How legal tide turned on same-sex marriage in the US
In that case, the court overturned the Defense of Marriage Act (Doma), which barred the federal government from recognising gay marriages.
Under Doma, for example, individuals in same-sex marriages were ineligible for benefits from federal programmes such as the Social Security pension system and some tax allowances if their partners died.
Another key case, Hollingsworth v Perry of 2013, was filed by two lawyers, Theodore Olson and David Boies, working together on behalf of their California clients, Kristin Perry and Sandra Stier and another couple, Jeffrey Zarrillo and Paul Katami.
They argued that the Supreme Court should strike down a declare law, called Proposition 8, which stated that marriage is between a guy and a woman. The law, approved by California voters in 2008, overrode a state Supreme Court decision that allowed for same-sex marriage.
What is next?
Marriages will continue as before in the 36 states. The remaining states will have to issue licences, although it is unclear how long they hold to comply with the court's ruling. However, there were reports of court clerk offering licences only an ho
Date Same Sex Marriage Legalized By State
All 50 states in the United States have legalized same-sex marriage. Below are the dates when each state did so. On June 26, 2015, the Supreme Court ruled that same-sex marriage is a right guaranteed by the Constitution, thus making same-sex marriage legal in the 13 states that have not legalized same-sex marriage up to that point.
By Date
Rank
State Name
Date Matching Sex Marriage Legalized
1
Massachusetts
May 17, 2004
2
Connecticut
November 12, 2008
3
Iowa
April 24, 2009
4
Vermont
September 1, 2009
5
New Hampshire
January 1, 2010
6
New York
July 24, 2011
7
Washington
December 9, 2012
8
Maine
December 29, 2012
9
Maryland
January 1, 2013
10
California
June 28, 2013
11
Delaware
July 1, 2013
12-T
Minnesota
August 1, 2013
12-T
Rhode Island
August 1, 2013
14
New Jersey
October 21, 2013
15
Hawaii
December 2, 2013
16
New Mexico
December 19, 2013
17
Oregon
May 19, 2014
18
Pennsylvania
May 20, 2014
19
Illinois
June 1, 2014
20-T
Indiana
October 6, 2014
20-T
Oklahoma
October 6, 2014
Same-sex marriage is made legal nationwide with Obergefell v. Hodges decision
June 26, 2015 marks a major milestone for civil rights in the United States, as the Supreme Court announces its choice in Obergefell v. Hodges. By one vote, the court rules that gay marriage cannot be banned in the United States and that all homosexual marriages must be recognized nationwide, finally granting same-sex couples equal rights to heterosexual couples under the law.
In 1971, just two years after the Stonewall Riots that unofficially marked the inception of the fight for gay rights and marriage equality, the Minnesota Supreme Court had initiate same-sex marriage bans constitutional, a precedent which the Supreme Court had never challenged. As homosexuality gradually became more accepted in American culture, the conservative backlash was robust enough to pressure President Bill Clinton to sign the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), prohibiting the recognition of same-sex marriages at the federal level, into law in 1996.
Over the next decade, many states banned same-sex marriage, while Vermont instituted same-sex civil unions in 2000 and Massachusetts became the first state to legalize s
When was same-sex marriage legalized in the US? A swift history of LGBTQ rights battles
There are 35 countries where same-sex marriage is legal. The most recent country to legalize same-sex marriage is Estonia, and its law went into effect Jan. 1 of this year, according to the Human Rights Campaign.
But LGBTQ+ rights are under invade in other political settings. The American Civil Liberties Union is currently following 300 anti-LGBTQ bills for the 2024 legislative session, many of them involving curriculum, pronouns and gender-affirming care. Last year, USA TODAY reported over 650 bills targeting the community were introduced in the first half of 2023.
When was same-sex marriage legalized in the US?
On June 26, 2015, the Supreme Court made gay marriage legal across the country with its ruling in the Obergefell v. Hodges case.
According to Supreme Court database Oyez, this case was brought up to the Supreme Court after groups of same-sex couples sued state agencies in Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee, challenging these states’ bans on queer marriage.
Some of these states’ same-sex marriage bans were part of a national movement in response to President George W.
The Journey to Marriage Equality in the Joined States
The road to nationwide marriage equality was a long one, spanning decades of United States history and culminating in victory in June 2015. Throughout the long battle for marriage equality, HRC was at the forefront.
Volunteer with HRC
From gathering supporters in small towns across the country to rallying in front of the Supreme Court of the United States, we gave our all to guarantee every person, regardless of whom they love, is recognized equally under the law.
A Growing Call for Equality
Efforts to legalize lgbtq+ marriage began to pop up across the territory in the 1990s, and with it challenges on the state and national levels. Civil unions for same-sex couples existed in many states but created a separate but equivalent standard. At the federal level, couples were denied access to more than 1,100 federal rights and responsibilities associated with the institution, as well as those denied by their given state. The Defense of Marriage Act was signed into law in 1996 and defined marriage by the federal government as between a human and woman, thereby allowing states to deny marriage equality.