The Nearest Hippie

This chapter analyzes dissenting opinions from the U.S. Supreme Court’s rulings in Windsor and Obergefell. Although the procreation argument was used sparingly by the Court, it does appear in modest form. More important are the justices’ uses of the themes of power, privilege, and liberty to justify maintaining the silences surrounding their antigay animus. For the dissenting justices the Court’s rulings in both cases signify an expansion of “We the People” that is unacceptable, a move from which they explicitly distance themselves and represent themselves as victims of a powerful minority. Their masculine heterosexual privilege was compromised, and the dissenting justices took it personally.