Complacency has become one of the biggest threats to marriage equality since the U.S. Supreme Court recognized the constitutionality of same-sex unions in 2015, according to a report by Interfaith Alliance.
The landmark ruling in Obergfell v. Hodges held that due process as guaranteed in the 14th Amendment extends the right for all Americans to marry and that denying that right to same-sex couples is a violation of the amendment’s Equal Protection clause.
“If fear characterized much of the opposition to same-gender marriage before Obergefell, complacency has become one of the greatest risks since,” the report states. “Winning in court can create an illusion of permanence. It’s easy to assume a right is safe once a court has secured it. The decade since Obergefell has revealed how dangerous that assumption can be.”
“Winning in court can create an illusion of permanence. It’s easy to assume a right is safe once a court has secured it.”
There have been other wins. In 2013, the justices ruled in United States v. Windsor that the federal government must recognize same-gender marriages conducted in the states, and Congress passed the Respect for Marriage Act in 2022 requiring states to recognize the validity of all marriages deemed legal in other jurisdictions.
These achievements resulted from the exceptional courage shown by LGBTQ couples who risked physical and public exposure, rejection and emotional and physical harm advocating for their rights and dignity, Interfaith Alliance said in the third edition of “Same-Gender Marriage and Religious Freedom,” which was first published in 2009 and revised in 2013.
Immense courage also was displayed by the allies of those couples, the report says. For example, religious leaders stood up to their own institutions, and legislators and judges took actions in the face of intense backlash.
Interfaith Alliance insists religious freedom and civil rights are not opposites.
But courage is not self-sustaining and requires renewal — especially when victories can lure people into complacency as same-gender marriage is buffeted by increasing religious and political opposition, the report warns. “State bans remain on the books. Courts have expanded exemptions that weaken civil rights protections. Coordinated movements seek to reframe religious freedom as a justification for selective denial of service.”
In March, Idaho became the ninth state to introduce or advance resolutions urging the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn or narrow Obergfell. The makeup of the court is worrisome to supporters of same-sex marriage, with a 6-3 conservative majority on the bench compared to the 5-4 conservative majority when the practice became legal. While the justices declined an opportunity to overturn Obergfell last year, opponents nevertheless want the decision to be left exclusively to the states.
That’s why complacency is such a major risk, the report says. “Courage, by contrast, requires sustained engagement. The case for equality has to be made not only in the courts but in congregations, classrooms and communities. That means resisting the temptation to caricature those who disagree, while still refusing to concede the legitimacy of discrimination, and defending religious freedom on its true terms precisely when it is invoked in bad faith.”
“The case for equality has to be made not only in the courts but in congregations, classrooms and communities.”
In other words, courageous action should not be limited to litigation or protest, Interfaith Alliance urges. “More often it looks like a conversation: showing up in rooms where LGBTQ people aren’t expected to lead, working with religious leaders who will never affirm same-gender marriage but share a commitment to democratic pluralism, insisting that religious liberty cannot be preserved by shrinking democracy.”
It’s important to emphasize that the fears articulated about same-sex marriage before Obergfell have not come true, the report says. These included claims that legalizing the practice would require religious groups to perform ceremonies against their will.
“These warnings were repeated in courtrooms, pulpits, legislative chambers and media outlets. Many of these warnings reflected the genuine concerns of people of faith about how rapid legal and cultural change might affect religious practice and social norms. Now that the nation has lived with same-gender marriage for a decade, it is possible and necessary to assess those fears against lived reality.”
The reality is that no minister has been forced to perform or bless a marriage that violates conscience or religious beliefs, and no house of worship has been required to host a same-gender marriage, the report explains. “Religious communities remain free to advocate for, defend and share their own teachings about marriage. That is the promise of the First Amendment and the longstanding distinction between civil marriage and religious marriage.”
Nor has the institution of marriage overall been weakened by Obergfell, as some claimed would happen: “Heterosexual couples did not marry less because same-gender couples could marry more. Divorce rates did not spike as a result of marriage equality.”
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