MI HR0329

Affirms that the 2015 Supreme Court decision in Obergefell v. Hodges correctly recognized same-sex couples' fundamental right to marry under the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment.

States that the reasons marriage is a fundamental right—individual autonomy, protection for children and families, and its importance to social order—apply equally to same-sex and opposite-sex couples.

Asserts that bans on same-sex marriage violate the Equal Protection Clause by denying same-sex couples the rights and benefits afforded to opposite-sex couples and perpetuate discrimination and subordination.

Notes that approximately 12,557 married same-sex households exist in Michigan as of 2019, with roughly 18.9 percent containing at least one minor child, and that Obergefell overrides Michigan's constitutional definition of marriage as a union of one man and one woman.

Counters concerns that the 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization decision threatens same-sex marriage rights, arguing the Dobbs decision concerns only abortion and should not affect substantive due process protections for marriage.