A brief overview of the availability of gay marriages and civil unions in the U.S.:

In 2004, Massachusetts became the first state to legalize gay marriage. The state Supreme Court ordered the state Legislature to implement the necessary legislation.

Trends in support and opposition to same-sex marriage (SSM)have been similar to the earlier trends for interracial marriage back in the late 20th century. For decades, there was a gradual increase in support for interracial marriages by about 1 percentage point a year and a gradual decrease in opposition by the same amount. However, for SSM, there seems to have been a speedup in the process  during the early 2010's, of about 2.3 percentage points per year. National support for gay marriage reached 50% in 2011 and continued to increase.

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By 2014-MAY, same-sex marriages were available in 18 jurisdictions (17 states and the District of Columbia) in the U.S. including the two most populous states, California and New York. In excess of 60 lawsuits were active in federal courts in various states to legalize SSM. One of these -- or perhaps a combination of these -- lawsuits were expected to be eventually reach the U.S. Supreme Court.

SSMs are also available in about 17 other countries, including Canada's 10 provinces and 3 territories as well as England, Wales and Scotland.

Some jurisdictions limit SSM to residents. Other places, like Canada, allow both residents and visitors to marry.

In addition, a few U.S. states and other countries allow same-sex couples to enter into civil unions, domestic partnerships, or similar arrangements. In the U.S., these couples receive some or all of the rights, privileges, and obligations that the state gives to married couples. However, they did not receive what is for many the most important right of all -- the right to call their relationship a marriage.

Whatever recognition, protections, benefits, given by states to same-sex couples and their children, all were originally denied 1,138 federal benefits and protections that are automatically given to married opposite-sex couples. This was due to Section 3 of the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). This part of DOMA was declared unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court in late 2013-JUN.

On 2015-JAN-16, the U.S. Supreme Court accepted appeals of four lawsuits from four states -- Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, & Tennessee -- concerning same-sex marriage (SSM) (a.k.a. gay marriage). The combined case is called Obergefell v. Hodges. On 2015-JUN-26, the high court issued a ruling legalizing SSM across the U.S. SSM became immediately available throughout the U.S., in principle if not in practice! County clerks in some states refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples for a while. However, this was ironed out within a few months. The only exception was American Samoa. Most of the population there are considered American residents, but not American citizens. As a result, the ruling of the High Court does not necessarily apply in that territory. More details on this case.

Contents of this section:

It lists the results of many public opinion surveys that evaluated the support of, and opposition to, SSM -- generally by a random sampling of American adults or registered voters. They are grouped by polling agency. Unfortunately, results are vary significantly on the precise question asked, the wording of questions asked before the SSM query, the time of day that the subject was phoned, the type of phone (cell and/or landline), etc. Thus the findings are not all strictly comparable. However, long-term trends in the direction of increased support, and reduced opposition, to SSM are obvious.

Support/opposition for same-sex marriage (SSM) covered in this section:

• 1986 to 2013: Early trends in support of, and opposition to, SSM  << we recommend that you read this essay
  
  
• 2009 to 2016: Activity culminating in the legalization of gay marriage << Ditto
  
  
• 2014: Was same-sex marriage viewed as inevitable in every U.S. state? << Ditto
  
  
• In 2016, a maverick poll claims that most U.S. adults are opposed to marriage equality.
  
  
  
• Data by state:
• SSM support in each state over the interval 1994 to 2009.
  
  
• SSM support in each state, by age cohort, during 2008
  
  
• Comparing support for SSMs and civil unions, by state, in 2008
  
  
• National polls:
  
  • Comparing SSM trends with inter-racial marriage trends. 1997 to now: Gallup & Pew surveys,
    
    
  • 1988 to 2012: Support for same-sex marriage (SSM). Support in 2012 by region
    
    
  • 2001 to 2012: Pew Research graphs: support/opposition to SSM by age and religion
    
    
  • 2003 to 2014: Washington Post/ABC and FOX surveys
    
    
  • 1997 to 2008: Angus-Reid & other national polls. 2001 poll of high school seniors
    
    
  • 2000 to 2008: Peter D. Hart, Gallup and Newsweek polls
    
    
  • 2004-2008: Newsweek polls. 2004-2012: New York Times/CBS polls. 2010: New York Times analysis by state
    
    
  • 2008-2012: CNN/ORC polls and Washington Post/Kaiser Family Foundation Polls
    
    
  • 2013:
    • Polls by Washington Post, ABC, and Reuters
      
      
    • A very large Reuters/Ipsos/Gallup national polls concerning same-sex marriage (SSM) & civil unions
      
      
  • 2018: Gallup's Annual polls on support of same-sex marriage reach a new high
    
    
  • 1996 to 2012: Attitudes toward SSM by African Americans
    
    
  • 2004 to 2020: Public opinion polls on SSM
    
    
  • Webmaster's comments and conclusions about SSM polls
    

Copyright © 2001 TO 2016  by Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance
Originally written: 2001-JUL-30
Latest update: 2016-OCT-01
Author: B.A. Robinson

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