Same Sex Marriages States

The recognition of same-sex marriages has witnessed a dramatic transformation in the United States, transitioning rapidly from being a contentious subject to a constitutionally protected right. Proclaimed a fundamental right by the Supreme Court in 2015, today gay marriage is legally recognized in every state. However, the path to legalization has been anything but uniform, with each state holding distinct narratives and timelines for the advancement of marriage equality.

• A considerable number of states still had statutory or constitutional bans on same-sex marriage prior to the 2015 Supreme Court ruling. States like Ohio, Louisiana, Alabama, and many others, predominantly in the Southern and Midwestern regions, had their bans anchored not only in statute but also in their constitutions.
• Contrarily, there were states like Delaware, New Jersey, Connecticut, Michigan, and Washington, where same-sex marriage was not banned, reflecting a more progressive societal perspective.
• There is a stark regional contrast. The majority of states in the Northeast had not banned same-sex marriage, whereas it was predominantly banned in the South and the Midwest.
• Some states, such as Indiana, Wisconsin, and West Virginia, had bans only at a statutory level, affording a potential for easier reversal compared to those states with constitutional bans.
• Despite the landmark cases of Windsor and Obergefell v. Hodges that accelerated the nationwide recognition of same-sex marriage, the heterogeneity of this data reflects the regional disparities that once existed in America's journey towards marriage equality.