By Associated Press’s Patrick Aftoora-Orsagos
Ohio’s Columbus (AP) Obergefell v. Hodges, the case that led to the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to legalize same-sex marriage across the country ten years ago, actually included two Ohio men who were once bitter rivals but are now friends.
Lead plaintiff Jim Obergefell was at an LGBTQ+ advocacy group’s event a year after the Supreme Court’s June 26, 2015, ruling when the group’s former director asked if he wanted to meet Rick Hodges, the title defendant in his role as Ohio’s state health director, one of the states challenged for prohibiting same-sex marriages.
Tell me, I’m not sure. Am I interested in meeting Rick Hodges? Obergefell remembers answering.
They clicked after meeting for coffee at a hotel.
Hodges claimed that because Obergefell is so iconic, he wanted to meet him. “I don’t know if congratulations are in order because this began with you losing your husband, but I’m glad you won and I’ve never been so happy to lose in my life,” he recalled saying to Obergefell.
Longtime Cincinnati partners Obergefell and John Arthur were the ones who filed the first lawsuit. Obergefell took over the role of Arthur’s caretaker after the incurable disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, devastated his health in 2011. Before Arthur passed away in 2013, they took a plane to Maryland to get married. When they discovered their union would not be recorded on the Ohio Department of Health’s death certificate, they started a legal struggle.
Hodges’ personal beliefs did not necessarily coincide with the state’s stance, even though his position as health director obligated him to defend the state.
As someone who worked on the case for the state, I personally supported their efforts. According to Hodges, “I had a job to do and I did it to the best of my ability.”
Related Articles
-
California official criticized for appearing to call on gangs to intervene in immigration raids
-
Kroger announces closure of 60 stores across U.S.
-
In US, the Iranian diaspora contends with the Israel-Iran war and a fragile ceasefire
-
Scott Brown jumps into New Hampshire race for U.S. Senate seat
-
Kilmar Abrego Garcia is expected to be released from jail only to be taken into immigration custody
According to Al Gerhardstein, Obergefell’s lead attorney in the case, Hodges had assembled a group of Ohio attorneys in the months preceding the court’s ruling to draft the documentation required to establish the licensing system that would allow judges to grant marriage licenses to same-sex couples on the day of the decision if the Supreme Court decided in their favor.
According to Gerhardstein, Obergefell and Hodge’s friendship is exceptional in a highly admirable and constructive sense.
As we grapple with complex social challenges, we need more role models like that, he said.
According to the pair, they regularly speak together at conferences and panels and visit one other two to three times a year.
It’s hilarious; every time we attend an event together, everyone applauds him and stares at me as if I’m the prince of gloom until we’re finished, at which point everything is fantastic, Hodges remarked.
Since this year marks the tenth anniversary of the choice, they are spending more time together. They recently met at an event organized by Equality Ohio, the same group that introduced them, and at a conference held at Northern Kentucky University.
There are no other instances that come to me in which the plaintiff and the defendant are buddies. “I don’t know about them, but they might exist,” Obergefell remarked. But the fact that Rick and I are friends makes me very happy.
