Here's What Happens if Same-Sex Marriage Is Overturned — There Is Some Good News

Back in June 2022, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, which established women had a constitutional right to an abortion.

This move allowed states to make the decision. Since that time, 19 states have banned abortion or restricted it to earlier in the pregnancy than Roe v. Wade stated, per The New York Times.

From the moment Roe v. Wade was overturned, activists on social media began looking ahead to what could be overturned next.

Many people worried that Obergefell v. Hodges, which legalized same-sex marriage, would be the next to fall. This was largely due to the fact that Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas called for the court to reconsider Obergefell v. Hodges during his concurring opinion regarding Roe v. Wade.

So, what happens if same-sex marriage is overturned? Here's what we know.

According to ABC News, if Obergefell v Hodges is ever overturned, it would not invalidate any same-sex marriages that were already performed.

In the Respect for Marriage Act (RFMA), which was signed into law by former President Joe Biden in 20222, "required federal government and all states to recognize same-sex and interracial marriages if they were legally performed in the past or are performed in the future in places where they are still legal, including other states."

The Respect for Marriage Act couldn't keep individual states from denying marriage licenses to same-sex couples. However, the legal marriage of a same-sex couple in one state would have to be honored in a state where it is not legal.

The RFMA also protects religious groups that have moral objections to same-sex marriages. Not only do they not have to provide goods or services to those in a same-sex marriage, but their tax-exempt status cannot be rescinded if they do.

In August 2025, the Supreme Court was asked to hear a case that could affect same-sex marriage, reports ABC News. The case was brought before the court by Kim Davis, a woman who gained notoriety in 2015 after she refused to issue a marriage license to a same-sex couple in Kentucky based on religious grounds.

The former country clerk was jailed for six days.

Davis also had to pay $100,000 in emotional damages to the couple, as well as $260,000 in attorney fees. She is appealing the verdict, arguing that the First Amendment protection of religious freedom kept her from being personally liable for the denial of marriage licenses.

Her attorney, Mathew Staver, argues that claiming same-sex marriage is a fundamental right under the Fourteenth Amendment is "egregiously wrong."

He continued, "If there ever was a case of exceptional importance, the first individual in the Republic's history who was jailed for following her religious convictions regarding the historic definition of marriage, this should be it."

The Supreme Court has scheduled this case for Sept. 29, 2025.