Leading up to Donald Trump’s next term in office and the history of conservative intolerance towards the LGBTQ+ community, it’s not surprising same-sex marriages are on the uptick. Indeed, around the nation LGBTQ+ couples planning marriage and couples sharing a mixed immigration status have been tying the knot in fear of the loss to same-sex marriage, as well as the ability to stay in the United States.

Detailed in a recent National Public Radio (NPR) report, New York City has become one of the more visible centers for comparison. According to the report, not only had the metropolitan hub seen an increase of vows taken, there were also 33 percent more licenses issued this November compared to the same month last year, according to the city clerk.

Hannah and Pet, a couple who chose not to use their last names to avoid conflict with family, spoke with NPR and confirmed it was both potential fears of what is to come that fast-tracked their wedding plans to the night of the election. “You know, we’re going to do this in a couple of years, [but] why not just get this down legally?” Hannah told NPR reporter Gwynne Hogan.

New York City isn’t the only place seeing this rise. NPR also found, after reaching out to county clerks across the country, more than half that responded to requests for comment were seeing similar trends. “I’m not at all surprised,” said Douglas NeJaime, a law professor at Yale University who specializes in family and constitutional law. “There is certainly a genuine fear of marriage being taken away, but I think it’s also this more generalized fear that LGBTQ rights are on the chopping block.”

While concurring that the fear is certainly valid, NeJaimes says he’s skeptical the Supreme Court will overturn the 2015 Obergefell ruling that legalized same sex marriage. However, even if that does happen, there are now other protections under federal law, like the 2022 Respect for Marriage Act that requires states to recognize marriages that happen in other states. So, theoretically, a couple could still get married in New York or another state, and no matter where they go in the United States, under federal law protection, they would be treated as married.

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