Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs Michigan’s first openly gay state senator, Jeremy Moss, a Democrat, warned Thursday that newly introduced legislation seeking to overturn the Supreme Court ruling protecting same-sex marriage, though legally unenforceable, “underscores that we have to prepare for the worst,” and the possibility of the top court reversing the decision.Newsweek has reached out to Moss for comment via email on Thursday.Why It MattersRepublican lawmakers in several states have introduced various measures encouraging the Supreme Court to strike down Obergefell v. Hodges, the landmark 2015 decision that established the nationwide right to same-sex marriage. Conservative Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito have signaled in a court dissent that the case should be reconsidered.A majority of Americans support same-sex marriage, though a 2024 Gallup poll found Republicans are less likely to back it than Democrats.What To Know In an opinion article in the Detroit Free Press, Moss called a new resolution by Michigan GOP Representative Josh Schriver “a statement of the values of Schriver and his co-sponsors,” of which there are six.On Tuesday, Schriver introduced a resolution condemning the Supreme Court’s decision in Obergefell, saying it is “at odds with the Constitution of the United States and the principles upon which the United States is established.”He told Newsweek that his “resolution condemning the decision is a step toward overturning it. Same ballpark. People get the picture.”The resolution also states that “Obergefell invokes a definition of ‘liberty’ that the Framers of the founding documents of the United States would not have recognized, rejecting the ideas captured in the Declaration of Independence that human dignity is innate and, instead, suggesting that it comes from the government.”Over the past decade, some people and legislators have protested Obergefell and its enshrinement of same-sex marriage rights.
Protesters rally in front of the Supreme Court as it hears arguments on whether gay and transgender people are covered by a federal law barring employment discrimination on the basis of sex on Tuesday, October…
Protesters rally in front of the Supreme Court as it hears arguments on whether gay and transgender people are covered by a federal law barring employment discrimination on the basis of sex on Tuesday, October 8, 2019.
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Resolutions explicitly calling for the Supreme Court to reverse the decision in Obergefell have been introduced in Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota, as well as in Idaho.Since the Supreme Court’s 5-4 ruling, it has shifted to a more conservative majority after President Donald Trump appointed three justices during his first term. The court has also overturned previous decisions, doing so most notably in 2022 with abortion rights established in the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling in 1973.However, same-sex marriage rights were bolstered in late 2022 when Congress passed, and President Joe Biden signed into law, the Respect for Marriage Act. The law “requires that interracial and same-sex marriage must be recognized as legal in every state in the nation,” the president said.Moss argued that Schriver’s legislation “could lead to a political movement to bring a case to overturn it [same-sex marriage] before a now-more-conservative Supreme Court.” He called for a “public-led ballot proposal to repeal the 2004 Michigan Marriage Amendment and protect marriage equality.” The now defunct amendment made it unconstitutional for the midwestern state to recognize or perform same-sex marriages or civil unions.If Obergefell was overturned, the state “would snap back to the language in our state Constitution banning same-sex unions,” Moss explained. In order to prevent this, he is calling to repeal this language, either through sufficient signatures or two-thirds votes from each chamber to put it on the ballot.He stressed the urgency of the matter, saying Michiganders should act “before it’s too late.”A 2024 Gallup poll found that 69 percent of Americans support legal same-sex marriage, with more support among Democrats than Republicans. It found that 83 percent of Democrats support same-sex marriage, 74 percent of independents, and 46 percent of Republicans.
What People Are SayingMichigan Representative Josh Schriver said about Obergefell decision in a press conference on Tuesday: “[The decision] defaced the definition of marriage, undermined our God-given rights, increased persecution of Christians and confused the American family structure.”Michigan Senator Jeremy Moss said in an X post on Thursday: “You’ve all seen the buffoons in the MI House attack marriage equality. If Obergefell is overturned, MI snaps back to the ban in our constitution and no new same-sex marriages would be licensed. We must repeal this language.”Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, said in a video posted on X on Tuesday: “In Michigan, everyone has the freedom to marry who they love. It’s not only the law of the land, it’s a nonnegotiable.”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.'”We’ve fought a long, hard fight to win marriage equality and we will always protect our family, our friends and neighbors from hateful attacks.”Idaho Representative Heather Scott, a Republican, said at a January hearing, per The Idaho Stateman: “The purpose of this resolution is just to affirm our state authority to regulate marriage.”Idaho House Minority Leader Ilana Rubel, a Democrat, previously told Newsweek: “The Supreme Court wisely recognized in the Obergefell decision that our Constitution guarantees the freedom to marry the person you love, and that fundamental right should not be subject to the anti-LGBTQ biases of a state legislature. The partner you choose is not the government’s choice nor should it be. GOP politicians must get out of the business of persecuting their own citizens.”Mat Staver, chairman of the conservative Christian ministry Liberty Counsel, said in a video last week: “There is no so-called constitutional right in the Constitution to same-sex marriage, that’s ridiculous.” He said that, “it’s not an if, it’s just a matter of when” Obergefell will be overruled.What Happens Next?Schriver’s bill is assigned to the House Government Operations Committee. It needs to pass through the committee before being voted on by the lower chamber. In order to become law it would then need to pass the Senate and be signed by the Governor.
