Is marriage a right? – Local woman responds to controversial state proposal
IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (KIFI) - This week, the Idaho House passed a memorial asking the U.S. Supreme Court to reconsider its ruling in the landmark Obergefell v. Hodges decision, which would restore the power to define marriage to the states.
46 state representatives voted yes and 24 voted no.
House Joint Memorial 1 (HJM 1) now goes to the Senate for deliberation. As it does, local members of the LGBTQ community are uneasy.
"We're prepared to leave everything"
Marriage law can affect everything from taxes to parental rights, to who is allowed in a room if a family member is in the hospital.
LGBTQ advocate and community member Chole Goodsell tells Local News 8 that after the Supreme Court overturned the historic Roe v. Wade decision, she and her wife knew their lives could change in an instant.
"We are literally preparing to leave everything behind if we need," said Chole. "We have ten years' worth of stuff. We have ten years' worth of memories here. And it's not an easy thing."
Chole met her wife, Mariah, over a decade ago on the dating site Plenty of Fish. The pair says their relationship is one of the few success stories in online dating.
The couple tied the knot just after the Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage in 2015. In the decade since their wedding, Chole says the pair have built their life in south east Idaho.
"We've worked really hard," said Chole. "I worked full time to put my wife through school. She now works as a surgical tech. We've built a normal life of home, family, animals, cars. [We're] just trying to figure out our future and what we want to do after our child goes off to college."
"It should be a right," say LGBTQ community members
Same-sex marriages only make up about 2% of all unions in Idaho. A 2023 poll by Survey USA found that half of all Idahoans, including 34% of all Republicans, believe same-sex marriages should be legal in the Gem State.
Heather Scott, the representative behind HJM 1, says the goal is to return the power to define marriage to the state.
"This is not a memorial about defining marriage," Scott told the members of the Idaho House. "It's about who gets to define marriage. Do we want the state to make those decisions, or do we want to allow the Supreme Court to make those decisions?"
The Idaho GOP platform does recognize a stricter definition of marriage.
"We call upon Idaho government officials and legislators to protect the traditional family and use all means possible to prevent expansion of the definition of marriage beyond that of a bond between one man and one woman" reads the 2024-2026 Idaho GOP platform.
In her address to the House State of Affairs Committee, Scott claimed that marriage was not a right protected by the Constitution.
"Why?" Chole asked in response to Scott's words. "Why not? What two consenting adults do is nobody else's business. It should be a right... they may say that 'our marriage is inadequate or not legal,' but that's my wife that will forever be my wife."