States with legal gay marriages
The Journey to Marriage Equality in the United States
The road to nationwide marriage equality was a prolonged one, spanning decades of United States history and culminating in victory in June 2015. Throughout the long clash for marriage equality, HRC was at the forefront.
Volunteer with HRC
From gathering supporters in small towns across the region to rallying in front of the Supreme Court of the United States, we gave our all to make certain every person, regardless of whom they love, is established equally under the law.
A Growing Contact for Equality
Efforts to legalize same-sex marriage began to pop up across the country in the 1990s, and with it challenges on the state and national levels. Civil unions for lgbtq+ couples existed in many states but created a separate but equal accepted. At the federal level, couples were denied access to more than 1,100 federal rights and responsibilities associated with the institution, as well as those denied by their given state. The Defense of Marriage Act was signed into law in 1996 and defined marriage by the federal government as between a bloke and woman, thereby allowing states to deny m
Marriage & Partnership Recognition Laws
States with the independence to marry act not ban queer couples from entering into legal marriages. Some states also offer comprehensive bond recognition, such as domestic partnerships or civil unions, to same- and different-sex couples. However, most states still contain constitutional amendments, statutes, or both banning marriage for gay couples, even after the 2015 Supreme Court case Obergefell extended marriage equality nationwide. For more on the current status of express marriage laws, spot MAP's 2022 report: Underneath Obergefell: A National Patchwork of Marriage Laws.
Marriage equality for same-sex couples(50 states , 5 territories + D.C.)
Comprehensive civil union or national partnership law (9 states + D.C.)
State has targeted religious exemption law (see note)
Citations & More Information
Movement Advancement Project. "Equality Maps: Marriage & Relationship Recognition Laws."https://www.lgbtmap.org/equality-maps/marriage_relationship_la
MAP Report: The National Patchwork of Marriage Laws Underneath Obergefell
Rebecca Farmer, Movement Advancement Project
rebecca@lgbtmap.org | 303-578-4600 ext 122
As the Respect for Marriage Behave moves through Congress, MAP’s March 2022 report on the landscape of varying mention marriage laws around the country is a resource. MAP researchers are available to answer questions and our infographics are available for use.
MAP’s report, Underneath Obergefell, explores the patchwork of marriage laws around the country. The report highlights the fact that a majority of states still have existing laws on the books that would ban marriage for homosexual couples – even though those laws are currently unenforceable under the U.S. Supreme Court decree in Obergefell.
If the U.S. Supreme Court were to revisit the Obergefell decision, the ability of same-sex couples to marry could again fall to the states, where a majority of states still have in place both bans in the law and in state constitutions.
The policy lands
Date Same Sex Marriage Legalized By State
All 50 states in the United States have legalized same-sex marriage. Below are the dates when each state did so. On June 26, 2015, the Supreme Court ruled that same-sex marriage is a right guaranteed by the Constitution, thus making same-sex marriage legal in the 13 states that have not legalized same-sex marriage up to that point.
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