Supreme Court upholds same-sex marriage ruling by denying appeal

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- The nation’s Supreme Court has denied an appeal to overturn it’s 2015 ruling that legalized same-sex marriage.

In 2015, the Supreme Court ruled in Obergefell v. Hodges that same-sex couples had a fundamental right to be married under the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment.

Kim Davis, a former county clerk in Kentucky, filed an appeal asking the court to overturn their ruling. Davis was sued in 2015 for refusing to issue marriage licenses in Kentucky to same-sex couples.

“Everyone’s got human rights, and they should be allowed to marry or not, it’s their decision,” said Roy Badger. “We were the original four couples that filed a lawsuit against the state of Wisconsin.”

Badger and his husband, Garth, met at UW-Milwaukee in 1976. They were married for 10 years before Garth’s death in January.

“It was our goal to see it someday come to a time where younger people, younger LGBT people would go, ‘What’s the big deal?'" said Garth.

A decade later, Davis’ appeal to overturn that ruling was filed, but the Supreme Court chose not to take up the case. The court did not give a reason for why they denied Davis' appeal.

“I was very surprised. I had to read it twice,” said Badger.

Following the denial to look at the appeal, Davis is still required to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees and fines for refusing to issue marriage licenses when she was a county clerk in Kentucky.

The legal group representing Davis provided the following statement to CNN: 

“Like the abortion decision in Roe v. Wade, Obergefell was egregiously wrong from the start. We will continue to work to overturn Obergefell. It is not a matter of if, but when the Supreme Court will overturn Obergefell.”

Courage+, a nonprofit for LGBTQ+ youth in the state of Wisconsin, says the ruling is a symbol of hope.

“It is just to make sure that all kids, especially kids in the community, see that there are adults advocating for them,” said Hazel Cicero, with Courage+.

The Supreme Court’s decision is one Badger wishes Garth was here to see.

“He would be so excited today, oh gosh. I know somewhere, he knows what the news is,” said Badger.