GOP Lawmaker Denounces Supreme Court's Landmark Same-Sex Marriage Ruling
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Oklahoma State Senator Dusty Deevers, a evangelical pastor, said that the Supreme Court's Obergefell v. Hodges decision, which legalized same-sex marriage nationwide, is not "settled law," arguing that there is "no right to gay marriage."
Newsweek filled out an online contact form for Deevers via the Oklahoma Senate on Thursday.
Why It Matters
Deevers' comments come amid a broader conservative push in several red states to challenge the legal foundations of same-sex marriage. Conservative lawmakers in five states have introduced various measures encouraging the Supreme Court to strike down Obergefell v. Hodges, the landmark 2015 decision that established the nationwide right to same-sex marriage. Conservative Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito have previously signaled in a court dissent that the case should be reconsidered.
Since the Supreme Court's 5-4 Obergefell ruling, the court has shifted to a more conservative majority after President Donald Trump appointed three justices during his first term. The court has also overturned previous decisions, doing so most notably in 2022 regarding the abortion rights established in the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling in 1973.
A majority of Americans, 67 percent, support same-sex marriage, though a 2024 Gallup poll found Republicans are less likely to back it than Democrats.
What To Know
On Monday's episode of Washington Watch, a Christian talk radio show with Tony Perkins, Deevers said that "court opinions can be referred to as settled law only if they are rooted firmly in the Constitution, and the heritage and tradition of the American people and the fact is Obergefell is fundamentally antithetical to all of these."
He continued, "Ultimately, marriage is not the state's institution, its God's institution."
The remarks by Deevers and his legislative agenda underscore a renewed conservative strategy to challenge Obergefell through state-level measures. In January, Deevers introduced the Covenant Marriage Act in Oklahoma, which he said would "give the option to religious citizens of Oklahoma who wanted a more meaningful form of marriage, to opt into a covenant marriage that didn't have a no-fault divorce clause, and it would have given them a tax credit for doing so."
Republican Oklahoma State Senator Dusty Deevers poses for a photo on April 9 inside the State Capitol in Oklahoma City.
Republican Oklahoma State Senator Dusty Deevers poses for a photo on April 9 inside the State Capitol in Oklahoma City.
AP Photo/Sean Murphy
The legislation did not pass the judiciary committee earlier this year. June will mark the 10th anniversary of Obergefell.
What People Are Saying
Sean Meloy, vice president of political programs at the LGBTQ+ Victory Fund, told The Guardian in March: "Attacks on fundamental rights for LGBTQ+ Americans, including marriage equality—which was already decided by the highest court and codified into federal law—are hateful distractions."
Mat Staver, chairman of the conservative Christian ministry Liberty Counsel, said in a video in February: "There is no so-called constitutional right in the Constitution to same-sex marriage, that's ridiculous," adding that "it's not an if, it's just a matter of when" Obergefell will be overturned.
Idaho House Minority Leader Ilana Rubel, a Democrat, previously told Newsweek: "The Supreme Court wisely recognized in the Obergefell decision that our Constitution guarantees the freedom to marry the person you love, and that fundamental right should not be subject to the anti-LGBTQ biases of a state legislature. The partner you choose is not the government's choice nor should it be. GOP politicians must get out of the business of persecuting their own citizens."
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, said in a video posted on X in March: "In Michigan, everyone has the freedom to marry who they love. It's not only the law of the land, it's a nonnegotiable.
Right now, however, some extreme members of the Michigan Legislature are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn marriage equality. Here's my response to that: 'Hell no.'
We've fought a long, hard fight to win marriage equality and we will always protect our family, our friends and neighbors from hateful attacks."
President Donald Trump posted to Truth Social, his social media platform, on Easter morning: "We are, together, going to make America bigger, better, stronger, wealthier, healthier, and more religious, than it has ever been before!!! DONALD J. TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!!!"
What Happens Next?
As more state legislators put forward resolutions calling for the Supreme Court to revisit same-sex marriage, marriage equality is poised to reenter the national political spotlight.
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