r/gay

Is it a very conservative region?

Justice Amy Coney Barrett is the fifth woman to serve on the Supreme Court of the United States. Nominated by Donald Trump in 2020, she was expected to be a staunchly conservative pick. Donald Trump and MAGA have since admonished and ridiculed her due to the fact that she has become a center figure on the Court, being the most likely conservative Justice to vote against Trump. She joins the liberal justices in most cases relating to January 6th, the environment, healthcare (specifically the Affordable Care Act), due process, and same-sex marriage.

Barrett is often accused of threatening same-sex marriage because she joined the 2022 Dobbs decision overturning Roe v. Wade, but that is not what her own reasoning (nor the reasoning outlined in the majority opinion of Dobbs) suggests. In her relatively new book Listening to the Law, she distinguishes abortion from other asserted liberty rights, writing that the Court has treated “the rights to marry, engage in sexual intimacy, use birth control, and raise children” as fundamental, while treating abortion differently, particularly because abortion involves an act that many see as the taking of a human being's life. Her point is not simply “old precedents can be erased.” Her point is that Roe was uniquely weak because it invented a national abortion law without clear constitutional grounding, and because abortion involves a third-party life interest that marriage, contraception, and intimacy cases do not involve. Even Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a staunchly pro-choice Justice, criticized Roe v. Wade for its weak legal reasoning and unstable foundation. Same-sex marriage does not rely on the same foundation that Roe did.

In interviews about her book, she has pointed to the “substantial concrete reliance interests” created by same-sex marriage: people have married, formed families, arranged property, made medical decisions, and built their lives around those legal marriages. That matters because stare decisis does not only ask whether a precedent was originally right; it also asks what would be disrupted by overruling it. Even if she may disagree with the reasoning of Obergefell, she has strongly indicated that she would not be willing to challenge or overturn it (and this was further proven by her decision to reject Kim Davis' case challenging Obergefell). Abortion, by contrast, was treated in Dobbs (and was even treated in Roe) as different because it concerns the intentional ending of prenatal human life and because the reliance interests are not the same kind of settled legal/family arrangements that marriage creates.

I hope that this settles the common fear and misconception that the Supreme Court may be willing to overturn or challenge same-sex marriage. Same-sex marriage has a much stronger foundation (the right to equal protection and to be free from sex discrimination) than abortion (which in Roe, was based largely on privacy). Same-sex marriage also enjoys 70% approval from Americans, while only 30% of Americans think abortion should be legal in all circumstances (most Americans support early abortion for certain circumstances, but oppose later abortion). It also remains true that even conservatives are more likely to support gay rights and same-sex marriage than they are to support abortion. Rest assured, same-sex marriage is the law of the land, and it will remain that way.

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Barrett, A. C. (2025. Listening to the law: Reflections on the Court and Constitution. Sentinel.)

Brenan, M. (2025, May 29. Record party divide 10 years after same-sex marriage ruling. Gallup News.) https://news.gallup.com/poll/691139/record-party-divide-years-sex-marriage-ruling.aspx

Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, 597 U.S. ___ (2022.) https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/19-1392

Fischer v. United States, 603 U.S. ___ (2024.) https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/23pdf/23-5572_l6hn.pdf

Gallup. (2025, October 7. Where do Americans stand on abortion? Gallup News.) https://news.gallup.com/poll/321143/americans-stand-abortion.aspx

Heagney, M. (2013, May 15. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg offers critique of Roe v. Wade during law school visit. University of Chicago Law School.) https://www.law.uchicago.edu/news/justice-ruth-bader-ginsburg-offers-critique-roe-v-wade-during-law-school-visit

Kennedy v. Braidwood Management, Inc., 606 U.S. ___ (2025.) https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24pdf/24-316_869d.pdf

Kruzel, J., & Chung, A. (2026, February 20. “Embarrassment to their families”: Trump denounces Supreme Court justices after tariffs ruling. Reuters.) https://www.reuters.com/world/us/im-ashamed-trump-denounces-supreme-court-justices-after-tariffs-ruling-2026-02-20/

Obergefell v. Hodges, 576 U.S. 644 (2015.) https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/14-556

Ohio v. Environmental Protection Agency, 603 U.S. ___ (2024.) https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/23pdf/23a349_0813.pdf

Quinn, M. (2025, September 4. Justice Amy Coney Barrett says the law isn’t an “opinion poll” as Supreme Court faces longshot bid to revisit same-sex marriage. CBS News.) https://www.cbsnews.com/news/amy-coney-barrett-supreme-court-should-not-be-imposing-its-values-on-american-people/

Supreme Court of the United States. (2025. Docket for No. 25-125, Kim Davis v. David Ermold, et al.) https://www.supremecourt.gov/search.aspx?filename=%2Fdocket%2Fdocketfiles%2Fhtml%2Fpublic%2F25-125.html

Taheri, M. (2025, October 17. Amy Coney Barrett says same-sex marriage has “concrete reliance interests.” Newsweek.) https://www.newsweek.com/amy-coney-barrett-same-sex-marriage-concrete-reliance-interests-10895891

Trump v. J. G. G., 604 U.S. ___ (2025.) https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24pdf/24a931_2c83.pdf

Saw him on onlytarts!

Hello, attached are photos of my current hair because I'd also love advice on how long I should expect my hair to take to grow out down past my shoulders... 2 years? Also I told my partner I want to grow it out. I want it long. I'm a gay man, not trans and I just want to grow out my hair because I think it will look good and it's also my hair and body. Not asking for specific advice but just want to hear any opinions. Thank you.

Today's lunch was rice and chicken

My mother has always wondered why i don't have girlfriends or ever wanted kids, the truth is im secret gay! This summer im going to tell everyone and embrace myself!

The character is Wuyang from Overwatch! He’s super cute and super fun to play! You should check him out in the game if you haven’t already :))