On June 26, 2015, the Supreme Court handed down its decision in the case of Obergefell v. Hodges—the case that forced all states to acknowledge, facilitate and conduct homosexual “marriages.” To its supporters, and many of its opponents, the Supreme Court’s decision appeared final. The Rubicon had been crossed. The Court had spoken, and the issue was, therefore, settled.
Today, the defenders of the Obergefell decision are not so sure. Strong forces inside the cultural and moral right are organizing a new movement against same-sex “marriage that is gaining some traction.
Greater Than…
The left has seen this script before. Decades ago, the pro-life movement mobilized against “settled law” on abortion. It seems the traditional marriage supporters are repeating the lessons learned.
Hence, a new coalition has arisen called “Greater Than.” It is a consortium of forty-seven established groups. These include Catholic Vote, Focus on the Family, The Family Research Council, the American Family Association, The Ruth Institute and nineteen statewide organizations.
A sentence from its press release explains the group’s goals and the unusual name. “The Greater Than campaign believes that children are greater than adult identities, ideologies, and the 2015 redefinition of marriage in Obergefell v. Hodges.”
Greater Than’s founder, president and primary spokesperson is Katy Faust. Mrs. Faust is the author of three books: Them Before Us: Why We Need a Global Children’s Rights Movement, Raising Conservative Kids in a Woke City and Pro-Child Politics. She is a plain-spoken woman with a talent for raising the ire of her opponents. The “Global Project Against Hate and Extremism” (GPAHE) lashed out against her in a 2,800+ word article about Greater Than.
Goals and Strategy
The motivating issue behind Greater Than concerns the natural and legal rights of children, specifically the right to have a mother and a father. Until the mid-twentieth century, this condition was so obvious that no government needed to establish it in law. However, over the last eighty years, those rights have steadily eroded. That deterioration accompanied the passage of laws allowing “no fault” divorce, cohabitation, contraception, abortion and, most recently, “same-sex marriage.” Under the Obergefell decision, states enable homosexual couples to adopt children under the same laws that apply to traditional married couples. All of these changes adversely affected children, and yet children have no voice in preventing or correcting them.
Greater Than’s website contrasts this anti-child legal process with the organization’s goal. “In today’s society, children are often treated as secondary—spoken for, negotiated over, or reshaped to serve adult priorities. Greater Than works from a different premise: children’s rights should not be overridden by adult feelings or desires.” (Emphasis in the original.)
One of Greater Than’s focuses is activism in the states. Its nineteen “state allies” are crucial to its strategy to overturn Obergefell.
Marriage and adoption laws are primarily in the hands of the states. Therefore, such organizations are well-positioned to identify cases in which the Obergefell decision has harmed individual children. They can help steer these cases through the courts of their states. Only one case, if it is the right case, could cause the complete overturn of Obergefell, much as Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization (a Texas case) helped overturn the disastrous abortion case, Roe v. Wade.
Signaling a Right Turn
The activism of Greater Than comes at a time when attitudes toward homosexuality are changing. The pro-homosexual movement is losing support in the general population.
In a recent article titled “Americans Are Turning Against Gay People,” The New York Times presented three surprising admissions. First, that Americans in general are growing increasingly contrary to the homosexual agenda. Second, that loss of support is most significant among the young and liberals. The third disclosure is the most remarkable—their anointed house experts cannot provide a reason for the change.
The authors are two research psychologists. Their specialties are “bias and political partisanship.” They are not new to the subject. Their previous work noted that during the years from 2000 to 2020, such “biases” decreased sharply. At the time, one of the authors noted that, “There is still a slight preference for straightness over gayness, but it is getting very close to zero.” Such predictions delighted radical leftists.
However, the ink was no sooner dry on these prognostications than the social trends began to reverse. Survey responses taken from 2021 to 2024 showed that movement in favor of homosexuality had not only stopped, but it had also begun to reverse. For example, Republican support for homosexual “marriage” dropped to 41 percent in the most recent Gallup poll—its lowest since 2016, and a 14-point fall from the 2021 peak.
“In just four years,” the article relates, “anti-gay bias rose by around 10 percent.” Even more surprising—given the popular idea that the young are more liberal than their elders—”these trends were distinctly robust among the youngest American adults—those under 25.”
Will the Supreme Court Reverse Obergefell?
Obergefell’s supporters have another severe weakness. The Court is shifting. A 5-4 margin decided the case; however, most of the supporters are no longer on the Court. The author of the decision, Justice Anthony Kennedy, retired in 2018. His colleague, Stephen Breyer, retired in 2022. The longtime liberal standard-bearer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, died in 2020. Of the quintet, only two—Justices Kagan and Sotomayor remain.
On the other hand, three of the four dissenters, Chief Justice Roberts, Justice Alito and Justice Thomas, still sit on the Court. Of the four justices appointed since the Obergefell decision, Court observers peg three as conservatives, and only one as a liberal. Such numbers, in and of themselves, may indicate the likely overturn of Obergefell.
Therefore, overturning Obergefell is very possible. Given the right case at the right time, Obergefell will expire as ignominiously as Roe. That possibility gives many strident leftists nightmares, as well it should.
Photo Credit: © Andrii Lysenko – stock.adobe.com
First published on TFP.org.