Same-sex marriage status in the United States by state



Same-sex unions have been on the political radar in the United States since the Hawaii Supreme Court ruled in 1993 that denying licenses to same-sex partners violated the Hawaii constitution unless there is a "compelling state interest." In 2003, the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Lawrence v. Texas paved the way for same-sex marriage to emerge as a hot-button political issue. Since Massachusetts became the first state to legalize same-sex marriage in 2004, other states have rushed to either restrict or liberalize their own marriage laws.

This article tracks the status of those laws. It is intended only as a resource for the bottom line current legal status of same-sex unions right now regardless of pending litigation. See same-sex marriage legislation in the United States for the outcome of specific legislation and same-sex marriage legislation in the United States by state for detailed descriptions.

Marriage is defined as the union of one man and one woman in at least 42 states. Currently, 27 states have added defense of marriage amendments to their constitutions. There are two states that recognize same-sex marriages, and a total of seven (plus the District of Columbia) that recognize some form of same-sex civil unions or domestic partnerships.

State-by-state listing
Below is the status of the law in each of the 50 states, plus the District of Columbia.
 * The Marriage Defined column tells whether that state contains any statutes or constitutional language that defines marriage as between a man and a woman or otherwise bans same-sex marriages.
 * The Constitution sub-column gives links to the constitutional amendment story, if existing.
 * The Statute leads to the corresponding section of Same-sex marriage legislation in the United States by state to afford full legislation about constitution and statutes. (Under construction, if not afforded, see HRC and Domawatch links below that page).
 * The other links (licences - Civil unions status - domestic partnership status - provides for appropriate page denominations according to marriage - civil unions - domestic partnership and shows the existing pages if the link is active. Civil unions denomination is left in the plural form because it is the rule used for other countries (see Category:Marriage, unions and partnerships by country below )
 * The details for the marriage recognition (Recogn.) are to be find with the marriage licence link when active. Since a constitutional ban is potentially for a quite long term, the marriage licence and recognition columns have been merged in such case for relevant states.
 * Def. means constitutional definition amendment for the corresponding unions or partnership. When it happens to be the same constitutional definition amendment as the link in the Marriage Defined - Constitution column,  the Def. and Status columns have been merged. Otherwise another link is proposed to the other relevant amendment in the Def. column in relevant cases.
 * The blue squares show what is allowed and green ones, potential changes in nearby future.
 * The notes column gives better detail and recent possibilities.

In general

 * Same-sex marriage
 * Timeline of same-sex marriage

In USA

 * Same-sex marriage in the United States
 * Same-sex marriage in the United States public opinion
 * Same-sex marriage legislation in the United States
 * Same-sex marriage legislation in the United States by state
 * List of benefits of marriage in the United States
 * Defense of Marriage Act
 * Marriage Protection Act
 * Defense of marriage amendment
 * List of defense of marriage amendments to U.S. state constitutions by type
 * Federal Marriage Amendment
 * Domestic partnerships in the United States
 * Freedom to Marry Coalition
 * LGBT rights in the United States