U.S.A.: Republicans block anti-marriage equality resolution in rare showing of LGBTQ+ solidarity

Republican-led states in the U.S.A. have adopted resolutions urging the Supreme Court to invalidate marriage equality. However, the LGBTQ+ community recently achieved a victory in South Dakota, where an anti-marriage equality resolution was essentially defeated.

According to ‘LGBTQ Nation’, the House Judiciary Committee in South Dakota voted 9-4 to refer the proposed resolution to the 41st Legislative Day, effectively marking the resolution’s demise since this day falls after the legislative session ends.

House Concurrent Resolution 6012 asserts that “marriage as an institution has been recognized as the union of one man and one woman for over 2,000 years and within common law, the foundation of the United States’ Anglo-American legal tradition, for more than 800 years.” It contends that the U.S.A. Supreme Court’s 2015 decision in Obergefell v. Hodges “arbitrarily and unjustly dismissed this definition of marriage in favor of a novel, flawed interpretation of key clauses within the Constitution of the United States and our nation’s legal and cultural precedents.”

Although the text clearly conveys anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment, Republican state Rep. Tony Randolph, who introduced the bill, has reportedly claimed it concerns protecting states’ rights rather than discriminating against LGBTQ+ individuals.

“Obergefell sets a dangerous precedent that erodes religious liberty and other constitutional protections,” Randolph remarked during the hearing, as reported by South Dakota news station KELO-TV. “It is our duty to reaffirm the principle that law should be made by the people, not imposed by a judicial decree.”

However, many Republican committee members did not share this view.

“There was nothing in this that requires the Catholic Church to perform [homosexual] marriages,” said Reisch. “Regarding the state’s role in issuing marriage licenses, I view it as a civil contract between two people entering a household, which does not affect me or my life, and I just cannot support [it].”

Republican Rep. Matt Roby stated that despite his concerns about marriage equality, this resolution amounted to nothing more than hate.

“If the court decides to overturn it, then so be it; we’ll be able to have the actual policy discussion about what is right and wrong in South Dakota,” Roby stated. “This resolution simply sends a message to people in South Dakota that they are second-class citizens and, due to the poor messaging, I will oppose this.”

This resolution is part of a broader trend among Republican-led states to intensify efforts to overturn marriage equality. In four other states—Idaho, Michigan, Montana, and North Dakota—Republican lawmakers have introduced resolutions urging the Supreme Court to overturn Obergefell. Idaho and North Dakota have seen these measures pass at least one chamber of their state legislatures.

Meanwhile, in Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Texas, Republican legislators have proposed bills to prioritise heterosexual marriages, introducing the concept of “covenant marriage,” which would be exclusive to heterosexual couples. The aim, according to the sponsor of an Oklahoma bill, is to create inequality in marriage rights and provoke a legal challenge that could reach the Supreme Court to overturn Obergefell.

Two Supreme Court justices have openly expressed a desire to overturn Obergefell, and the Court has become more conservative since 2015. Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Anthony Kennedy, and Stephen Breyer, all part of the Obergefell majority, have retired or passed away in the past decade, with only one being replaced by a Democratic president. It remains uncertain whether there are five votes needed on the Court to safeguard marriage equality should it face a test case.