By Mike Smithgall | August 16, 2025 | Atheistville

Introduction: The Lawsuit That Won’t Die

Every so often, a headline surfaces that feels like déjà vu. The name Kim Davis is back in the news. Yes, it is the same former Kentucky county clerk. She went to jail in 2015 for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Now, a decade after the landmark Obergefell v. Hodges decision legalized marriage equality nationwide, she’s petitioning the Supreme Court to overturn it.

Most legal experts say her case doesn’t have a chance. But that doesn’t mean it’s harmless. This issue isn’t really about Kim Davis alone. It involves a persistent campaign to roll back secular rights in the name of religion.

👉Watch on YouTube
👉 Listen on the podcast

---

The Case That Refuses to Go Away

Ten years ago, Obergefell changed American law and culture. For millions of same-sex couples, it was a moment of long-overdue recognition. For Kim Davis, it was the moment she decided her personal interpretation of God’s will outweighed her obligations as a public servant.

Her refusal to issue marriage licenses landed her in jail for six days. To her supporters, she was a martyr. To others, she was a government official abusing her position to deny citizens their rights. When sued by David Ermold and David Moore, a jury awarded them $100,000 in damages plus $260,000 in attorneys’ fees.

Lower courts have been clear: the First Amendment doesn’t shield her, because she wasn’t acting as a private citizen — she was the state.

Yet Davis is back, with her lawyer Mathew Staver insisting Obergefell was “egregiously wrong” and “legal fiction.” While the appeals courts showed no interest, she’s betting on today’s more conservative Supreme Court.

Whether the Court takes it or not, the very act of filing is a signal: this battle is far from over.

---

Why the Supreme Court Probably Won’t Overturn Obergefell

Let’s cut through the noise: most legal experts — including conservatives — don’t think this case will end marriage equality.

• Josh Blackman, a conservative legal scholar, predicts the Court would rather let cases “percolate” in lower courts before touching Obergefell.
• Sarah Isgur, an ABC News legal analyst, said bluntly: “There is no world in which the Court takes the case as a simple gay marriage case.”

The political climate also makes a reversal unlikely. Gallup polling shows 70% of Americans support marriage equality, a number that has grown steadily since 2015. While Republican support has slipped from 55% in 2021 to 41% today, the issue is still broadly mainstream.

On top of that, the Respect for Marriage Act (2022) requires states to recognize legal same-sex and interracial marriages performed anywhere in the country. Even if Obergefell were struck down, existing marriages wouldn’t vanish.

So no, Davis’s case isn’t poised to erase marriage equality in 2026. But here’s the danger: focusing only on the odds of success blinds us to the coordinated, incremental campaign happening behind the scenes. In just 2025 alone, nine states introduced bills or resolutions urging the Court to revisit Obergefell. The Southern Baptist Convention formally voted to make overturning it a “top priority.”

These are not isolated stunts — they’re long-term moves in a larger strategy.

---

The Decade After Obergefell: The Sky Didn’t Fall

Back in 2015, the religious right warned of apocalypse. We were told marriage equality would:

• Destroy “traditional” marriage
• Corrupt children
• Trigger societal collapse
• Invite God’s wrath

Spoiler: none of that happened.

Same-sex couples married, raised kids, paid taxes, and lived ordinary lives. There were no forced church weddings, no flood of “slippery slope” unions, no collapse of civilization.

Meanwhile, Kim Davis herself — divorced three times — continues to claim that two men marrying threatens the “sanctity of marriage.” The irony writes itself.

The point is simple: the dire predictions were baseless. But the failure of prophecy didn’t lead to acceptance. Instead, it hardened grievance. For opponents, marriage equality remains a wound that never healed — a defeat they refuse to let go.

👉 If you want to dive deeper into how “religious freedom” has been weaponized to chip away at secular rights, I recommend Andrew Seidel’s American Crusade. It’s an eye-opening breakdown of exactly how cases like this fit into a bigger strategy.

---

Religion as a Weapon, Not a Shield

Davis frames her argument in religious liberty terms: the idea that her beliefs should excuse her from liability. Courts disagreed, noting that she acted not as a private believer but as the government.

This “religious liberty” framing isn’t new. We’ve seen it in:

• Bakers refusing to make wedding cakes for gay couples
• Employers refusing to cover contraception in health plans
• Teachers refusing to acknowledge LGBTQ students’ rights

Each case looks small in isolation. Together, they form a patchwork of carve-outs eroding equal protection.

Even more troubling, Justice Clarence Thomas has openly called for revisiting Griswold v. Connecticut (contraception) and Lawrence v. Texas (striking down sodomy laws). These aren’t hypotheticals — they’re invitations to reopen long-settled fights.

When “God’s law” is elevated over civil law, the rights of anyone outside that faith are put on the chopping block.

---

Vigilance Without Alarmism

It’s easy to shrug off Davis’s petition as a stunt. Maybe that’s all it is. But the bigger lesson is that rights are rarely lost in one dramatic moment. They’re eroded slowly, through persistence and complacency.

Marriage equality stands today because people fought for it — in courtrooms, legislatures, and communities. And it will continue to stand only if that vigilance continues.

Vigilance doesn’t mean panic. It means:

• Paying attention — even to “long-shot” cases.
• Calling out attempts to undermine rights, whether or not they succeed.
• Keeping the conversation alive so bad-faith efforts can’t happen in the shadows.

And let’s not forget: this isn’t abstract. Nearly one million same-sex couples are married in the U.S. today. Almost one in five of them are raising children. Every time cases like Davis’s hit the headlines, those families are reminded that some still see their lives as negotiable.

As Blackman put it, “It is hard to say where things will go.” That uncertainty is exactly why vigilance matters.

---

Conclusion: What Kim Davis Reminds Us

We’re nearing the ten-year anniversary of Obergefell. Ten years of Americans marrying the people they love, raising families, and living freely — without harming anyone.

Kim Davis’s case almost certainly won’t overturn marriage equality. But it’s a reminder of something bigger: rights aren’t static. They must be defended, again and again, because there will always be those willing to relitigate them when the political winds shift.

So the real lesson here isn’t about Kim Davis. It’s about us — about whether we notice the pattern, call it out, and refuse to get complacent.

👉Watch on YouTube
👉 Listen on the podcast

If you value skeptical, reasoned conversation about the intersection of religion, law, and human rights, share this post — and let me know your thoughts in the comments.

Because reason and compassion go further than fear.

---