Elisa Gambino would prefer it if marriage, as it currently legally stands, did not exist.
The 61-year-old filmmaker said that she believes this would allow for a true separation of church and state and grant equality for those in the LGBTQ+ community.
“I'm cisgender and I'm in a heterosexual relationship,” Gambino said. “It doesn't matter. Everybody's liberation is tied up into mine.”
In 2015, the year that the United States legalized same-sex marriage nationwide, Greece extended cohabitation agreements to same-sex couples. Nine years later, Greece has just become the latest country to legalize same-sex marriage while some U.S. Supreme Court justices are considering revisiting their same-sex marriage ruling, Obergefell v. Hodges.
Dobbs v. Jackson overturned Roe v. Wade, which previously established the right to have an abortion nationwide, in June 2022. In his concurring opinion, Justice Clarence Thomas wrote: “In future cases, we should reconsider all of this Court’s substantive due process precedents, including Griswold, Lawrence, and Obergefell.”
At the tail end of 2022, after that year’s midterm elections, Congress passed the Respect For Marriage Act. The law was passed and signed just before Republicans would overtake control of the U.S. House of Representatives the following January, in anticipation of a possible overturn similar to Dobbs. However, the RFMA only assures that states respect marriage licenses issued in other states rather than codifying marriage as a right throughout the nation.
The challenge to same-sex marriage in the Dobbs decision is only the latest in what has become a pattern of such rhetoric in official Supreme Court documents. In a concurring opinion for Davis v. Ermold in 2020, which concerned a country clerk who refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, Thomas referred to same-sex marriage as a “novel constitutional right.” The opinion, joined by Justice Samuel Alito, argued that right was being unfairly privileged over the First Amendment right to freedom of religion.
According to the U.S. News & World Report, The U.S. Supreme Court is different from similar high courts abroad for how ideologically unbalanced it is. From the appointment process, to how rulings are made, to term limits, the American system is distinct — and not always in a way that people like.
Gambino said that having 20 or 21 justices in total and having a smaller number randomly assigned to each case would be more fair and make the court’s decisions less politicized.
Theresa Marie D’Silva, 23, said that justices should not be appointed for life.
“It would be nice if they could be elected and they had turns just like all other positions,” D’Silva said.
Thomas is the longest serving current justice, appointed 32 and a half years ago. Alito is the third-longest serving justice and has been on the court for nearly 2 decades, as has Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr. According to the Martin-Quinn scores of where justices since 1937 fall in their ideological beliefs, Thomas and Alito are also the most conservative justices currently on the court.
Destiny Maguta, 21, said she understands concerns such as balancing freedom of religion with protecting LGBTQ+ people from discrimination. However, she said she feels that Thomas has based decisions on his own beliefs rather than on those of the people.
“Clarence Thomas is a very conservative man who I do not like at all,” Maguta said.
Later this year, elections for president and senate positions could be pivotal in shaping the court long into the future. According to The Hill, Democrats are concerned that more Republicans in power post-2024 could result in young conservative justices being put in place for many years if Alito and Thomas were to retire soon and require replacements.
Leigh Love, 60, is from Oklahoma and teaches American society, politics and media in Germany. She said that she has taught students from Eastern European countries with more socially conservative beliefs than her own and is concerned about the possibility of conservative victories in the upcoming U.S. election.
“When you overturn rights for women, and then overturn rights for the LGBTQ+ community, it's like a domino effect,” Love said. “And that's very frightening to me.”
Love said that LGBTQ+ rights are an important issue for her going into this year's election, and that she has many loved ones who are part of the community.
“I truly don't understand why society feels the need to interfere with something that personal,” Love said.
The Public Religion Research Institute found a mixed variety of attitudes surrounding how important LGBTQ+ rights are to voters in the United States. A 2023 survey found: “A plurality of Americans (38%) say that LGBTQ rights is one of various factors they will consider, 30% say they would only vote for a candidate who shares their views on this issue, and 29% say they do not see LGBTQ rights as a major issue.”
Willie Pena, 62, emigrated from Bolivia about 35 years ago and has lived in Virginia ever since. Pena identifies as gay and said that he does not like either major candidate in the running to win the presidency this fall. He said he ultimately hopes those in power will prioritize issues such as crime and cost of living.
Maguta will be a first-time voter this November. She is from President Joe Biden’s home state of Delaware and has met the incumbent multiple times. Although Maguta said LGBTQ+ rights are important to her and that she would not vote for former President Donald Trump, she is not certain about the current president either. She cited Biden’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war as one reason for her hesitation to back him.
“It’s really put a sour taste in my mouth,” Maguta said.
Michelle Tu, 22, identifies as a member of the LGBTQ+ community. She said that LGBTQ+ rights is not one of the most pressing issues to her going into this fall’s election, pointing instead to news such as the Israel-Hamas war. However, she said she’s still concerned about social issues.
“It is important to me, especially right now, because Trump is scary,” Tu said.
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