In 2015, in a landmark decision, the Supreme Court of the United States recognized the fundamental right of same-sex couples to marry and ruled that all states must perform and acknowledge same-sex marriages “on the same terms as accorded to couples of the opposite sex.”
A decade later, Kim Davis, a thrice-divorced county clerk from Kentucky, attempted to appeal the Supreme Court’s decision, arguing that issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples infringed her constitutional right to practice her religion. The appeal shook the LGBTQ+ community across the country and raised fear that Obergefell v. Hodges might face the same outcome as Roe v. Wade faced in 2022.
Kim Davis’s appeal stemmed from a decade-old legal struggle. After the Supreme Court’s recognition of same-sex marriage, Davis persisted in denying licenses to same-sex couples, several of which filed lawsuits against her. The district judge ruled her actions unlawful. She refused to comply and was jailed for contempt of court. In her appeal in 2025, she sought to avoid paying $100,000 in damages ordered by the judge, as well as to overturn Obergefell v. Hodges based on a supposed violation of her religious liberty.
Davis’s attorneys from Liberty Counsel, a Christian organization and an LGBTQ+ hate group, filed the appeal on her behalf. After a private discussion on Friday, November the 7th, the Supreme Court announced their decision the following Monday, November the 10th, and denied reviewing Davis’s case without further comment, thus ensuring the right of same-sex couples to marry stays protected under the law.
Prior to the discussion, Justice Amy Coney Barrett, one of the current nine members of the Supreme Court and a conservative, mentioned “concrete reliance interests” as a key factor that the Court takes into consideration in cases such as Davis’s appeal, as hundreds of thousands of families in the United States depend on Obergefell v. Hodges for security and stability.
While Davis’s case stayed in the center of the media’s attention in the days coming up to the Court’s announcement, it is far from the first or the last attempt by the conservatives to threaten the stability of the LGBTQ+ folks’ lives in the States. In recent years, the community’s rights and protections have come under attack on all levels of legislation, and the trend continues to grow.
At least 9 bills and resolutions aiming to overturn Obergefell v. Hodges were proposed across the states this year, according to Lambda Legal, an LGBTQ+ civil rights organization. The American Civil Liberties Union tracked 616 general anti-LGBTQ+ bills, 71 of which were passed into law, and Trans Legislation Tracker counted 1011 targeted anti-trans bills, among which 124 were adopted.
The outlook might seem pessimistic, but the statistics gathered by the Public Religion Research Institute, a nonpartisan research organization, show that the majority of Americans still support same-sex marriage and nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ+ folks. Lambda Legal also highlights that even in the scenario that Obergefell v. Hodges is overturned, the Respect for Marriage Act still ensures that married same-sex couples are recognized by both the federal and state governments.
Ultimately, by denying Davis’s appeal, the Supreme Court showed no intention of revisiting the 2015 decision, setting a precedent for any future attempts to endanger the legal status of same-sex marriage. While the fight for equality is far from over, the LGBTQ+ community should take the opportunity to celebrate this valuable victory as another step towards a brighter and safer future.
