When Trump Returns, Who Loses the Right to Love?

Mary Carter
4 min readNov 17, 2024
Donald Trump — Getty Images

I sit here today to write about something that deeply outrages me: the very real possibility that millions of Americans will lose their basic right to marriage in 2025.

We’re not talking about a hypothetical scenario — we’re talking about real people who are rushing their weddings right now out of fear of what’s to come.

Let’s look at the facts without sugarcoating: we have 32 American states with same-sex marriage bans still in their law books, just waiting to be reactivated.

It’s like having 32 guillotines ready to fall as soon as someone cuts the right rope.

What shocks me most is the coldness with which we discuss this, as if we weren’t talking about real lives, real families.

The math is simple and brutal: it only takes a few strategic moves in the Supreme Court for Obergefell to fall. Thomas and Alito have already made their position clear — they want to reverse this decision.

And with Trump potentially having the opportunity to nominate more conservative justices, we’re just one or two vacant seats away from seeing decades of progress disappear.

The Respect for Marriage Act, passed in 2022, is presented as a safety net. But what kind of safeguard is this that allows individual states to refuse to

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Mary Carter
Mary Carter

Written by Mary Carter

I share candid reflections on love, sex, and life's ups and downs, no holds barred and no taboos.

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