Advocate NL 6/26/26
Hello and Happy Friday folks!
Audience Editor Edgar Ramirez back in your inbox and taking in a day of celebration, as eleven years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry.
But as Christopher Wiggins writes, the anniversary of "Obergefell v. Hodges" arrives in a country where marriage equality is deeply woven into American life, yet still treated by its opponents as unfinished business.
“I really didn’t think 11 years later we would have reason to fear that marriage would be lost,” Jim Obergefell himself tells Wiggins. “But for almost 50 years, people didn’t think abortion rights would be lost because the Supreme Court believed in precedent. Well, they no longer do.”
That fear is very real, and adding to that stress for same-sex couples like Pete and Chasten Buttigieg is having to endure being targets. In a deeply personal Substack post, the former transportation secretary described how an anonymous allegation brought police and a Child Protective Services worker to his family’s home this week, forcing his 4-year-old twins into forensic interviews, leaving him briefly separated from them before authorities concluded the report was false.
“Someone decided to hurt our family this week,” Buttigieg wrote. “I’m furious.”
Human Rights Campaign President Kelley Robinson put it best in saying that the "Obergefell" moment should be understood as a measure of how far the country has come and how much remains at risk.
"Today we do two things at once: we celebrate the joy and dignity of marriage equality, and we recommit to protecting it. Now is the time to make our voices heard. Because love is not only our joy. It’s an act of defiance."
Sunday's largest Pride celebration in the United States offers the chance to do both things -- and you don't have to be there in person.
Thanks folks, hope you enjoy the last weekend(!) of Pride Month (but let's be honest, the celebrations never end). We'll be back Monday!
Discussion in the ATmosphere