I’m a married gay man. I’m worried the courts will take that from others.

At this point, we had already been together 10 years and wanted to partake in the benefits marriage offered, including joint property ownership, financial security and making health decisions for each other if one of us became sick.

The column I wrote was titled “Long before marriage ruling, we chose love despite risks.”

“We chose to get married not because we wanted government recognition of our commitment to each other, but because we loved each other,” I wrote.

The court decision made that weekend’s Pride festival even more joyful and celebratory.

Reversal of Supreme Court ruling would affect Georgians and other Southerners

Credit: AP

Credit: AP

Fast-forward 10 years later, however, and numerous efforts nationwide to chip away at LGBTQ+ recognition, rights and dignity have succeeded through legislation in several states and public and private sector response to backlash to diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.

Campaigns including a recent vote from the Southern Baptist Convention seeking to overturn the Obergefell ruling.

If the ruling were overturned, that could potentially change the legal marital status of some couples, but not all.

In 2022, Congress passed and former President Joe Biden signed into law the bipartisan Respect for Marriage Act, protecting interracial and same-sex marriages. Among the provisions is a requirement for states to honor marriages from other states where same-sex marriage is legal.

However, that means that if the Supreme Court reversed course on Obergefell, states such as Georgia, Tennessee and Florida could enforce the same-sex marriage bans on the books or enshrined in their state constitutions.

My marriage would have to be recognized because I married in New York, where state law protects my nuptials, but not those of residents who married in the Peach State.

It would take the nation backward to a time of legal limbo and create uncertainty for many couples. That would affect a lot of people.

The Washington Post reported that data from Gallup, the Pew Center and the Williams Institute at UCLA estimated that same-sex marriages more than doubled from 390,000 in 2014 to as many as 930,000 today.

Atlanta offered space for LGBTQ+ people when other Southern cities wouldn’t

Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com

Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com

On Thursday, The Tennessean published a front-page story headlined: “Corporations across the South quietly end Pride sponsorships.” The local Pride celebration in Nashville takes place Friday-Sunday.

Behind the headline, however, while many big-name companies decreased or abandoned their sponsorships, local businesses and community members stepped up to fill the gap. Still, the drop in support disappointed organizers.

Meanwhile, Atlanta’s big Pride festival takes place in October, and it will be interesting to see how sponsors will react for that celebration.

AJC Contributor Matt Terrell recently wrote a story titled “How Atlanta became the LGBTQ+ epicenter of the South.”

“Atlanta didn’t just welcome queer people, it built something with them,” Terrell wrote. “In a region known for pushing LGBTQ+ people to the margins, this city offered something rare: a place to gather, to speak freely, to organize, to dream. Atlanta’s queer story isn’t new. It’s just finally being told.”

As a new resident of metro Atlanta who is in the midst of selling a Nashville home and buying one locally, I think about issues including safety, equal access to opportunity and basic hospitality.

So far — even with the diversity backlash — I have found this community to be incredibly welcoming, and I certainly hope it remains so.

David Plazas is the opinion editor of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and serves on the editorial board. Email him at david.plazas@ajc.com.