MARRIAGE

SHOULD MICHIGAN’S SAME-SEX MARRIAGE BAN BE OVERTURNED? VOTERS MAY DECIDE NEXT YEAR. Officials with Michigan Marriage Equality PAC announced they are launching a campaign to get a constitutional amendment on the November 2026 ballot that would protect same-sex marriage if Obergefell v. Hodges fell. Read more here.

FINNISH CHURCH REJECTS SAME-SEX UNIONS, TWO DEFINITIONS OF MARRIAGE. The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland will not adopt a proposed model that would have recognized both heterosexual and same-sex unions as parallel definitions of marriage. The measure was 15 votes short of the required three-quarters majority to pass. Read more here.

RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIES IN KOSOVO OPPOSE THE LEGALIZATION OF SAME-SEX MARRIAGES. The Islamic Community of Kosovo, the Diocese of Prizren-Pristina (Catholic Church), the Evangelical Protestant Church of Kosovo and the Jewish Community of Kosovo have signed a joint statement against the legalization of same-sex marriage and requesting the government “preserve the traditional values ​​of the family.” Read more here.

IOWA SENATE RESOLUTION CALLS TO OVERTURN FEDERAL SAME-SEX MARRIAGE RULING. Senate Concurrent Resolution 3, introduced by Sen. Sandy Salmon, R-Janesville, asks the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn Obergefell v. Hodges, the landmark federal case that legalized same-sex marriage in 2015. Read more here.

REPUBLICAN LAUNCHES BID TO OVERTURN SAME-SEX MARRIAGE. State Senator Dusty Deever, of Oklahoma, has filed a resolution initiated by MassResistance calling for the U.S. Supreme Court to strike down Obergefell v. Hodges, the landmark 2015 decision that established the nationwide right to same-sex marriage. Read more here.

B.C. CONSERVATIVE MLA ANGRY AFTER COLLEAGUES WELCOME LOBBY GROUP OPPOSED TO SAME-SEX MARRIAGE, ASSISTED SUICIDE, ABORTION. A British Columbia Conservative MLA says she is livid after her party leader, John Rustad, and more than a dozen of his MLAs attended a speaking event at the legislature by a Christian lobby group that opposes assisted suicide, abortion, gender ideology and same-sex marriage. Read more here.

UNITED METHODIST CHURCH TOP COURT SAYS CHURCH TRUSTEES CAN’T STOP SAME-SEX WEDDINGS. The United Methodist Church’s highest court – the Methodist Judicial Council — has ruled that pastors, not trustees, have the final say on whether clergy can officiate a same-sex wedding on church property.” Read more here.

FORMER ROWAN COUNTY CLERK KIM DAVIS TO APPEAL TO U.S. SUPREME COURT AFTER 6TH CIRCUIT DENIAL. Former Rowan County, Kentucky Clerk Kim Davis plans to ask the United States Supreme Court to weigh in on whether she was protected by the First Amendment when refusing to issue same-sex marriage licenses a decade ago, her lawyer announced. Read more here.

EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH IN AMERICA WILL NOT REMOVE CONSCIENCE PROTECTIONS FOR OPPONENTS OF SAME-SEX MARRIAGE: OFFICIAL. The liberal mainline denomination voted to approve an editing process for a 2009 document, which, among other things, required the denomination to respect different opinions on LGBT issues among members. Read more here.

IRELAND SAW AN OVERALL SLIGHT DECREASE IN MARRIAGES IN 2024. Ireland’s Central Statistics Office has released its Marriages 2024 report, showing a 3.8 percent decline from the previous year, though same-sex marriages increased by 3.4 percent. Read more here.

GOP LAWMAKER DENOUNCES SUPREME COURT’S LANDMARK SAME-SEX MARRIAGE RULING. Oklahoma State Senator Dusty Deevers, also an evangelical pastor, said that the Supreme Court’s Obergefell v. Hodges decision, which legalized same-sex marriage nationwide, is not “settled law,” and he argued that there is “no right to gay marriage.” Read more here.

DO PARENTAL RIGHTS HINGE ON WHETHER A SAME-SEX COUPLE WAS MARRIED? OHIO SUPREME COURT TO DECIDE. A Hamilton County custody dispute could reshape how Ohio treats homosexual couples who had children before same-sex marriage became legal. Read more here.

GOP LAWMAKERS IN SEVERAL STATES ASK SUPREME COURT TO OVERTURN DECISION LEGALIZING SAME-SEX MARRIAGES. Republican lawmakers from several states are trying to convince the Supreme Court to overturn its 2015 landmark decision that held the Fourteenth Amendment requires states to license and recognize same-sex marriage. Read more here.

IOWA IS THE ONLY STATE TO SEE A DECLINE IN SAME-SEX MARRIAGES. Iowa is the only U.S. state with declining same-sex households, according to USA Facts. The total number of married households increased in Iowa, but the number of households led by same-sex couples fell by 11 percent, dropping from 4,653 in 2014 to 4,123 in 2023. Read more here.

‘EQUITABLE’ SAME-SEX MARRIAGE BILLS CONSIDERED IN PHILIPPINES. The Commission on Human Rights wants amendments on bills on civil partnerships of couples belonging to the LGBTQ+ community. Read more here.

GREEK SUPREME COURT HEARS CASE ON CONSTITUTIONALITY OF SAME-SEX MARRIAGE. Greece’s Supreme Court is hearing a case that challenges the constitutionality of Law 5089/2024, which for the first time recognized marriage between same-sex partners and extended parental rights, including joint adoption. Read more here.

ITALY’S TOP COURT SCRAPS ‘MOTHER’ AND ‘FATHER’ ON ID CARDS. Italy’s Supreme Court of Cassation has restored the use of ‘parent 1’ and ‘parent 2’ on Italian ID cards because it deemed that calling parents ‘father’ and ‘mother’ is discriminatory against same-sex couples. Read more here.

GOV. JARED POLIS SIGNS BILL REPEALING CONSTITUTIONAL BAN ON SAME-SEX MARRIAGE IN COLORADO. Gov. Jared Polis signed a measure into law that officially repeals a provision in the Colorado constitution stating that marriage is only valid if it is between a man and a woman. Read more here.

EU COURT ADVISER SAYS POLAND MUST REGISTER FOREIGN SAME-SEX MARRIAGES IF NO ALTERNATIVE EXISTS. Jean Richard de la Tour, Advocate General at the Court of Justice of the European Union, issued the opinion on Thursday in a case involving two Polish men who requested that their marriage be entered into Poland’s civil registry, but were refused. Read more here.

ANOTHER JAPAN COURT FINDS SAME-SEX MARRIAGE DENIAL UNCONSTITUTIONAL. The Osaka High Court ruled that law provisions disallowing same-sex marriage are unconstitutional, overturning a lower court judgment. Read more here.

HOUSE BILL 798 COULD AMEND MONTANA CONSTITUTION FOR SAME-SEX MARRIAGE RIGHTS. House Bill 798 would amend the state’s constitution to provide a state right to same-sex marriage by attempting to repeal Article 13 Section 7, which currently states that only a marriage between one man and one woman is recognized in Montana. Read more here.

TRAVERSE CITY MUSIC DIRECTOR FIRED FROM CHURCH OVER SAME-SEX MARRIAGE. Fred Szczepanski was the music director for 34 years at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church in Traverse City, Michigan, and he and his husband Bill Thompson have been married since 2020. The new leader of the church fired him for violating biblical marriage. Read more here.

REPUBLICAN LAWMAKERS BLOCK PUSH TO END SAME-SEX MARRIAGE VIA SUPREME COURT. The North Dakota Senate has voted to reject a resolution calling on the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn Obergefell v. Hodges, the landmark decision that legalized same-sex marriage nationwide, with at least two dozen Republicans voting against the GOP-led measure. Read more here.

‘LAW OF THE LAND’: KENTUCKY CLERK WHO DENIED MARRIAGE LICENSES TO SAME-SEX COUPLES LOSES IN COURT AGAIN. The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has denied a request from former Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis to strike down a federal jury’s judgment against her. Read more here.

JAPAN’S REFUSAL TO RECOGNIZE SAME-SEX MARRIAGE IN LAW IS UNCONSTITUTIONAL, A COURT FINDS. The decision by the Nagoya High Court in central Japan, marks the ninth victory out of 10 rulings since the first group of plaintiffs filed lawsuits in 2019. Read more here.

LAWMAKERS IN NINE STATES PROPOSE MEASURES TO OVERTURN SAME-SEX MARRIAGE LAWS. Five of the measures, including one introduced in Michigan, urge the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn its 2015 landmark ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges, which granted same-sex couples nationwide the right to marry. Read more here.

CHINA CONSIDERS RADICAL CHANGES TO MARRIAGE AGE TO OVERCOME DEMOGRAPHIC CRISIS. A Chinese advisor called for lowering the minimum marriage age to 18 to expand the birth rate base and create more favorable conditions for young families. Under current law, Chinese men can marry from the age of 22 and women from 20. Read more here.

MICHIGAN REPUBLICANS SET TO URGE SUPREME COURT TO REVERSE SAME-SEX MARRIAGE RULING. A Republican state lawmaker in Michigan and 12 co-sponsors is planning to submit a resolution calling on the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse its 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges ruling that forced all 50 states to recognize homosexual marriage. Read more here.

NEW YORK ENCOUNTER PANEL: MARRIAGE MATTERS ‘MORE THAN EVER’ AMID FALLING BIRTH RATES. “Love and marriage have fallen on harder times of late,” observed Brad Wilcox, a sociologist who directs the National Marriage Project at the University of Virginia, during a Feb. 15 panel discussion titled “Why Have Children?” at New York Encounter, an annual conference organized by members of the Catholic movement Communion and Liberation. Read more here.

NEW TRUMP ADMIN POLICIES PROMOTE MARRIAGE, HAVING KIDS. The U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy issued a memo announcing that the federal agency would “prioritize projects and goals” that “direct funding to local opportunity zones” and that “mitigate the unique impacts of DOT programs, policies, and activities on families and family-specific difficulties, such as the accessibility of transportation to families with young children, and give preference to communities with marriage and birth rates higher than the national average.” Read more here.

COLORADO SENATE APPROVES SAME-SEX MARRIAGE AMENDMENT. A state Senate committee voted along party lines to approve a measure to codify same-sex marriage into state law. Read more here.

YES, MARRIAGE STILL MATTERS FOR FERTILITY: NEW EVIDENCE. A recent Financial Times article, which heavily cited previous work at the Institute for Family Studies and replicated some of its analyses, pointing the finger at the decline in fertility: falling marriage rates. Read more here.

TENNESSEE BILL WOULD CREATE ‘COVENANT MARRIAGES,’ RESTRICTING DIVORCES TO SPECIFIC SITUATIONS AND EXCLUDING SAME-SEX MARRIAGE. A bill proposed by a Republican state lawmaker in Tennessee would create “covenant marriages” in the state, a kind of marriage that couples can choose to enter that includes more restrictions on how and when they can separate and get a divorce. Read more here.

PROPOSAL ASKING SUPREME COURT TO REVISIT SAME-SEX MARRIAGE ADVANCES TO IDAHO HOUSE FLOOR. A memorial suggesting the Supreme Court reconsider the Obergefell v. Hodges decision, the ruling that legalized same-sex marriage nationwide, has advanced to the Idaho House floor. Read more here.

COUPLES WED AS LANDMARK SAME-SEX MARRIAGE LAW TAKES EFFECT IN THAILAND. Hundreds of same-sex couples tied the knot across Thailand on Thursday, as the country became the first in Southeast Asia to legally recognize equal marriage. Read more here.

SAME-SEX MARRIAGE OUTLAWED IN NAMIBIA. Activists have vowed to challenge a new law in Namibia that explicitly outlaws same-sex marriage and overturns a landmark LGBTIQ-affirming ruling by the Supreme Court. The Marriage Act, 2024, explicitly limits the definition of marriage to “a legal union between two persons of the opposite sex.” Read more here.

VIRGINIA HOUSE ADVANCES CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS ON REPRODUCTIVE AND VOTING RIGHTS, SAME-SEX MARRIAGE. The Virginia House of Delegates passed a state constitutional amendment that would enshrine same-sex marriage in state law, by a vote of 10-4. Read more here.

IDAHO LEGISLATURE’S FIRST ORDER OF BUSINESS: OVERTURN SAME-SEX MARRIAGE. The Idaho Legislature’s first initiative of the year blasts same-sex marriage, calling on the U.S. Supreme Court to let states once again regulate the relationship. Read more here.

RESEARCHERS UNDERSCORE LINK BETWEEN DECLINE OF MARRIAGE, PLUMMETING FERTILITY RATES. In their 2024 book “I…Do? Why Marriage Still Matters” Andrea Mrozek and Peter Jon Mitchell — both associates at the Ontario-based think tank Cardus — assert that the decline of marriage is “one contributing issue” to plummeting fertility in Western countries. Read more here.

INDIA’S SUPREME COURT TO REVIEW SAME-SEX MARRIAGE VERDICT. A new five-judge bench of India’s Supreme Court will consider review petitions regarding the legalization of same-sex marriage. Read more here.

SAME-SEX COUPLES CAN NOW LEGALLY MARRY IN LIECHTENSTEIN. A law legalizing same-sex marriage in the small European country officially went into effect on Wednesday, January 1. Read more here.

SAME-SEX PARTNERSHIP LAW TAKES EFFECT IN CZECHIA. With the start of the new year, Czechia began recognizing same-sex partnerships through a new amendment to the Civil Code, which does not recognize same-sex marriage. Read more here.

SAME-SEX MARRIAGE TO GAIN LEGAL STATUS IN THAILAND. Thailand’s Interior Ministry is set to enforce the Marriage Equality Bill, expected to become law later this month, according to a statement from ministry spokesperson Traisulee Taisaranakul. Read more here.

MARRIAGE PROMOTES ‘WHITE SUPREMACY,’ ACCORDING TO WHITE UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR. “Marriage fundamentalism” promotes the ideas of “White supremacy,” according to Professor Bethany Letiecq, a white George Mason University professor who wrote in the Journal of Marriage and Family that “marriage fundamentalism, like structural racism, is a key structuring element of White heteropatriarchal supremacy.” Read more here.

TOKYO WARD MAYORS CALL FOR GREATER RIGHTS FOR SAME-SEX COUPLES. The mayors of some of Tokyo’s 23 special wards are urging the Japanese government to grant same-sex couples greater rights, such as health insurance coverage for dependents. Read more here.

‘AGAINST SOCIETY’S RULES’: NITIN GADKARI ON LIVE-IN RELATIONSHIPS, SAME SEX MARRIAGES. In India, Union minister Nitin Gadkari said live-in relationships are wrong and against the rules of society, while adding that same-sex marriages would lead to the collapse of social structure. Read more here.

FUKUOKA BECOMES 3RD HIGH COURT IN JAPAN TO RULE SAME-SEX MARRIAGE BAN UNCONSTITUTIONAL. The Fukuoka High Court became the third high court in Japan to rule the country’s lack of legal recognition of same-sex marriage is unconstitutional, but upheld a lower court ruling to dismiss plaintiffs’ claim for damages. Read more here.

SPAIN TO ENSHRINE SAME-SEX MARRIAGE AND ABORTION RIGHTS INTO ITS CONSTITUTION. Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has vowed to add abortion rights and same-sex marriage to Spain’s constitution so they ‘can never be undone.’ Read more here.

MICHIGAN GOP REP. JOSH SCHRIVER SAYS SAME-SEX MARRIAGE SHOULD BE ‘ILLEGAL AGAIN.’ Michigan GOP Rep. Josh Schriver took to social media to speak on same-sex marriage, saying, “Make gay marriage illegal again.” Read more here.

THAILAND HOLDS COUNTDOWN EVENT FOR SAME-SEX MARRIAGE. A law allowing same-sex marriage takes effect Jan. 22, allowing LGBTQ couples the same rights as heterosexual unions, including tax benefits, inheritance and adoption rights, and 200 couples will participate in a group wedding ceremony on that day. Read more here.

TOP HONG KONG COURT BACKS HOUSING RIGHTS FOR SAME-SEX COUPLES. Hong Kong’s top court unanimously upheld three earlier rulings that favored granting public housing and inheritance rights to married same-sex couples, citing equality provisions in the city’s mini-constitution. Read more here.

STAND-ALONE CHURCH SERVICES FOR BRITISH SAME-SEX COUPLES ‘BEFORE TOO LONG’, SAYS BISHOP. In a video shown to St. Albans diocesan synod and subsequently posted on YouTube this month, the Bishop of Leicester, the Rt. Rev. Martyn Snow says that stand-alone services of blessing for same-sex couples will be available for use “before too long.” Read more here.

VANUATU PARLIAMENT AMENDS MARRIAGE ACT TO BAN SAME-SEX MARRIAGE. Vanuatu’s parliament has passed an amendment to its Marriage Act stating marriage is the union of a male and female. Minister of Internal Affairs Andrew Napuat said that marriage is defined in the country’s constitution as being between a male and a female. Read more here.

THE UNCOMFORTABLE TRUTH BEHIND THE LAVENDER MARRIAGE TREND. Gen Z is rejecting the standard marriage blueprint, focusing instead on a radical way of rethinking relationships with shared goals, such as financial security, reliable companionship and a partner who’s down to weather life’s ups and downs without necessarily being “the one.” Read more here.

MARRIAGE IN CHINA HITS ROCK BOTTOM – WHAT THIS MEANS FOR THE COUNTRY’S FUTURE. China’s marriage rate has sharply declined, with registered marriages falling below 5 million for the first time in January- September this year, a 17-percent decrease from last year, with just 4.74 million couples tying the knot. Read more here.

CALIFORNIA, COLORADO AND HAWAII VOTERS PASS SAME-SEX MARRIAGE PROPOSITIONS. California voters passed Proposition 3, guaranteeing the right for same-sex, as well as interracial, couples to marry. Colorado voters passed Amendment J, repealing a ban on same-sex unions, and Hawaii also passed a resolution approving same-sex marriage. Read more here.

CHURCH LEADER’S SAME-SEX MARRIAGE GETS HIM FIRED MONTHS BEFORE RETIREMENT IN MICHIGAN. Fred Szczepanski, the music director of a Catholic church in Traverse City, Mich., was fired months before his retirement when officials learned of his same-sex marriage, and stated: “The Catholic Church teaches that marriage is instituted by God and therefore in its nature cannot be changed.” Read more here.

SOUTH KOREAN CHRISTIANS RALLY AGAINST HOMOSEXUAL MARRIAGE AT MASSIVE PROTEST. South Korean Christians participated in a huge rally in Seoul to express their opposition to homosexual marriage, new pro-LGBT legislation and a supreme court decision conferring some spousal rights on homosexuals. Read more here.

SECOND JAPANESE HIGH COURT RULES LACK OF SAME-SEX MARRIAGE PROTECTIONS UNCONSTITUTIONAL. The Tokyo High Court ruled that the government’s refusal to recognize same-sex marriage goes against the country’s constitution, that it has “no rational basis” and has become a form of “legal discrimination based on sexual orientation.” Read more here.

COLLEGES CONTRIBUTE TO ‘DECLINE OF MARRIAGE,’ SOCIAL COMMENTATOR SAYS IN NEW BOOK. Universities are discouraging marriage through their promotion of “intersectionality” and “ideologically driven pseudoscience,” according to Conn Carroll, the author of a new book about marriage and democracy. Read more here.

POLAND INTRODUCES BILL TO LEGALIZE SAME-SEX CIVIL UNIONS. Poland’s government submitted a draft law legalizing civil unions, but the bill still has to run the gauntlet of the parliament and conservative President Andrzej Duda. Read more here.

NEW JAPAN PM ISHIBA CAUTIOUS ABOUT ALLOWING SAME-SEX MARRIAGE. New Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba took a cautious stance on allowing same-sex couples to marry in Japan, the only Group of Seven nation without legal protection for such marriages and civil unions. Read more here.

GOV’T ARGUES HONG KONG PUBLIC HOUSING FOR ‘TRADITIONAL FAMILIES’ AS FIGHT FOR SAME-SEX MARRIED COUPLES’ RIGHTS REACHES TOP COURT. Hong Kong’s public housing policy was aimed at supporting “traditional families founded on opposite-sex marriage,” a government lawyer has told the city’s top court in an appeal over housing rights for same-sex couples married overseas. Read more here.

THAI KING SIGNS SAME-SEX MARRIAGE BILL INTO LAW. Thailand’s king has signed a bill into law, making the country the first in South East Asia to recognize same-sex unions. The bill cleared the Senate in June but required royal endorsement to become law, which will come into effect on 22 January 2025. Read more here.

ECHR CLAIMS POLAND ‘VIOLATING HUMAN RIGHTS’ FOR NOT RECOGNIZING SAME-SEX PARTNERSHIPS. The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that the lack of legal recognition for same-sex partnerships in Poland violates the human rights of such couples. Read more here.

BALLOT MEASURES COULD REMOVE DEFINITION OF MARRIAGE FROM THREE STATE CONSTITUTIONS. The state constitutions of California, Colorado and Hawaii still define marriage as a union between one man and one woman, but measures on the 2024 election ballots in those states could remove this traditional definition. Read more here.

TAIWAN RECOGNIZES SAME-SEX MARRIAGE BETWEEN TAIWANESE AND CHINESE. Taiwanese-Chinese same-sex couples can now legally register their marriages in Taiwan, provided they marry in one of the 35 countries that recognize same-sex marriage, such as the U.S., U.K. and Canada. Read more here.