Kim Davis Asks Supreme Court to End Marriage Equality
The former Kentucky clerk -- and anti-LGBTQ culture warrior -- who went to jail rather than issue licenses to same-sex couples is now targeting the landmark 2015 ruling.
A decade after catapulting to right-wing stardom, Kim Davis — the former Rowan County, Kentucky county clerk who chose jail over issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples — has petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn its landmark 2015 decision that legalized marriage equality nationwide.
Represented by the anti-LGBTQ Liberty Counsel, Davis has formally asked the nation’s highest court to strip away the right of same-sex couples to marry.
A Mike Huckabee acolyte and four-time married fundamentalist zealot, Davis rose to fame in 2015 when she refused to issue marriage licenses to any couple — gay or straight — after the Supreme Court’s Obergefell v. Hodges decision struck down all state-level bans on same-sex marriage, including Kentucky’s. Ordered to comply, she instead spent six days in jail for contempt of court.
The couples she turned away sued, and a federal judge found her liable for monetary damages to one of the gay couples. Rather than pay, her attorneys appealed the rulings — and aimed their challenge squarely at the Obergefell decision she has long despised.
Calling the June 2015 decision “egregiously wrong” and “deeply damaging,” Davis’ attorney Matthew Staver cited Chief Justice John Roberts’ comments from the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade.
In his writ of certiorari, Staver argued the June 2015 ruling was “far outside the bound of any reasonable interpretation of the various constitutional provisions to which it vaguely pointed,” urging the Court to overturn its own precedent.
Davis’ push to reverse the landmark marriage equality case follows Justice Clarence Thomas’s concurring opinion in Dobbs, in which he urged the Court to “reconsider all of this Court’s substantive due process precedents.”
Still, before LGBTQ advocates sound the alarm, legal experts say the court is highly unlikely to overturn the June 2015 ruling — or even hear Davis’s case.
“The current supermajority on the Supreme Court has the votes to reshape American law how they see fit, but the Court still needs to appear legitimate in the eyes of the public,” Northwestern University law professor Daniel Urma told Newsweek. “Overturning the right to same-sex marriage could spark tremendous public backlash and criticism of the Court. Chief Justice Roberts would work very hard to avoid this, and I don’t see more than two votes [Justices Samuel Alito and Thomas] to overturn Obergefell.”
Beyond that, the core of Davis’s current legal battle is whether she must pay damages to one of the same-sex couples she refused to serve — not whether same-sex marriage violates her personal religious beliefs.
Although Urma’s prediction may let marriage equality supporters breathe easier, Davis’s request underscores that opponents remain determined to outlaw it again. Whether brought by Davis or someone else, a future lawsuit challenging the 2015 ruling on First Amendment grounds will keep the assault on marital rights alive.
Mindful of potential future challenges, some activists are working to safeguard marriage equality at the state level by enshrining it into law.
In Ohio, for instance, as Metro Weekly has reported, grassroots group Equal Rights Ohio is collecting signatures for two constitutional amendments on next year’s ballot. One would remove a provision in the state constitution that bars same-sex couples from marrying.
This past June marked ten years since the Supreme Court made marriage equality the law of the land. But as the LGBTQ community faces ongoing assaults on civil rights from figures like Davis, activists are preparing for the next political battles.
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New York City has opened Ace's Place, its first shelter dedicated specifically to serving transgender and gender-nonconforming people experiencing homelessness. Operated in partnership with the Bronx-based LGBTQ nonprofit Destination Tomorrow, the 150-bed facility in Long Island City, Queens, will provide transitional housing and wraparound support services for residents.
Fully funded by the city for now, Ace's Place will receive $65 million to remain operational through 2030. In addition to housing, the shelter will offer on-site psychiatric care, medical referrals, culinary and GED classes, job training, financial literacy and life skills workshops, counseling, and other comprehensive services. Destination Tomorrow will manage day-to-day operations.
St. Agatha Catholic School, a Portland-based Catholic school serving grades pre-K through 8, is facing backlash from some parents after rescinding an offer of enrollment to the children of a same-sex couple at the direction of the Rev. Father Luan Tran, pastor of the affiliated St. Agatha Catholic Church.
The family -- who requested anonymity out of concern for their safety -- applied to enroll their children last May, even arranging for one child to "shadow" a student for a day. They informed the school of their family situation.
Graeme Reid will continue as the U.N.'s expert on LGBT rights for another three years, as 29 nations back the mandate despite opposition from China, Pakistan, and others.
The U.N. Human Rights Council has voted to extend the mandate of its LGBT rights expert, ensuring continued global oversight of anti-LGBTQ human rights violations for another three years.
Under the mandate, the U.N.'s Independent Expert on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity is tasked with identifying the root causes of anti-LGBTQ violence and discrimination, and advising U.N. member states on how to better protect LGBTQ communities.
The current independent expert, South African scholar Graeme Reid, will continue in the role for another three years. Reid is the third person to hold the position since it was established in 2016.
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