Robert Sedler

Wayne State University Law School Distinguished Professor Robert Sedler is available to the media to discuss today's U.S. Supreme Court decision in the marriage equality case of Obergefell v. Hodges.

Sedler is one of the attorneys for Hazel Park residents April DeBoer and Jayne Rowse in the Michigan case. The Supreme Court case also includes cases from Kentucky, Ohio and Tennessee.

Points Sedler can speak to include:

• "Today's Supreme Court decision holding that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry is a landmark and historic decision. It has the same meaning for same-sex people that Brown v. Board of Education, holding unconstitutional state-imposed racial discrimination, had for people of color. It will enable April DeBoer and Jane Rowse to adopt each other's children and will enable them and their children to have all the rights and benefits that Michigan law provides to opposite-sex married couples and their children. It will do this for all same-sex couples and their children in this nation. It will move this nation much further along in the path for full equality for all people whatever their sexual orientation or sexual identity."

• "But it is only a start. Just as Brown was a catalyst in the struggle for racial equality and led to the sweeping movement for civil rights throughout the nation, the marriage decision also will be a catalyst in the struggle for LGBT equality. Much more remains to be done. There is still no law in Michigan and no federal law prohibiting discrimination against LGBT people in employment, housing and public accommodations. We now must take action to bring about the enactment of those laws and to end once and for all discrimination of any kind against people because of their sexual orientation or gender identity."

• "That said, today is a time to celebrate this momentous decision. Same-sex people can now marry, and they and their children will now have the rights and benefits that come with the wonderful institution of marriage. For this, the entire nation should be grateful."

The Michigan case began in 2011, when attorneys Dana Nessel, a 1994 Wayne Law alumna, and Carole Stanyar, consulted Sedler about the case. Sedler was consulted in the Michigan case because of his world-wide reputation and because of a 2004 essay (50 Wayne Law Review 835) he wrote, "The Constitution Should Protect the Right to Same-Sex Marriage."