Lawmakers in 9 states propose measures to undermine same-sex marriage rights
Lawmakers in 9 states propose measures to undermine same-sex marriage rights
Lawmakers in at least nine states have introduced measures to try to chip away at same-sex couples’ right to marry.
Five of the measures, including one introduced Tuesday in Michigan, urge the Supreme Court to overturn its 2015 landmark ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges, which granted same-sex couples nationwide the right to marry.
State Rep. Josh Schriver, a Republican elected in November 2022, introduced the marriage resolution in Michigan, saying in a statement on social media that the Obergefell ruling “is at odds with the sanctity of marriage, the Michigan Constitution and principles upon which the country was established.”
“Increased instances of religious persecution have been a consequence of the Court’s ruling 10 years ago,” Schriver said in the statement. He cited as examples the state attorney general’s 2019 announcement that state-funded adoption agencies could no longer legally turn away LGBTQ couples because of their religious beliefs and a Grand Rapids wedding venue that faced fines and harassment in 2022 after it wouldn’t host weddings for same-sex couples.
“The new resolution urges the preservation of the sanctity of marriage and constitutional protections that ensure freedom of conscience for all Michigan residents,” Schriver said.
Schriver didn’t immediately respond to a request for additional comment.
A group of 12 Republican legislators support the resolution, according to NBC affiliate WDIV of Detroit.
Similar measures explicitly seeking to reverse the Obergefell decision have been introduced in Idaho, Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota. The Idaho House passed its resolution last month by a vote of 46-24, and the North Dakota House passed its measure Monday, 52-40.
Lawmakers in at least four additional states — Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas — introduced bills that don’t refer to Obergefell but that would, if they are signed into law, create a category for marriage called “covenant marriage” that would be only for one man and one woman.
Naomi Goldberg, executive director of Movement Advancement Project, an LGBTQ think tank, told NBC News in a statement that such attempts to undermine same-sex marriage rights, should they make it out of legislatures, would face a long list of roadblocks.
“Research shows that the majority of Americans continue to support the ability of same-sex couples to marry. And two years ago, a bipartisan Congress passed the Respect for Marriage Act, which both repealed the federal Defense of Marriage Act, codified federal recognition of marriage, and most importantly, also requires that states recognize legal marriages from other states,” Goldberg said. “Despite these resolutions and attempts to undermine marriage recognition, Obergefell continues to be the law of the land.”
Some Michigan Democrats have already criticized Schriver’s measure. At a news conference Tuesday, state Rep. Jason Morgan, one of the state’s openly LGBTQ elected officials, called it a “ridiculous distraction that does not help a single Michigan family.”
“With Donald Trump leading the Republican Party, the threats to our rights are more real than they’ve ever been,” said Morgan, who represents Ann Arbor, which elected Kathy Kozachenko, the country’s first openly gay official, in 1974.
Morgan added: “Michigan will not go backwards. … Love is something worth fighting for, and we’ll never stop fighting for what is right.”
Curtis Hertel, chair of the Michigan Democratic Party, said on social media that the measure, which he called “deeply dangerous,” “isn’t a surprise coming from Josh Schriver” and the Republican caucus.
“Schriver is attacking hundreds of thousands of Michiganders who are beloved members of the community, and he doesn’t deserve to serve the people of Michigan,” Hertel said.
Schriver has faced criticism in the past for the views he shared on social media.
In December, he wrote on X: “Make gay marriage illegal again. This is not remotely controversial, nor extreme.”
He lost his committee assignments and staff this month after he shared a post showing a map of the world with Black figures greatly outnumbering white figures, along with the phrase “The great replacement!”
The great replacement conspiracy theory is a false idea that a cabal is trying to replace white Americans with nonwhite people.
Jo Yurcaba is a reporter for NBC Out.
Brooke Sopelsa is the editorial director of NBC Out, NBC News’ LGBTQ digital destination.
© 2025 NBCUniversal Media, LLC
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Michigan Rep. Josh Schriver to introduce resolution calling on U.S. Supreme Court to overturn same-sex marriage
Watch CBS News
By DeJanay Booth-Singleton
Updated on: February 25, 2025 / 5:56 PM EST / CBS Detroit
Michigan state Rep. Josh Schriver, R-Oxford, introduced a resolution urging the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the Obergefell v. Hodges ruling, which protects same-sex marriages.
In a post on X Monday afternoon, Schriver says he will unveil the resolution on Tuesday following the House session. It has been nearly 10 years since the high court handed down a 5-4 ruling on June 26, 2015, declaring the 14th Amendment requires all states to perform same-sex marriages and recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states.
According to a news release from Schriver’s office, the resolution has 12 co-sponsors, and similar resolutions have been introduced in other states, including Idaho, Iowa, Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota.
“The new resolution urges the preservation of the sanctity of marriage and constitutional protections that ensure freedom of conscience for all Michigan residents,” read the release.
Schriver is no stranger to speaking out against same-sex marriage.
In December 2024, he posted on social media, saying “Make gay marriage illegal again.” In a second post, the GOP lawmaker said, “America only ‘accepted’ gay marriage after it was thrusted into her by a perverted Supreme Court ruling. America 2124 doesn’t have to be as dysfunctional as America 2024.”
His post received criticism from state officials, including Democratic Rep. Jason Morgan and Attorney General Dana Nessel, who are both in a same-sex marriage. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer also pushed back on Schriver’s comment, saying “Any attempt to strip away gay marriage is wrong.”
Obergefell v. Hodges was discussed again after the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade in 2022. Justice Clarence Thomas suggested that the decision to overturn the federal abortion rights law could trigger similar outcomes for other landmark cases.
“In the future, we should reconsider all of this Court’s substantive due process precedents, including Griswold, Lawrence and Obergefell,” Thomas wrote at the time.
Some people in the LGBTQ community spoke with CBS News after the 2024 presidential election, expressing concerns about losing discrimination protections under President Trump’s second term and wondering if the 2015 ruling would return to the states.
Mr. Trump’s stance on same-sex marriage has varied over the years. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, before he entered politics, he expressed support for domestic partnership laws that granted couples the same benefits of married couples — a position that the GOP widely opposed at the time — and often showed personal tolerance for LGBTQ issues more broadly.
Years later, Mr. Trump said in 2011, amid speculation about a possible presidential bid, that he was “opposed to gay marriage.” In 2015, he said he supports “traditional marriage.”
During his 2016 campaign, he said that he would “strongly consider” appointing Supreme Court justices who would overturn the 2015 ruling that legalized same-sex marriages. Then, days after he was elected, he said he was “fine” with same-sex marriage and suggested he wouldn’t appoint justices to the high court with the goal of overturning the ruling.
DeJanay Booth-Singleton is a digital producer at CBS Detroit. She covers various topics such as crime, business and politics.
© 2025 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.
©2025 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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Whitmer on Republican lawmaker’s same-sex marriage resolution: ‘Hell no’
Michigan Democrats, including Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, are pushing back against a Republican-led resolution asking the Supreme Court to reverse its decision that legalized same-sex marriage nationwide.
Michigan state Rep. Josh Schriver (R), whose website describes him as the state House’s “most conservative” member, filed the resolution Tuesday. A press release from Schriver’s office says the Supreme Court’s 2015 ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges “is at odds with the sanctity of marriage, the Michigan Constitution and principals on which the country was established.”
It has 12 Republican co-sponsors.
In a video on the social platform X, Whitmer called Schriver’s resolution “hateful.”
“In Michigan, everyone has the freedom to marry who they love. It’s not only the law of the land; it’s a non-negotiable,” she said. “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.”
“This is personal for me, just like so many Michiganders, and I’m not going to allow the people I love most in the world to have less rights than anyone else,” said Whitmer, whose eldest daughter, Sherry, came out publicly as a lesbian in 2022.
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel (D), who married her wife, Alanna Maguire, one month after the Supreme Court issued its Obergefell ruling, responded to Schriver’s announcement of the resolution with a photo of her wearing her wedding ring.
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“Come and get it!” Nessel wrote in a post on X.
As a private attorney, Nessel argued for the plaintiffs in DeBoer v. Snyder, a case that challenged Michigan’s same-sex marriage ban. The case was later consolidated with three others and appealed to the Supreme Court as Obergefell v. Hodges.
State Rep. Jason Morgan (D), who is gay, said Schriver’s resolution is “extreme and anti-family, and people need to say ‘hell no’ to this homophobic resolution.”
“Attacking my family will not improve the lives of Michiganders,” Morgan wrote on X.
Schriver, first elected to the Michigan House in 2022, has voiced opposition to same-sex marriage rights before, and in a December social media post, said the U.S. should “make gay marriage illegal again.”
“America only ‘accepted’ gay marriage after it was thrusted into her by a perverted Supreme Court ruling,” Schriver wrote in a second post. “America 2124 doesn’t have to be as dysfunctional as America 2024.”
He publicly supported an Italian law preventing couples from traveling abroad for surrogacy, a measure criticized for its disproportionate impact on gay couples.
Schriver’s resolution comes after Idaho Republicans successfully pushed a similar measure through the state House in January.
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