--- title: Gay Marriage in Supreme Court: What's at Stake description: As the Supreme Court meets for the second time in two years to debate gay marriage, the situation in America has changed dramatically. canonical: https://time.com/3838101/supreme-court-gay-marriage-2/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-04-28T15:11:07.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T06:44:31.286Z article:section: Politics og:title: What's at Stake as the Supreme Court Returns to Gay Marriage og:description: The fight over gay marriage nears an end but the debate over gay rights goes on og:url: https://time.com/3838101/supreme-court-gay-marriage-2/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltabaa03514248e9ce/6987ed293c1639b2e8455b8d/supreme-court-gay-marriage-2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4655 og:image:height: 2618 og:image:alt: Supreme Court Gay Marriage og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: What's at Stake as the Supreme Court Returns to Gay Marriage twitter:description: The fight over gay marriage nears an end but the debate over gay rights goes on twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltabaa03514248e9ce/6987ed293c1639b2e8455b8d/supreme-court-gay-marriage-2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # What's at Stake as the Supreme Court Returns to Gay Marriage > Sponsored content. 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Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=98a5a3d2-38cb-4dff-9f3f-611c111e6403&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) by [Ryan Teague Beckwith](https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/) ## Ryan Teague Beckwith Apr 28, 2015 3:11 PM UTC  An American flag and a rainbow colored flag flies in front of the Supreme Court in Washington, April 27, 2015, as the Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments on the constitutionality of state bans on same-sex marriage on Tuesday. An American flag and a rainbow colored flag flies in front of the Supreme Court in Washington, April 27, 2015, as the Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments on the constitutionality of state bans on same-sex marriage on Tuesday. Andrew Harnik—AP by [Ryan Teague Beckwith](https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/) ## Ryan Teague Beckwith Apr 28, 2015 3:11 PM UTC Just two years ago, the Supreme Court debated the constitutional implications of same-sex marriage. As it returned to the issue Tuesday, the underlying facts that it will take into consideration have changed substantially. When the court heard arguments on two cases in March of 2013, gay marriage was still a live issue. Just 11 states recognized same-sex marriage, while a majority of Americans [had only recently begun](http://www.gallup.com/poll/117328/Marriage.aspx) to tell pollsters that they approved. Today, 37 states recognize gay marriage, many of which did so after federal judges took the logic of the Supreme Court’s previous rulings further. The trend toward acceptance has only solidified, [reaching a record 61 percent](http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/courts%5Flaw/poll-gay-marriage-support-at-record-high/2015/04/22/f6548332-e92a-11e4-aae1-d642717d8afa%5Fstory.html) of Americans in one recent poll. The justices themselves have personally mirrored this trend, with liberal Justices [Ruth Bader Ginsburg](http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/ginsburg-to-officiate-same-sex-wedding/2013/08/30/4bc09d86-0ff4-11e3-8cdd-bcdc09410972%5Fstory.html) and [Elena Kagan](http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/supreme-court-justice-elena-kagan-performs-first-gay-wedding-n209116) officiating at gay weddings since the last decision. Court watchers predict that a slim majority of justices — led by swing vote Anthony Kennedy — will finish what they started two years ago, finding a way to get all 50 states to recognize gay marriage. The question, then, is how they will do so. The case they are considering, _Obergefell v. Hodges_, is named for James Obergefell, who married his now-deceased partner in Maryland, where gay marriage is legal, but cannot have his marriage recognized in Ohio, where it is not. The court has several options to resolve the case. The justices could narrowly decide that states such as Ohio have to recognize marriage certificates from beyond their borders as a matter of legislative courtesy. Or they could more broadly decide that marriage is a constitutional right that no state may deny to gays and lesbians, forcing even reluctant states to issue same-sex marriage licenses of their own. As with any court decision, there are a myriad of options in between, including multiple conflicting and overlapping opinions signed by different justices. But the underlying question will remain whether laws singling out gays and lesbians for different treatment—say, by barring them from marrying—deserve extra scrutiny in the same way that laws singling out ethnic or religious minorities do. On that question, the Supreme Court has managed so far to avoid an answer, pegging opinions that expanded the equality of gays and lesbians on different arguments. It may do so again, or the justices may take the first step toward broader recognition of gay rights. Either way, the fight over gay marriage may be nearing an end, but the debate over gay rights continues. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3838101/supreme-court-gay-marriage-2/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3838101/supreme-court-gay-marriage-2/"},"headline":"What's at Stake as the Supreme Court Returns to Gay Marriage","datePublished":"2015-04-28T15:11:07.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T06:44:31.286Z","description":"The fight over gay marriage may be nearing an end","url":"https://time.com/3838101/supreme-court-gay-marriage-2/","keywords":["Supreme Court","Gay Rights","Gay Marriage"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltabaa03514248e9ce/6987ed293c1639b2e8455b8d/supreme-court-gay-marriage-2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ryan Teague Beckwith","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltabaa03514248e9ce/6987ed293c1639b2e8455b8d/supreme-court-gay-marriage-2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Supreme Court Gay Marriage","caption":"Supreme Court Gay Marriage","creditText":"Andrew Harnik—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/supreme-court/","name":"Supreme Court"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3838101/supreme-court-gay-marriage-2/","name":"What's at Stake as the Supreme Court Returns to Gay Marriage"}}]}] ```