To know all sides of an issue, it’s important to know and be able to debate an issue with respect. So it should be no surprise that some of my friends are Republicans and others are conservatives. It’s important to know how they view an issue that affects us in order to counter that position.
With that in mind, I received a text this week from a good friend who is a Republican and who is totally in support of marriage equality. He sent me a link to an article from USA Today by another Republican who I also know, CNN commentator David Urban.
Urban’s commentary in USA Today was titled “Marriage equality isn’t in danger, but Democrats need you to stay afraid.”
I disagree completely and wrote my good friend the following:
“I know and respect David, and I genuinely hope his opinion on this matter proves true. However, his confidence rests on one assumption — that marriage equality is permanently ‘baked into the fabric of America’ through both settled law and public opinion. So was Roe v. Wade. It’s worth noting that the same two justices who led the campaign to overturn Roe are now signaling interest in revisiting marriage equality.
“There are also possible rulings that could limit marriage equality without entirely overturning it — for example, allowing existing same-sex marriages to remain valid while preventing new ones, or by ruling, as they did in Roe, that marriage should be left to individual states to decide. Even though such reasoning contradicts long-established constitutional principles like ‘truth in lending,’ it shows that what’s considered ‘settled law’ is never truly immune from reversal.” Especially from this court.
The reason for this discussion is that the Supreme Court is considering taking up a case from Kim Davis, the county clerk in Kentucky who refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples on religious grounds. She took her case to the courts and now has petitioned the Supreme Court to take it up and rule on it. Most court experts believe that the court won’t take the case, but as with everything about this court, it is just a prediction. Even if they don’t take this case, is there another that they might feel has more substance? Conservatives have assured that there are other cases now making their way to the Supreme Court.
Urban’s headline is a note to Democrats, but my belief — based on his numbers of Republican support for marriage equality — is that Republicans and Democrats who support marriage equality should be alarmed that the court is even considering a case that could limit or curtail current marriages or eliminate future marriages. That is something that needs our concern.
Originally published by our partners at the Philadelphia Gay News on October 27, 2025.
