On Tuesday, Tennessee lawmakers approved — without debate — a resolution expressing “disagreement with the constitutional analysis” of Obergefell v. Hodges, the case that legalized marriage equality nationwide. The measure now passes out of committee and heads to the full House of Representatives for consideration.
Although the resolution is only symbolic, it allows Tennessee lawmakers to express their distaste for the Supreme Court’s decision and for same-sex marriage in general.
“Though only symbolic, the House Civil Justice Committee’s shameful vote to encourage defiance of the highest court in the United States is a slap in the face to loving and committed same-sex couples all over the Volunteer State,” Sarah Warbelow, the legal director of the Human Rights Campaign, said in a statement. “Lawmakers should be using their time and resources to help all families, but instead have prioritized harmful attacks on LGBT Tennesseans. We urge elected officials in the House to reject this mean-spirited resolution that serves absolutely no legitimate purpose.”
Tennessee lawmakers had previously considered a bill known as the Tennessee Natural Marriage Defense Act, which was defeated earlier this session. That bill would have required state officials to “defend natural marriage as between one man and one woman,” as defined by voters in their 2006 constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage and other relationships. It also would have required the state attorney general to defend any state or local official who refuses to recognize same-sex marriages. Opponents have pointed to that provision by drawing parallels to the situation faced by Kentucky Clerk Kim Davis, who went to jail last year rather than allow her deputies to issue same-sex marriage licenses.
Multiple counties around the state have also been pushing resolutions calling on the legislature to defy the Supreme Court’s decision in Obergefell. Those behind the resolutions, namely the Family Action Council of Tennessee (FACT), hope to push such measures in at least 38 of 50 states with the intent of calling for a constitutional convention to overturn the court’s ruling and permanently ban same-sex marriage in the U.S. Constitution.
“HJR 529 sends a message that Tennessee’s Legislature would disrupt the marriages of thousands of LGBT people in our state if they could,” Chris Sanders, executive director of the Tennessee Equality Project, said in a statement. “Though without the force of the law, the resolution is a painful reminder of how strong the will to discriminate is and of the challenges we must overcome.”
With Obergefell at risk and 32 states poised to restrict same-sex marriage, LGBTQ advocates push to enshrine protections at the state level.
By Maximilian Sandefer
August 6, 2025
On June 22, 2022, the Supreme Court issued a landmark decision with Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization. Abortion rights were now no longer guaranteed nationwide as the issue was left up to the states. This shock reversal of over 49 years of precedent left reproductive rights activists scrambling as anti-choice state laws stemming from as far back as 1864 were revived and reinstituted.
As people's ability to access to reproductive care dwindled in conservative-led states, activists also found their footing. The 2024 election saw abortion rights ballot measures win in seven out of ten states. As we navigate a landscape where it will likely be a long time before we see any form of successful federal legislation protecting a woman's right to choose, state-by-state activism seems to be the driving force behind change.
A new Pew Research Center survey finds that 59% of LGBTQ U.S. adults under age 50 who have never been married say they want to marry someday -- nearly the same as the 63% of non-LGBTQ adults who do. About 12% of each group say they never want to marry, while more than one-quarter are unsure of their future marriage plans.
By age, younger Americans who have never been married are more eager to wed than older peers, who are less certain and more doubtful about ever marrying.
Among those aged 18 to 29 who have never married, 67% of LGBTQ adults and 73% of non-LGBTQ adults say they want to marry someday. By contrast, just 48% of LGBTQ adults and 49% of non-LGBTQ adults aged 30 to 49 say the same, with nearly one-third in each group unsure.
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.
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