On Monday, November 10th, the Supreme Court denied the efforts to overturn same-sex marriage in the United States.
Kim Davis, a former county clerk in Kentucky, filed an appeal after being sued in 2015 because she wouldn’t issue a marriage license to a gay couple. Her original appeal was rejected because her opposition to same-sex marriage was strictly religion based. The original court case is called Obergefell v. Hodges and it was ruled on June 26, 2015.
Now a decade later, Kim Davis’ new appeal has caused panic for LGBTQ+ people everywhere as they fear for their future with their partners. It has only been 10 years since same-sec marriage was legalized in the United States, and with this appeal, it could’ve been removed again. Kim Davis wasn’t the only one to challenge the same-sex marriage rights.
In 2025, nine U.S. states have attempted to challenge the gay marriage laws. This case seems to be very controversial, but not just among LGBTQ+ people. The Supreme Court consists of mostly conservatives, yet the case was denied. Last month, Justice Samuel Alito, who authored the abortion hearing, stated that he did not want Obergefell to be overturned.
Davis believes that she has the right to refuse any same-sex couple who comes to her for marriage licenses. She says that she has the religious right to not put her name on same-sex marriage licenses. After refusing to issue a license to David Moore and David Ernold, she was sent to jail for six days.
