Poppy Bilderbeck
Senator Ted Cruz has revealed he doesn't believe same-sex marriage should have been legalised by the Supreme Court.
On 26 June, 2015, in the case of Obergefell v Hodges, the US Supreme Court ruled - in a vote of five to four - for same-sex couples to be given the constitutional right to marry under the 14th Amendment.
However, Texas Senator Ted Cruz has since spoken out against the ruling, stating it was 'clearly wrong'.
In a video titled, 'The vulnerability of the Obergefell ruling,' as part of his YouTube channel 'Verdict with Ted Cruz,' the 51-year-old reflected on whether or not the Obergefell v Hodges case should be overturned like the Roe v Wade ruling recently was - a decision which has stripped millions of women the legal right to a safe abortion.
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When asked for the 'argument for overturning [the Obergefell ruling],' Cruz said: "Obergefell, like Roe v Wade, ignored two centuries of our nation's history.
"Marriage was always an issue that was left to the states. We saw states before Obergefell—some states were moving to allow gay marriage, other states were moving to allow civil partnerships. There were different standards that the states were adopting.
"The court said, 'No, we know better than you guys do, and now every state must sanction and permit gay marriage'."
The Texas Senator went on to call the Supreme Court's decision 'clearly wrong when it was decided,' accusing the court of 'overreaching'.
However, when reflecting on whether or not the Obergefell ruling could be reversed, Cruz said: "In Dobbs, what the Supreme Court said is 'Roe is different because it's the only one of the cases that involves the taking of a human life and it's qualitatively different'.
"I agree with that proposition."
Cruz's comments have been met with fierce backlash online.
One user said: "Ted Cruz is clear: SCOTUS was wrong to legalize gay marriage. We weren’t overreacting to the overturning of Roe v Wade because we knew they were coming for Obergefell next. #LGBTrights."
"We can shrug our shoulders and say, 'I’m not gay, this doesn’t affect me,' or we can roll up our sleeves and fight like hell to make sure these people never regain power. I’ve chosen my side..." another stated.
While Cruz's open opposition to same-sex marriage is nothing new, his latest comments follow soon after Justice Clarence Thomas' call on the Supreme Court to 'reconsider all of this Court's substantive due process precedents, including Griswold, Lawrence and Obergefell'.
In the case of Griswold v Connecticut in 1965, it was ruled by the Supreme Court that married couples are allowed to buy and use contraceptives without the permission of the government.
In 2003, the Lawrence v Texas ruling saw it made unconstitutional to criminally punish consenting adults for performing private sexual acts - sodomy - on one another.
Fears have subsequently been growing as to how many rulings could now run the risk of being overturned.
In the 2015 case of Obergefell v Hodges, it was ruled by the court that same-sex couples 'cannot be deprived of [the] right and [the] liberty' of marriage.
Justice Anthony Kennedy stated: "No union is more profound than marriage, for it embodies the highest ideals of love, fidelity, devotion, sacrifice, and family. As some of the petitioners in this case demonstrate, marriage embodies a love that may endure even past death...
"Their plea is that they do respect it, respect it so deeply that they seek to find its fulfilment for themselves. Their hope is not to be condemned to lives in loneliness, excluded from one of civilisation's oldest institutions. They ask for equal dignity in the eyes of the law. The Constitution grants that right."
If you’ve been affected by any of these issues and want to speak to someone in confidence, contact the LGBT Foundation on 0345 3 30 30 30, 10am–6pm Monday to Friday, or email [email protected]