What states allow gays & lesbians to marry?
What follows is a list of the states where gay marriage is legal. We provide the year the law went into effect, the name of the law when titled by the state legislature, and a citation where the law can be found. Some states didn’t pass a gay marriage law. Instead a court determined that the existing law prohibiting gay marriage was unconstitutional. In those states, we list the name of the court decision and citation for the case. If you want to read the court’s decision, ask a reference librarian at your public library for help or Google the name of the case.
Connecticut: (2008) Kerrigan v. Commissioner of Public Health, 957 A.2d 407 (2008).
District of Columbia: (2010) D.C. Law Section 18-110, “Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Equality Act,” Jackson v. D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics, 130 S.Ct. 1279 (2010).
Iowa: (2009) Iowa Law Section 595.2, Varnum v. Brien, 763 NW2d 862 (2009).
Maryland: (2012) Civil Marriage Protection Act of 2012, Family Law 2-201 signed by Governor on March 1, 2012 goes into effect in January, 2013.
Massachusetts: (2003) Goodrich v. Department of Public Health, 798 NE2d 941 (2003).
New Hampshire: (2011) Revised Statutes Annotated 457:1-a, “Equal Access to Marriage.”
New York: (2011) Domestic relations Section 10-a and 10-b, “Marriage Equality Act.”
Vermont: (2009) 15 Vermont Statutes Annotated Secion 8, “An Act to Protect Religious Freedom and Recognize Equality in Civil Marriage.”
Washington: (2012) Washington Revised Statutes Section 26.04.010 and 26.04.020.
Mike Licht (Flickr)
For more about marriage, see “When Can I Get Married?”
On May 9, 2012, President Barack Obama stated that he believes same-sex couples should be allowed to get married.
This post was written by Judge Tom. Judge Tom is the founder and moderator of AsktheJudge.info. He is a retired juvenile judge and spent 23 years on the bench. He has written several books for lawyers and judges as well as teens and parents including the recently published 'Teen Cyberbullying Investigated' (Free Spirit Publishing). When he's not answering teens' questions, Judge Tom can be found hiking, traveling and reading.
