that everyone could love the person they wanted,” Friedman told USA Today.
Friedman married his wife, Emily Friedman in October 2024. They met about three years ago and soon moved to each other to have a dog.
Emily said she’s been tempted with the charming shock and scares of recent years, especially as the two plan to have children soon. But she remains hopeful.
“There’s nothing to change the fact that Brooke and I are legally married. We’re married in our hearts,” she said.
What happens if Obergefell is overturned?
Even if Obergefell is overturned, same-sex marriages are likely to remain protected in the US in 2022, so former President Joe Biden signed the law to protect same-sex and interracial marriages at the federal level.
This means that couples who marry in states like California where same-sex marriage is legal will have the same rights in states like Tennessee, even if the state bans gay marriage.
Contributions: Maureen Groppe, USA Today
Gretacross is a national trend reporter for USA Today. Story ideas? Please email her gcross@usatoday.com.
