Spotlight: Same-Sex Marriage

When California voters quashed the state's court-ordered experiment with same-sex marriage in 2008, gay advocates vowed to fight on. Their latest battleground: a San Francisco courtroom, where a judge will weigh in on the controversial Proposition 8--and hand down the first federal ruling on whether the U.S. Constitution forbids state bans on same-sex marriage.

If California's law is found to violate the 14th Amendment (which guarantees due process and equal protection), it could threaten anti-gay-marriage statutes well beyond the Golden State. Since November, laws supporting same-sex unions have passed in Washington, D.C., but have been defeated in Maine, New Jersey and New York. Whichever way the decision goes, an eventual appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court is a virtual certainty.

Note: Nine states appear twice; they allow civil unions or other rights but prohibit same-sex marriages

New Mexico, New York and Rhode Island neither specifically prohibit nor allow same-sex marriages or unions

The D.C. law is pending congressional approval

Courts vs. Voters

If California's stance on gay marriage is settled in a courtroom, it won't be the first state to go that route. In three of the five states that allow such unions, marriage rights were ultimately granted from the bench, not by popular vote or legislation. No state that now sanctions gay marriage has legalized it via referendum.

[The following text appears within a chart. Please see hardcopy or PDF for actual chart.]

6 Allow same-sex marriage

NEWHAMPSHIRE

CONNECTICUT

MASSACHUSETTS

VERMONT

IOWA

WASHINGTON, D.C.

10 Allow same-sex unions or grant other rights

WISCONSIN

OREGON

NEWJERSEY

NEVADA

HAWAII

WASHINGTON

COLORADO

CALIFORNIA

MARYLAND

MAINE

41 Prohibit same-sex marriage

PENNSYLVANIA

ILLINOIS

HAWAII

MARYLAND

WEST VIRGINIA

INDIANA

NORTH CAROLINA

MAINE

WYOMING

WASHINGTON

CALIFORNIA

ALASKA

OREGON

NEVADA

MONTANA

COLORADO

ARIZONA

DELAWARE

MINNESOTA

TENNESSEE

MISSOURI

MISSISSIPPI

VIRGINIA

SOUTH CAROLINA

FLORIDA

GEORGIA

OHIO

MICHIGAN

KENTUCKY

ALABAMA

WISCONSIN

ARKANSAS

LOUISIANA

NORTH DAKOTA

KANSAS

OKLAHOMA

TEXAS

IDAHO

SOUTH DAKOTA

NEBRASKA

UTAH