The U.S. Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage five years ago in its landmark “Obergefell v. Hodges” case.

Next week the named parties on opposing sides of one of the most important Supreme Court rulings in recent history will be at The University of Toledo to discuss the case and their resulting friendship.

Jim Obergefell

Jim Obergefell, the plaintiff who sued the state of Ohio for refusing to recognize his marriage on his husband’s death certificate, and Rick Hodges, the defendant and UToledo alumnus who served as director of the Ohio Department of Health at the time of the case, will take the stage for “Finding Friendship in a Contentious Place: A Conversation with Obergefell and Hodges from the Landmark U.S. Supreme Court Case on Same-Sex Marriage” 6 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 13 in the Doermann Theatre.

Benjamin Barros, dean of the UToledo College of Law, will moderate the free, public event presented by The University of Toledo Law Review.

Rob Salem, professor and dean for diversity and inclusion at the College of Law, will provide legal commentary of the challenges same-sex couples still face five years after the decision.

“We’re honored to host these guest speakers not just because of their prominent role in a landmark Supreme Court case, but because they embody the spirit of civility and celebration of differences,” Salem said.

Jim Obergefell works as an LGBTQA+ activist and serves on the Board of Directors for Services and Advocacy for GLBT Elders, the oldest and largest national non-profit organization that advocates for and provides services for LGBTQA+ older Americans. Obergefell co-authored the book “Love Wins” with Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist Debbie Cenziper.

Rick Hodges

Rick Hodges is an executive in residence and visiting professor at Ohio University. He also is the director of the Ohio Alliance for Innovation in Population Health. Hodges is a former member of the Ohio House of Representatives. He earned his master’s degree in public administration from UToledo in 1991.

For those unable to attend, the event will stream live at toledoalumni.org/events/law-finding-friendship.html.

For the fourth consecutive year, volunteers will gather in shifts and give back at The University of Toledo by assembling nearly a quarter of a million meals to feed families around the globe on Friday and Saturday, February 7-8, in the Health Education Building on Main Campus.

The two-day mobile pack, part of the Feed My Starving Children program, is organized by 100 UToledo students who are members of the Klar Leadership Academy in the College of Business and Innovation. The academy was founded in 2015 with the support of Steven Klar, a 1971 UToledo business alumnus and a New York City builder and real estate developer.

More than 1,100 UToledo students, employees and alumni, as well as teams from companies around Toledo, will invest some of their free time to split into groups to assemble nutritious rice meals with vegetable blend, vitamins and minerals. The meals are scientifically formulated for undernourished children.

The organizers raised $48,000 and have a goal to build over 208,000 meals. Last year, volunteers packed 202,000 meals.

“The University of Toledo has a global impact, and the students are the driving force behind this incredible initiative to fight hunger worldwide,” said Dr. Clint Longenecker, Distinguished University Professor at the UToledo College of Business and Innovation. “This is a very compelling feel-good story of Toledoans coming together to positively impact the lives of those in destitute countries.”

The shifts will take place from 3 to 5 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. Friday, February 7^th, and from 9 to 11 a.m. and noon to 2 p.m. Saturday, February 8^th.

The over-arching goals of The Klar Leadership Academy are to provide its student participants with a transformational learning experience to build on their University of Toledo education so to enable them to better lead themselves, others, teams, organizations, communities and change the world for good.