10 Years After Obergefell, Our Work to Protect LGBTQ+ Families Continues 

GLAD Law led the fight for marriage equality, from the first state court win in Massachusetts to arguing the landmark Obergefell v. Hodges case at the U.S. Supreme Court. Now, we’re working to make sure all LGBTQ+ families, and our ability to build and grow them, are protected. 

This June 26 marks the tenth anniversary of the Obergefell v. Hodges Supreme Court ruling that made marriage equality the law of the land. The historic ruling followed years of work in the courts and state legislatures, alongside many thousands of LGBTQ+ people and supporters across all backgrounds, faiths, and regions of the country. 

Ten years on, it’s clear that nationwide marriage equality has been good for LGBTQ+ people and our children. Beyond that, it strengthens communities by respecting families, improving health and economic stability for couples and parents raising kids, and assists businesses and other economic actors by removing the complications of a patchwork system of marriage recognition. It’s no surprise that the vast majority of Americans continue to strongly support marriage equality. Likewise, in 2022, a bipartisan Congress codified Obergefell’s constitutional guarantees of equal recognition and respect from states and the federal government for LGBTQ+ people’s and other marriages into federal law with the Respect for Marriage Act. 

Politicians in a handful of states have introduced resolutions this year urging the Supreme Court to overturn Obergefell. But these measures have not gained traction and have been rebuffed, including by Republicans who view marriage equality as settled and have moved on. Even if passed, a resolution would have no practical effect and is not a route to Supreme Court review. GLAD Law is prepared to defend against any attempts to chip away at Obergefell’s protections – but even in this moment when we are facing increased anti-LGBTQ+ policies, we can be clear: neither the federal government nor any state can take away your marriage.  

Widening the lens, even in this extraordinarily challenging year, we are protecting family and parent-child relationships beyond marriage, too. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled to protect the relationship between a lesbian non-birth mother and her child. The legislature is now also considering a Parentage Act that would ensure paths for all children to have the security of a legal tie to both of their parents, no matter their parents’ gender or marital status, or how their family was formed.  

GLAD Law has been instrumental in passing such laws in many states over the last 15 years, with the latest wins including the Michigan Family Protection Act and the Massachusetts Parentage Act, both effective in 2025. New Mexico also enacted a confirmatory adoption law this year, providing a streamlined path for same-sex parents to confirm their legal relationship with their child and ensure it will be respected wherever they move or travel. As we write this, a similar bill just passed the Vermont legislature and has been sent to the governor, bringing the number of states with such laws to ten once that bill is signed. 

But we have also seen warning signs that the Trump administration and its political allies aim to target LGBTQ+ families, restrict access to fertility health care, and narrow the definition of who can be a family. 

An April 3 White House proclamation about National Child Abuse Prevention Month frighteningly sought to cast support for transgender young people as a “prevalent” form of child abuse. The proclamation singled out schools and health care providers as “offenders,” but its sweep could include parents who secure necessary health care for their transgender children. The proclamation also emphasized the importance of a “strong mother and father,” language often used in the past to delegitimize LGBTQ+ families. Proclamations are not law, but they signal how far this administration may try to go. 

We are also seeing signals that the Trump administration and its allies may further restrict access to reproductive care. Despite promises to make assisted reproduction and IVF to help people build their families “affordable and available to all,” the actions of administration allies seek to redefine infertility care and delay and limit IVF.  

Groups like the anti-LGBTQ Heritage Foundation, which led “Project 2025,” seek to replace effective, science-based health care with recommendations that stigmatize people navigating fertility challenges, ignore male infertility, and push women to focus on lifestyle and stress issues to achieve “natural” conception. Such a focus ignores the steps many people have already tried to achieve a pregnancy over a period of time and delays access to IVF, where time can be of the essence. In fact, pushing off IVF to a later and later day, and with fewer IVF cycles completed, may well be the point. In April, Arkansas became the first state to pass a law that rejects IVF as deviating from “natural human functions.”   

We don’t yet know what will come of this developing effort at the federal level. Still, the warning signs are clear that the government and its allies want to control who has access to IVF and family building, who can be a family, and under what circumstances. 

GLAD Law is working in coalition with reproductive rights, fertility health care, and family advocacy groups—including the grassroots-led multi-state coalition State Strong, which grew out of work for the Michigan Family Protection Act—to ensure access to fertility health care remains science-based, accessible and affordable, and inclusive of all people who seek to build their families.

Many people across demographic groups, including LGBTQ+ people, seek to build families and raise and nurture the next generation. From legal security for children and parents to marriage equality, protecting LGBTQ+ families has been a core part of GLAD Law’s work since our founding nearly 50 years ago. We won’t stand by while some politicians again attempt to make it harder for LGBTQ+ people to form families or narrowly define anyone’s family out of existence.

Marriage equality touches and benefits entire communities across the country. One way we can protect equality is through conversations about why marriage matters to us and to others.  

Whether you are part of a married couple, have LGBTQ+ parents, are a sibling, parent, grandparent, family member, friend, co-worker, or neighbor, we’d love to know about your experience. Share your story today.