Civil rights have always come with heavy conflict in the United States, and the tension around topics surrounding black, hispanic and LGBTQ+ rights has rarely been higher than it is now following the reelection of Donald Trump as President. One of the many politicians taking part in the debates and member of the Michigan House of Representatives took center stage on Feb. 25 proposing a resolution that would reverse the changes made by the Obergefell vs. Hodges case in 2015, which legalized same-sex marriage.
This representative, Josh Schriver (R-Oxford), was very adamant in striving for a nation that followed the Bible closely to his interpretation, keeping marriage between a man and a woman.
“[Obergefell vs. Hodges] has defaced the definition of marriage, undermined our god given rights, increased persecution of Christians and confused the American family structure,” Schriver said. “We have more proof than ever to show that this shift in family structure is bad for Michigan children.”
Schriver faced heavy backlash for his resolution by fellow lawmakers and many others, including State Senator Jeremy Moss (D-Southfield), the first openly gay state senator in Michigan. Moss spoke directly after Schriver, immediately expressing his distaste towards the resolution.
“This is just another hateful and harmful attack against the LGBTQ community,” Moss said. “I commend and applaud LGBTQ parents who are willing to adopt vulnerable children in our state and provide them a loving home.”
Along with opposition to his opinions, there is also talk about how valid the resolution actually is. According to ACLU LGBTQ+ Rights Attorney Jay Kaplan, resolutions have no effect in the Supreme Court because they aren’t even court cases.
“It’s kind of an empty gesture,” Kaplan said. “Even if they were to pass something, it would have no effect on the court. I’m hoping that what happened this week might be a wakeup call for some members of the gay and lesbian community who might not have been paying attention to recognize that this is all part of a move by a group of people to try to erase the existence of LGBTQ people.”
While Kaplan and others find this resolution unconstitutional, they believe it is also a diversion by the right wing to try and pull LGBTQ voters apart and away from the more direct matters in their community. In Kaplan’s eyes, there are worse problems the country needs to address and fix, all of which have real chances to change the nation, rather than a resolution that has no support or legal legitimacy keeping it going.
“We can walk and chew gum at the same time,” Kaplan said. “Possibly one day, the Supreme Court is going to revisit the marriage equality decision. We can still talk about this issue of marriage equality, but I think what opponents of the LGBTQ community would love is to create a division in the community. We need to be fighting back now on behalf of our transgender [community] members and we need to figure out this issue of marriage equality.”
