James Obergefell grew up in a blue collar, Catholic family in Sandusky, Ohio, got an undergraduate degree from the University of Cincinnati, and became a high school teacher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI was deep in the closet,\u201d he said as he told his story during a program Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024, in the Lubar Center at Marquette Law School. He came out in the early 1990s while he was in graduate school and met John Arthur. Within a short time, they considered themselves married. Legally, they were not \u2013 at the time, same sex marriage was not legal anywhere in the United States. But beginning in the mid -990s, they decided they wanted \u201cmarriage and everything that came with it,\u201d as Obergefell put it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Obergefell told Derek Mosley. executive director of the Law School\u2019s Lubar Center for Public Policy Research and Civic Education, who moderated the conversation before a capacity audience of more than 200. how the legal landscape began to change, including a US Supreme Court decision in 2013 that struck down a federal law known as the Defense of Marriage Act. During the same period, Arthur\u2019s health declined sharply after being he was diagnosed with ALS in 2012.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After the Supreme Court decision, Obergefell and Arthur decided to get married. Because Arthur\u2019s health was so precarious, they needed to act quickly. And because legalities involving marriage varied across the country, they ended up taking a medical ambulance flight to the Baltimore\/Washington airport in Maryland, where they could have a ceremony without ever getting off the airplane. Three months later, Arthur died.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What emerged from their marriage was a court case focused on whether Obergefell was the surviving spouse legally. And that case was joined with similar cases that ended up before the US Supreme Court, resulting in the landmark decision of Obergefell v. Hodges<\/em> in 2015 which made same sex marriage legal throughout the United States. Obergefell recounted the events of the day the Supreme Court decision was issued. \u201cI burst into tears\u201d in the courtroom, he said. \u201cFor the first time in my life as an out gay man, I felt like an equal American,\u201d he said. The audience applauded when he said that. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Obergefell\u2019s name became a big part of American legal history. And Obergefell himself moved from being a person of no prominence and no notable involvement as an activist into a continuing spotlight. It made him, as Mosley put it at the Law School program, \u201cthe face of the case,\u201d someone who continues to be an advocate for rights of many kinds and someone who tells his personal story openly and with impact. Obergefell said he has realized how \u201cstories matter — stories can change hearts and minds.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cGoing through something like this has a profound impact,\u201d Obergefell told the audience. \u201cIt changes you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Obergefell said he is still motivated by anger over things he sees as wrong and the need to advocate for the rights of people facing many different situations. He also has less intense involvements, such as co-owning a wine label that has raised more than $250,000 for causes supported by him and the co-owner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cNothing makes me happier than to know that young people today are growing up in a world where the question of their right, their ability, to get married and have that relationship recognized is there.\u201d Obergefell said. \u201cI had the absolute honor and privilege of being part of making things better for people younger than I am.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Video of the one-hour program may be viewed by clicking below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n