The US Supreme Court on Friday decided to take up the sensitive issue, hearing challenges to a federal law denying benefits to same-sex couples and California's ban on such unions.
Here are some facts about gay marriage in the United States:
States where gay-marriage is legal:
- New England was first to the line, with approval in Massachusetts (2004), Connecticut (2008), Vermont (2009), New Hampshire (2010) and New York (2011). In these states, same-sex marriage was legalized by law or court order.
- The Midwestern state of Iowa and the District of Columbia joined the party in 2009.
- Maine, Maryland and Washington state passed same-sex marriage by referendum on election day in November 2012. Washington will be the first where the move takes effect, on December 9. The others follow suit in January.
Gay marriage barred at the federal level:
- The Defense of Marriage Act passed in 1996 stipulates that marriage is the union of a man and a woman, and denies married same-sex couples the same tax and social security benefits as their straight counterparts.
- On May 9, President Barack Obama became the first US leader to say publicly he was in favor of gay marriage.
States that ban gay marriage:
- Thirty US states have adopted amendments to their state constitutions that define marriage as the union of a man and a woman. Those states are Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia and Wisconsin.
- In a 1998 referendum, Hawaii approved a law banning gay marriage.
- California briefly legalized gay marriage in 2008 but it was overturned in a referendum later that same year. In 2010, a federal court declared the ban unconstitutional and that case is one of the two now being taken up by the Supreme Court.
- In November, the northern state of Minnesota voted down a proposed state constitutional amendment defining marriage as between a man and a woman.
- Rhode Island has not legalized gay marriage, but recognizes same-sex unions performed in other states.