Gay Marriage: The South holds out | YouGov

Contents:

• GAY MARRIAGE ARRIV THE SOUTH, WHERE THE PUBLIC IS LS ENTHED
• GAY MARRIAGE
• GAY MARRIAGE: THE SOUTH HOLDS OUT
• NAMIBIAN PARLIAMENT APPROV ANTI-GAY LAW SPE URT LG
• IS THERE ROOM FOR A 'SOUTHERN POT OF VIEW' ON GAY MARRIAGE?
• WHAT IS THE STATE OF GAY MARRIAGE THE US?
• COUNTRI WHERE GAY MARRIAGE IS LEGAL 2023
• DIPLOMATIC TENSN REPORTEDLY RISG BETWEEN UNED STAT AND JAMAI OVER GAY AMERIN DIPLOMAT
• THE SOUTH'S STUNNG EMBRACE OF GAY MARRIAGE

GAY MARRIAGE ARRIV THE SOUTH, WHERE THE PUBLIC IS LS ENTHED

And for the first time, much of this expansn of same-sex marriage is occurrg the South – cludg Virgia, Wt Virgia and North Carola – where public support for allowg gays and lbians to wed is not as great as other regns. In the South, aggregated Pew Rearch Center polls om 2014 have found that 44% of people support gay marriage – well below the East (61%), Wt (58%) and Midwt (52%). For example, the South Atlantic regn – which pris Florida and Geia as well as North Carola, South Carola, Virgia and Wt Virgia, four stat that eher recently legalized gay marriage or are likely to do so soon – rponnts 2014 are divid over same-sex marriage, wh 45% favor and 46% opposed.

Meanwhile, the South Central regn – Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Tennsee and Texas – is the only part of the untry where there is still clearly more opposn to gay marriage (50%) than support for (41%).

GAY MARRIAGE

In some other areas of the untry where same-sex marriage is wily legal, there is overwhelmg support for allowg gay and lbian upl to wed. In New England, where gay marriage first beme legal the Uned Stat ( Massachetts 2004) and where all six stat now allow , 71% of people support same-sex marriage. And the stat that borr the Pacific Ocean (all of which allow gay marriage, assumg a recent urt cisn applyg to Alaska is not overturned), twice as many people favor same-sex marriage (63%) as oppose (30%).

Early Years: Same-Sex Marriage Bans In 1970, jt one year after the historic Stonewall Rts that galvanized the gay rights movement, law stunt Richard Baker and librarian Jam McConnell applied for a marriage license Gerald Nelson rejected their applitn bee they were a same-sex uple, and a trial urt upheld his cisn.

GAY MARRIAGE: THE SOUTH HOLDS OUT

” This lg effectively blocked feral urts om lg on same-sex marriage for s, leavg the cisn solely the hands of stat, which alt blow after blow to those hopg to see gay marriage beg 1973, for stance, Maryland beme the first state to create a law that explicly f marriage as a unn between a man and woman, a belief held by many nservative relig groups. Though the gay rights movement saw some advancements the 1970s and 1980s—such as Harvey Milk beg the first openly gay man elected to public office the untry 1977—the fight for gay marriage ma ltle headway for many years.

In 1989, the San Francis Board of Supervisors passed an ordance that allowed homosexual upl and unmarried heterosexual upl to register for domtic partnerships, which granted hospal visatn rights and other years later, the District of Columbia siarly passed a new law that allowed same-sex upl to register as domtic partners.

NAMIBIAN PARLIAMENT APPROV ANTI-GAY LAW SPE URT LG

C., 1993, the hight urt Hawaii led that a ban on same-sex marriage may vlate that state nstutn’s Equal Protectn Clse—the first time a state urt has ever ched toward makg gay marriage Hawaii Supreme Court sent the se—brought by a gay male uple and two lbian upl who were nied marriage licens 1990—back for further review to the lower First Circu Court, which 1991 origally dismissed the the state tried to prove that there was “pellg state tert” jtifyg the ban, the se would be tied up ligatn for the next three Defense of Marriage Act Opponents of gay marriage, however, did not s on their hnch.

IS THERE ROOM FOR A 'SOUTHERN POT OF VIEW' ON GAY MARRIAGE?

Congrs 1996 passed the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which Print Bill Clton signed to didn’t ban gay marriage outright but specified that only heterosexual upl uld be granted feral marriage benefs.

That is, even if a state ma gay marriage legal, same-sex upl still wouldn’t be able to file e tax jotly, sponsor spo for immigratn benefs or receive spoal Social Secury payments, among many other act was a huge setback for the marriage equaly movement, but transient good news arose three months later: Hawaii Judge Kev S.

Phg for Change: Civil Unns The next saw a whirlwd of activy on the gay marriage ont, begng wh the year 2000 when Vermont beme the first state to legalize civil unns, a legal stat that provis most of the state-level benefs of years later, Massachetts beme the first state to legalize gay marriage when the Massachetts Supreme Court led that same-sex upl had the right to marry Goodridge v.

WHAT IS THE STATE OF GAY MARRIAGE THE US?

The state fally troduced the untry to gay marriage (m the feral benefs) when began issug same-sex marriage licens on May 17, that year, the U.

2004 was notable for upl many other stat as well, though for the oppose reason: Ten typilly nservative stat, along wh Oregon, enacted state-level bans on gay marriage. Kansas and Texas were next 2005, and 2006 saw seven more stat passg Constutnal amendments agast gay towards the end of the , gay marriage beme legal var stat, cludg Connecticut, Iowa, Vermont (the first state to approve by legislative means) and New Hampshire. Domtic Partnerships Throughout the and the begng of the next, California equently ma headl for seawg on the gay marriage state was the first to pass a domtic partnership statute 1999, and legislators tried to pass a same-sex marriage bill 2005 and 2007.

COUNTRI WHERE GAY MARRIAGE IS LEGAL 2023

Perry legalized same-sex marriage early 2010s ntued the state-level battl over gay marriage that fed the precedg , wh at least one notable event.

For the first time the untry’s history, voters (rather than judg or legislators) Mae, Maryland, and Washgton approved Constutnal amendments permtg same-sex marriage marriage also beme a feral issue 2010, Massachetts, the first state to legalize gay marriage, found Sectn 3 of DOMA—the part of the 1996 law that fed marriage as a unn between one man and one woman—to be unnstutnal. Wdsor, nservative Jtice Anthony Kennedy sid wh Jtic Ruth Bar Gsburg, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan favor of same-sex marriage rights, ultimately makg gay marriage legal across the natn June this time, was still outlawed only 13 stat, and more than 20 other untri had already legalized gay marriage, startg wh the Netherlands December 2000. Sce the first same-sex marriag took place the Netherlands 2001, more than 30 other jurisdictns have enacted laws allowg gays and lbians to marry, mostly Europe and the Ameris.

DIPLOMATIC TENSN REPORTEDLY RISG BETWEEN UNED STAT AND JAMAI OVER GAY AMERIN DIPLOMAT

Netherlands2001EuropeFirst untry to legalize same-sex marriage after Parliament passed the law December Zealand 2013Asia-PacificFirst untry the Asia-Pacific regn to allow gays and lbians to 2009EuropeThe law replaced a 1993 statute permtg civil unns.

Slovenia 2022EuropeFirst untry formerly munist Eastern Europe to legalize same-sex Ai 2006Sub-Saharan AiOnly Ain untry where same-sex marriage is legal; several untri on the ntent have passed laws that ban homosexualy recent 2005EuropeBeme the third untry globally to legalize same-sex marriage after a vote s closely divid 2009EuropeGay and lbian upl Swen prevly had been allowed to register for civil unns sce 1995. 1%) st ballots favor of legalizg same-sex marriage a 2021 2019Asia-PacificA urt lg prompted a change the law that ma Taiwan the first jurisdictn Asia to perm gays and lbians to Kgdom 2014EuropeLegal same-sex marriage took effect Northern Ireland 2020, six years after the change England and Wal.

Gay marriage is now fully legal many stat, cludg the entire Northeast and Wt Coast, and feral urts have been issug a wave of lgs statg that the bans vlate the nstutnal rights of gay upl. The cisns have been stayed pendg actn by the Supreme Court, but if the Supreme Court endors the cisns of the lower urts gay marriage will be a realy throughout the Uned Stat. In 1960, an Atlanta wrer cricized lgerg Southern support for segregatn The Atlantic—but today, both sis of the gay-marriage bate want to claim the mantle of the civil-rights movement.

THE SOUTH'S STUNNG EMBRACE OF GAY MARRIAGE

Participants an Internatnal Gay Roo Associatn event Ltle Rock, Arkansas, April 2015 (Lucy Nicholson / Rters)On May 17, 1954, the day the Supreme Court of the Uned Stat hand down s cisn Brown v. Everywhere, there are signs that social nservativ are retreat; even as some on the right retrench agast gay marriage, the bate is centerg more and more on dividual rights, rather than stutnal fiance. Before Obergefell, North Carola legislators passed a law allowg clerks and judg to absta om issug all kds of marriage licens if they have a personal, relig objectn to gay marriage.