Gay Marriage by State [Updated July 2023]

Contents:

• GAY MARRIAGE BY STATE [UPDATED JULY 2023]
• TEXAS JUDGE FIGHTS TO NY WEDDG CEREMONI TO GAY UPL
• 3 OTHER CHRISTIAN DENOMATNS THAT ALLOW GAY MARRIAGE
• MANY BRONS HAVE CHANGED THEIR MDS ON GAY MARRIAGE
• CALIFORNIA STILL HAS AN ANTI-GAY MARRIAGE LAW ON THE BOOKS. VOTERS ULD REMOVE NEXT YEAR
• CALIFORNIA VOTERS WILL BE ASKED TO REAFFIRM GAY MARRIAGE PROTECTNS ON 2024 BALLOT
• CONGRS NSIRS DIFYG SAME-SEX MARRIAGE AFTER LONG BATTLE FOR GAY RIGHTS
• GAY MARRIAGE

GAY MARRIAGE BY STATE [UPDATED JULY 2023]

Gay marriag ma progrs the 1980s, when Berkeley, California, pass the untry’s first domtic partnership law.

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.

TEXAS JUDGE FIGHTS TO NY WEDDG CEREMONI TO GAY UPL

Adam Ebb, the first openly gay lawmaker the state’s General Assembly, troduced the bill, which was one of four pro-LGBTQ measur passed the state this month.“This is really jt brgg Virgia to the 21st century,” Ebb told The Washgton Post shortly after the bills’ passage. Hodg makg same-sex marriage the law of the land, most stat still have outdated laws on their books like the on Virgia jt repealed.Indiana is one of those stat, though an attempt to remove s gay marriage ban was unsuccsful last month the Republin-ntrolled state Legislature. Adam Hattersley told WUSF Public Media, addg that members of the state’s Republin learship “don’t have an appete to fix somethg” that they “hope would e back to play the future.”Five years after the Supreme Court had s say on the issue, same-sex marriage remas a polilly ntent issue, and LGBTQ advot ntue to battle urtrooms and stateho to ensure gay upl n exercise their right to marry.History of state-level gay marriage bansStat have two typ of bans on same-sex marriage: statutory and nstutnal.

The first one began the 1970s, when gay upl would apply for marriage licens and many state judg at the time led that the unns were not prohibed.

3 OTHER CHRISTIAN DENOMATNS THAT ALLOW GAY MARRIAGE

Several stat adopted their own “mi-DOMAs” after that, acrdg to Piercon, and by the year 2000, he said “virtually every state,” wh the exceptn of New Mexi, had a “statutory ban on same-sex marriage.” The “mi-DOMAs,” he noted, banned gay marriage fay s and state law, not the nstutn.In 1998, Hawaii beme the first state to pass a nstutnal amendment specifilly targetg same-sex marriage. Ultimately, 30 more stat adopted nstutnal amendments prohibg gay marriage.A monstrator support of same-sex marriage wav a rabow lored flag after the same-sex marriage lg outsi the U.S. In some s, there is a lack of polil willgns to remove them, while others, the labor-tensive removal procs mak them a low prry.In Virgia, for example, while the two statutory laws banng same-sex marriage have been repealed, the state’s 2006 nstutnal amendment prohibg gay unns remas for the time beg.

Circu Court of Appeals found that, although Davis was immune om beg sued as a unty official, she uld be sued her dividual pacy for refg to ply wh the law.In early 2016, Roy Moore, then the chief jtice of the Alabama Supreme Court, prohibed probate judg the state om issug marriage licens to gay upl. Last month, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republin, cled to fend the state agency the lawsu bee s actns nflict wh his views of the Constutn."We believe judg reta their right to relig liberty when they take the bench," Paxton’s spokperson, Marc Rylanr, said a statement at the time.Hole-y matrimonySce the legalizatn of same-sex marriage ferally, hundreds of state bills have been troduced that poke hol gay marriage var ways.“The relig right has not said, ‘We lost same-sex marriage, and we are movg on,’” Piercon said. Jared Polis, who 2018 beme the first openly gay man elected ernor the U.S.; he and his same-sex partner are not married and have two children together.U.S.

MANY BRONS HAVE CHANGED THEIR MDS ON GAY MARRIAGE

“In Colorado we got a whole host of thgs to work on om transportatn to tn to hog to accs to heath re, but stead of beg able to dite all our rourc to thgs like accs to HIV-preventn meditns, we have to allote staff time and rource jt to be able fight the bills.”How safe is gay marriage?More than 10 percent of LGBTQ adults were legally married June 2017, jt two years after the Obergefell lg, acrdg to Gallup, and the number is likely even higher now. In addn, public opn has shifted strongly favor of same-sex marriage, wh a 2019 Gallup poll fdg 63 percent of Amerins approve of such unns.So, is gay marriage safe?“Absolutely not,” Kadi said, “pecially given the current makp of the Supreme Court.”Piercon largely agre.“I thk the short term marriage is fairly safe. And while Tmp claimed to be a “real iend” to lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr and queer people durg the 2016 mpaign, Kadi said his admistratn is “no ally to the LGBTQ muny.”“We have seen this impact not only the Supreme Court but the lower urts as well,” she said of Tmp-appoted judg, many of whom have e unr cricism for their anti-LGBTQ track rerds.“It’s only a matter of time before we see another challenge" to same-sex marriage, he said.

Acrdg to the Texas judicial missn’s 2019 warng, Hensley referred gay upl who wanted her to pri over their marriage ceremony to other people who would officiate.

Wa, elimatg nstutnal right to abortnThe Guardian, June 24, Contraceptn, gay marriage: Clarence Thomas signals new targets for supreme urtSupreme Court, June 26, 2015, Obergefell v HodgUSA TODAY, Nov. Texas Judge Who Ref to Perform Gay Marriag Appeals to Supreme Court's Christian Web-Digner Rulg | Natnal Review.

CALIFORNIA STILL HAS AN ANTI-GAY MARRIAGE LAW ON THE BOOKS. VOTERS ULD REMOVE NEXT YEAR

It has weled gay people sce 1976, when s General Conventn cid that “homosexual persons are children of God who have a full and equal claim wh all other persons upon the love, acceptance, and pastoral ncern and re of the Church. Lol NewsMIAMI – The diplomatic ti between the Uned Stat and Jamai uld soon be jeopardy.There are reports that Jamai is refg to accred the spoe of a gay Amerin diplomat.“Our culture is not really acceptg of ,” said Renae Stevens, who was visg the Jamain nsulate Miami Wednday.Attorney Wayne Goldg is an advisor to Jamai’s ernment.“The whole ia of legislatn to legalize same-sex marriag, I thk they still have a long way to go,” he said.

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. Del Mart and Phyllis Lyon bee the first gay uple to marry and receive official regnn after beg together for 50 years.

CALIFORNIA VOTERS WILL BE ASKED TO REAFFIRM GAY MARRIAGE PROTECTNS ON 2024 BALLOT

Supreme Court agreed to review a number of feral appeals urt cisns on same-sex marriage: one strikg down part of the feral Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which f marriage as a unn between a man and a woman, and another validatg California’s Proposn 8, a ballot measure passed 2008 that amend the state’s nstutn to ban gay marriage. Between the pol, a fierce battle is takg place ptg those who hope all gays and lbians, regardls of where they live, will soon have the right to marry agast those who believe that same-sex marriage is helpg to unrme heterosexual marriage, which they see as the foundatn of healthy fai. Circu Court of Appeals gave same-sex marriage supporters a big w when upheld a lower urt lg that a California referendum banng gay marriage (Proposn 8) was unnstutnal.

In May 2012, Print Barack Obama announced that he favors the right of gay and lbian upl to marry, beg the first stg print to do so.

CONGRS NSIRS DIFYG SAME-SEX MARRIAGE AFTER LONG BATTLE FOR GAY RIGHTS

One of the natn’s largt and most important stat, New York, legalized same-sex marriage June 2011 and, as noted above, three addnal stat – Mae, Maryland and Washgton – legalized gay marriage 2012. After the New Jersey legislature Febary 2012 passed legislatn legalizg gay marriage, the state’s Republin ernor, Chris Christie, vetoed . And May 2012, voters North Carola approved an amendment to the state’s nstutn banng gay marriage, makg North Carola the 30th state to have such lims wrten to s nstutn.

Most supporters of same-sex marriage ntend that gay and lbian upl should be treated no differently than their heterosexual unterparts and that they should be able to marry like anyone else. Allowg gay and lbian upl to wed, they ntend, will radilly refe marriage and further weaken at a time when the stutn is already ser trouble due to high divorce rat and a signifint and growg number of out-of-wedlock births.

1 Moreover, many predict that givg gay upl the right to marry will ultimately lead to grantg people polygamo and other nontradnal relatnships the right to marry as well.

GAY MARRIAGE

While all laws legalizg same-sex marriage nta some nscience protectns allowg church and other relig groups to refe to marry gay and lbian upl, the legal ground is murkier for religly affiliated anizatns, such as hospals, schools and other social-service provirs, that may not want to grant benefs to the spoe of an employee a same-sex marriage or provi adoptn and other servic to a gay or lbian uple that are routely provid to heterosexual upl.

The Catholic Church, the Church of J Christ of Latter-day Sats and many evangelil Christian groups, such as the Southern Baptist Conventn, have played a leadg role public opposn to gay marriage. Meanwhile, male Prottant church are wrtlg wh whether to orda gay clergy and perform same-sex weddg ceremoni. Ined, the ordatn and marriage of gay persons has been a growg wedge between the socially liberal and nservative wgs of the Epispal, Lutheran and Prbyterian church, leadg some nservative ngregatns – and even whole dc – to break away om their natnal church as they bee more open to gay clergy and gay marriage.

Gay and lbian Amerins have been llg for the right to marry, or at least to create more formalized relatnships, sce the 1960s, but same-sex marriage has only emerged as a natnal issue wh the last 20 years. The spark that started the bate occurred Hawaii 1993, when the Hawaii Supreme Court led that an existg law banng same-sex marriage would be unnstutnal unls the state ernment uld show that had a pellg reason for discrimatg agast gay and lbian upl. Even though this cisn did not immediately lead to the legalizatn of gay marriage that state (the se was sent back to a lower urt for further nsiratn and Hawaiian voters ultimately approved a referendum leavg the issue the hands of the state’s legislature), did spark a natnwi backlash.