On June 26, 2025, LGBTQ families and allies will celebrate the ten-year anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges, which cemented the national freedom to marry for same-sex couples across the country. The Court affirmed the fundamental freedom to marry for all; and stated that banning marriage is a violation of the equal protection clause under the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Since the historic win, the freedom to marry has brought assurance and security to millions of LGBTQ people and their families; and helped build understanding, empathy, dignity, and respect for the community.
Sarah Kate Ellis (she/her), President and CEO of GLAAD, the world’s largest LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer) media advocacy organization, released the following statement about the anniversary:
“A decade into marriage equality two things remain clear: The Obergefell decision helped protect families and strengthen communities across the country. And a majority of Americans continue to support the freedom to marry, because they understand that love is love, and we all deserve that freedom. In 2025, LGBTQ people, in particular transgender people, are up against threats to our freedom: right-wing disinformation, and threats and bans on lifesaving healthcare most acutely. Just as Obergefell helped Americans understand that love and families should not be up for debate, our identities, our right to feel safe walking down the street, and our ability to access healthcare should not be up for debate either. LGBTQ Americans, like all Americans, deserve a government that protects and values all people and all families equally, with no exceptions.”
Adam Polaski (he/him), Communications & Political Director at the Campaign for Southern Equality, said of the anniversary:Â
“Ten years ago today, laws on marriage for same-sex couples were finally settled — and over the past decade, Americans have moved on, with the decision becoming deeply ingrained in our country and culture. The freedom to marry has helped millions of Americans take care of each other, build stability, and plan for the future. Nowhere is that clearer than in the South, where hundreds of thousands of people are leading lives that are strengthened by the freedom to marry. As we celebrate this tenth anniversary, our team is proud to have been a part of this historic movement, and we will continue working toward the lived and legal equality of LGBTQ+ people all across the South.”
Data, numbers, and impact
- Support for marriage has consistently increased since 2015 among Americans of every background and is at a near-record high.
- 2025 polling by Gallup shows that more than 2/3rds of Americans (68%) support marriage for same-sex couples, a near-record high. Republican support in Gallup polling has reached the majority level twice, reaching 55% in 2021 and 2022; and is currently holding at 46% (compared to 83% of Democrats and 74% of Independents).
- A June 2025 poll released by Centerline Liberties and Project Right Side found that public support is strongly bipartisan; 56% of Republicans said they supported allowing same-sex couples to marry, and 63% of Republicans said they believe a person who supports same-sex couples marrying can still be considered a Republican.Â
- A 2025 survey by the Public Religion Research Institute also found that 67% of Americans support marriage for same-sex couples, including majorities in every single state and the District of Columbia. Importantly, there is even 63% support among people living in states with anti-marriage constitutional amendments on the books that would take effect if Obergefell were ever overturned.Â
- As of this month, Pew Research Center data shows that approximately 40 jurisdictions around the world now allow marriage for same-sex couples. This amounts to 1.34 billion people (nearly 18% of the global population) living in countries where same-sex couples have the freedom to marry.
- The Williams Institute of UCLA estimates that there are 823,000 married same-sex couples in the U.S., more than double the number of married same-sex couples in June 2015 when Obergefell was decided. These married same-sex couples are raising nearly 300,000 children.
- According to the Movement Advancement Project and the Campaign for Southern Equality, one in three LGBTQ people call the U.S. South their home; and more LGBTQ people are raising families in the South than anywhere else in the country.
- In June 2025, the Williams Institute released an analysis which estimated that from 2015 through 2025, the total nationwide spending on weddings between same-sex couples reached $5.9 billion.Â
History and current legal and political landscape
- In 2022, Congress passed the Respect for Marriage Act, with dozens of Republicans joining Democrats in bipartisan support for the legislation. The bill repealed the discriminatory Defense of Marriage Act and ensures that legally married same-sex and interracial couples are entitled to the same protections and recognition from the federal government as all other married couples; and that those marriages will be respected in other states regardless of where a married couple lives or travels. The legislation guarantees more than 1,100 protections on the federal level that help keep families together, from spousal benefits to hospital visitation rights to acknowledgment on death certificates and more.
- The Respect for Marriage Act ensures that no matter what happens at the U.S. Supreme Court, protections remain in place for legally married same-sex couples; and legal marriages conducted in any state must be respected by all other states.
- In the November 2025 election, voters enshrined marriage equality and/or permanently erased anti-marriage statutes in Colorado, California and Hawaii – proving that when the question of marriage equality is brought to voters, Americans are on our side not only in polling, but in practice at the ballot.
- GLAAD’s Accountability Project counts more than 260 anti-LGBTQ statements and actions by the Trump administration.
- Trump nominated three anti-LGBTQ justices to the U.S. Supreme Court who went on to vote to overturn Roe v. Wade in a decision that was backed by Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, who said the landmark LGBTQ equality decisions Obergefell (marriage equality), Lawrence (private same-sex relationships), and Griswold (private decisions about contraception) should also be “reconsidered.” Justice Thomas and Justice Samuel Alito also issued a formal rebuke of Obergefell on the Court’s opening day in October 2020.
While there is not currently a marriage case pending before the U.S. Supreme Court, LGBTQ advocates are closely awaiting decisions in cases that will impact our lives, most notably in Mahmoud v. Taylor (on the constitutionality of banning books with LGBTQ characters or themes in classrooms) and Kennedy v. Braidwood Management Inc. (on access to preventive health care, including HIV medication), which could have sweeping implications on LGBTQ people and all Americans. (Just last week, the Supreme Court issued a ruling in U.S. v. Skrmetti on the constitutionality of banning hormone medications for transgender youth that are still available for cisgender youth, allowing such a ban in Tennessee to remain in place.)
