Idaho House starts 2025 session with proposal to challenge same-sex marriage

BOISE, Idaho (KIFI) - An Idaho House committee is considering asking the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a ruling legalizing same-sex marriage nationwide.

Representative Heather Scott, R-Blanchard, introduced the "Memorial On Who Defines Marriage" as this session's first piece of legislation.

Same-sex marriage has been protected since 2015 when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5–4 in the landmark Obergefell v. Hodges decision.

Scott claims that the court "exceeded it's constitutional authority in the decision legalizing same-sex-marriage."

"The court has overstepped its boundary," quoted Scott. "It undermined the right of voters to determine their own state's (laws surrounding same-sex marriage). So the purpose of this resolution is just to reaffirm our state authority to regulate marriage."

Scott says the proposal encourages the Supreme Court to revisit the Obergefell versus Hodges decision.

According to the right-wing group Mass Resistance, legislators in North Dakota, Montana, Michigan, Iowa, and Kansas are set to follow suit with similar legislation. Mass Resistance has been identified as an anti-LGBTQ hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Members of the local LGBTQ+ community and gay-rights advocates say the move by the legislature is beyond frustrating.

"We're backtracking," LGBTQ+ advocate and Trevor Project volunteer Dakota Short told Local News 8. "And if we're backtracking already, it gives us the opportunity to step towards generally dangerous things for my community. If we're already heading towards taking our rights away, what stops us from criminalizing just being gay in general."

Dakota says she hopes members of the eastern Idaho community stand up and petition their state and local governments on their behalf.