Gay Marriage by State [Updated July 2023]

* how many us states recognize gay marriage *

Gay marriage, also known as same-sex marriage, is the marriage of people of the same sex or genr. Gay marriag ma progrs the 1980s, when Berkeley, California, pass the untry’s first domtic partnership law. Massachetts beme the first state to legalize gay marriage 2003.

California and Connecticut legalized gay marriage 2008, followed by Iowa, Vermont, and New Hampshire.

On November 6, 2012, Mae, Maryland, and Washgton beme the first stat to legalize gay marriage through a popular vote. Dpe this, not all stat are abidg and have enacted nstutnal or statutory bans on gay marriage known as “Defense of Marriage” acts.

WHAT IS THE STATE OF GAY MARRIAGE THE US?

Neteen stat pl Washgton, D.C., now allow gay marriage. Here is where the fight for marriage equaly the U.S. stands. * how many us states recognize gay marriage *

Gay Marriage by State. Stat and the District of Columbia have legalized gay marriage.

In the 2020 electn, Nevada beme the first state to regnize gay marriage a state nstutn.

Below are the stat that have legalized gay marriage the orr which they legalized. The followg stat have not legalized gay marriage:. The first lawsus volvg same-sex marriage, also lled gay marriage, started the 1970s, brgg the qutn of civil marriage rights for same-sex upl to public attentn.

GAY MARRIAGE STATE BY STATE: FROM A FEW STAT TO THE WHOLE NATN

The bans on gay marriage 13 stat across Ameri have been led unnstutnal. * how many us states recognize gay marriage *

Del Mart and Phyllis Lyon bee the first gay uple to marry and receive official regnn after beg together for 50 years. Thirty-seven stat have legalized gay marriage, wh rtrictns Kansas, Missouri, and Alabama. Supreme Court led all state bans on same-sex marriage unnstutnal, allowg gay and lbian upl to marry natnwi.

It also requir stat and the feral ernment to rpect gay marriag the stat where is the seven years sce the Obergefell cisn, same-sex marriag have bee more mon, but the chang have differed by has the number of same-sex marriag changed over time? In the years after Massachetts beme the first state to legally regnize same-sex marriage 2004, gay marriage legalizatn efforts picked up other 2011, there were around 168, 000 married same-sex upl the US.

In others – most recently Alabama – ’s been state or feral judg forcg the toehold long sought by gay rights advot and bterly ntted by those who argue marriage is an stutn rerved solely for one man and one woman. The state’s nstutnal ban on gay marriage, passed 2004, was stck down twice last year – once by a state urt judge and aga by a U. District Court judge led that the state’s nstutnal amendment banng gay marriag had no “legimate purpose.

GAY MARRIAGE

Sort through the more than 30 jurisdictns that have enacted laws allowg gays and lbians to marry. * how many us states recognize gay marriage *

Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circu later overturned the lg, restatg gay marriage bans Kentucky and four other stat. A state urt judge led November that Missouri’s 2004 nstutnal ban on gay marriage was illegal. Over the last two years, the number of stat thorizg gay marriage had expand rapidly bee of legislative cisns, referendums or urt orrs.

Gay Marriage State by State: From a Few Stat to the Whole Natn. In 2004, Massachetts beme the first state to issue marriage licens to gay and lbian upl. Comparg that evolutn to society's views of gays and lbians, Kennedy noted that for years, "a tthful claratn by same-sex upl of what was their hearts had to rema unspoken.

Gay and lbian upl now have the right to marry, jt like anyone else. Together, they volve a dozen upl who challenged same-sex marriage bans Oh, Michigan, Kentucky and Tennsee — the only stat wh bans on marriage between gay and lbian upl that had been staed by a feral appeals urt.

STAT ACROSS U.S. STILL CLG TO OUTDATED GAY MARRIAGE BANS

Before Friday's lg, gay marriage had already been ma legal 37 stat and the District of Columbia — by eher legislative or voter actn or by feral urts that overturned state' bans.

As NPR's Na Totenberg reported when the Supreme Court heard the current se back April, nservative jtic had poted qutns for the attorneys: "Jtice Slia asked whether misters would be able to refe to marry two gay men. He said, but that uld happen — uld happen that a mister would be forced to marry two gay men, vlatn of his beliefs.

"Jtice Alo asked, well then why not marry four gay men together? The urt noted the change thkg, statg: "Well to the 20th century, many Stat nmned same-sex timacy as immoral, and homosexualy was treated as an illns.