Despite the Supreme Court’s Ruling on Gay Marriage, Almost Two-Thirds of States Define Marriage as Union of One Man, One Woman
August 2, 2022 | Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee
The Supreme Court’s decision legalizing same-sex marriage across the nation is in the news again with the House’s passage last week of legislation codifying that 2015 ruling as part of U.S. law.
In the years before the high court ruled in the case known as Obergefell v. Hodges, 38 states defined marriage by law as an exclusive union between one man and one woman.
In 31 of these states, voters approved ballot initiatives to amend their state constitutions to define marriage that way. (See the full list below or in the chart here.)
A total of 35 states still have these laws—whether in the state constitution, statute, or both—on the books.
In most states, according to Heritage Foundation research, an overwhelming percentage of voters favored a state constitutional amendment defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman.
In Mississippi, 86% of voters in 2004 supported that traditional definition of marriage, as did 81% in of Alabama in 2006. That same year, 81% of voters in Tennessee, 78% in South Carolina, and 63% in Idaho favored such an amendment.
Even in California, as late as 2008, a slight majority (52%) voted to protect the traditional definition of marriage.
By late 2013, however, at least 16 states and the District of Columbia had redefined marriage to include same-sex unions.
Massachusetts forged the way, legalizing same-sex marriage in 2003 following a decision by its Supreme Judicial Court…. (Excerpt from The Virginia Star)
