AHA Applauds U.S. Supreme Court Decision for Marriage Equality

The American Humanist Association applauds the United States Supreme Court for upholding the rights of same-sex couples in its ruling on the landmark Obergefell v. Hodges case.

“Our country is finally moving beyond outdated, religious definitions of marriage,” said Roy Speckhardt, executive director of the American Humanist Association. “This is a victory for all LGBTQ Americans and allies who fought vigorously against discrimination.”

In March, the American Humanist Association’s Appignani Humanist Legal Center submitted an amicus curiae brief with the Center for Inquiry on behalf of the petitioners in Obergefell v. Hodges. The brief stated that the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment gave same-sex couples the right to marry. It also declared that arguments against marriage equality had an inherent basis in religious descriptions of marriage, meaning that bans against marriage for same-sex couples violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.

A copy of the brief can be viewed here, and more information about the American Humanist Association’s advocacy on behalf of same-sex marriage through its LGBTQ Humanist Council can be found here.