Us supreme court gay marriage decision 2015

Same-sex marriage has been controversial for decades, but tremendous progress was made across the United States as states individually began to lift bans to same-sex marriage. Before the landmark case Obergefell v. Hodges, U. Fourteen same-sex couples and two men whose same-sex partners had since passed away, claimed Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee violated the Fourteenth Amendment by denying them the right to marry or have their legal marriages performed in another state recognized.

All district courts found in favor of the plaintiffs. On appeal, the cases were consolidated, and the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed and held that the states' bans on same-sex marriage and refusal to acknowledge legal same-sex marriages in other jurisdictions were not unconstitutional.

Among several arguments, the respondents asserted that the petitioners were not seeking to create a new and nonexistent right to same-sex marriage. Justice Kennedy, writing for the majority, noted that, "while that approach may have been appropriate for the asserted right there involved physician-assisted suicideit is inconsistent with the approach this Court has used in discussing other fundamental rights, included marriage and intimacy.

Loving did not ask about a "right to interracial marriage", Turner did not ask about a "right of inmates to marry", and Zablocki did not ask about a "right of fathers with unpaid child support duties to marry. That principle applies here. If rights were defined by who exercised them in the past, then received practices could serve as their own continued justification and new groups could not invoke rights once denied.

Supreme Court's decision extending marriage equality nationwide in June In ObergefellJustice Kennedy concluded:. No union is more profound than marriage, for it embodies the highest ideal of love, fidelity, devotion, sacrifice, and family. In forming a marital union, two people become something greater than once they were.

As some of the petitioners in these cases demonstrate, marriage embodies a love that may endure even past death. It would misunderstand these men and women to say they disrespect the idea of marriage. Their plea is that they do respect it, respect it so deeply that they seek to find its fulfillment for themselves.

Their hope is not to be condemned to live in loneliness, excluded us supreme court gay marriage decision 2015 one of civilization's oldest institutions.

Obergefell v. Hodges

They ask for equal dignity in the eyes of the law. The Constitution grants them that right. It is only fitting to end this timeline with the following quote from that decision:. Their hope is not to be condemned to live in loneliness, excluded from one of civilization's oldest institutions.

Hodges Search this Guide Search. Hodges This guide focuses on the civil rights that various groups have fought for within the United States. Texas Proposition 8 Obergefell v. Hodges Same-sex marriage has been controversial for decades, but tremendous progress was made across the United States as states individually began to lift bans to same-sex marriage.

In ObergefellJustice Kennedy concluded: No union is more profound than marriage, for it embodies the highest ideal of love, fidelity, devotion, sacrifice, and family. Selected Library Resources: Kevin M. L68 Stephen M. U5 E54 Jeremiah J. D45 C65 Additional Resources: Obergefell v.

This interactive map of the United States from the Washington Post provides links to relevant stories and outlines the changing landscape of same-sex marriage.