Lawmakers in at least nine states have introduced measures to try to chip away at same-sex couples’ right to marry. 

Five of the measures, including one introduced Tuesday in Michigan, urge the Supreme Court to overturn its 2015 landmark ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges, which granted same-sex couples nationwide the right to marry.

State Rep. Josh Schriver, a Republican elected in November 2022, introduced the marriage resolution in Michigan, saying in a statement on social media that the Obergefell ruling “is at odds with the sanctity of marriage, the Michigan Constitution and principles upon which the country was established.”

“Increased instances of religious persecution have been a consequence of the Court’s ruling 10 years ago,” Schriver said in the statement. He cited as examples the state attorney general’s 2019 announcement that state-funded adoption agencies could no longer legally turn away LGBTQ couples because of their religious beliefs and a Grand Rapids wedding venue that faced fines and harassment in 2022 after it wouldn’t host weddings for same-sex couples.

“The new resolution urges the preservation of the sanctity of marriage and constitutional protections that ensure freedom of conscience for all Michigan residents,” Schriver said.

Schriver didn’t immediately respond to a request for additional comment. 

A group of 12 Republican legislators support the resolution, according to NBC affiliate WDIV of Detroit. 

Similar measures explicitly seeking to reverse the Obergefell decision have been introduced in Idaho, Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota. The Idaho House passed its resolution last month by a vote of 46-24, and the North Dakota House passed its measure Monday, 52-40.

Lawmakers in at least four additional states — Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas — introduced bills that don’t refer to Obergefell but that would, if they are signed into law, create a category for marriage called “covenant marriage” that would be only for one man and one woman. 

Naomi Goldberg, executive director of Movement Advancement Project, an LGBTQ think tank, told NBC News in a statement that such attempts to undermine same-sex marriage rights, should they make it out of legislatures, would face a long list of roadblocks.

“Research shows that the majority of Americans continue to support the ability of same-sex couples to marry. And two years ago, a bipartisan Congress passed the Respect for Marriage Act, which both repealed the federal Defense of Marriage Act, codified federal recognition of marriage, and most importantly, also requires that states recognize legal marriages from other states,” Goldberg said. “Despite these resolutions and attempts to undermine marriage recognition, Obergefell continues to be the law of the land.”

A ‘ridiculous distraction’

Some Michigan Democrats have already criticized Schriver’s measure. At a news conference Tuesday, state Rep. Jason Morgan, one of the state’s openly LGBTQ elected officials, called it a “ridiculous distraction that does not help a single Michigan family.”

“With Donald Trump leading the Republican Party, the threats to our rights are more real than they’ve ever been,” said Morgan, who represents Ann Arbor, which elected Kathy Kozachenko, the country’s first openly gay official, in 1974.

Morgan added: “Michigan will not go backwards. … Love is something worth fighting for, and we’ll never stop fighting for what is right.”

Curtis Hertel, chair of the Michigan Democratic Party, said on social media that the measure, which he called “deeply dangerous,” “isn’t a surprise coming from Josh Schriver” and the Republican caucus. 

“Schriver is attacking hundreds of thousands of Michiganders who are beloved members of the community, and he doesn’t deserve to serve the people of Michigan,” Hertel said.

Schriver has faced criticism in the past for the views he shared on social media. 

In December, he wrote on X: “Make gay marriage illegal again. This is not remotely controversial, nor extreme.”

He lost his committee assignments and staff this month after he shared a post showing a map of the world with Black figures greatly outnumbering white figures, along with the phrase “The great replacement!”

The great replacement conspiracy theory is a false idea that a cabal is trying to replace white Americans with nonwhite people.