Obergefell was the main plaintiff Obergefell v. Hodgesthe landmark case of the Supreme Court of 2015 which introduced same-sex marriage as a constitutional right in the United States But with the fall of Roe vs. WadeProponents of her case have been working to make the actual transcript of this statement available online. “I’m just worried that marriage and LGBTQ rights in general are in jeopardy, as if we’re seeing the rights of pregnant women and women being taken away,” Obergefell told As It Happens guest presenter Ginella Massa. Obergefell is currently a Democratic nominee for the Ohio State House of Representatives.

What has abortion got to do with marriage equality?

In 1973, Roe v. Wade introduced abortion as a constitutional right in the United States. Abolishing last week, the court noted that the US Constitution, as it was written, does not provide such a right and that the right to abortion “is not deeply rooted in the history and tradition of the Nation.“ This reasoning has led civil rights advocates and legal scholars to worry about other rights that have been established in recent decades but have never been explicitly mentioned by the Founders. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito sought to allay those concerns. In the majority of the court that overturned Roe, he wrote: “Nothing in this opinion should be understood to raise doubts about a history of abortion.” But those words do little to reassure Obergefell and others.
“I do not buy it at all,” Lawrence Gostin, a professor of medicine at Georgetown University and director of the School of National and Global Health Law, told the Associated Press. “It really is a lot more extreme than the judges do.” Jason Pearson, a political scientist at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, agreed that it was unlikely the Conservative majority court would stop the abortion. “They are sending signals to the conservative legal movement, which has great momentum at the moment because of this victory, to continue and continue to bring them cases for the next several years that will give them opportunities to move forward,” he said. Members and supporters of Planned Parenthood lead the Pride 2022 parade in New York. (Brendan McDermid / Reuters) Critics of the ruling point to the dissenting opinion of Judge Clarence Thomas, who said the court should reconsider other precedents, including the Obergefell case, a 2003 ruling that repeals laws criminalizing gay sex, and a 1965 ruling that states that married couples have the right to use contraception. “This is a scary thing we read from a Supreme Court justice,” Obergefell said. “It infuriates me that there are still people in this nation, including a Supreme Court justice, who are strongly opposed to LGBTQ equality and our right to be legally and publicly committed to the person we love most, and our right to have a family, and to have these relationships and these families protected and respected by our government. “ In fact, advocates say attacks on LGBTQ rights and contraception have already begun. There has been a sharp rise in anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and legislation in the US, including The so-called Don’t Say Gay Law of Floridathe the dozens of Republican state bills targeting trans young people. In addition, lawmakers in Idaho and Missouri last year discussed banning state funding for emergency contraception, and Idaho is blocking public schools or universities from dispersing it. “It’s all interconnected, because at its core, birth control and abortion are both types of health care that help people have physical autonomy,” said Mara Gandal-Powers, director of birth control for National Women’s Law Center, which supports abortion rights. he told the Associated Press.

A life-changing experience in the pursuit of “vital” rights

As he watches the news unfold, Obergefell says he simply does not understand “why people can not just be decent and accept the fact that there are people who are different and we all deserve the same human and political rights.” For him, these rights are deeply personal. He spent years in and out of court fighting to have his marriage – and same-sex couples across the country – recognized and protected. It was a journey he began with his late husband, John Arthur. The couple were legally married in Maryland in 2013, but their home state, Ohio, refused to recognize the marriage. At the time, Arthur was terminally ill with ALS and the state did not list Obergefell as his surviving spouse on his death certificate. Arthur died later that year and Obergefel devoted himself full-time to the struggle for marriage equality, culminating in his victory in the Supreme Court in 2015. Obergefell holds a photo of John Arthur’s late husband as he speaks to members of the media following the US Supreme Court ruling on gay marriage on June 26, 2015. (Alex Wong / Getty Images) “To be able to use the word ‘husband’ and to mean that something legal was so vital to us, especially as John’s life was coming to an end. And I have to tell you that we used that word hundreds of times a day in “Most of the words that came out of our mouths included the word husband, because I felt great to see her and know that she meant something,” Obergefel said. “And for me to be able to call myself John’s widow and know that it means something legal, but also something personal.” It surpasses the staff. “Being part of something that really made a difference and made the world a better place, that had such a significant and positive impact on people across our country and especially on the younger generations, changed me,” he said. “I have to keep fighting to do the right thing. I have to keep fighting to make things better.” That is why, he says, he is claiming the office. “When it comes to rights like marriage, we have to rely on and demand from our state legislatures to act to protect those rights that we enjoyed, relied on and that, unfortunately for pregnant women, have now been lost. ,” he said. “We have to turn to the state legislatures to protect it if the United States Congress does not.” Written by Sheena Goodyear with archives from the Associated Press. Interview with Jim Obergefell produced by Chris Trowbridge.