Plaintiff Jim Obergefell holds a photograph of his late husband John Arthur as he speaks to members of the media after the U.S. Supreme Courtroom handed down a ruling concerning same-sex marriage June 26, 2015 exterior the Supreme Courtroom in Washington, DC. The excessive court docket dominated that same-sex {couples} have the fitting to marry in all 50 states.
Alex Wong/Getty Photos North America
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Alex Wong/Getty Photos North America
Jim Obergefell’s husband, John Arthur, did not stay to see the day when same-sex marriage was authorized and acknowledged in all 50 states.
But, Arthur performed a key function in making it occur.
“John deserved to die a married man,” Obergefell, the plaintiff in a landmark Supreme Courtroom determination that legalized same-sex marriage, mentioned in an interview with Morning Version’s Leila Fadel.
At this time marks the 10-year anniversary of the Supreme Courtroom handing down its Obergefell vs. Hodges ruling that states couldn’t deny marriage to same-sex {couples} like Obergefell and Arthur.
Arthur had been identified with ALS, or Lou Gerigh’s illness, two years prior. Obergefell and Arthur, who had been collectively for over 20 years, by no means believed they might get married, however in 2013, when the Supreme Courtroom partially struck down the federal Protection of Marriage Act, the 2 realized that would change.
“We had talked about marriage early on in our relationship again within the mid-’90s, however we lastly had this chance to get married and to have the federal authorities acknowledge us,” Obergefell mentioned.
By then, Arthur may not stroll or transfer most of his physique, which made it tough for them to journey to a state the place same-sex marriage was authorized. So family and friends donated over $10,000 for a medically geared up aircraft to get the couple to Maryland to be married on the tarmac of the Baltimore Washington Worldwide airport.
“For the previous 20 years, 6 months and 11 days, it has been love at each sight” Obergefell mentioned throughout their marriage vows.
The 2013 United States v. Windsor ruling solely required the federal authorities to acknowledge identical intercourse marriage performed by states and allowed states to refuse to acknowledge same-sex marriages. That meant that whereas the federal authorities acknowledged Arthur and Obergefell’s marriage, their house state of Ohio, did not acknowledge their Maryland marriage.
Obergefell mentioned how his authorized struggle for marriage equality started, the way forward for LGTBQ+ rights in the USA, and mirrored on the 10-year anniversary of Obergefell v. Hodges.
This interview has been edited for size and readability.
Interview highlights
Leila Fadel: When the nation lastly acknowledged homosexual marriage, what was that like for you and for thus many Individuals?
Jim Obergefell: You realize, it was this second of, wait, we exist. We’re seen by our nation’s highest court docket and {our relationships}, our marriages, our households can truly exist on an equal footing with others.
Fadel: For individuals who do not know your story, why did you’re taking up this struggle all these years in the past?
Obergefell: This struggle is not one thing I ever dreamt I’d do. Nevertheless it’s stunning what you’re keen to do and the place you’ll find the motivation and the braveness to do one thing. John, my accomplice of virtually 21 years, was dying of ALS, and it wasn’t till the Supreme Courtroom struck down the Federal Protection of Marriage Act with their determination in United States vs. Windsor, that we lastly had this chance to get married. And that is what we did.
All we wished to do was spend John’s remaining days as husband and husband. However then as a result of a neighborhood civil rights legal professional in Cincinnati heard our story, he reached out and mentioned, I want to meet. And in that assembly, he pulled out a clean Ohio dying certificates and mentioned, “Do you guys perceive? Do you get it when John dies? His final document as an Ohioan, his final official document as an individual might be mistaken as a result of your phrase says marital standing at time of dying. Ohio will say he was single. And Jim, your title will not be listed as his surviving partner.”
A reveler holds an indication in help of homosexual marriage plaintiff Jim Obergefell through the Cincinnati Delight parade, Saturday, June 27, 2015.
John Minchillo/AP
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John Minchillo/AP
Fadel: And that is since you had been solely married in Maryland the place the state acknowledged it.
Obergefell: Appropriate. However we had been lawfully married in Maryland. And we need to have our marriage acknowledged by the state we referred to as house. John deserved to die a married man. We merely wished dignity. And that is what motivated us to say, sure, let’s struggle the state of Ohio. And that is what led to that submitting in federal district court docket. And that is what took me all the best way to the Supreme Courtroom. We wished to exist.
Fadel: And right this moment, within the court docket of public opinion, I imply, LGBTQ+ marriages are accepted. They’re a part of life now. It has been 10 years since that case. What has modified in that decade?
Obergefell: Effectively, you realize, I really like that it has modified from that perspective. A majority of Individuals help marriage equality. And I really like the truth that there are queer children. Over the previous 10 years, they’ve grown up in a world the place the one future they see contains the fitting to marry the particular person they love it doesn’t matter what occurs. And, you realize, there are different issues occurring in our nation that are not so great for the queer group.
Fadel: I need to speak about that. We’re additionally in a second through which loads of rights teams, LGBTQIA+ communities are fearful concerning the rollback of the very rights that you just fought for. The administration has focused LGBTQI+ companies and monuments, like cancelling the LGBTQ+ service hotline, eradicating Harvey Milk’s title from a ship. There are state legislations and battles over laws round gender affirming take care of transgender youth and whether or not that must be banned or not. There are faculties banning books typically associated to race, racism, LGBTQ+ communities. What’s it like to have a look at that? As you concentrate on this anniversary.
Obergefell: In a single phrase, it is terrifying to see all of those assaults on the queer group, particularly essentially the most marginalized and essentially the most weak a part of our group, the trans group. These are individuals who need nothing greater than to be authentically who they’re and to have the ability to stay their life with out apology and with out worry. However the whole queer group and actually, all marginalized communities are underneath assault underneath this administration. So it’s terrifying. There are moments I am extremely scared about what the long run holds. However then I remind myself, we’ve got been by means of this stuff earlier than. We have been by means of worse instances as a group and what have we accomplished? Now we have at all times raised our voices to say we exist, we’re right here. We’re not going to place up with that. And that is what we are going to hold doing. However I do know today there’s simply the added worry, as a result of up to now once we stood up, you realize, the folks at Stonewall, all of these folks up to now who stood up, they had been doing that to realize rights. And what we’re experiencing now, what we’re going through now could be the probability of shedding rights that we’ve got gained over the previous. And that makes this simply a way more fraught time for our group, as a result of it is not like we’re simply preventing to realize rights. We’re preventing to keep up and maintain on to the rights we’ve got gained over the many years.
An individual holds an indication throughout a pro-transgender rights protest exterior of Seattle Kids’s Hospital after the establishment postponed some gender-affirming surgical procedures for minors following an government order by President Donald Trump, Sunday, Feb. 9, 2025, in Seattle.
Lindsey Wasson/AP
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Lindsey Wasson/AP
Fadel: Ten years. Whenever you sit on this anniversary. What goes by means of your thoughts right this moment?
Obergefell: You realize, in fact, I take into consideration my late husband, John, and I want that we had had greater than three months as husband and husband. I want that we had any time collectively as a pair the place we may know that our state or our authorities, the federal authorities, wasn’t attempting to erase our existence. So I at all times consider John.
I additionally take into consideration this younger girl on the College of Tennessee who instructed me that if it weren’t for marriage equality, if it weren’t for a lawsuit, if it weren’t for a Supreme Courtroom determination, she would have dedicated suicide. And the truth that this one particular person instructed me that I do know there are others who felt the identical method, however she discovered a purpose to not take her personal life. She discovered a purpose to maintain residing as a result of she lastly, as a closeted queer child, noticed a future that included her. So that is what I take into consideration consistently. It jogs my memory of simply how necessary and significant this determination is and the hope that it offers to folks. And I simply hold shifting ahead realizing that every one we will do is use our voices and work arduous to be included with the folks.
This digital article was edited by Obed Manuel. The radio model was edited by Lisa Thomson.
