Obergefell v. Hodges , the U.S. Supreme Courts definitive marriage equality verdict, celebrates its second anniversary today, June 26th, 2017. Nine days earlier, the National Organization for Marriage (NOM) held a sparsely attended march on the Court to rally against what its followers consider the Courts redefinition of marriage. NOMs speakers dramatically declared that marriage equality has proven to be the greatest threat to marriage and religion - two central pillars of our civic society - in the new millennium. We think that NOM has it half right: marriage equality has transformed both marriage and religion, but not in the ways in which the critics have alleged.

Like other defenders of traditional marriage defined as one man, one woman, NOM claims that Obergefell is causing a further decline of marriage. It has never been clear why this should be the case, as Obergefell has only served to expand the institution of marriage and has undermined a competing institution. In religion, culture, and business, the expansion of the enterprise and the elimination of competition is typically viewed as a symptom of robustness and vigor.

In June of 2015, when Obergefell was decided, there were an estimated 368,000 married same-sex couples . Just a year later, that number rose to 491,000 legally married same-sex couples.