On Friday November 7, 2025 the Supreme Court was set to meet and decide on whether to ban gay marriage across the United States. If the court had chosen to hear the case there was a chance of redressing the discourse for marriage rights. Thankfully they denied the hearing.

From Kentucky, Kim Davis, an American former county clerk for Rowan County, became a central figure back in 2015 for the LGBTQ+ marriage debate. She was held responsible for signing marriage licenses until she then refused to issue any towards same-sex couples because of her personal religious resistance. June 27, 2015 the day after the Supreme Court had officially legalized same-sex marriages nationwide was initially when she first rejected a gay couple. After this incident she completely started to deny all marriage licenses. Later she was ordered to pay $360,000 in attorney fees and damages due to the refusal.

Teryn Allums, a Pansexual Sophomore here at Liberty, has strong feelings on the topic. She mentioned that she came to certain realizations after a conversation with her Crime and Justice teacher. She states ¨I think that everybody’s entitled to their own opinion but at the end of the day, I feel like love is love, and just because of your religious beliefs that doesn’t mean everybody has to believe in it. You shouldn’t cut that off for somebody else.¨

The First Amendment –

¨Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.¨

Though every person has the right to freedom of speech and expression, the federal law over road her due to the ruling that no state executive could bring personal opinion and or matter into any situation covered.

The Fourteenth Amendment –

¨All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.¨

A big part of this law established all U.S. citizens to be protected by federal law and allowed due process through every criminal charge. Anyone who wanted to get married had the full right and still does to this day.

In December 2022, a law for all marriages was passed. Respect for Marriage Act. President of the United States at the time, Joe Biden signed this into law. Regardless of sexual orientation or race, anyone has the right to officially get married inside of the U.S. This law ensured that legally married couples received all the same federal benefits. Although it includes provisions to protect religious freedom, this means religious organizations are not required to provide services for marriages that conflict with their beliefs.

Recently, she has decided to bring same-sex marriage back to the public’s eye. She decided to ask the supreme court to hear her case to overturn the landmark decision made back in 2015. Taking into action, the Justices met privately on November 7 to vote and discuss whether to accept the petition for review. A few days later on Monday November 10, 2025 the court decided to not hear the case. If they had made the opposite decision, same-sex marriages would still be protected under federal law due to the Respect For Marriage Act.

¨I mean I’m relieved, given that this is a court that has clearly shown that it doesn’t care about obeying past precedent. They talk about ¨oh precedent important¨ but they overturned Roe V. Wade which was a much longer and firmer precedent than the Obergefell V. Hodges gay rights ruling. So I was surprised, I was pleased. It’s still jarring to me that they even had to entertain the petition but I mean I’ll take the W.¨ – Mr. Renteria: A teacher in the English Department.