Southern Baptists seek repeal of landmark equal marriage ruling
Jim Obergefell, who fought to enshrine same-sex marriage through Obergefell v Hodges. (Getty)
Jim Obergefell, who fought to enshrine same-sex marriage through Obergefell v Hodges. (Getty)
The second-largest Christian body in the US has voted to back a resolution to repeal same-sex marriage rights.
Delegates at the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) overwhelmingly supported the resolution which included a call to overturn the Supreme Court ruling in Obergefell vs Hodges, at an annual meeting on Tuesday (10 June).
The 2015 verdict legally enshrined same-sex marriage as a constitutional right in all 50 states.
Entitled Restoring Moral Clarity Through God’s Design for Gender, Marriage and the Family, the 1,000-word SBC declaration claimed that policies supporting same-sex marriage “defy God’s design for marriage and family,” and called for laws that fit… view of marriage as “between one man and one woman”.
The resolution went on to say that legal rulings such as the one in Obergefell vs Hodges denied the belief that there are only two genders – described as biological reality – and allowed “wilful childlessness,” “gender confusion,” and the “undermining [of] parental rights”.
The statement was backed by an overwhelming majority of the more than 10,000 registered voting members who attended the annual meeting that represents some 50,000 US Churches.
While overturning Obergefell vs Hodges would not immediately revoke same-sex marriage, because 36 states had already legalised it at the time of the ruling, individual states could pass “zombie laws” – legislation made dormant by federal policies, laws or legal rulings – almost immediately making it illegal again.
Opponents of same-sex marriage would still have to contend with the Respect for Marriage Act, passed by former president Joe Biden in 2022, which repealed dormant, Bill-Clinton-era policies recognising marriage as an act between a man and a woman.
While the law does not legally enshrine same-sex marriage, it means lawmakers would have to pass fresh legislation banning same-sex marriage federally rather than relying on dormant laws.
Supreme Court justice Clarence Thomas, who dissented in the Obergefell vs Hodges vote, has previously signalled his interest in overturning the ruling after the court repealed Roe vs Wade, which established similar nationwide protections for abortion rights.
Brian Henderson, an executive minister of the Association of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists, an organisation dedicated to supporting LGBTQ+ baptists, told Baptist News: “The language of this resolution suggests only the SBC understands faith. The problem with this line of theologising is that it ignores the complexity of human relations and realities reflected in ancient texts.”
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