The road to the adoption of gay marriage in the United States has been a torturous one. After years of the states taking popular and legislative votes to ban the institution, we now have seventeen states which have made gay marriage legal.
There have been three ways in which those states won that civil right:
1. Court decision
2. Legislative vote
3. Popular vote
Below are the seventeen states, (and the District of Columbia), which have made gay marriage legal, the dates those gay marriage laws became effective and how those states did it.
1. Massachusetts - May 17, 2004 - Court decision.
2. Connecticut - November 12, 2008 - Court decision.
3. Iowa - April 27, 2009 - Court decision.
-Oddly enough, Mitt Romney was the governor of Massachusetts when that state's Supreme Court ruled in favor of gay marriage in 2003, and the state began issuing marriage licenses to gay couples in 2004. Thanks, Mitt!
-Connecticut also had a Republican governor in 2008 when its State Supreme Court ruled in favor of gay marriage and the state began issuing marriage licenses to gay couples a month later.
-In Iowa, it also took a ruling by the state's Supreme Court to make gay marriage legal. The Democratic governor promptly lost his re-election bid in 2010 to a Tea Party Republican. Think gay marriage was an issue in that election?
4. Vermont - September 1, 2009 - State legislative vote.
-In 2009, Vermont became the first state to legalize gay marriage without a court ruling. The Republican governor, (another one!), vetoed the state legislation, but the state legislature overrode his veto.
5. New Hampshire - January 1, 2010 - State legislative vote.
-When New Hampshire's Democratic governor signed his state's gay marriage legislation, he became only the second U.S. governor to sign a bill allowing gay marriage.
6. District of Columbia - March 9, 2010 - City Council vote.
-The City Council of Washington, D.C. voted to legalize gay marriage, and the Democratic mayor, Adrien Fenty, signed the legislation. The U.S. Congress, which oversees the District, failed to overturn the City Council's vote.
7. New York - July 24, 2011 - State legislative vote.
-In New York, another Democratic governor, another victory for gay marriage.
8. Washington - December 6, 2012 - Popular vote.
9. Maine - December 29, 2012 - Popular vote.
10. Maryland - January 1, 2013 - Popular vote.
-Until 2012, the opponents of gay marriage in America were able to say that when "the people voted, gay marriage was always voted down." But the people of Washington, Maine and Maryland changed that truth forever and helped to quickly turn the tide in America toward the mainstream acceptance of gay marriage.
-Washington's governor was another Democrat and the first female governor to sign a bill for gay marriage.
-Maine's state legislature passed a gay marriage bill in 2009, and on May 6, 2009, the state's Democratic governor, John Baldacci, became the first U.S. governor to sign a gay marriage bill into law. At the time, Maine was only one of four states where gay marriage was legal, but a later popular vote overturned the legislation. Another popular vote was taken in 2012, and this time, gay marriage was made legal by the people.
-Maryland: Another Democratic governor, another victory for gay marriage. Do we sense a pattern here?
*June 26, 2013 - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that DOMA, (The Defense of Marriage Act which restricted marriage in the U.S. to heterosexual couples only), was unconstitutional.*
11. California - June 28, 2013 - Court decision.
-And now, for the strange, twisted tale of gay marriage in California. After a ruling of California's Supreme Court, gay marriage first became legal in that state on June 16, 2008, making it the second state in America to have legal gay marriage. Unfortunately, opponents of gay marriage passed the infamous Prop 8 bill in 2008, which once again outlawed gay marriage in California. On June 26, 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court overruled Prop 8, making gay marriage legal, once again, in California.
12. Delaware - July 1, 2013 - State legislative vote.
13. Rhode Island - August 1, 2013 - State legislative vote.
14. Minnesota - August 1, 2013 - State legislative vote
-Three more Democratic governors, three more states, Delaware, Minnesota and Rhode Island, which approved gay marriage through their own state legislatures.
-The dates which the state legislatures passed a law making gay marriage legal: Rhode Island: May 2, 2013, Delaware: May 7, 2013 and Minnesota: May 14, 2013, but the dates above are the dates on which those laws went into effect.
15. New Jersey - October 21, 2013 - Court decision.
-New Jersey's state legislature first approved gay marriage in 2012, but Republican governor, Chris Christie, vetoed the legislation. After the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of gay marriage in 2013, a New Jersey Superior Court judge ruled that the state must follow the ruling of the U.S. Supreme Court.
16. Hawaii - December 2, 2013 - State legislative vote.
-As with many other states, once the U.S. Supreme Court struck down DOMA, it made passage of a gay marriage bill in Hawaii much easier. It also didn't hurt that the governor was a Democrat.
17. New Mexico - December 19, 2013 - Court decision.
-The New Mexico Supreme Court ruled in favor of gay marriage, and the governor, a Republican woman, refused to seek legislation to block gay marriage, stating that the U.S. Supreme Court has made gay marriage the law of the land. Smart woman.
18. Illinois - June 1, 2014 - State legislative vote.
-Democratic governor Pat Quinn signed legislation on November 20, 2013 making gay marriage legal in Illinois, and the law will go into effect on June 1, 2014.
19. Oregon - May 19, 2014 - Court decision.
After a federal district court struck down Oregon's ban on gay marriage, both the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court refused to issue a stay on the ruling, making Oregon the 18th State in America to make gay marriage legal.
20. Pennsylvania - May 20, 2014 - Court decision.
After a federal district court struck down Pennsylvania's ban on gay marriage, Republican Governor Tom Corbett declined to appeal the ruling, making it clear that even the Republican Party realizes that continuing to fight gay marriage is a losing battle. Pennsylvania is the 19th State, (plus the District of Columbia), to have legal gay marriage.
It is interesting to note that after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down DOMA in 2013, many states were quickly able to move gay marriage legislation through their state legislatures. Even many Republicans, at this point in 2014, realize that fighting gay marriage is a losing battle. We'll see many more states, now, quickly move state legislation or win state court battles in favor of gay marriage.
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