Gay Marriage Update

As of this update, 17 states and the District of Columbia allow gay marriage: Massachusetts, California, Connecticut, Iowa, Vermont, New Hampshire, New York, Maine, Maryland, Washington, Delaware, Rhode Island, Minnesota, New Jersey, Hawaii, New Mexico, and Illinois. Illinois will begin issuing marriage licenses in June 2014. In addition, beginning December 2013, a string of federal district court decisions in Utah, Oklahoma, Virginia and Texas held that their respective state laws banning gay marriage were unconstitutional. Gay marriage in those states is on hold while the appellate courts weigh in. Of the 33 states that do not allow gay marriage, 29 of them ban it by constitutional amendment.

Keywords: litigation, LGBT, gay marriage, same-sex marriage, constitution, state laws, marriage licenses

_{Emily A. Ambrose is with Blackwell Burke P.A. in Minneapolis, Minnesota.}

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