ROANOKE, Va. – After overturning Roe v. Wade, Justice Clarence Thomas suggested the U.S. Supreme Court reconsider other cases, including Obergefell v. Hodges, which allows same-sex marriage.
Roanoke leaders expressed their worry about their rights potentially being on the line.
The day Peter Volosin said ‘I do’ to his partner is a day he will always cherish.
“The pride, the joy, the excitement, the uncertainty of what the future is going to hold but the excitement of starting that journey together,” Volosin, president of the Roanoke Diversity Center, said.
But reconsidering the Obergefell v. Hodges case could mean eliminating the right to have same-sex marriages.
The U.S. Supreme Court struck down all state bans on same-sex marriage and required states to honor out-of-state same-sex marriage licenses on June 26, 2015.
The thoughts of the case being overturned have left Volosin with a list of new fears and questions of leaving the country.
“He [Volosin’s husband] is a Belgian citizen,” Volosin said. “So if we go to Belgium can we get married if our marriage is invalidated here in the United States? What can we do whether that’s creating corporations or what legally can we do to safeguard the gains that we made together?”
As an openly gay man and a reverend who officiates same-sex marriages, Councilman Joe Cobb calls it an atrocity.
“Anyone who has had these rights or protections are like pawns on the Supreme Court chest board,” he said. “And other people have control over our lives. And that’s extremely frustrating. That’s unjust.”
If the Supreme Court overruled the case, states would individually determine marriage equality.
In 2006, legislators added the Marshall Newman Amendment to the state constitution that defined marriage to solely be between one man and one woman. Though it’s been nullified, the language still remains.
“It creates extraordinary complications for people who are now able to legally marry and have been doing so since 2015,” Cobb said. “Heterosexual couples have never had to worry about that.”
Same-sex marriages became legal in Virginia in 2014. Additionally, the LGBTQ community gained protection from discrimination after the Virginia Values Act was passed in 2020.
But even state legislation can be repealed.
Whether there are wedding bells or not, Cobb vows to honor any couple who wants to say I do.
“And if people are always having to fight for that love does it strengthen our love? Of course it does. Does it make us love more deeply? Of course it does. But there are some things we shouldn’t have to fight for.”
Cobb and Volosin say the next step is to encourage people to express their views by practicing their right to vote.