Gay Marriage State Since: October 9, 2014 It was that amendment, called Initiative 96, that was overturned by a federal judge in 2014, enabling Montana to become a gay marriage state. Gay Marriage State Since: November 19, 2014īefore becoming the 34 th state to allow gay marriage, Montana denied marriage rights to gay couples with a 1997 statute and a 2004 amendment to the state constitution. Behind Iowa, Minnesota was the second gay marriage state in the Midwest. A marriage-equality bill was passed soon thereafter and signed into law during the spring of 2013. In November 2012, Minnesota voters became the first in the country to reject a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage. According to data reviewed by the Associated Press, nearly 25,900 same-sex marriages have been performed in the state between 20. It was also the sixth jurisdiction in the world (behind the Netherlands, Belgium, British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec) to allow same-sex marriage. Massachusetts led the way: It was the first state to legalize gay marriage. Gay Marriage Fact:In 2012, Barack Obama became the first sitting president in history to openly declare support for gay marriage. Maryland's state ban on gay marriage was also the country's first-it had been in effect since 1973. Prior to these historic election night victories, same-sex marriage had been continually struck down by every state in the US that held a vote for it. Gay Marriage State Since: January 1, 2013Īlong with Maine, gay couples in Maryland also won the right to marry via popular vote in November 2012. The law took effect on December 29, 2012. The legislation was approved 53-47 by voters on November 6, 2012, and the win was regarded as a watershed moment for marriage equality, reflecting a major shift in public opinion on same-sex marriage in the US. Maine made history when it became one of the first of three states to legalize gay marriage by popular vote. Gay Marriage State Since: December 29, 2012 But many other counties refused to do so until they were forced by court action, which means the state's unified same-sex marriage status remained in limbo until the US Supreme Court's gay marriage ruling today. Like Alabama, Kansas was a gay marriage state in theory: The US Supreme Court's October 6 decision set precedent for Kansas courts, and two days later a judge ordered Johnson County-the most populous county in the state-to begin issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Gay Marriage State Since: October 8, 2014 The ban wasn't overturned until nearly 30 years later, when the US Supreme Court made its impactful October 6 decision, immediately making Indiana a state where gay marriage is legal. Indiana first banned same-sex marriage way back in 1986. Gay Marriage State Since: October 6, 2014 In doing so, the high court immediately lifted gay marriage bans in those five states and cleared the way for six more to swiftly follow suit. Gay Marriage Fact: On October 6, 2014, the US Supreme Court made a momentous decision to reject petitions from five states seeking to appeal pending same-sex marriage cases in Indiana, Utah, Oklahoma, Virginia and Wisconsin. After the ruling was announced, the state's attorney general said that the bill "unequivocally affirmed the right of people to marry the person they love without regard to gender." Hawaii became a state where gay marriage is legal thanks to the Hawaii Marriage Equality Act, which was passed on October 28, 2013, and went into effect on December 2. Gay Marriage State Since: December 2, 2013 On that day, more than 1,200 gay marriages were performed. But because of a stay placed on the ruling by the state, it did not end up going into effect until January 6, 2015. Gay Marriage State Since: January 6, 2015įlorida's voter-approved ban on same-sex nuptials was found unconstitutional by a US district court in August 2014. The law banned same-sex marriage in the US by defining the institution of marriage as "a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife." Gay Marriage Fact: On September 21, 1996, President Bill Clinton signed the Defense of Marriage Act (often referred to as DOMA).