Same-sex marriage is legal, but some states are debating it anyway - The Boston Globe

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

50% : " After decades of legal and legislative battles across multiple states, Massachusetts became the first state to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples in 2004 as a result of a state court decision.
49% : "After marriage equality was achieved, I think a lot of folks thought, 'OK, this is it, we did the thing,'" said Narissa Rahaman, executive director of Equality Virginia, an LGBTQ+ rights group pushing to repeal the state's old prohibition on same-sex marriage in case Obergefell is overturned.
47% : Soon, though, the legal and cultural momentum behind opposition to same-sex marriage shifted.
47% : The number of married same-sex couples in the United States doubled to 774,000 in the last decade, according to government data.
47% : Even as he has made limiting official recognition of transgender identity a priority, Trump swapped the long-standing definition of marriage in the GOP platform for an assertion that "Republicans will promote a culture that values the sanctity of marriage.
44% : Still, the number of state measures proposed signals an effort to shift the perception of same-sex marriage as an established civil right, leaders on both sides of the issue say.
44% : Moss, a Democrat, called for a ballot initiative to protect same-sex marriage after Rep. Josh Schriver, a state House Republican, introduced a resolution asserting that the Supreme Court's decision had "confused the American family structure" and proposing that the Michigan Legislature condemn it.
43% : In 2013, the Supreme Court found that same-sex couples were entitled to federal benefits, and by 2015, at least 36 states had legalized same-sex marriage through a combination of legislation, court rulings and ballot initiatives.
43% : Experts say that any real challenge to Obergefell would probably come not from state legislative recommendations but from lawsuits that aim to highlight conflicts between the rights of same-sex couples to marry and religious freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment.
43% : Last year, voters in California, Colorado and Hawaii passed ballot measures repealing constitutional amendments banning same-sex marriage.
42% : Justice Clarence Thomas wrote then that the court had a duty to reconsider decisions that relied on similar legal footing, including those on same-sex marriage, same-sex sexual activity and contraception.
40% : The decisiveness with which the nation seemed to then move on has left a lot of people baffled that same-sex marriage is again a matter for debate.
37% : And in several states, including Virginia and Oregon, Democrats are laying the groundwork to repeal old state statutes and constitutional amendments that prohibited same-sex marriage, which could come back into effect should Obergefell be overturned.
37% : "Substantive due process," the supposed basis for both the right to abortion and to same-sex marriage, he wrote, is an oxymoron that lacks any basis in the Constitution.
36% : " Supporters of same-sex marriage already have begun taking steps for the possibility that Obergefell might someday be undone.
35% : Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative Christian legal group that had helped coordinate opposition to same-sex marriage, refocused its efforts on seeking protections for business owners who decline to serve same-sex couples on religious grounds.
34% : Last year, Alito appeared to more directly urge the court to reconsider Obergefell on a case in which a Missouri judge had allowed the dismissal of potential jurors based on their religious objections to same-sex relationships.
21% : Others passed statutes modeled on the federal Defense of Marriage Act, signed by President Bill Clinton in 1996, which denied federal recognition and benefits to same-sex couples.

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