A decade ago, the United States crossed a threshold when the Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage throughout the country in Obergefell v. Hodges. Looking back, it is clear that the Court’s decision effectively codified our cultural descent into a no-holds barred approach to sexuality, and, a bit later, gender. Grounded in what Carl Trueman terms “expressive individualism,” this mentality is divorced from biological realities, sociological data, common sense and the clear testimony of Scripture.
At the time, those who warned of a future where culturally acceptable expressions of sexuality and gender were virtually unlimited were labelled slippery slope fear-mongers. But the last 10 years have proven them right. The Court’s encore performance was Bostock v. Clayton County (2020), which, in ruling that discrimination against gay or transgender employees is a violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, completely redefined “sex” in American jurisprudence.
The age of radical gender ideology was upon us. In the years following Bostock, especially during the aggressively progressive Biden administration (2021-2025), virtually every significant First Amendment legal battle would revolve around sexual orientation and gender identity issues as Americans with religious convictions regarding traditional marriage struggled to defend their First Amendment rights.
In truth, Obergefell was as much the product of significant cultural change as its catalyst. By 2015, the social norms resisting same-sex marriage had been eroding for years. Entertainment such as Will and Grace (1998) and Modern Family (2009) normalized same-sex relationships, while legal activists pushed to be granted the privileges of government-licensed marriage, rights and benefits in court. All of this coincided with the erosion of a commitment to biblical values both in the church and larger society that chipped away at support for traditional marriage.
The gradual cultural transformation could even be seen among progressive elites. Even President Obama opposed recognizing same-sex marriage until May 2012. Popular opinion came along a year later. Whereas Americans as a whole opposed same-sex marriage by 30 points (60% vs. 31%) in 2004, over 50% supported it by 2013. By 2019, the original results had completely reversed, the cultural trend undoubtedly boosted by Obergefell.
The price of not adhering to the ever-changing definitions of marriage and sexuality has become steep for some. Jack Phillips, Baronelle Stutzman and various adoption agencies have been targeted for their Christian beliefs about marriage. Through a barrage of lawsuits, the message was clear: Get on board or face the consequences of a fight for survival. Although, eventually, these defendants would win their appeals, the litigation itself was punishment for nonconformity, costing hundreds of thousands of dollars and years of one’s life. In the aftermath of Obergefell, marriage is now often wielded as a weapon against those who hold fast to what the Bible teaches.
Obergefell was neither a beginning nor an end. It was just one more signpost along the road of the sexual revolution. For, if “love is love,” and as long as two adults love each other, biological sex has no bearing on marriage, then bodies do not matter; only feelings do. It is not hard to see how this logic informs a gender ideology that concludes that if bodies have no bearing on our identity or self-expression, then what difference does it make if we radically change them?
By contrast, the Bible teaches that our bodies matter. We are created as male and female, and these biological realities significantly inform our identity. In marriage, the differences between male and female bodies find their complement in each other. The complementary differences are what make family — the foundational institution of human society — possible through procreation.
Regardless of what our society affirms, marriage is not what our culture says it is. Marriage is not what lawmakers or judges say it is. Marriage is what God says it is in His revealed Word. Marriage is the uniting of one man and one woman in covenant commitment for a lifetime — for our good. As believers, we should contend for that truth to be reflected in our society’s laws.
At our 2025 Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) annual meeting, messengers adopted a resolution that, in part, called for the overturning of laws and court rulings, including Obergefell, “that defy God’s design for marriage and family.” This is, of course, a worthy goal. The more a society’s laws conform to the way God has structured the world, the more we flourish. Such is one of the truths of common grace.
Furthermore, Christians should contend for our own marriages and help those in our churches do the same. Far too often, we have diminished marriage through our selfishness instead of exalting marriage through Spirit-empowered, selfless love. And just as laws reflecting God’s truth point people to God’s truth, marriages that model God’s love point people to His love. Obergefell or not, may our marriages model His love as we point to His truth. Amen.
(EDITOR’S NOTE — Miles S. Mullin II, Ph.D., serves as vice president and chief of staff for the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission.)
