By Torie Price
Opinion Page Edtior
IG: torielprice
Obergefell v. Hodges was a historic case decided on June 26, 2015, that resulted in the legalization of same-sex marriage in all states of the United States.
As of 2025, the ruling that was given a decade ago is still upheld, but there has been much opposition to the ruling and even calls for an overturning of this case. Recently, the discord surrounding this case has ramped up as an appeal proposal was made by Kim Davis, a former Kentucky county clerk, before the Supreme Court to overturn the 2015 ruling.
The Supreme Court refused to retry Obergefell v. Hodges on Nov. 10, but the unrest that the possibility of this case being retried felt throughout the country.
Hutchinson Community College’s Gay Straight Alliance, GSA, had been discussing LGBTQ history throughout October, when the possibility of this case being retried was first brought into question.
Janelle Pooler, the HutchCC GSA advisor, said that “stepping back to look at bigger trends, we could see that although it feels like we are going backwards, we are still overall having more rights now than we did 20, 50, or more years ago.”
Many LGBTQ HutchCC students are not yet thinking about marriage, but “if marriage is what they want in their relationship, it is great that it is still a possibility at this time.”
Kai Spahr, a former HutchCC Opinion Page Editor and member of the queer community, said they were relieved
“It’s like a weight lifted … It’s one thing that we don’t have to fight about right now,” Spahr said.
“Listen to what we have to say. Platform our voices. Be willing to be wrong and be willing to listen and learn. Be willing to call out the people around you when they’re homophobic.”
Pooler benefited from the original ruling of Obergefell v. Hodges when she and her partner were married one year after the legalization of same-sex marriage. She now gets to support LGBTQ youth herself and empower them in much the same manner that she was herself a decade ago.
