This week marks 10 years since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled gay marriage a right nationwide, nearly five years after New York legalized it. Queer rights activists say that after a decade, there are concerns those protections could be at risk.
Chaplain and community organizer Carol Speser was an officiant of New York’s first-ever same-sex marriage from 2011, which occurred in Niagara Falls. Speser has worked hundreds of marriages since, whether same-sex or not, but says she sees renewed reason for concern.
“We're in the in these moments where we can look back at the past and then look into the future," she said. "And I think that marriage equality is in danger. And so, we see a movement, a right-wing movement, that is ‘otherising’ too many people.”
Marriage protection concerns aren’t just about the significance as a religious ceremony. For many members of the LGBTQ+ community, there’s a major legal factor, too, with benefits like Social Security access, OUTSpoken for Equality President Ellen Leader said.
“That's a big one, federal pensions, right," she said. "All of that matters, like in New York State alone, 1,324 rights in New York, and that doesn't add in all the federal ones. So, all of those rights matter.”
Apprehension over maintaining those rights increases when considering criticism from the Southern Baptist Church or when Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas questioned same-sex marriage in the wake of overturning Roe v. Wade, Leader said.
