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Page Number: 13.0

8 

OBERGEFELL v. HODGES 

Opinion of the Court 

Rights, 1973, in 131 Am. J. Psychiatry 497 (1974).  Only in 
more  recent  years  have  psychiatrists  and  others  recog-
nized  that  sexual  orientation  is  both  a  normal  expression 
of  human  sexuality  and  immutable.    See  Brief  for  Ameri-
can Psychological Association et al. as Amici Curiae 7–17. 
In  the  late  20th  century,  following  substantial  cultural
and  political  developments,  same-sex  couples  began  to
lead more open and public lives and to establish families. 
This  development  was  followed  by  a  quite  extensive  dis-
cussion  of  the  issue  in  both  governmental  and  private 
sectors  and  by  a  shift  in  public  attitudes  toward  greater
tolerance.  As a result, questions about the rights of gays
and  lesbians  soon  reached  the  courts,  where  the  issue 
could be discussed in the formal discourse of the law. 

This Court first gave detailed consideration to the legal 
status  of  homosexuals  in  Bowers  v.  Hardwick,  478  U. S. 
186  (1986).    There  it  upheld  the  constitutionality  of  a
Georgia  law  deemed  to  criminalize  certain  homosexual 
acts.  Ten  years  later,  in  Romer  v.  Evans,  517  U. S.  620 
(1996), the Court invalidated an amendment to Colorado’s
Constitution that sought to foreclose any branch or politi-
cal  subdivision  of  the  State  from  protecting  persons 
against discrimination based on sexual orientation.  Then, 
in  2003,  the  Court  overruled  Bowers,  holding  that  laws
making  same-sex  intimacy  a  crime  “demea[n]  the  lives  of 
homosexual  persons.”    Lawrence  v.  Texas,  539  U. S.  558, 
575. 

Against this background, the legal question of same-sex 
marriage arose.  In 1993, the Hawaii Supreme Court held 
Hawaii’s  law  restricting  marriage  to  opposite-sex  couples 
constituted  a  classification  on  the  basis  of  sex  and  was 
therefore subject to strict scrutiny under the Hawaii Con-
stitution.  Baehr  v.  Lewin,  74  Haw.  530,  852  P. 2d  44. 
Although  this  decision  did  not  mandate  that  same-sex 
marriage  be  allowed,  some  States  were  concerned  by  its
implications and reaffirmed in their laws that marriage is