Hillary Clinton has shared her grim prediction on the future of same-sex marriage in the US.
On 15 August, the former Secretary of State stopped by the Raging Moderates podcast to discuss some of the most “pressing challenges of our time”, including Donald Trump’s volatile presidency, the future of democracy in the US and the economy.
In addition to the aforementioned topics, Clinton shared her candid thoughts on the recent petition formally asking the US Supreme Court to overturn the Obergefell v. Hodges rulling.
In 2015, the landmark 5-4 decision legalised same sex marriage in all 50 states.
While some legal experts have expressed doubt that the Court will hear the case, Clinton didn’t share the same sentiment.
“American voters and, to some extent, the American media don’t understand how many years the Republicans have been working in order to get us to this point,” she explained.
“It took 50 years to overturn Roe v. Wade. The Supreme Court will hear a case about gay marriage. My prediction is they will do to gay marriage what they did to abortion. They will send it back to the states.”
Clinton went on to encourage LGBTQIA+ couples to consider getting married in the meantime.
“I don’t think they’ll undo existing marriages, but I fear that they will undo the national right. And so fewer than half the states will recognise gay marriage,” she continued.
Elsewhere in her interview, the former First Lady and presidential candidate shed light on the Republican Party’s political game plan regarding the 2026 midterm elections.
“There are going to be real world consequences, but a lot of them are not likely to hit with the velocity and intensity until after the 2026 election. So they’re trying to set it up so that they can win that election and dump all of this other bad news on the American people,” she explained.
“And they’re doing state capture of capitalism. State capture of institutions. The courts are doing their best, but, you know, it’s a slow process. And the Supreme Court gave Trump a big victory when they say no nationwide injunctions to stop allegedly illegal activity.
“So, I think that in an election we have a better fighting chance, but we’re going to be fighting with maybe one or even two hands tied behind us if Texas does what it wants to do, if other states do what Trump tells them to do because they don’t want a fair fight. They don’t want to have a fight about the issues. They want to distract and divert attention away from all of their problems.”
As previously mentioned, former Kentucky county clerk Kim Davis – who made headlines in 2015 when she refused to issue marriage licenses to LGBTQIA+ couples – filed a petition in July, urging the US Supreme Court to overturn Obergefell v. Hodges.
In the filing, she described the ruling as being “grounded entirely on the legal fiction of substantive due process” and further claimed that it forced her to choose “between her religious beliefs and her job.”
For more information about the petition and expert opinions on whether the Court will hear the case, click here.