In June of 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court led all state bans on same-sex marriage unnstutnal, allowg gay and lbian upl to marry natnwi. This timele highlights the chang state polici leadg up to that lg.
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GAY MARRIAGE CLARED LEGAL ACROSS THE US HISTORIC SUPREME URT LG
In a long-sought victory for the gay rights movement, the urt led, 5-4, that the Constutn guarante a right to same-sex marriage. * legalized gay marriage 2015 *
Same sex marriage is now legal the entire US after a Supreme Court lg strikg down state marriage lg means all US stat mt grant marriage licenc to gay and lbian upl and regnise marriag that have taken place other how did we get to this pot? Image source, Getty ImagImage ptn, One of the first upl to wed MassachettsIn 1996, the US Congrs passed and Print Bill Clton signed the Defense of Marriage Act, a law that prohibed feral regnn of same-sex 2003, Massachetts judg led the state nstutn allowed gay marriage, and marriage licenc followed shortly after that. In the followg years, a handful of stat passed gay marriage bans while others began workg towards allowg same-sex unns - eher by urt orr or high-profile ban occurred by referendum California 2008 after urts had prevly allowed same-sex ntued across the US until the Supreme Court heard a challenge to the Defense of Marriage Act did jtic have to ci this se?
Image source, Getty ImagImage ptn, A referendum on gay marriage California 2008 put the legal stat of prevly performed marriag qutnA cril turng pot me October 2014, when the Supreme Court chose not to hear appeals agast lower urt lgs that had overturned same-sex marriage bans - expandg the legaly of gay unns to many more other stat, same-sex marriage has been approved eher through legislatn or voter referenda. On 6 October 2014, the urt turned away appeals om five stat wh gay marriage bans on the books that had challenged urt lgs overturng those challengg the gay marriage bans, proponents relied on a 2013 Supreme Court lg the se of Uned Stat v source, Getty ImagImage ptn, Edh Wdsor was the platiff the last gay marriage se at the Supreme CourtIn that se, the urt overturned the Defense of Marriage Act (Doma), which barred the feral ernment om regnisg same-sex Doma, for example, dividuals same-sex marriag were eligible for benefs om feral programm such as the Social Secury pensn system and some tax allowanc if their partners died. By one vote, the urt l that same-sex marriage nnot be banned the Uned Stat and that all same-sex marriag mt be regnized natnwi, fally grantg same-sex upl equal rights to heterosexual upl unr the 1971, jt two years after the Stonewall Rts that unofficially marked the begng of the stggle for gay rights and marriage equaly, the Mnota Supreme Court had found same-sex marriage bans nstutnal, a precent which the Supreme Court had never challenged.
GAY MARRIAGE
The road to full marriage equaly for same-sex upl the Uned Stat was paved wh setbacks and victori. The landmark 2015 Supreme Court se Obergefell v. Hodg ma gay marriage legal throughout the untry. * legalized gay marriage 2015 *
As homosexualy gradually beme more accepted Amerin culture, the nservative backlash was strong enough to force Print Bill Clton to sign the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), prohibg the regnn of same-sex marriag at the feral level, to law 1996. Gay marriage was the predomant "culture war" issue of Gee W. Obergefell origated wh a gay uple, Jim Obergefell and John Arthur, who were married Maryland, where same-sex marriage was legal, but whose marriage was not regnized by Oh thori.
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.
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.
* legalized gay marriage 2015 *
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.