President John E. Jones, on Monday, October 27, was invited to speak about his time as federal court judge during Whitewood V. Wolf, the federal court case which made gay marriage legal in Pennsylvania. The case made Pennsylvania the 18th state besides the District of Columbia to make gay marriage legal. Jones was spoke on the 10 year anniversary of Obergefell V. Hodges, the historic supreme court decision that made gay marriage legal in all 50 states. 

Recently gay marriage has come back to the Supreme Court, when a former clerk in Kentucky refused to issue marriage licenses to gay couples almost 10 years ago. On Monday, November 10, the supreme court announced that they would not hear the case, upholding Obergefell v. Hodges. 

During the October 27 event, Jones spoke about his experience as the judge during the Whitewood V. Wolf case. One experience left a profound mark on Jones. “[one couple], they were together for almost 30 years, and one of the women became ill with stage four cancer and died. They had been married in Massachusetts, and then came to Pennsylvania, where effectively they were unmarried. So when she died, the death certificate noted that the deceased partner had never been married. And the person who gave the information to the registrar was the surviving member of the union. Typically, there’s a box that’s checked on the death certificate: ‘surviving spouse’ but in the eyes of Pennsylvania, she wasn’t the surviving spouse so she was relegated to just an ‘informant.’ That had a really profound effect on me of all stories [during the case]” said Jones.

Jones ultimately ruled that the Pennsylvania law prohibiting gay marriage was illegal 11 years ago. “all couples deserve equal dignity in the realm of civil marriage.” said Jones in his decision. Since then, more than 22 thousand same sex couples live in PA according to a Williams Institute article. 

In 2015, Obergefell v. Hodges argued that the 14th amendment protects certain personal choices central to an individual’s dignity and autonomy including marriage. In addition, some justices in the conservative leading supreme court are looking for a chance to overturn gay marriage. “Justice Clarence Thomas explicitly names Obergerfell as one of several precedents, he believes the court should reconsider calling it demonstrably erroneous,” said Jones. Notably the 14th amendment was also the basis of the Roe V. Wade supreme court case which was overturned in 2022. Many worried that Obergefell V. Hodges would face a similar fate. Jones, however, was confident that gay marriage will not now, nor in the near future be under real threat. “So I really, and maybe I’m unduly optimistic, I don’t see any near term risk that the Supreme Court conservative, though it may be, is going to upset the Obergefell precedent,” said Jones.

While Jones is confident that gay marriage will not be overturned, the issue is that its even a question. “I think dialogue is great and civil discourse is a huge part of this institution, but I do think that a lot of people, even when they see something like advocates trying to repeal marriage equality, even if it goes nowhere, a lot of the harm is just in the fact that it gets extra airtime” said Tommy Walcott-Lee, Director of the LGBTQ+ center at Dickinson. While it is hard to focus on anything but the problems, it’s important to celebrate the wins. “How great is it that, you know, I think 10 years ago, 11 years ago, people didn’t believe that marriage quality was possible and it did happen because of all the activism and efficacy work and people like President Jones, who stood up for human rights” said Walcott-Lee.

Jones said in his opinion of the Whitewood v. Wolf case, “The issue we resolve today is a divisive one. Some of our citizens are made deeply uncomfortable by the notion of same-sex marriage. However, that same-sex marriage causes discomfort in some does not make its prohibition constitutional. Nor can past tradition trump the bedrock constitutional guarantees of due process and equal protection. Were that not so, ours would still be a racially segregated nation according to the now rightfully discarded doctrine of “separate but equal.” In the sixty years since Brown was decided, “separate” has thankfully faded into history, and only “equal” remains. Similarly, in future generations the label same-sex marriage will be abandoned, to be replaced simply by marriage. We are a better people than what these laws represent, and it is time to discard them into the ash heap of history. An appropriate order shall be issued.”