Republican lawmakers in the Idaho state legislature have authored a resolution demanding that the U.S. Supreme Court overturn its 2015 decision recognizing marriage equality throughout the country.
House Joint Memorial 1 was introduced last week by the House State Affairs Committee. Although it is a nonbinding resolution, the legislation would make a formal declaration by the Idaho House of Representatives, calling for the Supreme Court to allow states once again to determine whether same-sex marriages should be recognized within their jurisdictions.
The resolution makes the false assertion that the court’s decision in Obergefell v. Hodges “causes collateral damage” to other constitutional rights, “including religious liberty” — a common refrain of right-wingers who believe their conservative beliefs should outweigh the personal freedoms of others.
“The Idaho Legislature rejects the Obergefell decision … [and] calls upon the Supreme Court of the United States to reverse Obergefell and restore the natural definition of marriage, a union of one man and one woman,” the resolution states, citing errant and outdated beliefs regarding what constitutes a “natural” union.
Sarah Warbelow, vice president for legal affairs at the Human Rights Campaign, condemned the resolution as a clear attack on LGBTQ people.
“Extremist attacks have become de rigueur, and LGBTQ+ Americans are right to be concerned about their escalation. This cruel action by Idaho Republicans amounts to nothing more than shouting at the wind,” Warbelow said.
If the Supreme Court were to overturn Obergefell, that ruling would be unlikely to affect the Respect for Marriage Act, which established federal protections for same-sex marriage in 2022.
However, that law does not require states to uphold such protections — and if Obergefell were overturned, dozens of states would automatically revert to anti-marriage equality statutes and state constitutional provisions.
Concern over the Supreme Court considering challenges to Obergefell came following the Court’s anti-abortion ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health. Within that opinion, Justice Clarence Thomas submitted a concurring ruling, calling for past decisions that relied upon a right to privacy standard — including Obergefell — to be reexamined.
Although human rights protections should not be determined by polling data, recent surveys show that most Americans disagree with measures like the recently introduced Idaho resolution.
The latest Gallup poll on marriage equality, published last year, shows that 69 percent of Americans are supportive of same-sex marriages being recognized the same way that opposite-sex marriages are by state and federal governments. And polling from 2022 found that a plurality of Idaho residents (49 percent) are supportive of marriage equality within the state, with only 37 percent saying they wanted such unions to be deemed illegal if Obergefell were to be overturned.
We’re not backing down in the face of Trump’s threats.
As Donald Trump is inaugurated a second time, independent media organizations are faced with urgent mandates: Tell the truth more loudly than ever before. Do that work even as our standard modes of distribution (such as social media platforms) are being manipulated and curtailed by forces of fascist repression and ruthless capitalism. Do that work even as journalism and journalists face targeted attacks, including from the government itself. And do that work in community, never forgetting that we’re not shouting into a faceless void – we’re reaching out to real people amid a life-threatening political climate.
Our task is formidable, and it requires us to ground ourselves in our principles, remind ourselves of our utility, dig in and commit.
As a dizzying number of corporate news organizations – either through need or greed – rush to implement new ways to further monetize their content, and others acquiesce to Trump’s wishes, now is a time for movement media-makers to double down on community-first models.
At Truthout, we are reaffirming our commitments on this front: We won’t run ads or have a paywall because we believe that everyone should have access to information, and that access should exist without barriers and free of distractions from craven corporate interests. We recognize the implications for democracy when information-seekers click a link only to find the article trapped behind a paywall or buried on a page with dozens of invasive ads. The laws of capitalism dictate an unending increase in monetization, and much of the media simply follows those laws. Truthout and many of our peers are dedicating ourselves to following other paths – a commitment which feels vital in a moment when corporations are evermore overtly embedded in government.
Over 80 percent of Truthout‘s funding comes from small individual donations from our community of readers, and the remaining 20 percent comes from a handful of social justice-oriented foundations. Over a third of our total budget is supported by recurring monthly donors, many of whom give because they want to help us keep Truthout barrier-free for everyone.
You can help by giving today. Whether you can make a small monthly donation or a larger gift, Truthout only works with your support.