A group of seven conservative GOP legislators put their names on a non-binding resolution Tuesday calling on the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse the landmark decision that struck down same-sex marriage bans – including Michigan’s dormant amendment.
Because the 2004 voter-approved amendment remains in the Constitution, it could be revived if the U.S. Supreme Court were to revisit and reverse the Obergefell v. Hodges ruling, that included the Michigan case filed by plaintiffs April DeBoer and Jane Rowse, two nurses who wanted to jointly adopt special needs children.
In response to advance word of the resolution, protesters demonstrated in front of the Capitol and crowded the halls of the Anderson House Office Building, where Representative Josh Schriver (R-Oxford) was the lead (and, as it turned out only) speaker. Other lawmakers either dropped their names from the resolutions or were no-shows at the press conference.
Schriver’s words took an apocalyptic turn as he decried the reversal of Michigan’s same-sex marriage ban.
“Ten years ago, the United States Supreme Court redefined the sacred institution of marriage,” he said. “This blunder compromised the mother-father-child family unit.”
Conservative members of the court have signaled interest in another hearing on same-sex marriage in a similar fashion to its reconsideration of the Roe vs. Wade ruling that determined abortion rights were constitutionally protected.
Justice Samuel Alito last year renewed his criticism of the same-sex marriage decision. Alito along with Justices John Roberts and Clarence Thomas dissented in the decision to legalize same-sex marriage.
Senator Jeremy Moss (D-Southfield), a gay man who sponsored the bill to add LGBTQ protections to Michigan’s main civil rights law, crashed the news conference to offer a rebuttal.
“This was just as buffoonish as I expected it to be,” he said. “I think that this has fallen flat with people in the State of Michigan. I think that people respect their LGBTQ neighbors, their LGBTQ family members. These marriages have been the law of the land for 10 years. They contribute to family security. They contribute to economic security.”
Schriver didn’t get much support from his own caucus either. Not only did his co-sponsors drop out, House Speaker Matt Hall (R-Richland Township), on short notice, convened his own news conference to compete with Schriver’s event. Hall assigned the bill to the House Government Operations Committee, which often serves as a graveyard for disfavored legislation, and messaged that it would remain parked there.
Representative Jason Morgan (D-Ann Arbor) said he would eventually like to see the question settled by formally repealing dormant same-sex marriage ban in Michigan, which would require voter approval to amend the Michigan Constitution.
“I’m not sure if the moment’s here yet or not,” he said, “but I think we’re getting to that moment where we’re ready, where we have to, as we inch closer and closer to the potential of the Supreme Court rolling back our right to marriage equality.”
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