atutory provisions classified to the United States Code in which marital status is a factor in determining or receiving rights, benefits, and protections.7 Only Massachusetts currently allows same-gender couples to marry. (See Table 1 for a comparison of civil marriage, civil union, and domestic partner laws.)
With the exception of the states and jurisdiction mentioned in Table 1 and a small number of counties and municipalities, same-gender couples and their children are not afforded legal recognition or protection under the law. In fact, public-policy makers at all levels of government have moved to enact legislation to prohibit any type of legal recognition of same-gender partnerships and parenting. In addition, state constitutional amendments prohibiting same-gender civil marriage, civil union, and domestic partnership have established de facto blanket prohibitions on prospective legislation favorable to same-gender couples and their children, thereby restricting their access to the political process itself.
State Perspective: Marriage
Since the enactment of the federal DOMA in 1996, 42 states have enacted similar laws. With the exception of the provision regarding public policy, all of the measures replicate the federal DOMA. These laws generally contain at least 1 of the following 4 provisions.§
Definition of marriage as a legal union between a man and a woman.
Prohibition of recognition of same-gender marriages that are granted in other states.
Declaration of same-gender marriage as a violation of public policy.
Definition of spouse as only a person of the opposite gender who is legally married as a wife or husband.
Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, and Pennsylvania have laws that define marriage as a legal union between a man and woman, prohibit recognition of same-gender marriages granted by other states, and declare same-gender marriage to be a violation of the state's public policy. (Missouri's Supreme Court subsequently overturned the state's 1996 law, leading to a constitutional amendment banning same-gender marriage.)
Alaska, Florida, Indiana, Nebraska, South Dakota, and West Virginia define marriage as a legal union between a man and woman and prohibit recognition of same-gender marriages granted by other states.
Idaho, Louisiana, Montana, and South Carolina prohibit recognition of same-gender marriages granted by other states and declare same-gender marriages a violation of the state's public policy.
Colorado, Kansas, and Tennessee laws define marriage as a legal union between a man and a woman and declare same-gender marriage a violation of the state's public policy.
North Dakota law defines marriage as a legal union between a man and a woman, and spouse as only a person of the opposite gender who is legally married as a wife or husband. (Florida, North Dakota, and Texas are the only states that have adopted the federal DOMA definition of spouse as only a person of the opposite gender who is legally married as a wife or husband.)
Arizona, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah, and Virginia laws prohibit the recognition of same-gender marriages granted by other states.
California, Hawaii, Iowa, Minnesota, Nevada, and Washington laws define marriage as a legal union between a man and woman.
A number of states have taken other measures, not necessarily linked to the federal DOMA movement, to prohibit same-gender civil marriage.
Before passage of the federal DOMA, Maryland, New Hampshire, and Wyoming enacted laws to prohibit same-gender civil marriage.
An Ohio statute, replicated with a state constitutional amendment, prohibits same-gender civil marriages, civil unions, and domestic partnerships.
In 1971, the Wisconsin Supreme Court issued a ruling that only heterosexual marriages are legal.
In 2000, the Vermont High Court allowed the legislature to enact a statute prohibiting same-gender civil marriage, providing it also enact a law allowing civil unions for same-gender couples.
On November 18, 2003, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court rul