MEUSA Urges SCOTUS to Rule in Favor of the Freedom to Marry Nationwide

San Francisco/New York · Marriage Equality USA urges the United States Supreme Court to establish marriage equality nationwide via the 6th Circuit marriage cases from Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee that the Court announced today it will review.

“It’s time for America to no longer be a house divided when it comes to the freedom to marry. 36 states and the District of Columbia already have marriage equality. LGBTQ couples should no longer be excluded in the remaining 14 states, Puerto Rico, and other US territories.” said Brian Silva, Marriage Equality USA’s Executive Director.

“We urge the Supreme Court to affirm the near unanimous consensus of the over 55 courts who have ruled in favor of marriage equality over the last 18 months. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people are part of the fabric of America. We look to the Supreme Court to recognize once and for all that we should have the same freedom to marry that all other Americans enjoy and that we should have full constitutional protections in all aspects of our lives,” said John Lewis, MEUSA’s Legal and Policy Director.

Steve Huesing, Michigan native and MEUSA’s Board President stated: “When my partner proposed to me over three years ago, I had no doubt in my mind that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with him. We dream of marrying, surrounded by family and friends, in the backyard of my sister’s beautiful home nestled in the woods in Michigan. But our dream remains unfulfilled because the 6th Circuit federal appellate court upheld Michigan’s exclusion of sex couples like us from marriage. Time is running out for my elderly mother, whom we really want to be there because of the intimate bond we share with her. We now turn to the Supreme Court to establish marriage equality for all Americans, including our family.”

“I’ve talked to countless Americans from all across the country and from many different walks of life in the years I’ve worked for marriage equality. What I’ve found is that the vast majority of Americans have the common sense to recognize our shared humanity and believe that LGBTQ people should have the basic freedom to marry the person they love. I hope and expect that the Supreme Court will make that vision a legal reality through the cases it agreed today to decide,” said Tracy Hollister, MEUSA’s Program Manager.

Briefing in the case will take place over the next few months, with a hearing likely in April and a decision by the end of June 2015.

The cases are: DeBoer v. Snyder (Michigan), Bourke v. Beshear (Kentucky), Obergefell v. Hodges (Ohio), and Tanco v. Haslam (Tennessee).

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