10 Years of Marriage Equality: A Right Achieved, but a Future Uncertain

Ten years ago today, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed in Obergefell v. Hodges that every same-sex couple nationwide deserves the freedom to marry and have that marriage recognized. In the decade since, more than a million LGBTQ+ people have gotten married, securing the over 1,000 government benefits once denied to them and weaving their families into the legal and social fabric of the United States. What seemed, for generations, an unreachable horizon had become a reality: from shared health insurance cards to survivor benefits, this decision brought us one massive step closer to equal treatment under the law. 

Yet anniversaries are not only milestones of progress, they are also reminders of unfinished work. While marriage equality became the law of the land, the promise of substantive equality remains unfulfilled. Over the past five legislative sessions alone, more than 2,500 anti-LGBTQ+ bills – from health-care bans to curriculum censorship – have been introduced in statehouses across the country. Several have already passed, eroding the dignity and safety of transgender, non-binary, and queer people, especially youth. Five states have even called for SCOTUS to overturn marriage equality, reminding us that ten years of precedent is no guarantee of continued legal recognition. Courts that once expanded liberty now send mixed signals, narrowing civil liberty protections and green-lighting discrimination cloaked as “religious freedom.”

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The current wave of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation follows the same pattern: attempts to silence, erase, and divide us. But the LGBTQ+ community does not retreat, we organize. Our community has faced backlash before. After Stonewall came the Briggs Initiative. After Lawrence v. Texas struck down sodomy laws, marriage-ban amendments swept the states. But in the face of hate, we protect one another. We find new frontiers of solidarity – across race, disability, faith, and geography – to ensure none of us are left behind. The last ten years of weddings, anniversaries, and chosen-family gatherings prove an enduring truth: visibility breeds connection, connection breeds power, and power fuels change.

We also know that technology is an indispensable lifeline. Digital platforms enable couples still isolated by geography or discrimination to build support networks, file legal paperwork, and celebrate their unions with loved ones around the globe. They let advocates track hostile bills in real time and mobilize rapid-response campaigns, and they offer LGBTQ+ youth glimpses of futures once thought impossible. Preserving secure, affordable, and neutral access to these tools is essential to defending every other right we hold.

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Looking forward, our charge is two-fold. First, we must safeguard the victories of the past decade – defending marriage equality from legislative or judicial rollback and ensuring its benefits reach communities historically excluded, including immigrants, incarcerated people, and low-income families. Second, we must press onward for comprehensive nondiscrimination laws, bodily autonomy for transgender and intersex people, data-privacy protections that prevent digital surveillance, and equitable broadband that connects every household.

To our allies: Celebrate with us, but do not grow complacent. Pass inclusive workplace policies. Challenge bigotry from boardrooms to classrooms alike. Hold your representatives accountable for protecting the rights and freedoms of their LGBTQ+ constituents. 

To our community: Stay rooted in joy, stay connected, and stay loud. Ten years of marriage equality began with courageous plaintiffs who believed love could defeat fear. The next decade will be written by each of us – technological innovations and policies that prioritize our needs and concerns, parents testifying at school boards, voters turning out in every election, and couples whose very existence proves that queer love is ordinary and therefore revolutionary.