Revisiting Obergefell: Dynamic Implications According to Sedgwick (Part 3)
In this three part series, the key findings from the landmark court case Obergefell v. Hodges (2015) were laid out in Part 1. In Part 2, the modern day court challenges were laid out. Finally, in this part 3, a close reading of Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick’s Tendencies will reveal what threats to LGBTQ+ rights could mean for queer community members.
The 1991 collection of essays that Tendencies includes “Queer and Now,” a chapter that recognizes and analyzes meanings behind queer. In reading this essay alongside modern legislation it is necessary to recognize the cultural moment that the original collection of essays was born into. In the early 90s, the term “queer” was interpreted differently from how we see it since today’s widespread institutionalization and integration. Regardless of the temporal difference in context, many of the anecdotes Sedgwick provides ring true today.
At this time, the limitations to accessible queer media and scholarship faced greater limitations, to which Sedgwick responded, “this society wants its children to know nothing; wants its queer children to confirm or… die,” (Sedgwick 3). She knows it is possible for kids to learn that “the road widens and the air brightens,” and that “there are worlds where it’s plausible,” (Sedgwick 2) for more queer youth, but it requires careful attention from peers, families, and leaders.
In order to accomplish this and mitigate queer suicide rates, Sedwick proposes a strategy, for queer adults, to “smuggle queer representation in where it must be smuggled,” and “to challenge queer-eradicating impulses frontally,” (Sedgwick 3). To an extent, this was massively accomplished with Obergefell v. Hodges (2015) through the recognition of same-sex marriage and following legislation that promoted anti-desrimination for members of the LGBTQ+ community.
In mentioning same-sex marriage it is also necessary to recognize the rich history of queer culture and existence beyond the legislation. Also, many LGBTQ+ members found the legislation to be underwhelming; many felt it was not expansive enough in the protections it offered. Regardless, Obergefell inherently normalizes queer relationships by explicitly granting them certain rights and recognition.
The University of California, Los Angeles Law School’s Williams Institute cites that the number of same-sex married couples has more than doubled since Obergefell passed. Regardless, majority of surveyed same-sex couples still believe that the status of same-sex marriage faces insecurity.
Without these anti-discrimination protections and explicit marital recognitions, there is a risk that the state reverts closer to a monolithic society that values similarity over differences. Sedgwick underscored “the most productive strategy” to prevent monoliths or unanimity in systems is to “whenever possible, to disarticulate them [associated structures] from one another, to disengage them.” Upholding the Obergefell standard is just one safeguard against a heteronormative monolith because, again, it explicitly recognizes and protects certain rights for LGBTQ+ couples.
When there are open opportunities between binaries, this is where queer enterprises thrive. This is supported by Sedgwick’s belief about what queer means, as it can refer to “the open mesh of possibilities, gaps, overlaps, dissonances and resonances, lapses and excesses of meaning when the constituent elements of anyone’s gender, of anyone’s sexuality aren’t made (or can be made) to signal monolithically.”
In reading Sedgwick’s Tendencies, it becomes clear that maintaining Obergefell supports enduring queer enterprises and a step towards protecting LBGTQ+ individuals. This is because the legislation rejects monolithic standards and provides a protected space for representation.
Works Cited
“Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.” Oyez, www.oyez.org/cases/2021/19-1392.
Sedgwick, Eve Kosofsky. “QUEER AND NOW.” Literary Theories: A Reader and Guide, edited by Julian Wolfreys, Edinburgh University Press, 1999, pp. 537–52. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.3366/j.ctvxcrcgh.62.
Uhl, Jordan, and Elvert Barnes. “A decade after the Supreme Court’s Obergefell decision, marriage equality endures risky terrain.” UCLA Law, 25 June 2025, https://law.ucla.edu/news/decade-after-supreme-courts-obergefell-decision-marriage-equality-endures-risky-terrain.