Most people hear “overturn Obergefell” and file it under culture-war noise. But the 2025–2026 push reads less like a rant and more like a repeatable system: coalition → message discipline → media amplification → court/legislative pressure.
I’m not saying every religious conservative is part of a single project. I’m saying a formal, named coalition has launched a coordinated campaign, explicitly centered on a child-first frame, to reopen the legal and cultural case against marriage equality.
The Handmaid’s Tale isn’t about red cloaks. It's about moral language being used as a delivery system for control. “Protect the children” becomes the solvent that dissolves equality, because once you win that frame, you can make almost any restriction sound like compassion and any dissent sound like harm. That’s the strategic point of child-first messaging in a campaign aimed at overturning Obergefell.
What Makes This More Than TalkWhat Makes This More Than Talk
What makes this more than talk is the visible structure:
- A 47-organization campaign (“Greater Than”) launched in January 2026 with the tagline “children are greater than equal.”
- Core allies are named (Them Before Us, FRC, Focus on the Family, AFA, Colson Center), with dozens of national + state affiliates surrounding them.
- The frame is consistent: same-sex marriage “victimized children,” put “adult desires” over “children’s needs,” etc.
- Reports describe shared financial backers and behind-the-scenes donor/strategy networks helping groups act in concert, plus an “echo chamber” of media that pushes the message mainstream.
Concession: yes, some of this is ordinary coalition politics. But it doesn’t explain the precision of the shared child-first frame and the explicit aim to relitigate marriage equality as Obergefell hits its 10-year mark.
If the goal is to predict rollbacks before a ruling drops, focus on networks + incentives + legal vehicles, not labels.
The QuestionThe Question
What would you need to see to conclude this is a real rollback pipeline, versus just loud advocacy?
Further ReadingFurther Reading
On the coalition launch and structure:
- Nationwide coalition organizes to overturn gay marriage, center needs of children
- 47 anti-LGBTQ organizations launch new campaign to end marriage equality
On the messaging strategy:
- The ‘Greater Than’ campaign to overturn Obergefell: putting children’s needs above adults’ desires
- Right-wing coalition officially launches campaign to overturn marriage equality
On the financial and organizational networks: