https://politicalresearch.org/ The latest research related to obergefell v. hodges en https://religiondispatches.org/2025/08/25/kim-davis-might-be-too-extreme-even-supreme-court-marriage-equalitys-future-remains Infamous marriage-inequality enthusiast and former Kentucky county clerk Kim Davis made headlines again this month when she asked the Supreme Court to absolve her of the $360,000 in legal fees and damages she owes David Moore and David Ermold for… Mon, 25 Aug 2025 02:49:59 EDT Mark Satta d4588713-d2ba-4438-abcb-14caafe321ef https://religiondispatches.org/2025/06/27/tenth-anniversary-obergefell-ruling-christian-right-still-waging-war-marriage-equality This week marks the 10th anniversary of Obergefell v. Hodges , the landmark Supreme Court ruling that guaranteed same-sex couples the right to marry nationwide. Though celebrated by the more than half a million people who have exercised that right… Fri, 27 Jun 2025 12:37:17 EDT Annie Wilkinson c856e51a-6d6f-4421-9640-52ecd31809c9 https://religiondispatches.org/2022/11/21/three-cheers-mormon-support-same-sex-legislation-not-so-fast Last week, the LDS Church formally came out in support of the federal Respect for Marriage Act (RFMA), a legislative initiative that would repeal the notorious Bill Clinton-era Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and compel all American states to honor… Mon, 21 Nov 2022 01:27:33 EST Chrissy Stroop 3d36242a-419b-49d8-b44a-286106c411b6 https://religiondispatches.org/2022/05/11/dont-buy-alitos-assurances-heres-what-happens-next-after-roe-falls The leaked first draft of Associate Justice Samuel Alito’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson has sent shockwaves throughout the American psyche. This is a stunning reversal of women’s rights that have been in place for half a century . It… Wed, 11 May 2022 03:34:55 EDT Brynn Tannehill 8f88195d-cde9-4218-bc3a-552870401275 https://religiondispatches.org/2021/09/23/could-supreme-court-undo-marriage-equality When I look at this broken, packed, partisan Supreme Court , I don’t see a guardian—I see a threat to our basic human rights. I see an institution packed with ideologues eager to throw out decades of settled law with… Thu, 23 Sep 2021 03:41:28 EDT Andrew L. Seidel 96dcb2d9-8a2e-4cd1-b96f-4fb396edfba4 https://religiondispatches.org/2017/12/07/dog-whistles-and-holes-masterpiece-cakeshop-arguments If nothing else, Tuesday’s oral arguments in the Masterpiece Cakeshop case make clear that the ghosts of the pre- Obergefell world—indeed of the world before the Court’s 2003 decision against sodomy laws in Lawrence v. Texas—are still with us. Whispers… Thu, 07 Dec 2017 12:22:45 EST Patrick Hornbeck 320a85e1-906f-4d22-b56d-14648a04462b https://religiondispatches.org/2017/12/05/what-masterpiece-cakeshop-oral-arguments-suggest-about-future-lgbt-discrimination The Supreme Court heard oral arguments this morning in Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, the case involving a Colorado baker, Jack Phillips, who for religious reasons refused to create a custom cake for a same-sex wedding reception. The… Tue, 05 Dec 2017 03:29:23 EST Patrick Hornbeck d9f3907b-2525-44e5-a4ab-56df3d911e0e https://religiondispatches.org/2017/12/01/what-justice-gorsuchs-record-suggests-about-masterpiece-cakeshop-case When the Supreme Court hears oral arguments December 5 in Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, it will be the first time the Court has taken up a major gay-rights case since its historic June 2015 ruling in Obergefell… Fri, 01 Dec 2017 12:20:54 EST Patrick Hornbeck 62c422a2-42bc-485a-b81b-12598b6c3710 https://religiondispatches.org/2017/07/05/will-texas-really-be-able-undermine-marriage-equality While most of us (including your faithful RD staffers) were prepping the grill for a long weekend celebrating this country’s problematic patriotism, the Texas Supreme Court on Friday issued an ominous anti-gay ruling that is positively stunning in its misreading… Wed, 05 Jul 2017 03:22:09 EDT Sunnivie Brydum 80d574a2-0dd5-406f-9118-83f4ae6fc708 https://religiondispatches.org/2016/07/07/same-sex-marriage-may-lead-polygamy-so-what Peter Sprigg, a Senior Fellow at the Family Research Council, recently published a predictable slippery-slope argument against same-sex marriage and polygamy in Religion News Service. Having legalized the one, the other will surely follow. And that is bad—very, very bad… Thu, 07 Jul 2016 03:50:11 EDT William E. Smith 99a52aad-b33f-43c7-92c2-357cc122a0d3 https://religiondispatches.org/2016/06/08/mississippi-religious-lib-law-violates-first-amendment-and-shuts-out-religious As I predicted after the first two lawsuits were filed against Mississippi’s House Bill 1523, a third suit now claims that the state’s outrageous new religious liberty law violates the First Amendment. A group of pastors, community leaders and activists… Wed, 08 Jun 2016 06:39:43 EDT Stephanie Russell-Kraft ffd0bf1a-d9be-4ad4-b134-003219eabdda https://religiondispatches.org/2016/05/16/excruciatingly-different-mississippi-religious-lib-law-specifies-beliefs The Mississippi “religious liberty” law that will soon allow public officials to refuse service to same-sex couples and transgender individuals was hit with two legal challenges last week, one by the ACLU and the other by the Campaign for Southern… Mon, 16 May 2016 05:22:23 EDT Stephanie Russell-Kraft 708b8b7e-84c7-45e7-beb2-ab2406acb7d9 https://religiondispatches.org/2015/10/19/god-hates-nags-why-gods-name-westboro-protesting-kim-davis Members of the infamously anti-gay Westboro Baptist Church (WBC) arrived in Morehead, Kentucky today to picket the Rowan County courthouse, workplace of Kim Davis, the county clerk and “religious liberty” martyr who rose to fame by refusing to issue marriage… Mon, 19 Oct 2015 12:21:13 EDT Rebecca Barrett-Fox ea08a479-b5f0-4802-b5ce-17278ede543d https://religiondispatches.org/2015/09/09/why-kim-davis-has-missed-her-moment Years ago, I remember Christian right leaders fretting about pastors going to jail if they expressed their anti-gay views; when that didn’t come to pass, they fretted about churches losing their tax-exempt status. These worst case scenarios never happened, because… Wed, 09 Sep 2015 04:39:37 EDT Sarah Posner 23fb23ae-b485-4dc1-9a33-6eddfb2f1ff6 https://religiondispatches.org/2015/09/01/kentucky-court-clerk-professing-apostolic-christian-questions-legal-authority Kim Davis, the Rowan County, Kentucky clerk who continues to refuse to issue marriage licenses to same sex couples despite the Supreme Court’s refusal to hear her case, says she is obeying “God’s authority,” not the authority of her employer… Tue, 01 Sep 2015 11:02:40 EDT Sarah Posner 3756ef66-f433-4efb-9750-e4bfb0ed1144 https://religiondispatches.org/2015/07/14/fake-gay-panic-news-fools-christians Christians are just too gullible. That’s the message from Ed Stetzer, writing at Christianity Today, about internet hoaxes masquerading as news that duped Christian readers who then shared them widely. Believing these stories, Stetzer wrote, and sharing them via social… Tue, 14 Jul 2015 04:08:02 EDT Sarah Posner 0a0c97c7-b2a0-42c1-b0dd-3ce0c8744bb1 https://religiondispatches.org/2015/07/07/uncertain-post-obergefell-world-religious-exemptions Today Americans United for the Separation of Church and State launched a new project, Protect Thy Neighbor, aimed, organizers said, at the overuse of religious exemptions in legislatures and the courts. The most immediate concerns of the project, launched less… Tue, 07 Jul 2015 02:43:06 EDT Sarah Posner 757d9362-173e-4d44-a244-5c092029fe92 https://religiondispatches.org/2015/07/01/theology-behind-alabama-officials-demand-flout-scotus AL.com reports that Win Johnson, the director of the legal staff of the Administrative Office of Courts in Alabama, which operates the state’s judiciary headed by Chief Justice Roy Moore, has written a letter to public officials calling upon them… Wed, 01 Jul 2015 02:05:13 EDT Sarah Posner 15a5bb37-8553-491a-b933-75060cdcbf9f https://religiondispatches.org/2015/06/26/marriage-decision-ode-love-and-four-provocations Today’s majority opinion in Obergefell v. Hodges, striking down state bans on same-sex marriage, is an ode to love—and the law. Authored by Justice Anthony Kennedy, who was joined by the Court’s four liberal justices, it’s also an homage to… Fri, 26 Jun 2015 02:01:47 EDT Sarah Posner b14c825b-ca2b-4b52-8d91-6ce3039c3e0d https://religiondispatches.org/2015/05/10/panic-over-churches-tax-exempt-status-gay-married-world A new worry in conservative circles has slowly gathered steam since the Supreme Court heard arguments in Obergefell v. Hodges, on whether the Constitution requires states to issue marriage licenses to and recognize the out-of-state marriages of same-sex couples. During… Sun, 10 May 2015 08:01:07 EDT Sarah Posner 8edd989f-5bb5-4738-9060-b5c107823db2